I have been asked by title companies in other cities to transmit a signed plat for closings.
Since they don't have the raised seal I know the plats are not valid even with a sig.
And if you do use an electronic sig how did you create it?
Nope....it's illegal here, but I see them a lot.
Almost all of my ALTA surveys now are sent as pdfs, with the mandatory electronic notice, without a seal or signature. Sometimes at the end they want a signed and sealed print sent by FedEx, but mostly just a pdf straight from AutoCAD.
I often provide a PDF that features an image of my signature and seal. (California doesn't require a raised seal.) I usually save it first as a TIF and then save the TIF as a PDF to make the signature and seal a little more difficult to copy.
With DWG files I use a block featuring my seal with the words "SIGNED COPY ON FILE" written across it in a large font.
Nope. Not going to happen until forced to do so.
There is a company in my area that only sends out a PDF, no hard copy.
They have no office and everything is done electronically.
Even the oversight of the surveyor is done electronically, as he resides in another state.
The crews send the PLS files (field notes & calcs) and signs electronically (stamp & signature) and emails back the signed survey to the crews and support staff, they then invoice and forward the survey to the client.
I see you are from florida. There is a section of Florida MTS that describes how to create an electronic seal. Honestly, It's hard to understand. If I'm reading it correctly, you can send out a PDF with a seal image, if you either follow up with final signed and sealed hard copies, or employ an electronic signature with an authentication process.
> I have been asked by title companies in other cities to transmit a signed plat for closings.
>
> Since they don't have the raised seal I know the plats are not valid even with a sig.
>
> And if you do use an electronic sig how did you create it?
I believe all states have adopted electronic commerce laws that make digital signatures permissible. The same states surveying laws may prohibit reproduction of scanned seals or signatures. These may not be conflicting laws and surveyors need to understand why this is the case.
This has been mentioned here before [msg]229962[/msg] is one of my two comments in the most recent thread. In that message there is reference to an article I prepared several years ago. That article explains there is a difference between scanned seals/signatures and digital signatures. The article also explains the creation of digital signature/certification and includes and example of correct use.
Most authorities on the subject discourage scanned seals/signatures. I would not used a scanned signature. However, many of the state laws legalizing the use of digital signatures/certifications include language that invalidates prohibitive language in other sections of their laws. Language in the professional licensing section may be invalidated by the electronic commerce section.
Your state board and/or professional association should check for conflicts and make an effort to inform the professionals. Digital signatures/certifications (as these terms are properly used) lock the content of the digital file and provide a notice if the content of the file is changed. In the article mentioned in the previous message I suggested that professional licensing boards may need to consider issuing digital signatures as part of the renewal process.
> I have been asked by title companies in other cities to transmit a signed plat for closings.
>
> Since they don't have the raised seal I know the plats are not valid even with a sig.
>
> And if you do use an electronic sig how did you create it?
Digital signatures are legal in Florida and I use them whenever I can. See 5J-17.062 Florida Administrative Code. However, It is not very easy to understand. See the City of Tallahassee's Professional Surveyors and Mappers Guide to Digital Signatures. They make it a bit clearer. I use a Identrust individual digital signature certificate (the same that the City of Tallahassee uses). As I remember, it cost $75.00 for 2 years. The digital signature Certificate is loaded into your PDF writer which enables you to digitally sign any PDF file (password is required). About the only time I send hard copies is for large format drawings that I know that they cannot print in their office.
For those of you that want to certify strictly data files like CAD basemaps. I would use a Digitally signed Surveyor's report listing the files with the SHA-1 checksums for each, computed using something like HashCalc. That way you can still authenticate any of files for originality. If the checksums don't match then you know your file has been tampered with.
This is what we do. Though not with checksum's (something I am going to look into). We don't really do residential surveys and 75% of the work we do is sent in CAD only to the engineers for design.
It's getting to the point where the only thing we use our plotter for is work maps for the field crews (and printing out posters for my Mtn. Bike Club events!)
Tom
I Do
Always. Been doing it for nearly 20 years now. Technology keeps improving. Digital signatures and certifications provide much better protections under state, federal and international laws than board rules ever will.
Many of the programs you already use can incorporate digital signatures. I most typically distribute final drawings & documents by printing to pdf, then digitally signing or certifying the document using NitroPro.
The only reason I can think of for not using digital signatures would be caused by fear based upon ignorance of the current laws. You can lessen your liability and maximize your protection from fraud by using them.
What most of us don't realize is that we are using them all the time. Ever signed a charge pad at a checkout counter? Ever signed your name at the bottom of an email? Ever logged onto a website using a user name and password?
All electronic signatures.
JBS
I Do
Is there some advantage for NitroPro over Acrobat? Do you still need something like Verisign for the signature?