What seems to be the general opinion about sharing/ giving your files out? This has become a huge issue for us, and a day does not go by without someone asking. We recently encountered a survey of ours copied and signed by another surveyor. Why are we giving away our work product? Input or suggestions please!!!!
> What seems to be the general opinion about sharing/ giving your files out? This has become a huge issue for us, and a day does not go by without someone asking. We recently encountered a survey of ours copied and signed by another surveyor. Why are we giving away our work product? Input or suggestions please!!!!
It depends on many factors, but the biggest is 'is this addressed in your contract'? In today's electronic world this should be in every contract so as to avoid future confusion.
There is no reason to willingly open yourself and your company up to additional liability by handing out a product that was not part of an agreed upon contract.
If you do share files as part of a project be sure to include some type of disclaimer regarding the electronic accuracy of the data. This should also be addressed up front with the client.
I've had issues a couple of times over the years. Absolutely no one gets an autocad file from me unless they're on a design team with me, they are informed that it may not be used without my consent. I will send out pdf copies to owners, builders, etc if they ask, I always find out why they want it because especially the owners assume they'll just scribble on an addition and go for a building permit. I tell them I can't send them the file for that because they can't alter the plan, but I'll be happy to add what you need for an hourly rate.
If someone else had stamped my plan: first I would call them to let them know I would be filing a copyright infringement as well as rip them a new hole, I'd then call the board of registration and file a formal complaint. I would most likely let every other surveyor know what he did, that's the good thing about state societies and passing the word around. If the plan was recorded I would go to the clerk and let them know it was an invalid copy and ask to place a margin note on the plan and any deed that refers to it so anyone in the future knows it was not mine.
We are a small family business, so there are not a lot of "contracts". Are larger firms charging a fee to provide the auto cad file?
The only people who get them are people involved in a design of some sort that I'm involved with, i.e. I topo'd an area and gave the file to an engineer or architect. Sometimes I get them back on the lay out and they're no where near what I sent them, and other times, they truly didn't molest my file.
Otherwise, hell no I'm not giving out the electronic version of my file. I really don't like giving out pdf's because of how they can be broken into via cad.
I've done three topo's this year where I didn't give a paper map to the client. It's something you have to contend with, but there is no reason to give your client an electronic copy of every survey.
There are a select few surveyors that, if they needed it, I would be more than happy to give the electronic file to them. I also know they're gonna check everything I did and it's a time saver for them and a check on myself, but I can count those individuals on one hand and have many fingers left over.
> I really don't like giving out pdf's because of how they can be broken into via cad.
How about printing it, then scanning it into a pdf?
> What seems to be the general opinion about sharing/ giving your files out? This has become a huge issue for us, and a day does not go by without someone asking. We recently encountered a survey of ours copied and signed by another surveyor. Why are we giving away our work product? Input or suggestions please!!!!
I'd nail their ass to the wall over that. The first thing I'd do is file a complaint with the board, and the next thing I'd do is get a lawyer on the phone.
Tommy
For it to work, where you can really have all of the data properly, you need the pdf to have been created by a virtual printer, and not a scan. Then programs like pdf2dxf can be used and reverse engineer the plat and a simple scale can get it pretty dad gum close.
I've not worried about your idea as every time I've tried it, the scales NEVER will work as the speed of the scanner is off just a tad. 🙂
If you don't, somebody else will and then will win the client.
We will only release them to the client and only after they sign a release agreement.
We take no liability for drawings in that agreement.
Signed and sealed paper copies are the only legally valid documents.
If you subsequently sign off on my work, that's your problem (maybe) 😉
My $0.02
:good: :good:
This has been posted here before. I've tried it and it works in AutoCAD quite well.
"When I send a drawing to someone and I don't want it to be tampered with, I use the following procedure:
1. Start a new drawing.
2. Enter MINSERT on the command line.
3. When prompted for the name, enter the full path of the drawing to protect.
4. For the insertion point, enter 0,0.
5. Enter 1 for the X & Y factor.
6. Rotation angle = 0.
7. Number of rows = 2.
8. Number of columns = 1.
9. Distance between rows = 0.
The drawing cannot be exploded or revised. ...."
It torks off the guys that were planning on misusing my drawings. 😛
Also, if it were me, the clown that stamped your plat would be facing the Board and possibly my Attorney. In my area, what he did constitutes fraud and I would prosecute him to the fullest extent. :-@
Sadly, while Minsert will certainly deter most users, with a bit of stealth, the drawing could still be eventually modified.
Peter
IF they know how. 99% of the Engineers and average CadMonkeys will not have a clue. +o(
Here in Arkansas, we are forbidden from putting a copy write notice on our plats. If you do, you are subject to disciplinary action by the board. We all just got a letter from the State Surveyor spelling that out so you give your work away. One way to discourage them from doing the PDF to DXF thing might be to save your CADD file as a JPG file, then convert the JPG to PDF, then put a password on it to prevent them from printing it. The password should be a minimum of 16 characters, contain upper case, lower case, numbers, and special characters.
Obviously I don't fit in with the general opinion here expressed, but I willingly send my files in AutoCAD and pdf, without a disclaimer or release. The client paid me well for the survey so they and their associates are entitled to a copy, even years later. And, as I've said before, this increases my business since they then come to me for the extras they now need.
> Obviously I don't fit in with the general opinion here expressed, but I willingly send my files in AutoCAD and pdf, without a disclaimer or release. The client paid me well for the survey so they and their associates are entitled to a copy, even years later. And, as I've said before, this increases my business since they then come to me for the extras they now need.
I'm with you Bruce. This is the digital age and I am giving the client what they asked for. I do keep a copy of what I emailed them, so it is easy to prove what it looked like before they got it.
I searched for a ZIP utility that requires an EULA to unzip the file.
I could only find ZIP utilties that require a password, so I put a password at the end of an EULA PDF.
I still strip the drawings and exclude the juicy layers.
Agreed . .
I'll add that things have changed a lot in the past two years. The majority of my clients no longer want or need a hard copy. The AutoCAD file and/or a pdf is what they prefer, and that has the advantage of being there in seconds.
In my business, a DWG is a standard deliverable on pretty much any survey for a commercial or public agency client. Mom and pop clients generally don't ask for (or have any use for) a CAD file, but most everyone else wants to use it as the basis for design.
I do strip out my points and "working" layers, but will provide relevant points if asked. Control points are most closely guarded; I'm pretty stingy with those, because they're generally only of value to my direct competition.
