The intelligence which can be managed, presented and manipulated by surveyors has largely been overlooked to-date, however this year has seen a growing awareness developing in the mine survey sector - that the survey professional should be the custodian of powerful GIS and management information systems for an organisation.

Allyson Lawless Ilangabi, a Bentley reseller, with expertise in Geographics, the GIS application for MicroStation, reports a growing demand for the geographics product from the mining sector. Descriptions, such as vegetation, mineral outcrop, erosion, geology and much more, can be captured whilst in the field, and with the matching coordinates, GIS models can automatically be set up when back in the office.

Not only has the product been considered for surface observations, but for ongoing records of volumes and extents in relation to mining operations, and underground network and emergency planning.

Geographics boasts tight integration with MicroStation - a widely used drafting system in the mining industry. The full range of GIS functionality, including thematic mapping, buffering, spatial and network analysis offer operators the requirements needed, within an environment they have been familiar with for many years. Furthermore, the coal, diamond and gold corporates alike are all seeing the value of easy to interpret results in GIS format.

For more information contact Gayle Champion on tel: (011) 476 4100, e-mail: gayle@ally.co.za