I'd say late to the game, but I work for a govt agency where they've been trying to do the GIS thing for years (decades?) with at best middling success (when I need something it usually isn't in the system yet). You really can't do it as an "other duty" - have to concentrate on it not do a bit in between a bazillion phone calls. So the way BNSF is doing it makes sense, and as one of the commenters pointed out at least it's being kept in-country (unlike the services that digitize your slides and photos in batches). Wish them luck in getting it done within a year, though; it's a huge job.