Abu Dhabi shares GIS expertise at Esri User Conference in San Diego

Abu Dhabi, July 17, 2013 (WAM) - Driving the Abu Dhabi Government's agenda in advancing the emirate's geospatial capabilities, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) - Abu Dhabi's ICT authority, successfully led a delegation from 28 government entities at the recently held five-day Esri User Conference (Esri UC) in San Diego, USA. The conference is considered the biggest GIS (geographic information system) event globally and the 2013 edition brought more than 14,000 international dignitaries and attendees to the Abu Dhabi Pavilion on the first day of the event. Roger Tomlinson - known as the "Father of GIS" and Esri's Founder and President, Jack Dangermond, also visited the Abu Dhabi Pavilion, where ADSIC presented its strategic geospatial initiative - Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD SDI), while AD-SDI's community stakeholders highlighted Abu Dhabi's GIS expertise, exchanging know-how with organisations and professionals from around the world. Commenting on ADSIC's participation at the Esri event, Rashed Al Mansoori, Director General of ADSIC, said, "In line with ADSIC's role in digitising Abu Dhabi Government's services, we launched AD-SDI, a unique programme that shares spatial information among various government and private stakeholders. Since establishment in 2007, we have developed a robust spatial data infrastructure that effectively uses geospatial technology to modernise government services and empower businesses. Our participation at this year's Esri conference allowed us to showcase our achievements and successfully build on the accomplishments of the Esri MEA UC held in Abu Dhabi and the government's partnership with Esri in 2012." Organised by ADSIC, the Abu Dhabi Pavilion at ESRI 2013 facilitated the emirate's entities to showcase their "best-of-breed" GIS applications and display hard copies of their maps in the map gallery area. "Over the past years, the Abu Dhabi Pavilion at the conference has evolved into a major networking space for Abu Dhabi's entities to strengthen their relationships with top GIS organisations, access international projects and investment plans while sharing best practices and applications to enrich the human capacity and drive a knowledge sharing process for the Emirate," Rashed Al Mansoori explained. On the advancement of the AD-SDI program, Jack Dangermond said, "Abu Dhabi has continually impressed me as a world leader in the realm of spatial innovation. It is always great to see how geospatial services increase efficiency and performance of the Government. It is a pleasure to have the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data community represented so strongly in the User Conference this year and will continue to be one of our true partners for the future". At Esri MEA UC in 2012, ADSIC and ESRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aiming to collaboratively harness GIS capabilities for enabling society. This marked the first time that Esri has signed an agreement with an entire government. Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will work together on the Advancement of Spatial Thinking, GIS Planning and Monitoring, GIS Licensing and Support, and Outreach and Sharing of Best Practices. – Emirates News Agency, WAM