N E W S L E T T E R

Australian Dial Before You Dig services

Association of Australian Dial Before You Dig Services ABN 91 089 413 650

Summer edition, December 2005

Welcome to the first edition of anational Dial Before You Dignewsletter that will be postedquarterly on our website. The

newsletter will bring you updates aboutnational and state developments. We welcomeyour feedback in order to keep our contentrelevant. You can lodge comments about thenewsletter directly from our website.

We have been working to improve DigsafeOCS. From users will findsearching and operation easier and faster.There will also be fewer set-up difficulties forfirst-time users. This speed improvement hasoccurred because there are fewer screen pop-ups. The inclusion of the GNAF dataset willimprove searching and provide more accuratefirst time locations. We have also made thecursor larger and when enteringpoint locations. There will be some minorchanges to screens, but your login and accesswill remain the same. An overview of theDigsafe changes is set out below.

GNAF is short for Geographic NationalAddress File and is compiled from a numberof sources. It means:

Addresses are now located within thecadastreAddress search functionality will improveGNAF will also provide onthe screen mapUsers will be able to make better choices forlocating the appropriate dig site on the map.

Other Digsafe changes include the following:

A pop-up is a browser window launched fromwithin another browser (without the user'spermission).Why did we remove pop-ups?

To reduce the number of connectionproblems users were experiencing

Digsafe Software Changes

What does GNAF mean for Digsafe?

Pop up Removal:

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To minimise security issuesTo deal with pop-up blockersTo provide support for a widercommunity of usersPart of an overall direction to adhere toW3C web development standards.

Java applets have been removed wherepossible. Java removal allows:

More user friendly applicationBetter speed of applicationLess dependence on browsers to supportJava.

Where Java was still required it has beenconverted to support Sun Java andrecompiled for:

Download size reductionConformance to a widely supported Javaplatform (supported by Windows XP 6.0and other browsers).

A number of components were changed toimprove operating performance of DigsafeOCS. A summary of the key changes toimprove performance has been:

Removal of pop-ups (as previouslyoutlined)Modifications to user interface (enquiryscreen and mapping screen)Download speeds overa wide range ofconnection methods(ADSL, dial up, etc)User interface imagesize reduction(improving downloadspeed)Removal of Java.

Effectively the changesshould mean Digsafe iseasier and faster to usefor most of our servicecustomers.

Removal of Java:

Performance improvements:

Digsafe Awareness Sessions

Trade Shows

If your workplace is a requestor of plans fromDial Before You Dig and you want to knowmore about Digsafe on-line, then contact themanager in your state to arrange a freepresentation session or a copy of the DigsafeCD. State contacts are:

Brian Zeller 07-3325 4444Dominic Puiu 02-9386 4403Mark BinksTom Faint 08-8186 3301Kim Rushton 08-9424 8116

Trade shows provide great industry andcommunity exposure for Dial Before You Dig.

Dial Before You Dig is regularly representedacross Australia at forums, shows, conferencesand exhibitions. Here are some of the recentevents from each state:

Kim has been conducting trade shows at theDowerin and Mingenew Field Days. OtherExpos have occurred with the Local

QLDNSW/ACTVIC/TASSA/NTWA

Western Australia

03-9466 9633

National UpdateThe nationally sponsored Dial Before You DigPorsche of Rex Broadbent and MichaelGoedheer won the Adelaide Classic held inNovember for the fourth year in a row. TheAdelaide Advertiser made this comment;

“Ferrari may have been the high-flyingfocus of 2005, but supercar rival Porschetook the spoils, as the Victorian RexBroadbent once again dominated theClassic Adelaide Rally”.

We add our congratulations to Rex andMichael.

Now to mention some new collateral items.Dial Before You Dig calendars for 2006 arenow available and new kids colouring booksfeaturing safe digging are being prepared foravailability by March too! These can berequested through your state manager.

Government Supervisors and MasterPlumbers Associations. Dial Before YouDig has recently been involved withMaster Plumber events at Karratha andBunbury. Kim also works with Telstra indelivering Damage Awareness sessionsacross the state. The WA Drag racingseason is now underway, where ShaneWynd will be participating for Dial BeforeYou Dig.

During October Tom Faint launched theDial Before You Dig sponsorship of theSouth Port Surf Lifesaving Club Inc. Yetanother example of the Service workingwith the community to promote DialBefore You Dig.

White corflute signs that are overprintedwith the Dial Before You Dig logo (shownabove) are available for posting on jobsites, industrial areas or work perimeters.The signs are supplied free and are 570 X1200 mm in size. Contact Tom, Dominicor Brian if you want free signs for display.Other SA/NT events held in recent monthswere Riverland & Paskeville Field Days(both in September) and the Building &Home Improvement Show in July.

SA/NT & NSW/ACT have adopted DialBefore You Dig Marquees in their changedformat for Field Days. The new marqueesmake Dial Before You Dig stands highlyvisible.

During November, Dominic conducted astand at the National Construction

South Australia & Northern Territory

New South Wales & Australian CapitalTerritory

A Call Centre StoryOur operators get plan requests every day,but not everyone is as interesting as thisone. A distraught caller needed plans forthe sewage lines from his house out intothe street discharge pipelines. The operatorasked why this was required and theperson advised he had inadvertentlyflushed his pet frog down the toilet anddesperately needed to rescue it. The frogwas a long-time pet and this caller wasgenuinely upset at this loss. The operatorwas sympathetic and helpful, carefullyexplaining that these plans may not beavailable inside the property. With thatwarning the request was issued, but wenever heard if the rescue was successful.

Exhibition held in Sydney. This premier eventattracted many thousands of people from thecivil and building industry over 3 days ofExpo.

A new state manager is in the process of beingappointed after Joe Marrichiolo recently leftthe organisation. Mark Binks is the newmanager for VIC/TAS, and he will take up theposition on 19 December (Mark's contact is03-9466 9633).

Ag-Show at Toowoomba is the largestagricultural Show held in regionalQueensland. Over three days the Dial BeforeYou Dig stand was well patronised and contactestablished with many rural families. OnOctober 1, the new Dial Before You Digsponsored surf-boat of the Arcadian SurfLifesaving Club was launched on the StrandBeach at Townsville with a good mediacontingent present. The Institute of PublicWorks Engineering State conference held inGladstone during October drew around 300delegates from councils across the State (

). That was a great opportunity toshowcase Dial Before You Dig and talk tomany local governments about membership.

Victoria & Tasmania

Queensland

seepicture below

Please note -

www.dialbeforeyoudig.com.au

is available 24 hours a day for

you to register any inquiries.

The Dial Before

You Dig call centre will not be

operating during Public Holidays

over the Christmas - New Year

period.

Please also remember that

Public Holidays may increase the

time that members of the Dial

Before You Dig service require to

respond to your request.

MERRY XMAS AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM ALL AT DIAL

BEFORE YOU DIG