We have too much faith in the permanence of electronic documents and file formats.
Dave Karoly, post: 353895, member: 94 wrote: We have too much faith in the permanence of electronic documents and file formats.
Not trying to be rude (because I am skeptical of some things that others are sure of) but I have heard that this was the attitude towards EDM back in the day. I am kind of new to this (licensed for only 8 years) but I would be surprised if electronic documents would fail. And then if they are backed up then there shouldn't ever be a problem. Better then some counties where they say "Ah... those old maps... that was before the courthouse burned down."
Maybe when I have been licensed for 40 years I will see it happen.
Mylar is a brand name for polyethethylene film.
That's the stuff they make tarps out of. Seems to me anyone could use cut tarp to make a map from if it is clear and thick enough (4-6 mil) and fairly free of crinkles. Should be easy and cheap to obtain. It's expensive to get those pre-cut sheets.
Haven't done it yet, but could be an interesting project.
RADAR, post: 353894, member: 413 wrote: Are you serious?
How about clicking the send button on an app...
I could see your point if the only option was to run these dinosaurs through a blue line machine. The last time I saw one of those was in a museum.
I am absolutely serious! The "Send" button? What am I sending? My State Statute requires a scaled drawing. If you are suggesting a PDF file please let me know how you print a PDF file of a drawing to the correct scale - I've found it to be impossible..
Steve Boon, post: 353893, member: 416 wrote: British Columbia has been fully Digital for submissions for several years now. All plans, recording documents etc are submitted as PDFs with the digital signature of the surveyor attached.
I could count the number of mylars printed in the last five years on my fingers, and we haven't used vellum at all.
How do you print PDF drawings to scale?
Jim in AZ, post: 353931, member: 249 wrote: How do you print PDF drawings to scale?
As long as the drawing has a bar scale - and a drawing isn't complete without one, in my view - I don't consider print scaling to be a significant problem. And if for some reason you truly need a paper copy at a particular scale, it's easy enough to fiddle with the print scale parameter to achieve that goal.
Jim in AZ, post: 353931, member: 249 wrote: How do you print PDF drawings to scale?
Assuming that the original pdf was created on a standard sheet size then it's just a matter of printing it to the same size of paper with the print scale set to 100%
PDFs that are created "to fit" paper size will generally not be to scale.
Make PDF to scale and print actual size.
A Harris, post: 354381, member: 81 wrote: PDFs that are created "to fit" paper size will generally not be to scale.
Make PDF to scale and print actual size.
I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally overlooked the "to fit" and "actual size" options. Typically not the end of the world for me, but annoying none the less
Steve Boon, post: 354375, member: 416 wrote: Assuming that the original pdf was created on a standard sheet size then it's just a matter of printing it to the same size of paper with the print scale set to 100%
Nope - may be close, but not exact...
Jim in AZ, post: 353924, member: 249 wrote: My State Statute requires a scaled drawing
Do you have a very very short official state calibration baseline that you take your scales to every year? 😀
Jim in AZ, post: 354414, member: 249 wrote: Nope - may be close, but not exact...
"One of the most important aspects of this is to account for the fact that no measurements are exact. that is, they always contain errors."
Adjustment Computations Spatial Data Analysis - Ghilani & Wolf
I can not tell you the last time I picked up a scale...maybe 3 years ago.
Jim in AZ, post: 353924, member: 249 wrote: My State Statute requires a scaled drawing.
I worked for a company that had a note on their drawings: Scale=1"-20', if not, scale accordingly.
One county does require mylar and the one to the south only requires paper: They scan the map and then digital is permanent. Even after recording the mylar, they put it in a sleeve and hang it up. Paper will hold up just fine if you put it in sleeves but noooooo, they want a mylar.
I bought some pre-cut mylar that is double matted. Also had to buy fixative. Ink jet on mylar is really difficult to get perfect. I've put out one so far and it held up fairly well. I'm still working on the best colors to use. Red ink completely disappeared. Spraying with fixative too soon will cause bleeding and too late it fades.
Permanent ink? I use it for my signature but my seal ink and the notary stamp is not permanent. Planning commission doesn't sign with sharpies. Council uses ink pens. It's tough to make sure everything stays legible when everyone uses different pens. I'll fight this dang polyester film as long as I can avoid buying a different plotter and I'll tell my clients to handle it with kid gloves.
Engineering plans here are required to be on mylar, but then the originals are retained by the County/City as a permanent record. Mylar is very durable in addition to being dimensionally stable. Recently the City Engineer decided that Xerox mylars are unacceptable because the line work can offset onto the back of any plans stored on top of them.
The county still requires that subdivision plats be printed on mylar as well, which doesn't make as much sense as the originals are returned to the Surveyor or Engineer. The plat is scanned and only a paper copy is retained by the county.
A few of the outlying towns keep the plat mylar as well as the engineering plans, so again plotting on mylar makes some sense.
I'm not sure that I would ever be in favor of keeping only electronic files for records, but then I still have my slide rule in my desk drawer - 'just in case':angel:.
RADAR, post: 353894, member: 413 wrote: Are you serious?
How about clicking the send button on an app...
I could see your point if the only option was to run these dinosaurs through a blue line machine. The last time I saw one of those was in a museum.
We just got rid of our blue ray machine last year. It hadn't been used in 4-5 years but it sat there mainly bc we didn't know how to get rid of that bottle of amonia