This page contains tools which are useful for hunting benchmarks.

This search tool allows you to simultaneously retrieve the Geocaching.com benchmark details page and the current NGS datasheet. Thanks go to Black Dog Trackers for the original idea.

Click to open the datasheet retrieval page.

This NOAA tool computes the magnetic declination at any point in the world. It allows you to adjust your compass so that you can find azimuths from true north.

Click to open the magentic declination tool.

This Maptech collection of historical USGS Maps can be useful when looking for old features that are no longer present, for instance railroads that have been abandoned or highways that have been rebuilt and relocated.

Click to open the map collection.

When photographing nonstandard station marks such as chisled crosses, rivets, or nonstandard disks, it is useful to include a reference item in the photograph to indicate the scale. You can download and print a set of photographic scale rulers from the following PDF file. If you use heavy duty glossy photographic paper, you can make a set of inexpensive, relatively durable rulers to use in your photographs.

Click to download the PDF file (15.2 kb). Be sure to set the "page scaling" option to "none" when printing in order to obtain an accurate ruler.