R2V, raster to vector conversion, GIS, mapping, CAD (2023)

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Able Software R2V for Windows, is a powerfulraster to vector conversion software at a reasonable price. R2Vcombines the power of intelligent automatic vectorizingtechnology with an easy-to-use, menu-driven, graphical userinterface in the Microsoft Windows environment. Thesoftware converts scanned maps or images to vector formats formapping, geographic information systems (GIS), CAD, and scientificcomputing applications. The system is easy to use and can belearned quickly by users with any level of technical background.

R2V provides an easy and complete solution to digitize vectordata from image sources, such as scanned maps and drawings,aerial photos, and satellite imagery.

For many images, the entire raster to vectorconversion process is fully automatic and needs no humanintervention. You display the scanned image on screen and youselect the vectorization command. That is all it takes! All thelines are extracted in seconds and displayed right on top of theimage for you to verify and edit. Powerful editing and processingfunctions are provided to edit, geo-reference, and label yourdata. R2V has all the tools to get a perfect set of vector datafaster and easier than any other methods.

With R2V, you can forget about slow and inaccurate handtracing on a digitizing tablet, simply scan your map or drawingand let R2V vectorize it automatically, at a high accuracy level.A typical contour or parcel map scanned at 200 DPI (dots/inch) as black andwhite or grayscale can be vectorized in seconds or minuteson a Pentium PC.

Original contour map

The image is vectorized using R2V's fully automaticvectorization function. A 3D DEM is also created from the labeledcontour lines and displayed using R2V's 3D functions.

We know editing for both raster images and vector data isextremely important to you, so we have made the effort to buildeasy to use and intelligent editors for you to handle all datatypes in one display window, including lines, points, polygons,text labels, image pixels, and control points. With R2V, you canautomatically vectorize maps or drawings, perform quick heads-updigitizing and geo-referencing of aerial photos or satellite imagery, and update your existing vector data sets usingthe latest aerial photosor other images.

You have some color maps? No problem. Scan them in color and R2Vwill classify the colors and vectorize each color separately;Then label the lines using the semi-automatic vector labelingtools.

Whether your maps are contours, parcels, transportation, or CAD drawings, orif you have hundreds or thousands of them, R2V isthe right tool for you because it is being used all over theworld for all types of large and small digitizing projects. Ourusers have been impressed by how easy and how fast the digitizingjob has become and the prompt technical support we have provided.

And what aboutremote sensing? SPOT satellite image format is supported. Naturalsource images, such as aerial photos and color satellite images,can be automatically classified or segmented to generate regionor boundary maps, all in R2V. Advanced image processing functionsinclude image warp or registration, image mosaic, colorclassification and separation, and many more to handle differenttypes of images.

If you need to update your existing vector data set using thelatest satellite image or other source, simply load the imageinto R2V and import your vector data set. With R2V's powerfulediting functions, you can easily update your data, label your data, andgeo-reference your data so your data is almost immediately ready for use.

If you provide digitizing or data conversion services to yourclients, R2V will help you to get the job done quicker and betterthan manual tracing or other poor quality conversion programs.Not only does R2V have the best fully automatic and semi-automatictracing functions, but all the tools you can use to editboth raster and vector data, assign labels, geo-reference, and create a 3D display of your data.

Have too many maps or drawings to convert? R2V's batchprocessing function is the solution for you. First write yourimage and vector processing script using R2V's script editor, andthen list all your images. Whether you have 50 or 500 of them,one command will process them all, with all the pre-processing andpost-processing steps applied and the vector data saved.

R2V Functions

Vector Export/Import: ArcView (Shape file), Arc/Info Generate, AutoCAD DXF, MapInfo (MIF/MID), IGES, MapGuide SDL, 3D Grid file, 3D DEM (compatible with USGS DEM), VRML, and 3D XYZ vector file formats. More vector file formats are being added. Click here to get sample output files.

Advanced Vectorization: R2V supports three types of vectorization:

1. Fully automatic vectorization. One command will vectorize your scanned map in seconds or minutes at high quality. Batch function allows vectorizing a number of maps without any user intervention. Write your own batch script to customize the processing steps for the images before vectorization and for vector line processing after the vectorization.
2. Interactive line tracing. You select two points on the image and let R2V trace the line for you. Easy, accurate and intelligent! For complex maps or drawings, use the interactive tracing to vectorize lines selectively. Or use the multiple line tracing function to vectorize a group of lines with only two clicks.
3. Manual on-screen heads-up digitizing. With R2V's easy to use vector editor, you simply draw the lines with your image as the backdrop, zoom in and out, and quickly create the data set for your specific applications

Complete Vector Editing: A complete on-screen vector editor is provided using the image as a backdrop. Lines can be created, moved, joined, split, removed, colored, and labeled. Closed polygons are formed easily from existing lines with the polygon editing tool.

Vector Labeling and Contour Map Digitizing: Lines can be labeled with different ID values which are saved as attributes when exporting to a mapping or GIS package. Semi-automatic contour line labeling is supported for quick elevation assignments of contour lines

Vector Rasterizing: Converts vector data to high resolution raster image for printing and processing.

Multiple Layers: Use R2V's layer manager to define as many layers as needed to organize vectorized data into layers. Layers created in R2V are fully compatible with the export vector file formats that support multi-layer structure. With multiple layers defined, vector data can be processed, edited, and displayed by layer and moved between layers. Layers can be turned on, off, or locked for flexible vector data editing and handling.

Point Feature Digitizing: Complete support for digitizing of point features. Points can be created, moved and labeled. Point data can be exported to all the vector file formats supported.

Automatic Polygon Layer Creation: Create polygon layers automatically from vectorized lines with just one command. The closed polygons can then be edited, and labeled using R2V's line editor. Polygons can be displayed in fill mode with a user defined hatch pattern and color for the layer.

Powerful Raster Image Editing: R2V provides a powerful raster drawing tool for easy image pixel editing and repairing. All image types, including 1-bit monochrome, grayscale, 8-bit color, and 24-bit color are supported by the Image Pixel Tool. Pixel mapping functions can easily map one pixel value to another for the entire image to remove noise pixels, clean up image background, or merge color layers.

Geo-Referencing Using GeoTIFF or Control Points: Vector data can be geo-coded or geo-referenced to a real world coordinate system (e.g., UTM, Latitude/Longitude) using GeoTIFF, user selected control points or a World file (TFW). Raster images can be geo-referenced as well with a generated World file supported by ESRI's Arc/Info, ArcView, or TAB file by MapInfo. Image rubber sheeting functions allow geometric correction or registration of an image to a new coordinate system. R2V supports both Bi-linear and Delaunay triangulation methods for geometric transformation. Geo-referenced raster images can be saved in GeoTIFF format, and are fully compatible with other packages that support GeoTIFF.Conversion between Map Projection Systems: R2V supports conversion between UTM coordinate systems, latitude/longitude, State Plane NAD27 and State Plane NAD83 systems. You can convert one point or an entire set of control points automatically.

Automatic Text Detection and Recognition (OCR):Detects and recognizes text of different fonts, sizes, andlanguages automatically. Flexible editor for easy removal andmanipulation. Other irregular intersection symbols can be detected andcorrected as well.

Merge Multiple Maps: Use R2V to vectorize maps separately and then merge them into one set by specifying proper control points. The merged vector data set can then be edited within R2V and treated as a single map.

Flexible Region of Interest for Vectorization and Image Processing: R2V supports regions of interest in the form of circles, rectangles, free form polygons, and their combinations for vectorization and image cropping.

3D Display With Image Draping: Create a 3D data set automatically from your labeled line data and display them using R2V's advanced 3D display and animation function. View your data with image draping in 3D at any angle and distance. Supports 3D DEM (compatible USGS DEM format) and Grid formats for both input and output. 3D models can be exported to DXF, VRML, and XYZ formats. Simply download a VRML plug-in for your web browser and then click here to see an example
Powerful Image Processing: Vertical and horizontal flip, transpose, rotate, remove dark background, edge detection, image resample, crop a region, smoothing, segmentation, image mosaic, fusion, warping, and negate. Both supervised and unsupervised classification are built in to help process aerial photos or satellite imagery that are in color. Color separation, grayscale image enhancement, and image type conversions can all be done using R2V.Image Mosaic: R2V's Image mosaic command makes it easy to create a mosaic image from a series of sub-sections. Simply start by selecting the Image/Mosaic option, and specify the layout matrix and image file names. The image mosaic will be created in a few seconds. Images with overlapped borders are correlated to create seamless image mosaic.

Image Merge and Overlay: The image merge function allows you to combine multiple images interactively to create image overlays or mosaics.

Colorize Grayscale Images using a Low Resolution Color Image: R2V's image fusion technology provides a powerful way to colorize a high resolution grayscale image using color information from a low resolution multi-spectral image. If you need to interpret a grayscale image at a higher accuracy, colorizing the image gives you the correct information about water, shadow, and vegetation, instead of just dark pixels