Fully integrated with Bristol Water's own Enterprise GIS and Work Management System the GeoField application places a complete set of mapping, operational and infrastructure data directly into the hands of its field crews as they inspect, service and maintain the company's 6500km network.

 Already a key partner in the GIS operations of other utility companies such as ScottishPower and Scottish Water, GeoField's core application is the Network Map Viewer. This enables Bristol Water's fieldworkers to effectively use the same mapping and asset data as available in the office without needing a live connection to the office.

 Field staff access all the company's maps quickly and easily at their work location through a user interface specially designed for mobile workers. Maps are directly linked to work orders sent from the Work Management System and the powerful GeoField Redline features extend capabilities into map mark-up and feature update, sketch and photograph capture. This ensures that work orders, comments, notes and amendments can easily be added while in the field location and the data is synchronised with office data when needed.

 The system delivers proven benefits for Bristol Water in terms of significantly improved productivity, reduced operational costs, better data quality and reduced environmental impact through more efficient task planning.

 Matthew Stephenson of Bristol Water says 'GeoField has been a great success for us and we've been very impressed with the extra functionality this product gives. From week one, we can see company-wide benefits: the majority of field staff are working effectively from home, functioning in the field with access to GIS and saving a lot of time. There has been a dramatic reduction in paperwork and we are utilising new technology that we could have only dreamt of a few years ago. In the long run this has to be a more efficient and accurate way to work.'

 The Bristol Water deal represents another step for Sigma Seven in their expansion into the UK-wide utilities market. Since their first sale of a GeoField Field Quotation system to ScottishPower, Sigma Seven have trebled in size and achieved a fivefold growth in revenue from sales of their GeoField product suite.

 Paul Reid, director and co-founder of Sigma Seven adds, 'We won this contract in the face of stiff competition from other major vendors. We are delighted that Bristol Water chose to work with us and look forward to delivering cost-effective mapping and data management systems to many other organisations in the utilities industry.'

Sigma Seven was formed in 2000 by a group of mapping, data management and Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals from leading IT Service and Utilities companies. The team had been working together on a strategic GIS project and realised there would be growing demand for flexible, affordable and mobile map-based solutions for any organisation with field workers. Since 2000 Sigma Seven has helped some of the largest utility companies in the UK and developed a range of products - GeoField and Field Quotes - for the utilities industry.

Paul Reid and other members of the Sigma Seven team are available for interview, company profiles and comment on GIS within the utilities industry.

 For further information contact:
www.sigmaseven.co.uk