Need Help Finding a Survey Pin

[DoubleO7]

Divide Seconds by 60
Add to Minutes
Divide Minutes by 60
Add to Degrees
gives you coordinate in decimal

37D 54M 12.3S North would be 37.9034167

 

[Russ from MN]

I'm an ancient geezer with little knowledge of GPS. However I'm aware that there are two different "numbering systems". I did a Google search and found some websites that seems to offer a coordinates-converters.

GPS coordinate converter

Easiest app to convert GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) between decimal and Degrees/Minutes/Seconds gps coordinates format.

www.gps-coordinates.net

GPS Coordinates Converter - Latitude and Longitude Converter

GPS Coordinates Converter is a tool to convert gps coordinates to address and convert address to lat long. You can use the lat long converter to locate an address, latitude and longitude on a map for navigation purposely or if your gps navigation system is giving you a lat long and you need to...

gps-coordinates.org

I haven't used any of these websites and am cautious of pressing buttons on websites.

I have numerous gps units, and they all have lots of format options, but none like on the survey report. I have searched the web for conversion options too, with no luck. I will take a look at the ones you found, if that doesn't work I will contact the dnr surveyor.

 

[Steve in VA]

Depends on the surveyor. A surveyor I talked to said flush as they tend to get buried over time anyway. One pin on Mom's farm was in a wooded area and was sticking out of the ground maybe a foot. They would likely drive it flush or a bit lower in an open field where mowers etc. might hit them. And yes, steel posts to mark them is a good idea. Just did that for my 5 acres but have one more to go.

Last survey i had done here i followed up w/ a metal T post and dropped a 4' length of 3" white PVC pipe over it. I think you can see it from space.

 

[Scott 730]

Last survey i had done here i followed up w/ a metal T post and dropped a 4' length of 3" white PVC pipe over it. I think you can see it from space.

"Here" our county surveyor puts a T post next to the pin with the bottom leg of the T pointing toward the pin.

 

[moresmoke]

You can enter decimal coordinates in any map app on your phone. Might not get you closer than 10 ft, but it might and for the cost why not try?

A couple years ago, I dropped my personal phone in a customer’s field. Didn’t notice until after I left. Used the work phone to call my wife and get the coordinates my personal phone was reporting. Using Google maps, went back to the location in the field, didn’t see the phone I was looking for anywhere. Figured I would try calling it, even though it was set to silent. Guess what, the phone was under my foot.

 

[Mcrafty1]

Pins are usually driven below the surface, that is why people mark them with a steel post.

In my neck of the woods they leave the rod exposed usually 8" to a foot above ground with an orange cap on it, It's up to the land owner if he wants to pound it down out of sight. I like it that way, I don't have to have a metal detector to find them. The world is full of all kinds of different people.

 

[ratface]

I just did this last week and this is how I did it. Mine was closer at 425 feet through sloping timber. I got within fifteen feet. I did have to buy a $150 metal detector, they are all on sale now, I bought the entry level Minelab $150 on Amazon. Minelab is a premiere detector maker and this is their cheapest but it has a feature where you teach it to recognize one particular metal. Then bury a short rod of Rebar about three inches in your front yard and teach the machine to find it. It will make a distinct sound that you can remember and also give you a numerical value, Rebar on mine is around 20. Get a compass app on your phone. Then mark out a measured distance of something like 25 feet with a tape measure on the ground by your house. Now walk the the twenty five feet and count your steps. Go to a known pin closest to the one you need to find and stand facing the general direction of the unknown pin and orient your compass to the stipulated degrees. Start walking using your stride formula you learned earlier. For me every eleven steps equaled 25 feet. Do the math before you start so you know how many steps to take. Line up a tree or landmark and walk to it, pick another landmark in line and walk to it and keep doing this until you count out your required distance feet. You will come out real close and might find some paint or clue nearby. If not start searching with the metal detector set to only detect the rebar you taught it. I found mine within an hour! You can also to go google earth and find the property, They have a point to point feature, Figure out where the known closest pin is on the map. Put your curser on it and draw a line at the required number of feet and degrees indicated on your survey. It takes a little playing around with it to lean but it's not terribly complicated. Note any identifiable land feature at the end of the drawn line, look for large trees, jutting out tree lines etc. Then you can walk to these land features and take a look around. Google earth is fuzzy but large trees will be identifiable. Their pictures can be up to seven years old and it depends on the season they were taken but its pretty accurate otherwise. My cheap metal detector found it about two inches under ground but I can only speak for the Minelab one. BTW, when you teach the metal detector to only recognize the rebar that's all it will look for so you are not hitting false signals all the time. Good luck, they can be a PITA to find sometimes.

 

[ratface]

as an alternative to a metal detector you can buy a device known as a "Carrot", I bought a cheapo from Amazon for under $20 bucks and I know for a fact it will find a pc of Rebar 2 inches underground, maybe three or four. You would have to be right over it though but they are cheap. What the metal detector guys do is identify a target with the wide sweep of a metal detector and then dig a plug from the earth but they don't know if the target is in the hole or in the plug. They use the "Carrot" to pinpoint which one it's in because it really narrows the detection field. I would invest the $20 and then tape the "Carrot" which looks like a flashlight to a broomstick and use it as a detector. You can always use it as a stud finder and really get your 20 dollars use out of it.

 

[stevieb49829]

We have the same problem, when the DNR sold the timber on the land next to us, they did an accurate survey. The surveyors found the original pipes driven in the ground below grade, over 100 years ago, but then they covered them up again. It's in a road, so there can't be anything permanant above ground. I have the gps coordinated, but that only gets me withing 3-4 feet. In the spring I will start digging. they left some witness marks on some nearby trees, but the loggers destroyed them. The gps coordinated on the survey report are in a strange format, nothing like what's available on my gps. N372220.874 & E414991.009, anyone familiar with that? The other confusing things is we are West of Greenwich, not East, correct?

Russ: You are East of your prime meridian. I'm not sure where Minnesota's prime meridian is. If I'm reading it right, you are North 37 degrees, 22 minutes, 20.874 seconds from some Minnesota meridian. And East 41degrees, 49 minutes, and 91.009 seconds of your prime meridian. These are designations of the latitude and longitude. Usually the numbers are followed by something like "BM", which in my neck of the woods stands for Boise Meridian. steve

 

[THinAl.]

We have the same problem, when the DNR sold the timber on the land next to us, they did an accurate survey. The surveyors found the original pipes driven in the ground below grade, over 100 years ago, but then they covered them up again. It's in a road, so there can't be anything permanant above ground. I have the gps coordinated, but that only gets me withing 3-4 feet. In the spring I will start digging. they left some witness marks on some nearby trees, but the loggers destroyed them. The gps coordinated on the survey report are in a strange format, nothing like what's available on my gps. N372220.874 & E414991.009, anyone familiar with that? The other confusing things is we are West of Greenwich, not East, correct?

Most likely the coordinates that are on the survey map are Minnesota State Plane Coordinates. To convert these to Lattitude and Longitude you will need to know which coordinate zone you are in. Somewhere on the survey plat there should be a note describing which zone in you are in.

If you can identify the zone and send me the coordinates, I can convert those coordinates to Lattitude and Longitude for you.

 

[THinAl.]

Most likely the coordinates that are on the survey map are Minnesota State Plane Coordinates. To convert these to Lattitude and Longitude you will need to know which coordinate zone you are in. Somewhere on the survey plat there should be a note describing which zone in you are in.

If you can identify the zone and send me the coordinates, I can convert those coordinates to Lattitude and Longitude for you.

Minnesota has three coordinate zones, North, Central, and South.

 

[stevieb49829]

The problem with a metal detector if the pin is in a fence line, is it will find the fence wire, first and foremost. That's where the carrot, as Ratface describes works much more precisely. steve

 

[THinAl.]

Minnesota has three coordinate zones, North, Central, and South.

If you are in the Minnesota north coord zone your Lattitude is 46deg.39min.3389sec. Longitude is -101deg.51min.17.074se.

 

[ratface]

the carrot

 

[ratface]

the detector

 

[DoubleO7]

East 41degrees, 49 minutes, and 91.009 seconds

Is there such a thing as 91.009 seconds?

 

[ratface]

If you can run some twine in a straight line the distance in feet at the right compass reading you can sweep the end of the line back and fourth and basically draw a line along the possible location and then just search either side of the end of the rope equally until you hit something. As you can see in one photo I was in timber on sloped terrain so my walking was up and down slopes which threw my steps off in measurement. Because I first tried it with twine I got an idea of general location. Kept learning as I spent time looking. The marker was under two inches of dirt two feet into a corn field. Been run over many times. There was a stroke of luck in finding it!

 

[stevieb49829]

Is there such a thing as 91.009 seconds?

It may all just be decimals. It should not be more than 59.999999, Sorry.

 

[DoubleO7]

It may all just be decimals. It should not be more than 59.999999, Sorry.

So why is it Minnesota does not use the world wide standard?

i.e Bemidji, MN at 47 28 17.66N, 94 52 57.67W

I was thinking Russ's N372220.874 & E414991.009 might be cad entry of a known point to the next point.

Or the point of origin of the survey.

?

 

[stevieb49829]

So why is it Minnesota does not use the world wide standard?

i.e Bemidji, MN at 47 28 17.66N, 94 52 57.67W

I was thinking Russ's N372220.874 & E414991.009 might be cad entry of a known point to the next point.

Or the point of origin of the survey.

?

Yup, big question mark for me too. It would be interesting to see his survey plat. I opened Google Earth to look what my cursor location was showing and it wasn't anywhere near what Russ is showing, ANYWHERE in Minnesota.

My first Forest Service job was reestablishing survey monuments, near Marcel, MN. It's not easy in some of that country where there's big chunks of iron ore not very far below the surface. The compass does not always point to the north. steve