UAE: Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) has been awarded the 2010 Excellence in GIS Award, in recognition of its achievements in executing exceptional GIS systems to manage and analysis the data across three municipalities in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) accepted the award for the best GIS implementation for business support. Both awards were presented at the recently held GISWORX fifth annual conference at Dubai.
The Excellence in GIS Implementation (EGI) Awards have been implemented by GISTEC, the official and sole distributor of ESRI software and the organiser of GIS events in UAE to promote innovation and experimentation in the area of GIS implementation. The award also honours GIS implementation programmes that are offered in distinct categories.
H.E Falah Al Ahbabi, General Manager, Abu Dhabi UPC, said, “GIS is a valuable component of our planning decision process. It enables us to cope with the fast pace of development in urban planning disciplines. At UPC, we are defining the shape of the Emirate by ensuring factors such as sustainability, infrastructure capacity, new transport infrastructures, community planning and quality of life, by overseeing development across the city and the Emirate as a whole and our GIS capabilities have contributed immensely to this process.”
The development of the internal web portal, GeoPlanner, to facilitate planning processes and collaboration within the UPC and across other organisations, including three municipalities, development companies and consultants has by far been the most critical progress made by UPC, as part of its GIS capabilities.
H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director General at ADEC, said, “GIS technology has been instrumental in achieving the goals set out by ADEC’s 10-Year Strategic Plan by helping us make informed decisions in the implementation of our reform initiatives.” The integration of GIS at ADEC helps in realising ADEC’s 10 year strategic plan with regards to reducing student performance gaps and balancing the distribution of the teachers. GIS is also a great factor in ADEC initiatives such as: development of the Master plan, management of student transportation, replacement of schools and the improvement of student access to schools.
Source: Zawya, WAM
