I often get asked if ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ can read old deeds written in cursive. Until now, my answer has always been "not yet, but I believed this will be possible in the future with AI."
Well, the future is here.
I'm excited to announce that Iโve just found an AI model that can accurately read, understand, and transcribe even the most challenging old cursive deeds. Not only will this new technology allow Deed Reader Pro to process cursive deeds, but it will also improve its ability to handle typed deeds with poor image quality.
Here is the AI generated transcription of the metes and bounds description shown in this post:
Being a part of the South half of the north east quarter of Section (20) Township (17) Range (21) of the Refugee Lands in Truro Township Franklin County Ohio Described as follows to wit: Beginning at the point of intersection of the center line of the Ohio Central Railroad and north line of the aforementioned Section 20, thence south 87ยฐ E. 88.70 poles to a stone in said section line corner to Humphreys lot of two acres, thence S. 3ยฐW 20 poles to a stone, corner of said Meeks lot, thence south 87ยฐ 16 poles to a stone corner to said Meeks lot and the west line of William Myers lot of two acres of land, thence south 3ยฐ West with said Myers line 20 poles to a stone south west corner of said Myers lot, thence south 87ยฐ E 12 poles to a stone south- east corner of said Myers lot, thence south 3ยฐW 44.40 poles to a stone corner south east corner of Howard Parts land, thence North 77ยฐ west 80.40 poles to center of the Central Ohio Railroad thence with the center line of said Railroad to the beginning, containing (30.87) Thirty and 87/100 acres, it being that part of Howard Hart's farm on the east side of the Ohio Central Railroad
Iโve been developing Deed Reader Pro over the past several years. This tool uses an optical character recognition engine to convert PDFs and images of deeds into text. An advanced algorithm then extracts bearing and distance calls, monument descriptions, and adjoining tract descriptions into a call table. The deed can then quickly be checked for closure and plotted in AutoCAD or IntelliCAD. Many deeds are able to be plotted in a matter of seconds.
Additionally, Deed Reader Pro can load text and Word documents, making it a valuable tool for reviewing and checking legal descriptions before submission to clients or government agencies.
Learn more and download to try a free 30 day trial at www.deedreaderpro.com.
I'm old enough to have been taught cursive in school and I have long since stopped writing in it, but I gotta admit it sure helped me read old deeds, plats, and GLO notes. I wonder if younger surveyors who never had to learn it will need to rely on a software like this to do their job going forward.
I had a young fellow working for me who had no instruction in the art of cursive writing. He did an excellent job of reading the old documents because he had taught himself how to read it. He is now a software engineer for the hay and forage design branch of John Deere.
I think they might have to rely on software unfortunately. My kids are learning cursive it seems that it is being introduced again. Old deeds are fun as you can see the difference in the letters S F and I overtime. Where old f โs look more like our S today. There is a gap in ages where some where never taught cursive in some places for some reason.
