Ordnance Survey's Boss Holds Britain In Her Hands

In July 2002, field mapping leader Tadpole-Cartesia announced the largest software contract in its history.

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High-resolution image - http://www.patcom-media.com/tadospic.jpg

(Caption) Well, digitally speaking. Vanessa Lawrence, director general and chief executive of Ordnance Survey, holds one of the pen computers that will run Tadpole-Cartesia and ESRI software to build and maintain the digital face of Britain. Left is Mark Ketteman, general manager of field mapping leader Tadpole-Cartesia, and Andrew Duff, technical director of the leading geospatial supplier, ESRI UK. Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright.

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Edinburgh, October 9, 2002 - In July 2002, field mapping leader Tadpole-Cartesia announced the largest software contract in its history. In partnership with ESRI, the world's largest developer of geospatial technology, Tadpole was appointed prime contractor to build Ordnance Survey's next-generation field information system enabling the mapping agency's 400-plus field surveyors to record every building, road, pathway and object in Britain and send that information from the field to OS central databases in Southampton.

The most detailed and ambitious mapping project ever undertaken by a mapping agency, the system is being built around the Tadpole Group's ESRI ArcGIS-based field mapping and Endeavors Technology's Magi peer-to-peer software collaboration products. The first seamlessly extends corporate data into the field, the second provides mobile workforces with an intelligent and secure 2-way web communication platform to share and interact on files and data in both disconnected and real time modes.

Using Tadpole's software to run handheld devices, OS surveyors nationwide will be able to record and seamlessly update geospatial data from the field to OS MasterMap(TM), the nation's official and most detailed digital map database and on-line delivery service. OS MasterMap is the digital face of Britain, showing detail as fine as the shapes of individual houses and their precise location. The validity and accuracy of this geospatial data is fundamental to the operations of a myriad of users - police, ambulances, utilities, GPS software developers, builders, courier services, even delivery bikes of curry restaurants, for example.

Under an international license and partnership agreement with Ordnance Survey, Tadpole-Cartesia intends also to market the field editing and data management system to other mapping agencies around the world

Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey's director general and chief executive, recently visited the Edinburgh headquarters of Tadpole-Cartesia to review work-in-progress on the multi-million pound system. She comments: "I am delighted with the progress already made in building this new field information system. We are well on-target for completion ."

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Press & Analysts contacts

Hugh Paterson for Tadpole (EU) - Tel +44 207 987 4888, Email hughp@patcom-media.com
Mark Ketteman, Tadpole-Cartesia (EU) - Tel +44 131 668 0200, Email markk@tadpole.com
Jason Linley, Tadpole-Cartesia (US) - Tel +1 760-929-0992, Email jasonl@tadpole.com
Jesse Theodore, ESRI (US) - Tel.+1 909-793-2853, extension 1-1419, Email: press@esri.com

Ó Patcom 2002. All trademarks mentioned in this transmission are the property of their respective owners.

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