Middlesex County New Jersey has maps dating
back to the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne and George Washington,
but with the constant exposure to the elements and human contact,
these maps we deteriorating Image-X supplied a complete solution,
saving the maps and little bit of American history.
Middlesex County, the third largest in the State of New Jersey,
with almost one million people has a rich history extending
to the colonial days of the United States. The Office of the
County Clerk, once known as “Keeper of the Records” dates
back to 1677. This office recorded exact entries and records
of all public affairs, land grants and leases. Keeping the
Register of subdivision maps and filings for real estate ownership
remain part of the County Clerk’s responsibility today.
In order to access these historical maps, citizens were required
to line up at the counter and wait their turn for assistance
by staff. The process was inefficient for the County and the
public. In addition, the maps faced continued deterioration
from constant handling.
Middlesex conducted a nationwide search for a company to
design and implement a Document Management
and imaging system. Image-X was selected
as the contractor based on its open architecture, multi-platform
system that could be delivered timely and within budget.
For the County, the net result was an Electronic Map System.
Maps for all Major and Minor Sub-Divisions have been scanned
and are available over the web. In the near term, Middlesex
will web-enable the County’s Land Records Management System.
When complete, the system will provide web access to over
8 million land records.
The various categories of maps present in the county were
scanned using a Vidar large format scanner. All the images,
thus created, are stored on a Compaq server with external
tape back-up. Six Compaq PCs which are connected to the network
with ImageView software are used to retrieve the maps based
on any of the following fields: name, location, map number
and size of map.
With this new electronic system, substantial cost efficiencies
have been derived by the County while the citizens appreciate
far easier access and greater convenience.
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