GeoField®
GeoField Product Brochure
Version 4.1
S igma Seven Ltd . I G or don Lam b Hous e I 3 J ac k s o n ’s E n t r y I E d i n b u r g h I U K I E H 8 8 P J I w w w. s i g m a se ve n .co m
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GeoField Overview
GeoField is a powerful map-based mobile work management solution that enables your field workers to access and
update your enterprise data at the point of action. An intuitive map viewing interface is supported by comprehensive
redlining (markup), blacklining (edit), imaging, network tracing and data capture facilities.
The key design principles of GeoField are that it must be able to integrate with existing enterprise technologies and that
the solution is intuitive, flexible and scalable.
GeoField View
The core GeoField application is the Map Viewer. This provides map view and print facilities, enabling fieldworkers to
benefit from a rich set of mapping data to support their on-site activities.
To facilitate the exchange of data between your mobile devices and back-office systems, GeoField informs your field
workforce when mapping and configuration updates are available via GeoField Exchange, and allows them to download
this data at the touch of a button.
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GeoField Redline
Extending the Map Viewer, GeoField Redline enables features of interest to be captured directly on the map using
free-hand, drafting tools and GPS-based feature placement. Digital images from an attached camera can be captured,
annotated and placed on the map, enriching the information being collected.
GeoField Blackline
GeoField Blackline allows existing features of interest to be edited to reflect their true “on the ground” state, supporting
both attribute and geometry updates. Whilst GeoField Redline allows changes to features to be captured using markup tools, GeoField Blackline allows the actual underlying features to be directly manipulated within the content of a
Blackline Session. Individual features can be selected within the Blackline session, edited using the Blackline Feature
Palette, with the changes then submitted to the appropriate Enterprise systems via GeoField Exchange, which updates
the appropriate master records.
GeoField Workflow
GeoField Workflow is designed to guide your field workers through their everyday activities via the intuitive interaction
with features of interest on the map. Building on our expertise for ease of use in the field, and configured to model your
business processes, GeoField Workflow streamlines field work management and co-ordination with the office.
Tasks can be allocated remotely to field staff and the workflow specifies what tasks need to be done, in what order and
who has permission/authority to perform each task. GeoField Workflow helps improve time and task management in
the field.
The day to day management of workload is made easier
as tasks can be suspended and users can switch between
jobs. This allows field teams to accommodate emergency
tasks and on-the-fly job allocation for maximum flexible use
of field staff and greater operational responsiveness.
Within workflows, the user is guided through the steps in
the task, ensuring standards are maintained and complex
processes adhered to. Users are presented with a palette
of features of interest and associated actions that must be
completed on site, such as asset inspection, field survey
and data capture.
Combined with GeoField’s rich interface and data
management, tasks can be progressed to completion on
site, getting things right first time. This removes the need for
wasteful repeat visits, thus reducing errors and increasing employee and customer satisfaction.
In addition to giving operational managers the reassurance of guaranteed action and greater quality, GeoField Workflow
keeps field task meta data, allowing audit trails and task logging to support compliance, management information and
record keeping.
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GeoField Exchange
GeoField Exchange supports the complete round-trip of spatial and other task related data from office to field and back
again. Integrated with your existing enterprise systems, GeoField Exchange manages the flow of data between office
and field using industry standard interfaces and data formats.
Completed workflow packages are processed by GeoField Exchange which breaks down the various elements of
packaged data and orchestrates the data integration with the appropriate host systems - for example your enterprise
GIS, Asset, Work or Document Management Systems.
Mapping data that has been captured within the Workflow packages can be integrated with the Enterprise GIS via an
interactive quality assurance process.
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Management of Data Capture Forms
GeoField Studio
To support your on-going data capture projects, GeoField Studio
is a flexible forms designer that enables electronic forms to be
created by an Administrator user for use within GeoField. This
provides field users with a rich data capture tool where the
attributes of features, including images and digital signatures,
can be recorded at the critical point of creation, with real-time
validation.
Data Capture Forms Via XML
An alternative to GeoField Studio, GeoField Data Capture
forms can also be created and managed by editing GeoField
XML configuration files which define the data to be captured,
including drop-down list values, and field-level validation.
Client-Side Integration via the Remote Control API
For more advanced distributed work management, or when an existing Enterprise mobile work management system
is already in place but lacks the power and spatial capabilities of the GeoField client, GeoField supports a “remote
control” API to allow it to be connected as a client to third party mobile work management / field-force automation (FFA)
applications.
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GeoField Map Viewer Features
GeoField has been designed to be quick and intuitive to use, allowing you to focus on your field work. GeoField Map
Viewer is architected to be fully operational in a disconnected environment, allowing you to work anywhere, regardless
of location or network availability.
The capabilities of GeoField Map Viewer are detailed below:
Map Navigation and Feature Enquiry
Overview Window
Intuitive tools to quickly move around your GeoField
map: Pan Tool, Zoom Tool, Zoom In, Zoom Out,
Zoom to Full Extent, Previous View, Next View, Pan
To Coordinate; Configurable Standard View Scales,
Magnification Tool.
Displays a smaller scale view of the main display
window (default is at 10 times the scale of the main
window). The area of the main display window is shown
as a rectangle in the centre of the Overview Map. This
rectangle will resize if the main display window is
resized.
The Feature Enquiry tool displays the available
attributes for a selected feature.
The Overview Map will pan as the main display window
is panned to facilitate the location of a particular map
feature or to follow a particular route. All scale based
display rules are applied to the Overview Map. The
Overview Map window can be positioned and resized
as required.
Find Feature
Enables searches to be run to locate features that
match a user-specified attribute field value. The
available list of search queries can be defined in the
GeoField XML configuration file.
Find Address
Enables specific addresses to be located on the map
by searching on a combination of user-specified fields
including Postcode, Street, Town, Building Number,
Building Name and Organisation Name1.
Area of Interest Bookmarks
Allows locations and view scales to be saved for future
reference by the user or provided by an administrator
as common or job specific location lists.
Layer Group Control
Enables the visibility of collections of layers to be
managed at the group level. Layer Groupings are
defined in the GeoField XML configuration file.
Find Address functionality is dependent on the address datasets (e.g. Ordnance Survey AddressLayer2, Ordnance Survey Address-Point, Ordnance Survey Code-Point etc.) that are available to
the customer.
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Layer Control
Network Tracing
Enables specific properties of each available layer to
be configured to control visibility, visible scale range,
opacity, feature naming, and feature tooltips. The
default layer configuration for each layer is defined in
the GeoField XML configuration file.
The Network Tracing engine within GeoField provides
simple point and click tools that can be used to trace
connected features from a specified location, with the
trace configured to follow a series of rules the define
when the trace should stop for the selected trace type;
for example, to trace out from a burst location on a
water main to the nearest connected isolation valves,
or to trace out from a damaged cable location to the
nearest switches.
Print
Provides a print function to produce formatted hardcopy output on standard Windows printers. A Print
Preview window is displayed showing how the printed
map will appear with the currently selected Print
Template, with the map centred on the same point as
the main display window.
Features found during the trace are presented in the
Tracing Tool panel, including primary “stop objects”
which can be panned to with a single click. Summary
information and trace statistics are shown below,
including the length and type of the various linear
objects that were encountered during the trace (for
example, length of water main, or length of low voltage
cable).
Print templates are defined using GeoField XML Print
Template configuration files. These provide layout
features for the printed map such as scale bars,
standard texts & disclaimers, logos etc.
Trace results can be used as an input to a GeoField
Workflow, for example to provide a list of properties
affected by an incident as part of a fault repair workflow.
The user can then complete the workflow as prompted,
with the list of affected addresses or customers
presented automatically as a result of a network trace
operation.
The Scaling Mode can be configured to enable the print
to be scaled to the scale selected in the main display
window, or re-scaled to ensure the entire area shown in
the main display window is shown on the print.
Map Legend
Displays a panel illustrating the symbology used to
represent features that are loaded within GeoField.
The Map Legend is a dynamic feature that ensures
only the symbology relevant to the current scale is
shown to the user.
The Map Legend also enables access to the display
properties of the feature to control the colour, opacity,
symbology, line style, line thickness, polygon fill style
and polygon fill colour.
The default symbology for each layer is defined in the
GeoField XML configuration file.
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GPS
Supported Data Formats
The GPS Control Panel enables access to GPS
functions. When a GPS device is connected to the
mobile device (either wired or wireless using Bluetooth),
GeoField GPS can be enabled to show the current
GPS position on the map, and the Auto-Follow function
can be used to ensure that the map pans automatically
as the GPS position updates.
GeoField supports a number of industry standard
spatial and non-spatial data formats for the exchange
of information between office and field, and has been
designed to allow custom extensions to be added to
support customer-specific data formats that are already
in use within your organisation.
For more information, please see the GeoField
Exchange brochure.
GPS can also be used as an input to feature creation
within GeoField Redline, allowing newly captured
features to be automatically placed at the position
reported from the GPS unit.
Measure Tool
Used to calculate distances on the map. A Measure
Track can be plotted on the map by clicking the required
position of the segments of the track. The Measure
Tool window shows the total length of all the measure
segments and the length of the last segment plotted.
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An open standards-based spatial format supported by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). See http://www.opengeospatial.org for more information.
An open standards-based spatial format supported by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and Google Earth. See http://www.opengeospatial.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole_
Markup_Language for more information.
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The OGR Simple Features Library is an open source library providing access to a variety of vector file formats including Oracle Spatial, MapInfo mid/mif and TAB formats. See: http://www.gdal.org/
ogr/
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GeoField Redline
GeoField Redline provides three levels of Redline functionality:
Redline SketchPad, Redline Vector and Redline Feature Palette
Redline SketchPad is the base level of Redline functionality in GeoField and provides Redline sketching and photograph
capture facilities.
Placement of photograph image location map feature
with viewpoint orientation:
• Capture of digital photography through Windows
Image Acquisition or Direct Show interfaces using
integrated or attached camera
• Inclusion of image from user selected folder
location
• Placement of sketch location map features symbol
• Select sketch background
• Black/free sketch
• Current map view
• Map view created on configurable radius
from selected asset
• Photographic image
• Clipboard contents
Sketch tools
Sketch management
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Colour: from palette
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Current sketch: save or abandon
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Weight: thickness (line/shape outline) or size
(text)
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Exisiting sketch: review or edit
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Allocation of unique identifier and URL for the
sketch or photograph
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Packaging of recorded sketches and photographs
for transfer to Enterprise GIS
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Line tool: straight or freehand
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Shape tool: rectangle or ellipse, outline or
filled
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Text tool: input with keyboard, virtual
keyboard or hand writing recognition
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Eraser
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Redline Vector
Redline sessions record management information
about the session
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Unique identifier
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ID of user creating session
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Description of purpose of the session
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Timestamp of session start
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Timestamp of session save
Redline Mark-up tools
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Line - style, colour and thickness selected
from administrator configurable lists
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Arrow - style, colour and thickness selected
from administrator configurable lists
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Saved and continued
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Saved and suspended/closed
Rectangle - line thickness from administrator
configurable list, fill toggle, fill colour and
transparency from administrator configurable
lists
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Saved and completed
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Closed/abandoned (i.e. changes since the
last save discarded and session closed)
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An active Redline session can be:
Polygon - line thickness from administrator
configurable list, fill toggle, fill colour and
transparency from administrator configurable
lists
A saved Redline session can be:
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Text - Input from keyboard, virtual keyboard or
hand writing recognition, line breaks supported
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Selected in the Redline Session Manager tool
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Opened for review or modification
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Eraser – deletes the selected Redline feature
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Deleted
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Undo/Redo – Redline actions can be undone
or redone
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Completed
A completed Redline session can be:
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Opened for review
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Deleted by the user
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Deleted by the system at an age predetermined by the system administrator
Completed Redline sessions are packaged for transfer to the appropriate Enterprise host systems. Once
received server side, captured spatial, image and attribute data can then be integrated with the Enterprise
infrastructure via GeoField Exchange.
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Redline Feature Palette
Redline Feature Palette capabilities build on the Redline Sketch and Vector functions, enabling users to
quickly capture pre-defined vector Redline features of interest in a consistent manner via GeoField’s simple
point-and-click Feature Palette.
Items created via the Feature Palette have a pre-defined style and can be associated with GeoField Data
Capture or Workflow forms to prompt the user for feature attributes, or to complete a specific workflow
operation – ensuring that field captured data is validated at the point of action.
Features can be created on the map by selecting the appropriate Feature Type from the Feature Palette, and
then specifying the required point or points on the map using any of the following methods:
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Freehand using the stylus or touch interface
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Positioned in relation to existing features using the Drafting Tools (e.g. 5 metres from the corner of an
existing building)
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Utilising the position reported from the GPS receiver.
The Feature Palette and associated Data Capture Forms or Workflows can be configured to meet the specific
requirements of your organisation as part of our standard GeoField Implementation service.
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GeoField Blackline
Building on the Redline capabilities, GeoField Blackline provides vector geometry and attribute editing capabilities,
using a number of simple to use tools. Users can create Blackline sessions in which existing vector features can
be modified and deleted, and new features can be created via the Blackline Feature Palette. Completed Blackline
sessions are packaged for transfer to the appropriate Enterprise systems.
Blackline Edit tools
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Select – select an existing feature for Blackline editing
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Group-select – select multiple features that intersect the specified extent for Blackline editing
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Move – move the entire selected feature to a new location
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Automatically Move Connected Features - When moving a selected network feature that has other features
connected to it (for example, moving an electricity pole with associated overhead line, or a water valve with
associated water main), the connected features can be automatically moved in relation to the new position of the
selected feature.
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Move Vertex – move a selected point on an existing line or polygon feature to a new location
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Add Vertex – add a new point to an existing line or polygon feature
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Delete Vertex – remove a point from an existing line or polygon feature
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Delete Line Section – remove a section of a line between two points
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Delete – deletes the selected feature
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Undo/Redo – Blackline actions can be undone or redone
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All generic Redline tools are available within the Blackline tool palette, including Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Polygon,
Text and Sketch
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An active Blackline session can be:
A saved Blackline session can be:
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Saved and continued
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Selected in the Blackline Session Manager tool
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Saved and suspended/closed
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Opened for review or modification
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Saved and completed
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Deleted
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Closed/abandoned (i.e. changes since the last
save discarded and session closed)
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Completed
An completed Blackline session can be:
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Opened for review
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Deleted by the user
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Deleted by the system at an age predetermined by the system administrator
Completed Blackline sessions are packaged for transfer to the appropriate Enterprise host systems. Once received
server side, captured spatial, image and attribute data can then be integrated with the Enterprise infrastructure via
GeoField Exchange.
The Feature Palette can be used within Blackline Sessions to quickly capture pre-defined vector Redline features of
interest in a consistent manner via GeoField’s simple point-and-click Feature Palette.
As per the Redline capabilities, items created via the Feature Palette have a pre-defined style and can be associated
with GeoField Data Capture or Workflow forms to prompt the user for feature attributes, or to complete a specific
workflow operation – ensuring that field captured data is validated at the point of action.
User Group Role Profiles
GeoField supports User Group Profiles via Session Configuration files. A Session Configuration file is configured to
support each of the required User Groups, and GeoField will be launched with a command-line parameter specifying
the Session Configuration file that should be used for the session.
GeoField Session Configuration files control various properties of the session, including:
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The layers that should be displayed for the session, and associated symbology
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The layers that can be attribute-queried or searched by the user during the session
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The GeoField application extensions that will be used within the session to provide custom functionality
As an example, different Session Configuration files could be configured for internal staff and external contractors. The
internal staff may have access to all feature layers within the GeoField dataset, with view access for attribute review
querying plus redlining, whereas the external contractors may only have view access to a subset of the layers without
querying permissions or redlining capabilities.
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Technical Information
The GeoField platform, including GeoField Workflow components are written in C#.Net utilising the Microsoft.Net
Framework. Application configuration and GeoField Workflow data interfaces are implemented using open XML
standards.
The GeoField architecture is shown in the following diagram:
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GeoField System Requirements
GeoField requires the following minimum
operating environment:
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Processor: 1.0 Ghz minimum, 1.2 Ghz
recommended or higher
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Memory: 1 GB minimum, 2 GB
recommended or higher
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Display: 1024 x 768 resolution
recommended
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Disk Space Requirements: Sufficient
disc space will be required appropriate to
the volume of spatial and reference data
made available to GeoField.
Operating system software specification:
• Microsoft Windows 8.1, 8.0 (Core, Pro
and Enterprise. Windows 8.x RT is not
supported)
• Microsoft Windows 7
• Microsoft Windows XP
Stylus driven functionality in GeoField
requires the installation and enablement of
the appropriate extensions to the Microsoft
Windows operating system.
About Sigma Seven
Sigma Seven is an information mobilisation specialist, providing integrated mobile workflow, data collection and map
management systems.
Our task oriented solutions complement organisations’ own Enterprise GIS to enable field and office staff to work
together more efficiently, deliver significantly improved customer service and enhance the quality and effectiveness of
their corporate data.
GeoField, our fieldworker productivity software, is adaptable, reliable and has a proven track record endorsed by an
enthusiastic base of satisfied clients from a broad range of market sectors.
S igma Se ve n L td. I G or don Lam b Hous e I 3 J ac k s o n ’s E n t r y I E d i n b u r g h I U K I E H 8 8 P J I w w w. s i g m a se ve n .co m
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