Document Scanning

Vectorising (raster to vector conversion)

Images of graphical information such as drawings, maps and schematics, can be vectorised to produce a file that can be used within a computer-aided design (CAD) system.

Raster to vector software works by analysing the shapes in an image and relating these to the basic vector shapes that a CAD system uses to make a drawing. These basic shapes are lines, arcs, circles and other simple geometric patterns. The process is often an interactive one in which the software automates the conversion to an extent, and relies on operator interpretation to complete the conversion. With graphical data there is no spell check equivalent, so much more operator work is needed for drawing data than is associated with text conversion routines. Aspects such as the dimensional accuracy of the original, distortion and scaling errors all contribute to the operator effort needed; to get a CAD ready result.

The process is unlikely to be practical on a large scale, and the resource investment in the file may only be justified in very limited fields of application.