Providing South Africa and Africa with proper infrastructure planning tools is one of Bentley South Africa's main objectives. By using the integrated Bentley engineering management software, Cadnet Information Systems is in a position to make a substantial contribution towards this goal.

The NET group of companies is a well-established group of information technology providers for infrastructure and resource management enterprises with offices in all the major centres in South Africa. Cadnet Information Systems is the GIS division within the NET Group of Companies specialising in the capturing and updating of data for mapping purposes. Together with Bentley systems and a variety of Bentley's software, Cadnet Information Systems is at the forefront of GIS technology.

Cadnet Information Systems soon determined that the success of GIS projects revolves around two issues, namely quality and relevancy of spatial data and access to the data. Thus Cadnet established the Spatial Data Warehouse and the Virtual Information Centre.

The Spatial Data Warehouse

Cadnet Information Systems' Spatial Data Warehouse consists of two types of spatial datasets: raster and vector.

Internationally Cadnet Information Systems is gathering the entire mapping information database relating to Africa. Most of the African countries' datasets are currently only available in georeferenced raster formats. Cadnet Information Systems is in the process of vectorising these datasets according to a priority list. The whole of Uganda has been mapped with the use of Bentley MicroStation Geographics.

Closer to home Cadnet Information Systems is actively busy capturing and updating the outstanding data boundaries for all the unproclaimed and informal towns.

The 1:500 000 topographic dataset contains features like roads, rivers, dams, contours, bulk utilities and the cadastral extent of proclaimed town boundaries, while the 1:50 000 topographical dataset shows features like the various classes of roads, rivers, contours and utility lines, cultural features, town boundaries, etc. The Survey General Cadastral Dataset contains more detailed features like farms and portions of farms, erfs and erf numbers, towns, nature reserves, boundaries, servitudes etc.

The Department of Surveys and Mapping is responsible for the processing of topographical information and are sending their updates to Cadnet Information Systems on a regular basis.

The Virtual Information Centre

Cadnet Information Systems has established the Virtual Information Centre (VIC). The VIC is a community Web based solution that enables access for all information users to view, update and manage data and generate reports for any service either municipal or commercial. The VIC utilises the Spatial Data Warehouse as its core.

The main objectives of the VIC are to stimulate data sharing and the use of information, to promote the data maintenance and update processes, to continuously design and develop new functionality for users and to provide instant access to directory listings of geographic information, searches based on keywords and geographic references. The VIC will enable every person with the necessary access privileges to be an end user.

The regular updating of the information is just as important as the initial gathering thereof. Cadnet Information Systems has a number of systems in place to keep track of changes and record it into the system immediately. In the past the various government departments had their own sets of maps and data which in most cases were out of date. With every new development each department would set out to gather its own information and in the process duplicating what other departments had already done. No communication between departments and local governments existed.

In this regard the VIC will aid the governments as all data can be viewed and thus acquired without duplicating data capturing procedures. Duplication of data is wasteful.

Cadnet Information Systems has developed various functionality solutions with Bentley's systems. Bentley's Modelserver Discovery and Modelserver Publisher is perfect in publishing these extra added functionalities through the VIC giving Cadnet Information Systems' customers a much cheaper solution.

The Modelserver products are used to provide easy access to geoengineering data through a web server. By allowing anyone to dynamically view, query and update MicroStation Geographics, Intergraph MGE and other DGN-based projects, it lets planners, engineers and managers navigate their geoengineering projects through a standard web browser.

Bentley enables Cadnet Information Systems to produce the quality and scope of projects for South Africa and Africa. Bentley offers products and services that are based on a vision, which is shared by Cadnet Information Systems: engineering is a process, not just an event.

Bentley SA

(011) 482 3262

tex.vandeventer@bentley.nl

www.bentley.com