With everything under the sun now being available on the Internet, the National Zoological Gardens' Aquarium and Reptile Park in Pretoria, which launched its own website at www.aqrept.com is no exception.

The site is sponsored, developed and hosted by Computer Foundation, a South African market leader in the supply of GIS-based business decision-making solutions. Chris de Beer, Curator of the aquarium and reptile park, says the website provides a unique opportunity for the public - including aquarists, nature lovers, school children as well as overseas zoos - to visit the Aquarium and Reptile Park from their desktops.

Using MapGuide, Autodesk's sophisticated tool for distribution of maps across the Internet for which Computer Foundation is the largest supplier in South Africa, the company has included maps which highlight the geographic region(s) where the reptiles and fish are to be found.

Visitors to the site will also find a colour photograph, as well as a brief overview of the habitat, lifestyle and other interesting information regarding the individual species to be found at the Aquarium and Reptile Park.

"We will be continuing to update the site and will soon include exotic creatures, such as the Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard that can grow up to three metres long." says de Beer, who expects a high level of interest in these fascinating reptiles. "This website definitely puts Pretoria Zoo 'on the map', as it were, as we now have a far greater public visibility than before. We may also, in future, expand the website so that people can have the opportunity of taking part in our adoption scheme via the Internet."

About Computer Foundation

An Ariel Technologies subsidiary, Computer Foundation is a South African market leader in the supply of spatial solutions, with offices in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Maseru and Gaberone.

It is a large supplier of the Autodesk range of GIS products, which include AutoCAD Map, Autodesk World and Autodesk MapGuide, and the first Autodesk Authorised System Centre in this country, in the GIS and mapping applications arena. Adding to its capabilities in the GIS arena in South Africa, Computer Foundation is also a reseller of MapInfo Professional, the most widely used GIS software for commercial applications.

Also supplying and supporting ER Mapper, the company has enviable capabilities in the development of a large range of mapping software based on the products in its portfolio. One of its major achievements is the development of the world's first Autodesk interface to Oracle's spatial capability, which complies with Open GIS (OGIS) Consortium standards for SQL at database level. It also supplies a wide range of support services including technical support, training, project management, consulting and data brokering.

Computer Foundation

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