Square first, then scale, then measure, then sign.
Existing-conditions drawing set
Send the scan, the address and the one dimension you know. You receive a cleaned raster, a DXF with every wall traced and every callout flagged for a drafter, and a reconciliation report that shows what was measured and what was read. An architect of record field-verifies and stamps before anything is filed.
01 The protocol
Six steps, a person at four of them
Roman land surveyors set a groma over a point and sighted along plumb lines so that every line began square. The order here is the same: square first, then scale, then measure, then sign.
- Scan at 200 dpiFlatbed, the sheet flat and square to the glass, at least an inch of margin kept inside the image, PNG or JPG. A PDF is out of scope: the tool refuses it and says so.
- Pick one printed dimensionOpen the scan in any viewer that shows pixel positions, click both ends of the longest dimension printed on the sheet, and send the two positions with the real distance. One stated length sets the scale for every inch in the output, as one knotted cord once set out a field.
- The tool squares, scales and tracesThe page is turned square about its center, cleaned to black ink on white, and every wall is traced to a line. Every piece of printed text is boxed and flagged for a person; the tool reads no text.
- A drafter replaces every placeholderEach flagged box holds a rectangle and a marker. The drafter reads the printed text on the scan and types it in. The report states how many markers were open when the file was written.
- The chain of dimensions is checkedEach printed run of dimensions is added and compared with the overall. The report prints pass or fail and the difference, against a quarter inch unless you set another tolerance.
- An architect of record field-verifies and stampsThe DXF is a traced copy of a scan. It carries no seal and the tool never adds one. The professional measures the building, not the scan.
02 What comes back
A raster, a drawing and a report
- Cleaned rasterThe scan, deskewed, black ink on white.
- DXFR2010, units in inches. Three layers: WALLS (one line per traced wall), TEXT_TODO (a box and a marker per piece of printed text), SCALE_REF (the two picked points, the stated distance and a note).
- Reconciliation reportAs Markdown and as JSON: the deskew angle, every traced length, every flagged box, the scale and the one dimension it rests on, the chain check, and a warning where the page could not be squared.
Every length is [TIER: COMPUTED] and rests on the one dimension you stated. Nothing here is MEASURED or CERTIFIED until a professional measures the building.
03 Permission
Whose drawings you are sending
A copy of plans on file is not free to reuse. Bring written permission from the signing professional and from the owner before you send a scan of someone else's drawings, and keep it with the job file.
04 Request the drawing set