PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

August 11, 2021

Public assistance sought for GPS on Bench Marks project

Goal is to find and report GPS coordinates to keep local information up-to-date and accurate
 

The County of Maui’s Real Property Assessment, GIS Section, is requesting public assistance in collecting Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates on Bench Marks throughout Maui County.

To assist with the project, members of the public can use any device with a GPS receiver (such as a cellphone) to recover, observe and report Bench Marks, also known as survey monuments. The deadline for submissions to the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is Dec. 31, 2021.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Geodetic Survey have launched a crowd-sourced information gathering campaign to improve accuracy of known Bench Marks.

“Finding and reporting Bench Marks helps keep our local information maps up-to-date to provide the most accurate data possible,” said Elisse Deleissegues, a GIS analyst with the County of Maui Department of Finance.

There are 36 NGS monuments in Maui County – 21 on Maui island, 10 on Molokai and five on Lanai. Survey markers are used to geo-spatially orient elevation and position. Without additional data, NGS will need to fill in data gaps and the result will be less reliable. Maui County has only completed and reported one of its NGS monuments.

For the County of Maui informational story map, scan the QR code in the attached flier. Or visit https://geodesy.noaa.gov/GPSonBM/, https://www.geocaching.com/mark/ or www.mauipropertytax.com for more information.

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