Middlesex County New Jersey has maps dating back to the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne and George Washington, but with the constant exposure to the elements and human contact, these maps we deteriorating Image-X supplied a complete solution, saving the maps and little bit of American history.

Middlesex County, the third largest in the State of New Jersey, with almost one million people has a rich history extending to the colonial days of the United States. The Office of the County Clerk, once known as “Keeper of the Records” dates back to 1677. This office recorded exact entries and records of all public affairs, land grants and leases. Keeping the Register of subdivision maps and filings for real estate ownership remain part of the County Clerk’s responsibility today.

In order to access these historical maps, citizens were required to line up at the counter and wait their turn for assistance by staff. The process was inefficient for the County and the public. In addition, the maps faced continued deterioration from constant handling.

Middlesex conducted a nationwide search for a company to design and implement a document management and imaging system. Image-X was selected as the contractor based on its open architecture, multi-platform system that could be delivered timely and within budget. For the County, the net result was an Electronic Map System. Maps for all Major and Minor Sub-Divisions have been scanned and are available over the web. In the near term, Middlesex will web-enable the County’s Land Records Management System. When complete, the system will provide web access to over 8 million land records.
The various categories of maps present in the county were scanned using a Vidar large format scanner. All the images, thus created, are stored on a Compaq server with external tape back-up. Six Compaq PCs which are connected to the network with ImageView software are used to retrieve the maps based on any of the following fields: name, location, map number and size of map.

With this new electronic system, substantial cost efficiencies have been derived by the County while the citizens appreciate far easier access and greater convenience.