Improving government services through a world-class Geographical Information System

The Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) carried out a certified training course for municipal employees, focusing on Geographical Information System (GIS) concepts with an introduction to Geodesy. The course enhanced awareness of the GIS system and promote an information infrastructure within the municipal system in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to support the delivery of better municipal services that enhances the quality of life for all residents across Abu Dhabi Emirate.

Senior staff from the DMA, Abu Dhabi Municipality, Al Ain Municipality and the Western Region Municipality attended the one-day course that was offered on December 22, 2010 at the DMA, and was conducted by GISTEC's GIS Consultant and Projects & Operations Manager, Mr. Muneer Qudeisat. GISTEC is a professional GIS services company specialising in the development of intelligent, enterprise wide geospatial solutions.

This certified course is in line with the DMA's strategy to adopt best practices from the world to enhance government efficiency and improve local services by standardising and enhancing the storage, management and use of the geographical data to make the local government faster, more efficient and better placed to deliver improved services to residents and businesses across the Emirate.

Explaining how the municipal system seeks to achieve excellence in adopting best practices, H.E Jasem Mohammed Al Darmaki, Executive Director - Land and Property Management at DMA said: "We continue to implement best practice policies and procedures, and as we modernise and update our GIS system, it is important to raise the awareness and understanding of GIS and how we can utilise and apply it in our municipal work environment to achieve our leaders goal of becoming among the top five governments in the world."

Different subjects were covered in the course such as preparing maps and their importance for geographical data, geodesy, data entry, and GPS. At the end of the course, H.E. Al Daramki distributed course completion certificates to the attendees.