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The Maui News
Maui County is seeking the public's help in collecting GPS coordinates on benchmarks throughout the county.
Benchmarks are often indicated with a metal disk but can also be a physical structure such as a church spire, radio tower, a mark chiseled into stone or a metal rod driven into the ground, according to geocaching.com. The markers assist in the nationwide mapping system maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geodetic Survey.
NOAA and the National Geodetic Survey have launched a crowd-sourced information gathering campaign to improve the accuracy of known benchmarks, according to a news release from the county on Thursday. Members of the public can use any device with a GPS receiver, such as as cellphone, to recover, observe and report benchmarks, also known as survey monuments. The deadline for submissions to the National Geodetic Survey is Dec. 31.
"Finding and reporting benchmarks helps keep our local information maps up-to-date to provide the most accurate data possible," said Elissa Deleissegues, a GIS analyst with the county Department of Finance.
There are 36 National Geodetic Survey monuments in Maui County, including 21 on Maui, 10 on Molokai and five on Lanai. Survey markers are used to geo-spatially orient elevation and position. Without additional data, the National Geodetic Survey will need to fill in data gaps, and the result will be less reliable, the county said. Maui County has only completed and reported one of its National Geodetic Survey monuments.
For more information, visit geodesy.noaa.gov/GPSonBM/, geocaching.com/mark/ or mauipropertytax.com.