In one of the largest projects of its kind in the world, South African IT Company Computer Foundation recently completed a project that is set to revolutionise the way in which road maps are presented in Britain. With superior technology and a highly favourable exchange rate to its advantage, Computer Foundation (CF) secured a contract with British cartography specialists, Lovell Johns through Map Studio South Africa, with the challenge to create Britain's clearest mapping system ever. The massive project entailed mapping 45% of Britain by combining data from different sources into one seamless data set, using the Internet to obtain data from England and to return it after processing.

The project used to its optimum a unique and highly successful concept put in place by CF four years ago, whereby untrained contractors are literally taken off the streets and trained in basic tasks such as inputting data, producing maps and cleaning up data. The concept has already been used with great success for clients such as the Independent Electoral Commission, the Surveyor-General and Statistics South Africa, the government's statistical service.

More than 60 contractors were specially trained for the British contract and the South Africans worked night and day through the 2000 festive season, enabling CF to deliver the project ahead of time, despite technical problems.

So impressed was Lovell Johns with the service rendered by the South Africans, that CF had to fly 10 of its best contractors to Britain last month to help their overseas counterparts to deliver the project on time from their side. The CF team recently returned after and insightful and very intense month at Lovell Johns' offices in Oxfordshire.

Jan Kleynhans, Project Manager for CF, says CF is one of the companies with the largest infrastructure and ability to handle such projects in South Africa. Efficient project management lies at the heart of such huge projects.

The British project is one of the biggest yet to be delivered by CF. In South Africa, CF made history by electronically mapping South Africa for the Surveyor General in time for the country's first democratic elections.

Kleynhans says the successful delivery of such a huge project in record time proves that CF can compete with the best in the world.

Computer Foundation

(012) 672 0100

www.cf.co.za