Archive for May 26, 2011

Raster to Vector (R2V) Conversion



The R2V conversion process starts with a high quality scan. When a paper drawing is scanned, the resulting digital file is a raster file. The large format scanner used to scan paper drawings for raster to vector conversion should be a scanner that is capable of providing a high quality image. Image quality is everything here. If two lines are muddied and appear as a single line in the scanned drawing it will be difficult, if not impossible, to know that they should be separated when the scanned raster image is converted to a vector image. Once you have the best scanned raster image possible, rectify the image to make sure it is aligned correctly, scaled correctly, and that it measures correctly on all axes points.

In order to work with a digital file in a CAD (Computer Aided Design) system, the scanned raster file needs to be converted to a vector file by a process called raster to vector conversion or, simply, vectorization. According to Wikipedia, “vectorization refers to the process of converting raster graphics into vector graphics.” In very simple terms, this means converting pixels, which are dots of color (raster) like this… into lines (vectors) like this __________. It’s important to note that when you enlarge a raster image, the dots or pixels begin to break apart, and you lose the clarity of the image. (Think about enlarging a photo taken with your digital camera). On the other hand, a vector image can be enlarged indefinitely without loss of integrity, because it is made of lines, arcs, polygons, etc.

But how exactly to convert from raster to vector? There are many different conversion methods. There are commercially available raster to vector conversion software packages from companies like GTX, Hitachi, I/Vector, and Softelec. Some conversion service companies have written their own raster to vector conversion routines. Unfortunately I have found that one raster to vector conversion product does not fit all. It is not uncommon with 100 drawings, that 30% are converted via one (1) method, the next 40% need to converted via a different method, and the remaining are hand redrawn.

Please do not be misled with raster to vector software vendors promising ‘automatic raster to vector conversion’. Simply put, it is not true. These products are tools – and only tools. They all can help in the conversion process, but they are not the cure-alls they claim to be.

Generally, I have found that the most reliable way to get “CAD Perfect” digital drawings is by using an experienced raster to vector conversion service. Make sure the firm has proven and verifiable capability to provide converted files that can be brought into your AutoCAD, Microstation, or other CAD program that you use. Make sure that the conversion service you choose is able to provide vector files that are easily editable in your PC CAD, CNC, GIS or other program. Finally, confirm that the raster to vector conversion service that you use provides quality control and a satisfaction guarantee. The work should be guaranteed to be 100% correct, 100% of the time. No exceptions. No excuses.

SEO Marketing Frustration

Most Internet marketers are frustrated and at their wits’ end. The long and hard efforts of optimizing their websites with no positive results are getting the best of them. This is why a large percentage of sites are not Search Engine friendly. Which means their site is not optimized for Search Engine ranking. It is not rich in keywords and the spider cannot crawl with ease.

Statistics show 95 percent of your competition has never even heard of (SEO) Search engine optimisation. 3 percent feel the competition is too high so they concentrate on other Marketing techniques and are doing no optimization what so ever. The last 2 percent are the SEO Marketing experts.

Google needs to find 10 web pages to put on the first page for each search term. And according to statistics only the first 6 position are optimized pages (that would be the 2 percent experts). Google having no choice has to fill the next 4 positions with the next best thing. So if the first six positions are SEO Marketing Experts that leaves position number 7 up for grabs.

So why is it so hard to get on the first page of the major Search Engines? It has been preached many times to write relevant quality written content. This will please the visitor but for the Search Engine you must also have a keyword density of 2 to 6 percent which then makes the writer repetitive. Good writers hate to use the same word twice and fine alternative terms that mean the same thing. This makes for good pleasant reading, but it will not help your site get listed in the top 10 positions for your keywords in the Search Engine.

It is important for your keywords to have the correct keyword density to rank well in Search Engines.

The keyword density formula is the number of times the keyword is used divided by the total word count on the page. Example: I have used “SEO Marketing” as one of my keywords. The density is 2.2 percent.

It is amazing how much space in the SEO Marketing world that can be had only because most marketers are under the impression that it’s too difficult or that it’s too time consuming. Optimizing is not difficult but it can take up a lot of time.

So the bottom line here is to put some of the SEO Marketing concentrations in keyword density to help guide the spiders crawl.

No one can guarantee or predict the outcome of your SEO Marketing efforts but working with the proper information and the few factors we know of the algorithm, you can and will improve your chances of being placed in the top 10 positions in the Search Engine. Visit our SEO London agency for information on various SEO solutions to suit you.

Web Page Change Alert – Top 3 Solutions For Tracking Changes on the Web – Must Read Comparison



You own a website or maybe not, but you want a web page change alert when your favorite web page changes. It would be great if the tool automatically completes this check every time a website has been updated or if only a particular page changes that interests you.

There are tools and software to do this job and they will send you the alert automatically to your email. The advantages of using such tool is you can monitor your own website and see if the people working on it already made the changes you requested.

This tool is a blessing to track the progress of a project.

Another possible employment for such tool is to monitor the competition. You might be competing for a particular keyword and you see a page ranking higher on search engines that is not yours. You can create an alert to see when the page ranking higher has changes to see its update frequency and the new keywords and content added to it. This method will save you valuable time you would have spent manually checking the page and try to notice any changes.

Google Alerts is not a page change alert tool, it is rather a keyword top ten results change monitor tool. If new content comes to that particular keyword on Google search, Google blogs or Google news you will be alerted, however this tool will not monitor a particular page and trying to use it as such will end in frustration and lost time.

Google Alerts at can at most show if your website is ranking high already for the keywords you choose to get alerts from. If you want a genuine web page change alert service, try ChangeDetect which presents itself as the leader in web page monitoring, but this is the same as web page change alert.

What is the difference between online and offline page change monitor tools?

The offline versions are more powerful, they have extra powerful options the online version can only dream of such as programmed searches and the ability to save the results in files and send it to another person. These offline tools can also compile reports efficiently and export that data to share with your team where as the online version at most can only present it to you.

The online version on the other hand has the advantage of always keeping the data in a secure place, there is no need to perform daily or weekly backups and there is no software to install on your computer which will make your computer slower, and finally there is no risk of experiencing data theft if the computer is stolen by someone.

Which version of the web page change alert solution is right for you? While that would depend on your particular needs, the whole computing world is moving to the cloud. Having software installed on your local machine is going the way of the dinosaur. Sure there will always be certain applications that remain on your desktop, but these will be specialized applications that will just be jumping off points to the Internet.