GIS DATA INPUT USING

SCANNERS AND
DIGITIZERS
Charles Redd & Nathan Miller

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 First Some History

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 The Beginning ?
 GIS was born in Canada in the 1960’s to
manage Canada’s large natural resources.
 The success of the merger of computers,
database, and mapmaking was a big
success.

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 Did GIS Make 2,500 plus Years of
Documents & Mapmaking
Suddenly Obsolete ?
From cave paintings to satellite images

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 Hard Copy Data with GIS
Significance
• Maps
• Aerial Photos
• Tables of spatial information (coordinates)
• Tables of Non-spatial information
attributes
• Engineering and Architectural plans
• Land and Geological Surveys
• Caveman Drawings? Maybe

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 How can we use pre-GIS data and
non-digital data in our GIS
• Digitize existing graphical information!
– Some of the first methods to digitize graphical
information involved overlaying the map with a
grid marked on a clear sheet of Mylar.
Information that was within each grid was
visually observed and entered by keyboard
into the GIS.
• Attribute data from existing tables was hand
entered.
• There must be a better way!

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 Manual Digitizing ?
The majority of spatial
data entered into a
GIS is from manual
digitizing.

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 Manual Digitizing
• The digitizing tablet and table allow
information to be traced from an existing
map or graphic.
• Three different types of tables or tablets
exist.
– (1) Acoustic – the digitizing pen emits a high
frequency sound that is received by
microphones at the corners of the work area,
triangulation is used to calculate the x and y
coordinate of the pen.

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 GTCO CalComp Sonic Digitizer

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 Types of Digitizers (Continued)
• (2) Resistivity uses two charged pads
separated by a thin air gap, x and y
coordinates are determined when the pads
make contact.
• (3) The most widely used in large scale
digitizers is the electronic digitizing tablet.
Embedded below the surface of the table
or the tablet is a grid of wires that measure
the strength of the signal from the puck or
the pen
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 Qualities of a Digitizer
– Stability
• The ability of the digitizer to maintain a
value as the puck remains in one place.
– Repeatability
• Precision
• Good digitizers accurate to 0.001 inch

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 Qualities of a Digitizer #2

– Linearity
• the ability to be within a specified distance
of the correct value
• Good digitizers are able to have a linearity
of 0.003 inch over 60 inches
– Skew
• The ability to produce coordinates in a true
rectangle.

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 Digitizing Procedures
• The Map is fixed to the digitizing table.
• Three or more control points are digitized.
– Easily identified points (intersections of major streets,
major peaks, points on coastline)
– These coordinates will be known or verified
– The digitizing area is registered to the map area.
• Digitizing the map can be done in two ways.
– In point mode , the operator identifies the points
captured explicitly by pressing a button.
– In stream mode the points are captured at regular
intervals (time or distance)

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 Digitizing Procedures (cont)
• Point mode is done subjectively by the
operator (no two operators will digitize the
same).
• Stream mode generates a large number of
points, many of which will be redundant.
• Most digitizing is done in point mode.

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 Advantages of Digitizing
• Low initial capital cost
• Flexible and adapts to different types of
data
• Easily mastered skill
• Digitizing devices are reliable
• Generally the quality of data is high

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 Digitizing Vendors
• Altek
• Calcomp
• Didger
• GTCO
• Kurta

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 Problems with Digitizing
• Paper maps are unstable, they stretch or shrink,
sometimes while they are on the digitizing table.
• The accuracy depends on the dedication of the
operator and his training and skill.
• Accuracy also depends on the quality of the
source documents.
• Paper maps weren’t prepared “digitally” correct,
but to visually impart information, for example if
railroads, highways and tunnels pass through a
mountain pass the pass may be drawn larger to
accommodate the drawing.

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 Scanning Technology
• Converts paper maps into digital format by
capturing features as cells, or pixels.
• Cells are captured using a scanner head
made up of photosensitive cells.
• Advanced large format scanners have
heads with 8000 photosensitive cells
• Each sensor is able to record a pixel rated
between 0 (black) to 255 (white) and any
graytones between.
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 Color Scanning Technology
• Color images use the same technique but
the image is scanned for red, blue and
green.
• Older scanners required the image being
scanned to pass the scanning head in
three passes.
• Vectorization often requires color scanning

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 Color Scanning Technology
• Filters allow the head to pass the image
once scanning all three colors at once
• The latest technology: full width, single
line, sensor array scanning uses a line of
LED’s which capture the image
• LED scanners can create images using
16.8 million colors at speeds several times
faster than previously obtained.

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 Scanning Problems
• Higher resolutions aren’t always the answer to
better data; often the additional “noise” and
resulting clean up of data can cause higher
resolution to not be the best solution, a balance
between detail and additional manual clean-up
must be struck.
• Paper maps are not “dimensionally stable” and a
great deal of variation occurs as the maps age.
• Documents must be clean (no smudges or extra
marks or lines).

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 Scanning Problems #2
• Text may accidentally be scanned as line
features in automatic feature recognition.
• Specialized symbols (for example marsh
or asphalt) may not be detected as such.

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IDEAL          
Large Format
Monochrome Scanners          
max Paper
Model Price   dpi Size Speed

FSS 4300DSP $6,675   200 36 in. 15 sec.

Super Wide 2250 $13,425   400 50 in. 3 in./sec.

Super Wide 2251 $14,925   800 50 in. 6 in./sec

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 max Paper
Model Price   dpi Size Speed
ANAtech          
Binary & Grayscale Scanners          
3"/sec @
Evolution 4 $10,000   400 36 in. 200 dpi
3"/sec @
Evolution 8 $11,000   800 36 in. 200 dpi
6.4"/sec @
Evolution Pro $12,500   800 36 in. 200 dpi
High Resolution
Monochrome Scanners          
1270 Digidot $50,000   1270 27 in. Unknown
Eagle 4225 $55,000   2540 42 in. Unknown

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 max Paper
Model Price   dpi Size Speed
Large Format
Color
Scanners          
36 sec.@200
ESC 5010 DSP $11,175   500 36 in. dpi
48 sec.@200
FSC 8010 DSP $14,925   800 36 in. dpi
Large Format
Color
Scanners          
Colortrac 1.5"/sec. @
5480 $31,000   800 54 in. 200dpi
Eagle 6250C $142,000   1000 62 in. Unknown

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 Vendors for Scanners
• Widecom Scanners
– www.widecom.com/
• Anatech Scanners
– www.anatech.com/
• Vidar Systems Corporation
– www.delinfotek.com/
• Abakos Digital Images
– www.abakos.com.au/
• Contex Scanning Technologies
– www.caddcentreindia.com/

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 Digitizer or Scanner
• Scanners • Digitizers
– Speed and ease – Labor intensive
– Raster data without – Requires skilled
intelligence; manual or operator
automatic vectorisation – Vector (intelligent) data
possible. – Labor intensive
– Usually produces large – Hardware less
files that need expensive
compression
– Hardware is expensive

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 Scanning & Digitizing Input Errors
• Incompleteness of the spatial data;
missing points, line segments, and
polygons.
• Location placement errors of spatial data;
careless digitizing or poor quality of the
original source.
• Distortion of spatial data; base maps that
aren’t scale correct over the entire image
or from material stretch in paper maps.

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 Scanning & Digitizing Input Errors
#2
• Incorrect linkage between spatial and attribute
data; misplaced labels or unique identifiers being
assigned during manual key entry or during the
initial setup.
• Attribute data is wrong or incomplete; missing
data records or data records from different time
periods.
• Redundant information, including vertices, text,
nodes, and arcs.
• Incorrect label information and placement.

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 Common Spatial Errors
• Slivers or gaps in the line work.
• Dead ends, dangling arcs, overshoots and
undershoots.
• Bow ties or weird polygons caused by
inappropriate closings of connecting
features.

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 Data Verification
• Visual review; usually done by reviewing a check
plot (hard copy).
• Cleanup of lines and junctions; this process is
usually done by software and then through
manual editing.
• Check source maps, if additional copies of the
same map are available compare them to see if
stretching of the map has occurred.
• Check output drawing to see if text or symbols
were read as features if software is used to
convert the drawings.

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Examples of Scanned and
Aerial images

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 Paris 1640

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 Paris 2000

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 Notre Dame

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 Summary of Presentation or….
Things I Learned Preparing this
Report
• Scanning while initially faster may not be
the fastest solution for your data input.
• Source information needs to be carefully
assessed before a method of data
conversion is selected.
• The skill and motivation of staff should be
evaluated before a method is selected.
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 Summary of Presentation or….
Things I Learned Preparing this
Report #2
• Acoustic or Sonic Digitizers Exist
• Digitizing can be as accurate as .001 of an
inch
• Color scanners are needed for automatic
vectorization

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 One Eagle 6250C Color Scanner
Costs more than two Dodge Vipers
Scanner $142,000

Two Vipers @ $69,225

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