Dr. Thomas Rider and Paul McClung formed Greenbrier Graphics, Inc. for the formal development and distribution of software in 1987; however, their first version of Deed Plotter® precedes this.

Paul first developed software to draw and analyze legal descriptions in 1978.  This was about three years before IBM released its first P.C.   By 1981, Tom had decided to refine and improve this program and a non-ephemeris "sun shot" program Paul had developed. A COGO program and a Highway Stakeout program were also developed and included in plans for wide-scale marketing.  By 1985, these programs were available for the IBM P.C., and distribution had begun.

In 1987, Greenbrier Graphics was formed, and it was decided to focus on the improving and marketing of our "non-surveyor" mapping program, which by then had been renamed Deed Plotter®. "Deed Plotter" became the trademark name of our mapping software and was/is marked as such on the software, manuals, and promotional literature (including advertising).

When our first update was released, a plus (+) was added to the name "Deed Plotter" so as to indicate improvements. We now had a Deed Plotter+®.  When we wrote our Windows version of Deed Plotter, we identified it as such by using the wording "Deed Plotter+ for Windows."

Since 1987, we have been first in the design, implementation, improvement, and marketing of many features that help shield the end user from the difficulties that some legal descriptions can present.  For example, we first made the entry of unusual curve data possible and more user-friendly.

That same year, we began the development of a method used to automatically accept many metes & bounds legal descriptions as they exist in a word processor or text document. This process was called "proofing" and the program was called "Proofer™."  When we moved to Windows, further refinements were made to Proofer and the integrated process became known as "Deed Conversion™. "  If you type, scan, use voice recognition or any other means to create a document that includes a legal description, you may want to try this automated description reader as a quick, easy method to obtain a map and statistical data.

From the beginning, we have indicated on our manuals that Deed Plotter is a "Deed Description Analyzer™" program.  That is not merely an advertising ploy.  The software has been continuously updated and improved relative to analyzing defective and complicated legal descriptions.  When our Windows version was released, it included a menu option entitled "Analyze Tract."   We have included an "Analyze" example on this Web Site.

In addition to writing code and manuals for Deed Plotter, Paul McClung, President of Greenbrier Graphics, LLC, has been active in improving the standards of surveying in West Virginia. He has written articles that were published in the WVALS magazine and in P.O.B. magazine. He also works with other surveyors on complex or disputed surveys and is an expert witness in court cases that involve boundaries or rights-of-way.  Deed Plotter is frequently used by lawyers for bounday disputes.