MGT 7-1.indd - KMI Media Group

LARGE-FORMAT PRINTERS AND
SCANNERS ARE KEY TOOLS FOR
MEETING GEOSPATIAL USERS’
NEEDS FOR PRECISE AND
ACCURATE IMAGING.
BY ERIN FLYNN JAY
MGT CORRESPONDENT
For geospatial analysts and users, the ability to move smoothly between
the worlds of electronic and physical images—to produce high-quality prints
from complex and detailed digital images, and vice versa—is essential. To meet
those needs, a wide range of printers and scanners using advanced technology
is available.
The industry uses large-format printers to produce quality and accurate
color maps, charts and high-resolution imagery from satellites and aircraft.
Scanners are used for electronically capturing maps and charts, and map
overlay for geographical analysis.
High-color fidelity is important when scanning difficult GIS maps containing
light or dark shades of color. Users may be working with old or fragile
documents or maps that have folds or imperfections, so it’s also important to
use scanning technology that can scan and capture images properly.
3-D printers, meanwhile, enable customers to produce quality terrain,
urban and subsurface maps quickly. When used to print GIS data, they provide
a color terrain map, not just a 2-D image.
One company that is heavily involved in this field is HP, which offers a broad
portfolio of large-format color printing technologies and solutions. There are
a number of HP solutions available to meet the
needs of professionals working in the geospatial
industry.
“These solutions should be selected based
on the size of the work group and the volume
of printing that needs to be fulfilled as well as
the type of printing applications that will be
produced,” said Eric DuPaul, U.S. federal government
Designjet specialist, HP Imaging and
Printing Division.
HP Designjet printers are being used by the
Eric DuPaul
geospatial community to produce high-quality,
eric_dupaul@hp.com highly accurate color maps, plats, charts and
high-resolution imagery from satellites and aircraft. “With the federal government
moving to a ‘distribute and print as needed’ model from a ‘print and
distribute’ model, HP Designjet printers are helping to cut costs and reduce
waste with quick print-on-demand capabilities,” DuPaul said.
With built-in technology designed to allow geospatial users to easily print
from applications such as ESRI ArcMap and Adobe PDF, HP Designjet printers
do not require special modifications to meet the needs of the geospatial
community. Such features as an easy-to-use print driver, built-in job management
tools, user-changeable supplies and HP’s
Advanced Profiling Solution ensure a great customer
experience right out of the box, he said.
After working with the federal geospatial
community for more than a decade, HP has carefully
considered this customer group’s needs
when designing its printers. For example, all
HP Designjet printers that include hard drives
support HP Secure Disk Erase and Secure
Sanitized Erase, as required under the Department
of Defense’s 5220-22.M specification.
MGT 7.1 | 7