ADSIC honored for outstanding contributions to geospatially-enabled development at GISWORX 2013

April 7, 2013 - PRLog -- April 7, 2013

The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC), the government entity overseeing Abu Dhabi’s information and communications technology agenda and the modernization of the emirate’s government services, was honored for its valuable contributions to the development of local and national geospatial capabilities in a special ceremony held during the Gala Dinner of GISWORX ’13 in Dubai.

GISWORX ’13 was the 8th edition of the annual round of Geographic Information System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_Information_System) (GIS) workshops and exhibitions specifically organized for users of systems developed by Esri, the leading worldwide supplier of GIS software and geodatabase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodatabase) management applications. This year its focus was on how users in the UAE and the region can further extend the use of GIS from the personal computer towards mobile and ‘cloud’ computing.

Abdulkarim Al Raeesi, Director of Strategy & Planning at ADSIC, delivered a key presentation during GISWORX ’13’s opening-day plenary session. He began by discussing Abu Dhabi’s comprehensive e-Government vision and strategy as well as ADSIC’s key roles of developing, driving and supporting the IT-enabled transformation of government services in Abu Dhabi. He then explained the vision and mission of ADSIC’s Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI) Program, an initiative launched in 2007 to facilitate the sharing of geospatial data among government agencies and other strategic stakeholders.

The Director also talked about the opportunities that Abu Dhabi could capitalize on via the spatially enabled executive dashboard (SEED), a solution offering a one-stop-shop for spatially enabled Key Performance Indicators and advanced reporting. He presented a case study showing how SEED can optimize project tracking and performance management in particular.

Throughout the event, ADSIC was praised by foreign delegates for the success of its AD-SDI Program. The thriving AD-SDI Community of over 55 entities continues to harness spatial information and services to achieve more efficient and effective governance.  The Centre also displayed 56 maps representing some of the key entities of AD-SDI, which has become a vital element of the emirate’s e-Government framework.

“It was truly an honour to be recognized for our work on the geospatial field during Esri’s prestigious event. Such gatherings are ideal platforms for us to share our experiences and achievements in geospatial development while learning from, and forging collaborative ties with, regional and international GIS practitioners. We were very motivated by the strong positive response of the global GIS community to our AD-SDI initiative. We are definitely on the right path as far as supporting Abu Dhabi’s spatially enabled growth is concerned,” said Al Raeesi.

ADSIC was established in 2005 to harness advanced technologies to help achieve the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 development plan. Aside from AD-SDI, the Centre’s major programs also include the Abu Dhabi Network (ADNet), the Abu Dhabi e-Government Portal (www.abudhabi.ae), the Abu Dhabi Government Contact Center (800 555), and Jobs Abu Dhabi (www.jobs.abudhabi.ae).