Large-Scale Aperture Card Scanning Project: Steps For Success

Starting a large-scale aperture card scanning project can feel overwhelming, but understanding the unique challenges and considerations can set you on the path to success. This article dives deep into what makes these projects different, focusing on key factors like pricing, scheduling, logistics, and scope.

Whether you’re new to the world of aperture cards or a seasoned veteran, we provide practical insights and strategies to help you through the process. If you’re ready to transform those stacks of aperture cards into accessible digital resources, let’s get started.

What Are Aperture Cards?

Aperture cards are compact, card-sized documents measuring about 3” x 7”, designed to house microfilm images. These often contain technical information like engineering drawings and architectural plans.

Historically, aperture cards served as an efficient method of storing vast amounts of information in a space-saving way. Their durability and long-lasting data preservation capabilities made them popular in fields like engineering, construction, and urban planning, where maintaining records for extended periods is crucial.

department of public works 16mm aperture card

There are different types of aperture cards, each with unique scanning requirements:

35mm Aperture Cards (Single Image): These cards hold a single large-format image, typically engineering drawings, and are ideal for industries like construction and engineering.
35mm Aperture Cards (Multi-Image): These cards contain multiple images, usually 16mm office-sized original documents, within the same 35mm frame.
16mm Aperture Cards: These contain smaller-format images and are typically used for permit files and smaller-scale documents.
Hollerith Aperture Cards: These cards use a 35mm image format but also include punched holes that can be read by specialized scanning equipment, reducing the cost of indexing.

Each type requires specific scanning techniques and equipment, making it essential to know the format and image layout of the aperture cards in your project before proceeding.

Defining A Large Aperture Card Scanning Project

A large-scale aperture card scanning project generally begins at the 20,000-card mark, potentially scaling up to hundreds of thousands of cards. Once you reach 100,000 cards, you’ve entered major project territory. Grasping the scale of your project is crucial as it guides you in resource allocation and setting a realistic timeline.

To give you a sense of how we categorize the size of aperture card projects, here’s a short rundown:

Small-scale projects are less than 5,000 cards. These are more manageable and can often be completed in shorter time frames with fewer resources.

Medium-scale projects will have between 5,000 to 20,000 cards and require a more structured approach, but are still feasible for smaller teams.

Large-scale projects involve 20,000+ cards, with hundreds of thousands being considered extra-large, and these require significant planning and more-detailed workflows to handle the quantity of cards being scanned and processed.

Project Considerations

Every aperture card scanning project is unique. You can even have the same quantity of aperture cards, let’s say 50,000 cards each from two different building departments, and there are still going to be nuances to each project.

We approach each project uniquely, ensuring that your project will have a custom process flow designed specifically for your needs. This ensures that every requirement for your project is addressed and fulfilled. Below are some of the considerations for your individual project.

Price

The price for your specific project will be largely dependent on the quantity of aperture cards. The quantity of cards is one of the biggest factors in determining the scope and pricing of your project because it’s one of the simplest ways to assess whether it will be smalland quick, or if it will require significant time and resources. Let’s say you have 2,500,000 cards; that will be a major factor in the price.

Cost reduction business finance concept. Businessman with virtual screen of Cost reduction graph with down arrow for budget management and cost management.

Additionally, the type of aperture card is essential to the price. As we mentioned above, there are several different types of cards and each type of aperture card is a little bit different, so this will be a factor in the price of your project.

Schedule

The timeline required to execute your project is another factor that will influence the price. Depending on when you need it to start or finish, we may need to adjust some internal projects and redirect resources to ensure your job is completed on time. Especially with a large project (let’s say you have hundreds of thousands of cards) it takes considerable resources from our employees, as well as time and production capacity. Therefore, your timeline and your requirements will be crucial.

For example, if you have 150,000 cards of 35mm aperture cards (the most common type), we might estimate that it will typically take about 3-5 months to complete. However, if you need it done in 3 months guaranteed, that’ss essential to know. This way, we can confirm that we can meet that timeline and allocate the necessary resources to ensure it’s accomplished.

Logistics

Logistics are crucial because the scanning and processing of your aperture cards is the core of what you’re trying to accomplish. However, you still need to get the cards to us so we can perform the scanning.

There are several ways to approach this: if you’re local to our facilities or in the regional area, we can pick them up and drive them back to our facility. Alternatively, someone from your team can deliver the records to us.

If you’re not close enough for a simple pickup, we can send one of our employees to fly out to your location, rent a vehicle, and then drive the materials back. For safe transport, we recommend using Pelican cases, which are designed to protect your records during the journey. Watch our Pelican case transport video to see how it works.

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The most common method is straightforward shipping: you can box up the aperture cards and send them to us. If you want added security for your records, we can send you our lockable Pelican cases, where you pack up your cards in the Pelicans and then send them back to us. For large aperture card scanning projects, it might be necessary to handle it in batches, which involves sending us a batch of cards for scanning on a rotating basis so that we can complete each batch without the rest of your cards just sitting in secure storage while not being processed.

Regardless of the type of shipping you decide to use, it’s important that we create a plan to ensure the cards are ready for scanning before we execute the contract and get started. While we’re working on the project scope and contracting, having a comprehensive logistics plan will play a key role. We’ll collaborate with you to ensure smooth project procedures, including getting the cards to us.

Scope

The project scope determines how the aperture cards will be scanned and what will happen to it once it’s digitized. Below are some key aspects of the project scope you should understand:

Quantity of cards
As we mentioned above, the quantity of aperture cards will be a significant determinant of the scope of your project, affecting not only the price but also the timeline and logistics. Essentially, this is the key aspect of how we formulate the scope and plan for your project.
Indexing
Other than quantity, indexing the cards (or digitally naming the electronic records once they’re scanned and processed) is one of the most critical aspects of the project. Yes, getting them scanned is important, but you want to be able to use and access these files once they’re digitized. You want to be sure that they’re named in a way that makes them easily accessible so you can get to them quickly.
- We recommend the building block approach when it comes to indexing, which involves replicating the way you currently find your cards. You can make it more complex later if needed, but it’s best to start with a simple naming plan. For example, you may locate data by flipping through the cards using the title blocks. The simplest way to replicate that is by capturing the information from those titles. Going beyond that, such as parsing the data out or attempting image-level indexing, can be useful but is likely more expensive, and it might not make much of a difference compared to title indexing.
- You’re already digitizing the records, which will make them more efficient. Therefore, we recommend starting small by replicating your current method. Later, if you think you could benefit from improved indexing, such as image-level or file-level indexing, you can implement it then. However, you don’t need to spend the money upfront.

Delivery Method

The delivery method is basically how you want to receive the final product, and there are a couple of parts to that.

File format
The file format can be traditional, such as PDFs, JPEGs, TIFFs, etc., or can be accessed via our secure hosted application, Digital ReeL. In general, if we know the file format ahead of the project, this part of the process is pretty straightforward. Issues can arise if you decide to change the file format after we’ve already created the process flow and started the project. This can result in minor hiccups, but usually it’s not a major concern.
File delivery
Once the project is complete—the cards have been scanned, indexed, and processed—it’s time to deliver the images and data.
Standard methods include USB hard drives or thumb drives, or you could use SFTP, which is a method for electronic delivery. Alternatively, you might utilize our hosted Digital ReeL application. There are many options for the data transfer, but knowing how you want to receive the records once we complete the project is a key part of the scope to ensure it is wrapped up properly.
Do you have the resources to ingest the data?
Something to consider when receiving these images and files, especially on large projects involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of images, is whether you have the resources to ingest that data.People often underestimate the amount of data created from aperture cards, especially with large projects involving hundreds of thousands of cards. They may not have sufficient resources on their end to store it. The exact data size remains uncertain until the project is completed, as that’s the nature of digitization. However, there are ways to estimate how much data you will receive, so you can be prepared when you get the files.

How To Get Started

First, like you’re doing now, do your research. Read websites, blogs, watch videos, or attend webinars—anything that relates to aperture card scanning should be on your radar so you gain some general knowledge of how these projects work and what to look for.

You’re not trying to be the expert, but you should spend a little bit of time learning about these processes and what goes into an aperture card scanning project before you reach out to companies for their assistance.

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Once you start talking to companies, ask if you can do a sample. When you have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of aperture cards, it’s very likely that the company you’re talking to will want to do a sample anyway, but you should ask and say, “Hey, if everything seems right, could we do a sample so we can see how this works?”

With a sample, you’re not just looking for the resulting images and scans; you’re also evaluating how you work with that company. If they’re communicative, helpful, and guide you smoothly through the process, and everything gives you that comfortable feeling about them, that’s a huge piece of the puzzle aside from the actual quality of the images and scans. However, if you don’t get a good feeling, that’s probably an indication of how the big project will go. So, samples are a great way to get some insight into a company.

In Closing

Starting a large-scale aperture card scanning project may seem intimidating at first, but that’s why you can work with a company like ours, BMI, to help!Take the first step with confidence, knowing that a well-executed scanning project can transform your data management and accessibility for years to come.

Next Steps

Reach out to us today! Click the “Get Your Quote” button below, fill out the form, and we’ll quickly reply to you to discuss your project.

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Large-Scale Aperture Card Scanning: Steps for Successful Digital Transformation