GLS Archives New Projects https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487329 Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:28:23 GMT Tue, 25 Jun 2019 18:03:17 GMT Copyright © 2019 Surveying and Mapping Society of Georgia GLS Archives New Projects https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487329 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487329 I would like to start a discussion about indexing the DOT Right-Of-Way plans. As some of you may know I own a company called GLS Archives. This is an online database of survey plats. These survey plats are organized by county, district, land lot, date, subdivision, street name, street number, and surveyor number. I think it is well organized. I sell the maps to the public for $25, surveyors $10, and $0.99 to anyone who has contributed their files or a collection they own. We are not making a ton of money, but my revenue has been enough that I hired a computer programmer to write an indexing software allowing me to speed up the indexing process exponentially. I can now index in the cloud. This allows me to hire people and have them work from home and pay them per file indexed. All the data goes straight into my testing database and when it is good, we upload that data to the world wide web. That is GLS Archives business model in a nutshell. Oh yeah, I have about 400,000 surveys of Atlanta scanned in.

 

I am anxious to start another large indexing project. I want to index all of the available GA DOT right of way plans. I want to do an awesome job, so we can actually find the correct plans. I think the DOT web site is hard to use, and I know a little about programming and databases. I can’t ever find what I am looking for. I have started pushing the DOT at the political level to do this, but it is not going to be easy to get permission.

I would like to know what you think? Would you like to see GLS Archives go after another set of records? You guys have gotten me to this point, and by the way, thank you! I am happy to hear what you have to say.

Josh 4

JLewis4@glsurvey.com

]]> Sat, 11 May 2019 17:02:09 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487332 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487332
I usually take a look at glsarchives to see what they have, and would definitely make use of GDOT archive.]]> Sat, 11 May 2019 17:47:51 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487368 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487368 I have found your archives easy to use and very helpful.  I applaud you for making all those plats available and I personally endorse and encourage your current efforts regarding the GDOT records. Good luck.

]]> Sun, 12 May 2019 16:18:19 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487800 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487800 Josh 4]]> Wed, 15 May 2019 01:42:04 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487901 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1487901 Wed, 15 May 2019 17:55:29 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1490667 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1490667 We've used GLS Archives Extensively. It's great.

 

]]> Mon, 3 Jun 2019 15:06:13 GMT https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1494306 https://www.samsog.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=1494306 Josh IV,
I've had a lot of folks run this by me, and I've not been on the forum in several weeks or I would have responded sooner.  Here's my two cents worth:
1. I agree that the GDOT system isn't great but we've learned to search it many ways and seldom have to send in a request.  My understanding is that GDOT is going through a multi-step process from the days when all plans were in drawers organized by project number downtown.  The steps go from scanning, to renaming, to entering into their system, and then to georeference the project on their GIS platform.  The first thing that we do is draw the search box on their map and see if it pulls anything up.  This in my experience is successful about half of the time, sometimes more and sometimes less.  The project number for some reason is seldom a viable search query, and most deeds don't have PIDs which usually do work 95+% of the time.  We'll do a refined search and include the highway number (i.e. SR56) but that doesn't always work because some roads weren't state routes at the time, and some route numbers have been changed.  What works a lot if you have it is the description of the project, such as "Doraville to Hapeville Road", I'll often filter by county and one of the towns that the project connected.  It's usually stated on the right of way deed, but if you don't have the right of way deed one can guess by the towns on each end of that section of state route.  They have folks working on it, it's just a slow process.

2. You are obviously more experienced and knowledgeable on indexing software, and GLS Archives has become a very valuable search tool that we refer to often.  But, I can't figure out how this would be indexed such that it could be searchable in an efficient manner.  For example, if I'm in a GMD between Ocilla and Fitgerald, how would GLS help point me to the appropriate and most current set of plans fronting the property that I'm surveying?  You may can find a way to index by mile post or street address?  If that's possible than it would be a big help and I'd probably be willing to jump over to your site and pay $10 but a plan sheet rather than searching myself.  I also think about all of the state projects that might turn up in a land lot search in Gwinnett County, and how to sort through those.  Again, you may have a plan that would make it very helpful and efficient, and if so I personally would likely use it.

3. The plans are public information.  I would not worry about the "political side" just yet, if ever.  Download them from GDOT and start indexing them.  A thorough indexing exercise would most likely shed light on what is not available on the website and you could request the missing pieces then.  If you searched (and downloaded) by county, I think you may could get everything there is including what is not georeferenced yet, and you might not need anything else, I'm not sure.  I'd be surprised if political help were necessary with this approach, but I guess you never know.

In summary, I support and appreciate your efforts.  If you are able to get GDOT plans into GLS Archives in a manner that can be effectively searched, I think that folks would use it and pay for the scans.  I think that technically/legally you wouldn't be charging for the scans, as they are public information, instead you would be charging for the sorting, searching, and delivery of the (free) scans just like people pay for public records searches all of the time.  If I can help, let me know.

MEC

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