Abu Dhabi GeoSmart Roadmap
CLIENT: Department of Municipal Affairs
LOCATION: Abu Dhabi, UAE
STARTING YEAR: 2013
The Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) was established in 2007 to perform the duties of Emirate-wide facilitator and regulator of municipal strategic vision, as well as, the planning and implementation of municipal projects in particular those common across all the three municipalities. This includes coordinating and supporting the GIS technology practices of the Municipalities to support the delivery of efficient and effective services that will result in greater customer satisfaction. Today, one of DMA’s key drivers in achieving this goal is the implementation of an enterprise level GIS business processes and technical applications that will support the efficient and cost effective delivery of municipal services. The implementation of an enterprise GIS of this nature will require a detailed plan with logical steps that results from comprehensive analysis of the needs of the Municipalities and supported by international best practices. The Consolidated Enterprise GIS and Municipal Spatial Data Infrastructure Roadmap (GeoSmart Roadmap) Project is designed to deliver such a product in the form of a strategic Program Design and implementation Plan, which can be used by the Municipalities and DMA to realize the program.
The GeoSmart Roadmap will be the blueprint for the implementation of Enterprise GISs within each municipality and DMA. These Enterprise GISs will result in transformation of GIS from a business function within the organizations to a resource to be embedded into the business of the municipalities. This will in turn support a GeoSmart Abu Dhabi where technological advancements and institutional innovation produce a world class smart local government environment that delivers effective, proactive and innovative government services.
An Enterprise GIS is designed to meet the needs of an environment, thus changes in the, environment and advances in technology will have significant influence on an Enterprise GIS. Therefore, a strategic plan needs to be dynamic and capable of reflecting the necessary changes required to support the needs of the users. That is, the Consolidated Enterprise GIS strategic Plan should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is providing the necessary guidance for the required Enterprise GIS and Municipal SDI (MSDI).
In delivering the Roadmap Project, there are thirteen fundamental components that form the project’s foundations:
- A Situation Assessment Report,
- Recent Status Report,
- International Best Practices Report,
- Data Inventory and Assessment Report,
- Needs Analysis,
- Strategic Plan,
- Program Design,
- Training and Capacity Building Plan,
- Operations Plan,
- An Implementation Plan,
- Program and Projects Alignment Plan,
- Consolidated Organizational Charts,
- Project Handover.
The alignment of these components will result in having a comprehensive GIS Roadmap for DMA and the municipalities.