scanning service

Thanks! I'll contact them and see if they have any geo-referencing options. One of the sets is the City ecological zone map that we use when calculating allowed coverages for construction.

Depending on how many, might make sense to buy a scanner/copier/plotter. We've got a big Canon at work that cost about $10,000 but a smaller one would surely be cheaper. Around here it's pretty expensive to get it done.

I am interested in helping you scan your surveys. I have scanned about 500,000 surveys and built a website around it.
Here are some general prices on what I would charge.
$0.50 for large format drawings. That includes indexing one field like a drawing number. The files would be tiff grey scale at 300 dpi.
$0.85 for tiff color at 300 dpi and those are large format drawing prices. That still includes indexing one field. This is not batch scanning, meaning there would be someone indexing your files so you could find them.
I can also do a lot more services as you require For example I can index as many fields as you like. I can also output the data into a csv file or build you a SQL database.

Give me a call or send me an E-mail if you are interested. I am out of Atlanta. We would need to work out some way of getting the files to my office.
My contact information:
Josh
Jlewis4 at glsarchives.com
404.202.7614

Because of an ongoing need to scan large format drawings for active projects, I made the decision to purchase my own scanner. I ended up buying a new Colortrac SmartLF 24" color scanner, at a cost of between 2K and 3K. It's a good machine, produces color or grayscale, PDF or TIFF, and is always available in house.

I'd think hard about the offer from Atlanta though if I had to do it over again. Sounds like a very reasonable offer. And, Staples is right across the street and can scan for a reasonable price the occasional drawing for a current project.

Do you keep copies of what you scan ?

we've had our own scanner for years. everything is scanned. we trained a field crew member to scan during foul weather. if you need something faster, you really need to find that special someone who can perform mindless repetitive tasks without going mad, or hook into an ipod and groove to the work.

> Do you keep copies of what you scan ?

No not in this case. For those prices I would scan the material and not keep any copy on file. I would draw up a contract which would protect the digital rights of his drawings.

This company I have, GLS Archives, is just starting out and I don't have all the details figures out yet. I have solicited a few surveyors in my area to scan all their files in exchange for the digital rights to their maps. I would give them back all of their hard copies and a copy in digital form in exchange for their digital rights.

I sent out 20 letters and got a couple "hey that is a good idea" but no one signed up. In their defense I am a competitor and I think they are a little wary.

Thanks I'll be looking into this later in the week.

It occurred to me that I actually feel better about using someone out of my area to do the scanning for fear that my files might be sold or given away to others in the area that are interested. Maybe that is misguided, but I work hard to collect my information and don't think others appreciate that when sharing it. That's probably why most end up doing it in-house I suppose.

So maybe marketing to your local "competition" isn't the best way to build clients?

Your website is really well done! Have you thought of selling a template of that to go along with your scanning services?

As a company owner, I would love to be able to go to my website and look up anything I might need while on the go. OR allow clients to go and FTP their maps .. just rambling here.