County engineer's office saves time and money with digital copying
The challenge
The cost of photocopying land surveys was taking a toll on Ohio's Perry County Office. Staffers spent valuable time fulfilling requests for survey copies using a photocopier that cost nearly $3,500 annually in equipment servicing and sup- plies. The staffers knew it was time for a better solution.
The solution
Perry County Office purchased a 44-inch Contex wide format CIS scanner with Nextimage REPRO. The scanner is ideal for high-volume, in-house scanning of large format maps and technical drawings. The Contex scanner is connected to an existing HP wide format printer for hard copies.
Benefits & results
Since most customers prefer digital versions of land surveys at the Perry County Office, the Contex wide format scanner is in constant use. The powerful scanner is fundamental in helping to build its digital archive of maps, while protecting aging documents from becoming lost or damaged.
One of the top priorities for local county offices is to fulfill requests for copies of land survey maps in a timely and cost- effective fashion. However, as demand and cost-per-copy of these large format documents steadily increases, so does the pressure for government staffers to find more efficient solutions.
This was the case for Ohio's Perry County Engineer's Office, which serves more than 36 thousand residents living in 400 square miles of suburban and rural land. After annual demands of surveys surpassed 8,000 photocopies, Jason Fulk, GIS Specialist, knew it was time move to a digital system capable of handling high-volume, wide-format scanning of large-format maps and technical drawings. A Contex wide format scanning solution would allow the office to build a digital archive of new and old maps, as well as facilitate fulfilling document requests.
An unexpected benefit was financial: the new scanner will pay for itself within 2 years, thanks to the elimination of $3,500 in annual photocopying expenses.
Capturing County Map
Because land surveys range in size from 8.5x11 to 24x36 inches, Perry County staffers needed a wide format scanning solution to digitally capture both new surveys as they were submitted to the office and existing surveys as they were requested from the archive. Staffers knew they wanted a Contex wide format scanner, which offers the best market value for efficiency and quality of output. With the help of Sean Eikenbery of People Docs, a wide format solutions integrator, Perry County Office is now using a 44-inch Contex CIS scanner with Nextimage REPRO.
Usability is a hallmark of Contex's scanners. The light and compact 44-inch frame allows for maximum portability and user convenience, and its instant-on and one-touch interface shorten the scanning process. With up to 9600dpi optical resolution, the scanner captures exceptional detail. The County office connects the Contex scanner to an existing HP wide format printer, should a customer request hard copies.
Saving Time, Money, and Resources
"The primary reason we purchased a scanner is to make surveys available digitally. We also wanted to protect the documents as they aged and became more fragile," states Fulk. The documents, which date back to the 1800s, were sometimes damaged during retrieval and copying. A digital archive eliminates this risk to irreplaceable historical records, preserving delicate originals and managing the flow of survey data to and from the County office. Since the project began in January 2012, 6,000 documents and maps – about 10% of the total – have been scanned and archived.
The digital format encourages customers to bring in maps for scanning, increasing the County's catalog of maps. An added benefit is environmental. The Contex wide format reduces the Office's annual consumption of paper, toner, and supplies. Perry County Office has not purchased paper for more than a year. Eliminating these photocopying costs also means that the Perry County Office can afford to provide digital copying as a service to the community.
"Each scan builds our archive," explains Fulk. "And by elimi- nating the costs associated with the servicing and supplies of a photocopier, the Contex scanner will quickly pay for itself."
