Abu Dhabi's Department of Municipal Affairs participates at Map Middle East 2009

Map Middle East aims to bring together national, regional, and global professionals to discuss the growth of geospatial industry and to share the latest trends and technologies.

The municipalities of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) are the partner of the 3 days event organised by GIS development.

During the show the municipal body will be demonstrating their recent projects and services under the unified participation slogan "Integrated Data for Modern Infrastructure".

The unified municipal booth #56 in Hall 4, at ADNEC will host projects and services offered by the Department of Municipal Affairs and the three municipalities as the regulators and service providers for the Emirate's infrastructure development.

The showcased array of municipal projects includes; the Global Positioning System (GPS) Reference Station Network Project, the Data Base Enhancement Project, the Abu Dhabi and Western Region Interactive 3D Maps Project, and the Map Data Conversion, alongside an archive of aerial photography and satellite imagery that dates back to 1960.

GPS is considered as fastest emerging technique giving immediately precise locations of objects almost anywhere on Earth. A key issue in GPS is positional accuracy, service availability and needed time. In fact, using special methods, GPS can pinpoint positions at accuracy of 1 meter up to 3-5 centimetres; these higher accuracies are achieved by using a technique called "Differential GPS".

The municipalities will also showcase the Data Base Enhancement Project, which aims to develop a comprehensive database of up-to-date, accurate and reliable information about the territory, population, economy, etc... To aid in the municipal planning and development, protection of environment, and provision of services based on well-studied information. The spatial data in a modern society is not only a crucial resource for planning and management but also a commodity and main asset that should be properly managed and maintained.

Furthermore, an interactive 3D Map and virtual model of the city of Abu Dhabi and the Western Region will be exhibited as a tool for planning and design in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This 3D map offers urban planners to visualize proposed developments and investments. The result of this project replaces necessity of physical models preparation, gives possibility to illustrate new infrastructure in many ways and evaluates different solutions. The 3D Viewer of the Geospatial data for the Western region allows users to navigate and fly through the areas of (Madinat Zayed, Ghyathi, Delma Island and Sir Baniyas).

Al Ain Municipality will showcase the interactive G-Box system as well as an archive of aerial photography and satellite imagery that dates back to 1960. This collection of rare photos and imagery from 1960 to 2008 illustrates the different phases of development and expansion that AL Ain city went through and is used as a base for studying the expansion of the city and for future planning.

Western Region Municipality will also exhibit its all new Web Based Viewer, a web application that shows the Geospatial data sets of the Western Region and allows the user to use all basic exploring tools such as Zoom in, Zoom out, Pan, and Print.

The Department of Municipal Affairs will be sponsoring the prestigious Geospatial Excellence awards which honor projects that made a significant and measurable contribution as best application of technology around the world.