Production and reproduction of visual content is a critical part of the project flow for any geospatial professional or team. Although this is conceptually nothing new, the demands on those working in these fields keep increasing. This brings a continually changing set of needs to the technology vendors producing relevant solutions for the data communications in this sector.
The beauty of professional industries is the inherent knowledge about their field and the related technologies that support key workflow concepts such as optimising. This links straight back to the financial directive all companies have in open market systems: profitable sustainable growth. As competition continues to increase and margins tend to slim down, it places pressure on every part of the value chain in a project team, to ensure they align their efforts with the solutions that enable them to produce top output at each step of their respective projects.
To bring this to sectors such as the surveying community, technology certainly has a major part to play in how data is processed through the various workflows. As data is captured, there is an inherent need to display the information again for decision making and continued updating, as environments such as the typical mining operations continue to change. The obvious element of digital data will continue to call on computing and screen visualising technologies to improve and offer better solutions at more competitive pricing. However, many of these geospatial operations are spread over so many forms of business environments, from corporate offices to site-based operations, and all have varied needs for viewing and updating that data. This is where printing and scanning technologies still maintain critical value for the project teams.
Fig. 1: HP Designjet T3500 Production eMultifunction Printer in an office environment.
To capture that holistic perspective on a project or section of a development, large format printing offers the support through technology to be able to visualise at this level, while offering the ability to still have small text and lines visible, and legible, to single out details.
Quality of printing in this regard is a basic requirement today, but with seasonal or peak printing of high volumes of these prints, productivity certainly becomes the more sought after benefit of technology. As much of the geospatial industry bills resources to a project on a per hour basis, it further highlights the need to move through steps of producing prints and capturing it back into digital format quickly and efficiently. To then ensure profitability on any project, there is a need for IT assets to contribute to reliable processes that can easily be accomplished by all or most team members, as well as to make integration easy and consistent for the IT team itself.
To bring this discussion to a technical point then, let us visit a typical workflow process and look at some items that positively contribute to the needs of visualising data in this sector. Data in GIS environments often is highly complex and large in file size, with a need to have accurate processing of both vector and raster data, mostly found layered in the digital file. This implies that the driver used for the printer needs to firstly support the types of data effectively to maintain accurate printing, but also have an efficient way to translate the computer data into printing information. Here the HP-GL/2 driver has set standards as opposed to the first large format printers due to the fact that it hosts the native vector and raster data directly to printer, unlike many drivers that are RTL based, implying they merely flatten the content and send it to the printer similar to a jpeg picture. In the latter case, leading to a higher risk of inaccurate translation into printed format. Processing speed is key to making larger volumes of prints happen in shorter timeframes, which is where we split into two directions. HP-GL/2 has the optimal performance for small to mid-sized file and complexity, giving the user the best results in short processing times. However, Adobe PostScript driving systems truly stand on their own once you get to larger files with superbly complex layered content. A recent experience again solidified this when processing with the PostScript driver reduced a specific data set spooling in ArcGIS from 2 hours to 7,5 minutes, after adding the PostScript upgrade to the printer.
Fig. 2: HP Designjet T3500 Production eMultifunction Printer.
In the same line of thought, colour accuracy for legends and tint differentiation can never be neglected. It is not about getting the most vivid print, but rather the most accurate print. Here a driver such as HP-GL/2 has a pre-calibrated colour table to match with AutoCAD and Bentley software suites. PostScript however allows for finer tint accuracy and even manual fine tuning through Pantone emulation systems printing from any software. So with a recent shale gas deposit map being published, the legend only contained shades of brown, making it important to get differentiation between tints clear and accurate. Here PostScript again made the difference for optimal colour output.
While in processing phase, preparation of files also keeps coming up as a token pain point for many centralised print facilities. Many people today use Adobe PDF as the file format of choice due to its security and ease of use, ranging from free apps off the internet to Adobe’s full Acrobat Professional offering. However, central printing teams have no information on how the PDF was created, implying that they often send files to print, unknowingly get incorrect output, and only learn about this when the owner of the document gets frustrated because he now needs to resubmit the file, and is possibly missing deadlines already due to not being able to use the first printed copy. Here Pre-Flight Management software has proven handy in assisting teams, receiving files from varied sources, to more easily and accurately manage the processing and printing of the files when compared to doing it one by one through Acrobat Reader. As such the HP Designjet SmartStream is a software solution that is able to show PDF issues with fixes before printing, simplify batch printing of even PDFs with mixed content and page sizes, as well as reduce previewing and processing times compared to traditional viewers and standard print drivers.
Fig. 3: HP Designjet HD Pro Scanner in a GIS environment.
Once printing, the speed of getting the page out seems to have captured the attention of most tender specifications in the past. So much so that LED printing technology has been able to capture a large section of the high speed, high volume environments, but is still mostly found only in mono. Hence the effective use of colour in designs is of no use. What is exciting to see is how Thermal Inkjet is starting to close the gap in leaps and bounds, referring to speed of printing, while still allowing colour to add value in how data is visualised. Even running costs have started to align with the historically dominant monochrome printing solutions, now allowing for pay-per-use in contractual business for full colour printers as well.
Without a doubt, the user of the print solution would need to have a setup where multiple rolls can be managed online inside the printer, with automatic switching between rolls of different types, size or even continuing a large print job by moving from a depleted roll. Even the length of the roll is important as it reduces the need for the operator to replace rolls for mostly larger printing volumes. Here a typical solution of two rolls is a good place to start, but you get systems with many more rolls, even with colour solutions having up to six input rolls.
Operations where individuals do most of their printing themselves have a different need for interaction with printing devices. Here elements such as touch screens have proven to allow users to be quicker to learn basic operations on both printers, scanners and MFPs (multi-function-printers). Cloud based services are starting to step onto the scene as well, where users want to be able to share files securely online through smartphones and tablets, then release the print either remotely to another person waiting for it, or securely when they arrive at the printer to ensure the content remains protected.
Fig. 4: HP Designjet HD Pro Scanner.
Managing the pages of printed output is also another level of print management, as prints thrown randomly on top of each other in a bin have the risk of folding or getting removed by others looking for their prints. Stacking devices are becoming more of a norm today to ensure that you either have an integrated output stacker, or in cases even have external options that can include folding. This allows an A1 print to be folded to a ready-to-file A4 size. All these extras introduce improvements on the workflow of the printed file, hence making it possible to meet tight deadlines and simplify the users experience with a variety of technology accessories.
Once we have these printed files, they are often used in meetings and annotations are made on these for changes or considerations that need to be taken back into digital format. So having a large format scanner nearby is then rather handy. Even though you get well-integrated printer-scanners today, there still is the need for scanners that have certain technology which is not found in all-in-one solutions. Here CCD scanning technology offers scanning of old originals with folds and discolouring of the paper, making it possible to remove most of these without losing data from the actual print. CIS scanners on the other hand are mostly used on the integrated solutions, and enjoy a price benefit, but have fewer options and lower quality than what the CCD systems can offer. Once the scanner stands on its own, integration with IT often becomes a frustration as a separate computer is needed to drive this scanner, on which operating system and anti-virus management has to be covered by IT. The alternative is an integrated scanning solution where the CCD scanner and computer is combined, having an embedded OS and features to assist with various levels of security. These touchscreen computers seamlessly integrate through a single power and network connection to the IT environment, again simplifying the world of general users in small offices as well as IT departments in enterprises.
Fig. 5: HP Designjet T7200 Production Printer in a reprographic print shop.
In the latter, larger companies have processes where IT has to certify a system and its drivers on their network before it is allowed to be rolled out to the users. The true cost of testing and integrating an array of drivers on various operating systems can amount to time, time and more time. The alternative is a universal driver that will allow IT to focus more efforts away from integration and more toward innovation. The HP Designjet Universal Print Driver is such an intelligent single-driver solution that radically simplifies deployment of an entire printing fleet, including HP Designjet and Laserjet printers used in general A4/3 office printing. They simplify printing, streamline management tasks, save time, and hence significantly cut down on installation, update, and testing costs. Users can continue printing with all their systems up-to-date and cut down on help desk activity. This combined with new ePrinters that are web-connected and can ensure the printers firmware (or printer operating system) is automatically updated, makes the world of IT and its service rendered to the users in a company far more seamless and effective.
Finally, the technical elements of technology bring us back to business and how it supports enterprise in being profitable. Every solution comes at a price, new innovation especially is known to attract a healthier price structure. The key however is to see how setting the correct expectations on tenders can drive benefits into the operations of GIS companies to allow for savings in their workflows. Price alone does not position a solution that makes a geospatial company or project profitable. In the modern world of business, the more informed will make decisions that benefit their companies in the mid to long term, which is where technology is positioned to contribute strongly in the world of visualising data. So for printing and scanning solutions there is much to be gained for those willing to research the options in the market and keep their technology up to date.
Contact Jaun-Onic Maritz, HP, Tel 011 785-1000, jaun-onic.maritz@hp.com
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