Simultaneously, on an administrative level over 3,100 communities have been re-digitalized and their boundaries adjusted to reflect the 2005 territorial status. The Romania Edition has been supplemented to include numerous topographical map layers, from elevation to the transport network and infrastructure.

Romania's six-digit postcode system posed a special challenge to the cartographers. The subdivision, which is unusually fine for a country of that size, allows the Romanian post service to assign separate postcodes to individual blocks of buildings in the large cities. Accordingly, an immense amount of research was required for the establishment of the inner-city postcode districts, because some of the territorial classifications had to be copied out individually from existing area maps. For reasons of better statistical handling, the districts in 40 cities were condensed into the first four postcode digits. The degree of detail in the maps is very fine. The basic material used for digitalization consisted of paper maps with a scale of 1: 50,000 (metres; this is adequate to approximately 1: 31,000 in miles).

As a result, the six-digit postcode map of Romania now shows more than 14,000 units, 194 delivery districts in Bucharest alone. By way of comparison: Berlin, which covers an area four times as big, has 190 postcodes.

The new edition also features bilingual names for all map objects: all geographical names are given in international lettering as well as special Romanian characters. This bilingual aspect, component of all new map editions, is part of GfK MACON`s philosophy.

"By doing so, we are adapting our maps to suit the requirements of our increasingly international customer base," explains Wolfram Scholz, Managing Director of GfK MACON and responsible for product development.

The revised maps of Romania 2005, including all administrative and postal districts, are available for immediate delivery.

More information and prices under:

http://www.gfk-macon.com/romania

About GfK MACON GmbH

GfK MACON has been a provider of Geomarketing solutions since 1991. The company develops geographic information systems (GIS) for use in Marketing and Sales, offers consulting services on all aspects of Area Planning and maintains the world's largest collection of digital postal and administrative maps. GfK MACON is the German market leaders with the Business GIS RegioGraph and DISTRICT.

GfK MACON is part of the international GfK network. GfK is currently represented in 63 countries with over 130 subsidiaries and a workforce of more than 7,600. The company takes 5th place in the worldwide ranking of market research institutes.

More information about GfK MACON:
www.gfk-macon.com/about_us.htm