1. Raster-to-Vector Conversion Software Packages A Technology Assessment Usha Eleswarapu Mathura Priya Sundar Rajan

2. VPStudio v6.52/ VPRaster Pro All of the Above is the menu choice that displays this dialog. Click OK, and VPStudio deskews, despeckles, and aligns your image. It performs a number of other tasks that you define.

3. R2V for Windows 9x/NT Starting with an 8-bit color map, Able R2V converted it to grayscale in the blink of an eye and then vectorized the entire map in under 15 seconds.

4. R2V (v.5.5) from Able Software, Massachusetts TracTrix (v.3.1) of Trix Systems, Massachusetts Draftsman2000 from Arbor Image Corporation, Michigan VP Studio (v.6.52) from Softelec, Texas Easy Trace Pro (v.7.3) from Easy Trace Group, Russia Raster-to-Vector Conversion Software Packages

5. image acquisition and preprocessing line tracing and editing text detection and recognition topology creation attribute assignment Raster to Vector Conversion

6. Evaluation Criteria supported platforms documentation and help options technical support market share price applications major clients image types supported input and output formats rubber sheeting vectorization raster & vector editing tools batch processing feature

7. Price R2V (Able Software) TracTrix (Trix Systems) Draftsman 2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) EasyTrace Pro (EasyTrace Group) $1,495$900$1,495 (images upto 11” wide) $2,895 (images upto 100” by 100”) $4,100$999 (reduced by 50% for educational institutions)

8. Market Share R2V from Able Software Trac Trix of Trix systems Draftsman 2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) Easy Trace Pro (Easy Trace Group) 7 years. Good customer base. Over 60 countries Started in late 1980s. US operation in 1995. No major clients Early player. No big clients Started in 1980. Product introduced in 1994. AT&T, BMW,Boeing. Established in 1993. Mainly in Russia. No big clients

9. Vectorization R2V (Able Software) TracTrix (Trix Systems) Drafts- man2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) EasyTrace Pro (Easy Trace Group) Semi- automated & Fully automated Fully automated Fully automated Semi- automated & Fully automated Semi- automated & Fully Automated

10. Raster editing tools R2V (Able Software) TracTrix (Trix Systems) Drafts- man 2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) EasyTrace Pro (Easy Trace Group) color classification, grayscale image background removal, image mosaic, color separation, flip, transpose, rotate, invert, deskew, despeckle, edge detection, fusion, warping, segmentation,etc. Rotate, invert, mirror, anti-alias, fill, erase, crop, deskew, despeckle despeckle, hole fill, scale, rotate, box & polygon erase, pixel editing, copy. color manipulation, color separation, color pattern elimination, snap, despeckle, deskew, hole fill, crop, rotate, mirror, invert,etc. color classification, grayscale image background removal, image mosaic, rotate, invert, hole fill, flip, crop,etc.

11. Vector editing tools R2V (Able Software) TracTrix (Trix Systems) Drafts- man 2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) EasyTrace Pro (Easy Trace Group) snap lines, smooth lines, polygon closing, semiautomatic contour line labeling, multiple layer creation, attribute labeling snap lines, smooth lines, polygon closing, multiple layer creation, add, delete, convert vector entities, rotate. rotate, reflect, move, copy, close polygons, join polylines, line & point snap, parallel snap,perpendi- cular snap, vector fill.No attribute assignment. strong vector editing functions. additional capabilities topology editor & topology checkup; rotate, align, crop, snap lines, smooth lines, polygon closing.No text recognition

12. Batch processing R2V (Able Software) TracTrix (Trix Systems) Drafts- man 2000 (Arbor Image) VP Studio (Softelec) EasyTrace Pro (Easy Trace Group) yes optionalyesno

13. Conclusions R2V is useful for small and large organizations that need a reasonably-priced GIS-friendly package TracTrix at $900 is affordable and easy to use. It is adequate for small organizations that are willing to do necessary vector editing. Draftsman2000 is a medium-priced CAD-oriented product. It is adequate for GIS applications. It is suited for medium to large organizations.

14. Conclusions (contd.) VP Studio is an expensive CAD-oriented product. Its many features may make it longer to learn. It is useful for big organizations that have primarily CAD and some GIS applications Easy Trace Pro is aggressively pursuing a US market. This GIS-friendly product may be useful to organizations that want a low-cost alternative and are willing to take some risk.