Southern land data launched on the net

By ADAM GIFFORD

Internet integration specialist gen-i has come to the rescue of Land Information New Zealand's $150 million Landonline project, developing a way for users to access title and survey databases over the internet using Citrix MetaFrame technology.

The application was opened for use by Otago customers last Thursday, after 10 weeks of beta trials.

The Auckland office will not convert until the middle of next year.

Landonline spokesman Ian McLean said the original plan was for a "fat client" system, in which subscribing lawyers and surveyors would have software loaded on dedicated PCs, which they would use to access the databases over a virtual private network (VPN).

But once Land Information (Linz) started using Landonline in the Dunedin office, it became clear this architecture had significant problems. Gen-i was asked to design an internet delivery system that provided for about 1000 users, supported a very large application and allowed up to six upgrades a year.

The Landonline application, which was built by PricewaterhouseCoopers as a PowerBuilder application on an Informix database, sits on a central Linz server using Microsoft Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame.

Instead of needing a CD full of software loaded onto a PC, users can go to the Landonline website and download the Citrix ICA client, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Uniprint, a piece of universal printer driver software needed to print Landonline documents.

When the user clicks on the link to Landonline, NFuse launches the Citrix client, allowing a seamless window into the application. Gen-i software architect Quentin Smart said the NFuse toolkit also included the technology to authenticate users, using 128-bit encryption.

He said that because the application needed to access a huge volume of spatial data, it made more sense to put it on a high-speed network close to the data rather than sitting on client PCs.

Uniprint works only on the Windows operating system. Users pay a set-up fee of $230.

Standard users will pay $500 a year to search the titles register, digital survey data and supporting documents.

They can request images of titles, survey plans and supporting documents to be sent by fax or e-mail for $5 for each title downloaded or $7 for each title with diagram.

Survey firms or search agents are entitled to one $1000 "discounted" copy of the Landonline Plus package, which allows surveyors to view spatial survey data. Further licences cost $2565 a year.

Mr McLean said Land Information and contractors Electronic Data Systems (EDS) had finished converting titles in the Dunedin office, and staff there were now processing title records from the Invercargill office, which had closed as part of the project.

The Christchurch office started using Landonline for all new transactions last week, and EDS is now converting Canterbury titles.

Phase two, which will allow users to lodge routine conveyancing transactions and survey plans electronically, kicks off in late 2002. Most of the benefits of the project are expected to come from this stage, although Linz says it will cost less than 10 per cent of the total budget.

Esme Dawson, of Dunedin law firm Staley Cardoza, which has been involved in the beta trial, said the system was working well after initial minor glitches.

Surveyor Geoff Bates, of D. G. Hatfield & Associates, said not being able to view plans on screen before ordering them was a problem. Because of the high number of plans it requested, his office needed a dedicated PC and internet connection to cope with the workflow.