"Mitchell B Adelson" <[log in to unmask]> 6/25/2004 9:19:46 AM
Hello.
The times they are a changin..
The EROS Data Center (EDC) Photo Lab will be closing on September 3,
2004. This means that NO photo or film products will be produced after this
date. You will only be able to purchase scanned copies of the imagery.
For customers who need paper prints, EDC is contacting business
partners to see who might be able to plot them. They are hoping to have a
list of such partners before Sept 3.
Below is a copy of the memo that is being mailed to customers. If you
have any questions please let me know.
------------------------------
>Mitch Adelson
>Cartographer
>Western Region Geography
>US Geological Survey
>345 Middlefield Rd, MS 532
>Menlo Park, CA 94025
>
>Phone 650-329-4293
>Fax 650-329-5130
>e-mail [log in to unmask]
>----------------------------------------------------
>Have Topo Map .....Will Travel
>------------------------------------------------
>
USGS to stop Photographic Production
This communication provides notification that the USGS EROS Data Center (EDC)
plans to transition from providing traditional photographic products from its
historical film archive to providing only digital products from which paper
prints can be generated by computer-linked printers or plotters.
The USGS archives thousands of rolls of film containing over eight million
frames of historical aerial photographs gathered from various Federal agencies
and dating back to the 1930's. The largest portion of this archive consists of
original film taken during the 1940s through the 1970s to produce
1:24,000-scale USGS topographic quadrangle maps.
Since the early 1970s the USGS has offered a variety of photographic products
from that archive, ranging from 9" to 40" prints along with 9" film copies.
For the last few years there has been a decline in customer demand for paper
prints and film products. Also, several major suppliers of traditional
photo-processing chemicals, paper, etc. are converting to digital product lines and
discontinuing traditional raw materials. Therefore, with production expenses
becoming increasingly higher than can be recovered through product sales, and with
a fundamental transition in
the photographic materials industry, the USGS will discontinue offering
photographic products.
Please note that no orders for photographic products will be accepted after
September 3rd, 2004; however, all photographic orders received prior to that
cut-off date will be filled.
The USGS/EDC will, however, begin offering two new digital products. One of
the new digital products is a high-resolution, digitally scanned product, which
will be made available upon request starting in July 2004. This digital
product is created at approximately 1200 dpi with an output file size of
approximately 120 megabytes from a black and white photograph and 360 megabytes from a
color photograph and provided in a TIFF format. The cost for this product will
be $24 for cleaning and scanning each frame plus the standard media generation
costs of, $45/CD, $60/DVD or $30/file if ftp'd.
A second digital product is a medium-resolution digitized product and will be
available on-line as the rolls of film are digitized beginning in October
2004. This medium-resolution digital product is created at approximately 600 dpi
with an output file size of approximately 15 megabytes from a black and white
photograph and 45 megabytes from a color photograph and will also be provided
in a TIFF format. The cost for this product will be $1 per file access fee
along with the media generation
costs of $30/file if ftp'd, $45/CD, or $60/DVD.
Samples of both the high-resolution and medium-resolution digital products f
or two frames of photography over an area of New York City acquired in 1966 at
a scale of 1:24,000 are available to FTP from the following location:
<http://edc.usgs.gov/phoenix_iv/new_york>
http://edc.usgs.gov/phoenix_iv/new_york
As a result of this transition, USGS digital image products can be delivered
faster than traditional photographic products. Unless otherwise restricted,
all digital products are public domain and can be modified to suit your needs or
combined with other digital data. For further information please contact:
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
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