Newsletter - 14 September 2006

Company News

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THE IRF/SARF REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR AFRICA

Knowledge Base exhibited at the 3rd International Road Federation / South African Road Federation (IRF/SARF) Regional Conference this week on the 11th – 13th September 2006 at the ICC in Durban.

Over 400 registered delegates, 26 exhibitors and some of the world’s leading authorities and decision makers on road development were present to focus their attention on equipping Africa with a much improved road network.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Sibusiso Ndebele addressed the opening session of the Conference and encouraged engineering and construction experts with his confidence in their ability to meet the unprecedented demand for construction in the run up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Knowledge Base provided interactive demonstrations and presentations using Civil Designer's Roads module and was pleased to meet with industry partners and clients.

KNOWLEDGE BASE EXHIBITS AT THE CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (CPUT)

Knowledge Base will be exhibiting at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology's Graduate Careers Exhibition which will be held on the 6th and 7th September at the Cape Town Campus. Students interested in pursuing a career in design can benefit from interactive demonstrations showcasing our Civil Designer and AllyCAD software.

As part of our social responsibility plan, we supply our software to all tertiary institutions at a heavily discounted rate. In addition, we also supply annual prize sponsorships to top achievers and encourage design excellence. Today, more than 95% of all South African Technikons have incorporated the programs with great success into their engineering curriculum.

We look forward to meeting all the engineering graduates at stand number 22 for an in-depth discussion on the career opportunities in this exciting field.

Product News & Information

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USING BACKDROPS IN ROADS DESIGN

Civil Designer's Roads Module allows you to import and display bitmaps to aid you in your design.

The bitmap may show the natural features, the cadastral layout drawing or indicate the site contours. Once you have imported your backdrop image the horizontal alignment of your road design can be defined graphically by indicating the position of the Horizontal Point Intersections (HPIs).

To indicate a new PI, click on a position in the Design Centre window and the Insert Details dialog is displayed. This dialog requests the user to indicate whether this point is the first, next or last in the chain.

DISPLAYING BITMAPS click to see full image

Points of intersection can be deleted and graphically edited in a similar manner. If the Edit PI mode clicking on a PI will launch the Horizontal PI Details dialog. This dialog allows the user to adjust the X and Y coordinates, the curve radius and the curve length.

Once the HPIs have been defined they can also be dragged to modify the alignment. As it is being dragged, coordinates of the PI are updated to reflect the new position and the new PI position is displayed on the screen as the mouse is moved. Right click during the second part of the procedure to cancel the move.

PI points can be graphically deleted in the same way, by selected the delete mode and clicking on the point to be removed.

The graphical adjustment of HPIs is another feature of Civil Designer which makes Roads design so much easier.

Support & Development

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ANNUAL UPGRADE AND SUPPORT AGREEMENTS

Support Contracts are charged at 13% of the product purchase price and guarantee cutting edge software functionality, the availability of our Support Centre and the provision of a free marketing and publicity service where your project success stories are showcased in top trade journals. Support agreements therefore give you more choice and, best of all, you will have immediate access to our Civil Designer 6.4 version with the latest functionality.

LATEST UPDATES FROM THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

SHIPPING NOW: CIVIL DESIGNER 6.4

Here are the latest downloads available on the updates page:

• Civil Designer v6.4 - Latest Build
  Build 2 (14/08/2006)

• Civil Designer v6.3
  Build 29 (11/07/2006)

• Civil Designer v6.3
  Help file Update (14/05/2004)

• Civil Designer v6.3
  Hasp Driver Update (18/08/2005)

TECH TIP TUTORIAL

Changing the Point Style
 

Civil Designer allows the user to customize the point style used. This will change the style of all the points in the project or drawing.

View Tech Tip

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Training is often regarded as the cornerstone to achieving optimal results and enhanced productivity. The value of good quality training cannot be emphasized enough.

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

CURRENT VISITS & TRAINING ACTIVITIES

Our Customer Consultants will be involved in the following visits and training activities over the next couple of weeks. Please feel free to give us a call on (021) 701-1850. We would be happy to meet up with you to discuss your training or product needs.

Customer Quote

Andre Spies Africon Cape Town

Dualing of Carl Cronjé Drive

“This was one of those jobs where we used just about everything in the CIVIL DESIGNER package. If we didn't have the package, I suppose we would have been a bit lost given the time constraints. One of the really strong points about this program is that you are able to vary everything with templates – you can create a template for virtually every scenario you work with."

Click here to view Detailed Customer Showcases from our clients.

Recruitment Service

RECRUITMENT

Knowledge Base Recruitment has gained the support of civil engineering firms nationwide through its efforts to address the massive skills shortages affecting the industry and as a result of its integrity-centered conduct.

TOP CANDIDATES FOR EMPLOYMENT
We are currently looking to place a selection of highly competent civil engineers in a limited number of top contractual positions.

If you are interested in an exciting career move, then please e-mail yvonne@knowbase.co.za or call us on 021-701 1850 for further details.

This is a random selection of our candidates for permanent placement. Send an email to the above address quoting the relevant Candidate Number for further information:

Bureau Service

Bureau assists companies to complete specialised projects on time.

Whatever the job spec, the Bureau team will take care of it. We are committed to helping you grow your business.

For more information contact Brett Pureveen on (021) 701 1850 or visit www.knowbase.co.za/bureau/.

Buy your Plotter from the People who know how to use & Install them

CIVIL DESIGNER - World Class Platform for Civil Engineers

Civil Designer Support INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT CENTRE support@knowbase.co.za 086 0101 999 (South Africa only) +27 21 7011850 (International Clients)

CIVIL DESIGNER is the leading civil engineering infrastructure design package with nine integrated modules that operate seamlessly on a single design platform. This places unequalled design functionality at your disposal without the inconvenience of transferring data between different design programs.
 

DESIGN CENTRE

CAD

SEWER

SURVEY & TERRAIN

MAP

STORM

ROADS

TURN

WATER

Knowledge Base Software
Developers of Professional Civil Engineering and CAD Design Solutions

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