Q. What are geodetic markers?
A. Geodetic markers are physical, geographic reference points, located at precise coordinates throughout the world. Most are 3 1/2 inch bronze disks imbedded, at ground level, in concrete cylinders. Others are church spires, water tanks, etc.

Q. Who installs them and determines their coordinates?
A. The markers, called stations, are installed by both federal and state governments.

Q. Why are they important?
A. They provide a base geographic framework for mapping and charting. Surveyors use these reference points to determine property lines, locate roadways, railroads and buildings. They are used in mapping, charting and setting the precise positions of space craft and satellites.

Q. About how many markers are there?
A. Over 750,000 are maintained as control marks in the U.S. base geographic system.

Q. How are the markers identified?
A. Each is given a PIN, Permanent Identification Number, and a name. The names are unique within a county and are often related to something the installer saw at the time the station was "monumented". Names such as "white house", "graveyard" and "lake" are common. When a station is installed, a description is prepared so that in the future the marker may be found and used for reference.

Q. Why are we asked to "recover" or find them?
A. Maintaining and up-grading this information against the changes made by nature and mankind is truly a monumental task. Changes occur so frequently that no amount of tax support effort would be adequate to supply the corrections necessary to keep these documents current. As part of our commitment to civic service, USPS has agreed to observe these changes and submit corrections to the federal and state governments. These efforts have saved the government millions of dollars. Furthermore, those skills that Power Squadron members have acquired for nautical navigation apply quite readily to map reading, charting and locating  geographical points.          

Q. What is a Geodetic Hunt?
A.  A geodetic hunt is very much like a treasure hunt. Armed with maps, descriptions, tape measures, shovels and probes, we try to find the markers and report their conditions.

Q. What do we report?
A. The condition of the station as we find it - either: "good", "poor", "not found" or "destroyed". To be reported as "destroyed" we have to have the marker in hand and return it to the federal government. This happens only on rare occasions, when a marker may have been graded out by heavy equipment. In addition to reporting the condition of the markers, we are asked to update the descriptions. For instance, a cherry tree used as reference may have died and been cut down. A new reference should by provided.