Joining in French E-Government

- An order for making cadastral maps electronic was received from the French Finance Ministry -

Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd., has won an order from the French Finance Ministry in an international bid to deliver software that makes cadastral maps electronic for an e-government. The French Government has been moving ahead with a plan to transform itself into an e-government that offers 100% online services by 2005. As part of this plan, the French Finance Ministry contemplates making administrative affairs, such as taxation, electronic by translating cadastral maps into electronic form, whereas the Geographical Survey Institute is keen to achieve a seamless integration of the variety of mapping systems used in the constructing and servicing of infrastructures, such as telephone lines.

Hitachi Software has successfully bid for the French Government's tender to scan cadastral maps electronically, covering the entire country of France, and then verify them against a cadastral map management database. The project calls for making as many as 500,000 cadastral maps of the land of France electronic.

The French Government has awarded the order to Hitachi Software in recognition of the following advantages:

The first is the tested performance of Hitachi Software's map entry software "GISCore." GISCore offers such a high rate of automatic character recognition and exceptional ease of handling that over 10,000 copies have shipped around the world so far.

The second is the highly evaluated world-standard mapping information system "GeoMation." In the course of pursuing a seamless integration of maps to lay a base for building an e-government, the French Government highly evaluates the utility of the world's first international standard-compliant product "GeoMation," which provides universal Internet access to various mapping information, regardless of the OS or format.

The third is Hitachi Software's quality control capability. In addition to taking the lead in getting certified under ISO9001 in industry, it has been accredited under CMMI (which covers systems engineering, as well as software) on a company-wide scale. The company also maintains a global-standard systems development process in place. These and other accomplishments have resulted in a high appraisal of its quality control capability.

The fourth is a speedy response from a local corporation. Hitachi Software opened a local corporation in France (now, Hitachi Software Engineering France) in 1994. It was instrumental in responding promptly to the present tender. Since its founding, the local corporation has dedicated mapping systems to governmental agencies, such as the Institute of Geology and Mining, and the National Railways, as well as the Finance Ministry and the Geographical Survey Institute. High appraisals have been accorded to Hitachi Software from these governmental agencies.

The company's line of businesses, including Digital Boards and life sciences, as well as mapping, has been infiltrating the whole region of Europe. In anticipation of the eastward expansion of the EU, the company is now geared to expand even further in the European market with primary impetus from Hitachi Software Engineering Europe (HSEE) based in Berlin, Germany, the largest European market.