Welcome to the State Highway Administration's Office of Real Estate MDroads.net System. Below are Frequently Asked Questions to help you use the system to its fullest advantage.
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What is incorporated in this
system?
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Is this system available over the
Internet?
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If I have the Office of Real Estate's filing
number, how do I quickly access the plat image?
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If I do not have the filing
number, can I search the system?
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What printing options are available?
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Can I enlarge an area of the image
for viewing and printing?
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The quality of the image I
am viewing is not acceptable. What can be done?
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There are plats in the system that do
not link to an image. Why?
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Instead of getting an image, my browser
shows an icon of a broken piece of film. What is this?
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When I click on the image link, no image opens and/or I get
an error message. Why?
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When I view the plat image, the background color
is a light yellow. How can I fix this?
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I am an America Online user. How should I configure my system
in order to view plats online?
What is incorporated in this system?
The goal of the Maryland State Archives' Geographical Services program is to capture and
identify all plats that exist for the State Highway Administration's Office of Real Estate. Future enhancements
will include the right-of-way plats recorded in the Office of Real Estate and right-of-way plats sent to the Circuit Courts for recordation.
The main page lists all the primary series from which the plat images
and the descriptions were compiled. These include the collections of subdivision
and condominium plats as well as the collection of plats from land records.
In many cases, there exists more than one copy of a plat filing. The source
for every image is identifed. Links from the series numbers will take you
to a detailed analysis of content, scope, and arrangement of that collection.
If I have the Office of Real Estate's filing number,
how do I quickly access the plat image?
The main search page for the system has a box for the book and page
number as assigned by the Office of Real Estate. Entering the citation
and pushing the search button will return a table listing all records that
matched the search criteria. From this page, you can select the image you
want to view by using the link on the far right. This returns a page with
more detail about the selected plat and the link to the image file. The
link from the image file will open the image within the web browser (if
configured using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 as the computer in the
Court) or an associated program for viewing TIFF images.
If I do not have the filing number,
can I search the system?
The "advanced search" feature on the main page will allow you to search
the entire collection. You may enter any portion of the title of the plat
in the field marked "description." Searches are also allowed against the
filing date of the plat, in 'yyyy/mm/dd' format. In either case, the search
will return a list of results in groups of 30, from the most recent filing to the earliest.
What printing options are available?
Court patrons have the option to print either 11" x 17" or large format
"to scale" copies.
Can I enlarge an area of the image for viewing
and printing?
Yes. When an image is open in the browser, you can use the imaging
toolbar to zoom in on a particular lot or area of the plat. Zoom
in on the portion of the plat that you would like to print. Keep
in mind that the resolution of the capture will be limited by the screen
resolution, not the resolution of the actual image file.
Also, the workstations connected to HP Laser Jets in the Land Records department
at the Courthouse have image capture software installed. To
operate this software when viewing a plat, follow these steps:
- Using the magnifying glass button on the image viewer, zoom to the
size you wish to capture.
- Press the "F7" key. This will turn your mouse cursor from a hand
to a target or "crosshair."
- Starting at the upper left corner of the image, click and pull the
mouse to the lower right corner. You should see a box being drawn on the
screen.
- When you let go of the mouse button, the image starts to print.
The image printed will be the image captured within the box you drew above.
If you make a mistake, the debit card software will allow you to "cancel" the print
and return to the image.
- Pressing the print button will send the image to the HP. The
quality of the image will be limited by the screen and printer resolution.
On any PC, you can use the following method to print only an enlarged
portion of a plat:
- Zoom in on a particular lot or area of the plat.
- Hold down both the "alt" and the "print screen" keys.
- Go to the Start button and open Word Pad under "Programs--Accessories."
- Now, press both the "shift" and the "insert" keys.
The screen capture will appear in the Word Pad window.
- You can print the image from the Word Pad file. The
quality of the image will be limited by the screen and printer resolution.
The quality of the image I am viewing
is not acceptable. What can be done?
Please use the link at the bottom of the page to send an email to the
Geographic Services department at the Archives. Staff there will attempt
to capture the image as a direct scan. The new image generally will be
available on the system within 24 hours.
Is this system available over the Internet?
Yes. The World Wide Web address from your home or office is
www.plats.net.
The website requires the use of a username and password. Access can
be granted with the username: plato and the password: plato#
The system over the Internet is identical to the system installed
in the Courthouse.
There are plats in the system that do not
link to an image. Why?
The Archives' appraisal of the Office of Real Estate's plat collections identified
many unique items that were never transferred to the Archives. As these
items come into the Archives custody, they will be added to the system.
In the meantime, these entries provide index access to the materials.
Some series, such as patents, are scheduled to be added at a later date,
after the basic system is available in all 24 jurisdictions.
Instead of getting an image, my browser
shows an icon of a broken piece of film. What is this?
The Archives designed the Plats.net System to deliver Group IV TIFF
images of plats over the Internet. Group IV is a standard type of TIFF
image. A free viewer that is installed with the full version of Windows
95/98 is located in your c:\windows directory (either Kodak Imaging or
Wang Imaging depending on the version of Windows that you are running).
This program is a generic TIFF viewer that will support the Group IV files
that we deliver in the system.
The problem causing the broken piece of film icon results from a conflit with
Apple's Quicktime version 4 installed on your computer. This
installation changes the file associations in your web browser for TIFFs
to the Quicktime software. Unfortunately, Quicktime 4 does not support
Group IV TIFF images. To correct the problem, you need to change the associations
for TIFF images back to the standard imaging program (or any image viewer
that you may have that supports Group IV TIFF images). Instructions on how
to modify Quicktime's associations can be found at Apple's website:
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n36508
This document will provide step-by-step instructions for removing the
Quicktime association with Group IV Tiff images. After completing the steps,
shut down the browser. The next time you download a plat from our PLATO
system, you should be asked which viewer you wish to use for TIFF images.
Select a viewer that supports Group IV images. This should resolve the
problem.
When I click on the image link, no image opens and/or I get
an error message. Why?
The problem you are experiencing relates to software association. The Archives
designed the Plats.net System to deliver Group IV TIFF images of
plats over the Internet. Group IV is a standard type of TIFF image. A free
viewer that is installed with the full version of Windows 95/98 is located in your
c:\windows directory (either Kodak Imaging or Wang Imaging depending on the
version of Windows
that you are running). This program is a generic TIFF viewer that will
support the Group IV files that we deliver in the system.
In order to make sure that your software is associated with Kodak Imaging, follow the
instructions below.
- Go to the start button and select "Find" then "Files or Folders."
- In the "Name" location type "*.tif."
- In "Look in:" choose the location you want to search.
- At the bottom a list of files will appear.
- Left click the mouse once to highlight the file. Hold down the shift
key, right click the mouse and choose "Open with."
- Select "Kodakimg," check the box at the lower left and click "OK."
- Your image should now be associated with Kodak Imaging.
When I view the plat image, the background color
is a light yellow. How can I fix this?
If the plat image background is a light yellow, then the color management option is enabled.
In order to view the plat with a white background, you will need to disable color management by
following the instructions below.
- Once you've opened the plat image, go to the "File" menu on the toolbar.
- Under "File" menu, select "Color Management."
- The box for "Enable Color Management" should not be checked. If it is, simply click
inside the box to clear it.
- Click "OK" to exit the "Color Management" menu.
I am an America Online user. How should I configure my system
in order to view plats online?
- Load the newest version of Internet Explorer (5.0 or 5.5) or Netscape Navigator.
- Start AOL.
- Minimize the AOL window.
- Start and then use Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
- You should now be able to use PLATO through your AOL connection.
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© Copyright Monday, 01-Oct-2001 21:09:05 EDTMaryland State
Archives, 2001