Centurion-based geographical information system specialists Computer Foundation is presently in the final stages of developing a management system for the Cadastral Spatial Data of the Chief Surveyor-General. The development, regarded by some as one of the most advanced in the world, controls and displays more than eight million individual properties in South Africa, with the correct location of each property.

Computer Foundation Development Manager, Fred de Lange, says the Chief Surveyor-General would be one of the first Land Survey organisations in the world to store spatial data in an Oracle 8i database.

The system was developed by Ariel Technologies subsidiary, Computer Foundation, over a period of about a year in close cooperation with staff of the offices of the Surveyors-General in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town.

The use of Oracle to store data enables the offices of the four Surveyors-General to incorporate the search for mistakes and other spatial errors, as a database function, which will dramatically improve the correctness of the spatial data. The system incorporates a series of reports that interrogate the spatial data tables for incorrect data. The task manager allows the spatial manager to allocate tasks (data which needs to be corrected) to operators within the four Surveyors-General offices.

De Lange says South Africa is one of the few countries in the world to have all of its cadastral data digitally available. Most other countries in the world are either still in the process of establishing such digital data, or have not yet started with the process of computer mapping.

To enable the Chief Surveyor-General to store data in Oracle, Computer Foundation has developed a link between Autodesk's Autocad Map and Oracle Spatial. This is the first system of its kind and De Lange says Computer Foundation is receiving enquiries from all over the world about the system.

Louis Fivaz, Director: Cadastral Spatial Information - Chief Surveyor-General's office says that this system enables his offices to integrate their spatial data and the alphanumeric data seamlessly.

Computer Foundation

(012) 672 0100

www.cf.co.za