HE Minister of Municipality Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, affirmed that the Center for GIS of the Ministry is one of the most advanced centers not only at the level of the region but also at the world level, and this is evident from the international awards it has won from prestigious conferences and destinations globally, and the great role made in providing many services to different parties in the country.
HE the Minister said, in press statements, after attending the opening of a workshop organized by the Ministry represented by the GIS Center in cooperation with Al-Mannai Corporation and the American company Esri, which was attended by more than 200 specialists and experts in this field belonging to more than 60 entities operating in the country.
Through the center, the Ministry of Municipality contributed to meeting the great demand for updated and accurate data related to geographical locations, as a result of the continuous infrastructure development in the State of Qatar, and in preparation for hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, as well as in implementation of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
His Excellency pointed out to the many tools provided by the center, especially those related to planning, designs, asset management and infrastructure, which saves a lot of time and effort, makes the various parties able to interconnect with each other more efficiently, and increases the effectiveness of private business, whether in project engineering or urban planning or the implementation of the infrastructure in the country, indicating that the center provides multiple services, data and information, and there are many proposed applications that the authorities benefit from during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which were discussed in this workshop.
His Excellency pointed out that the importance of the workshop organized by the Ministry on geospatial technology, comes from being an opportunity for specialists, researchers and those interested to contribute and discuss about the progress and development taking place in spatial information sciences and its various applications related to the real world in various fields.
For his part, the Assistant Director of the Geographic Information Systems (CGIS) at the Ministry of Municipality Amer Al Humaidi, said that the center is responsible for providing the official maps of the state, whether digital or paper, and is concerned with providing basic topographic databases and making them available to all state institutions for use in building databases for each institution, whether this data is above ground from buildings, facilities, main roads, or underground from infrastructure services and others.
He stated that the center is working to provide all this data integrated in digital form through the national network of geographic information systems to which more than 100 government agencies are connected, which helps to facilitate decision-making, for example, in the case of carrying out development work in a region or related to a new region.
Al Humaidi stated, in press statements on the sidelines of the workshop, that the center won 9 international awards in different years, at the annual conference organized by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) in the United States of America.
Al Humaidi also indicated that the center provides all licenses for GIS software used in the State of Qatar by all state institutions working in this field through a direct contract with the American company Esri and its agent in Qatar Al-Mannai Corporation, adding that the center organizes training courses for all state institutions through the specialized and accredited training center located there.
On the relationship between the organization of the workshop and the countrys hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Assistant Director of the Geographic Information Systems (CGIS) at the Ministry of Municipality Amer Al Humaidi said that Qatar is about to host the World Cup, and hosting an event like this needs a management of the movement of the fans and knowing the stadiums and all the necessary data related to them, as the center will provide updated digital maps of the country to be accessible to the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy so that it develops its plans based on that information. This facilitates taking decisions regarding stadium management and creating events in different areas based on the available spaces."
He noted that the workshop witnessed the attendance of representatives from various state institutions to participate in presenting their latest projects and applications, learn about the latest technology in this regard, the future vision of this system, and know our current location from it, where we are going and ways of development.
During the workshop, an expert from the American global company Esri gave a speech on the occasion of the GIS Technology Day. This was followed by several technical presentations from the GIS Center at the Ministry of Municipality, the Public Works Authority 'Ashghal', the Communications Regulatory Authority, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Infrastructure Planning Department (IPD) at the Ministry of Municipality and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, all of which illustrate the level of progress reached by these institutions in the applications and uses of geographic information systems in the State of Qatar, in addition to users of one of the famous applications of the GIS Center (Al Murshid).
The presentation presented by the GIS Center at the Ministry of Municipality during the workshop included presentation of the requirements for building digital geographical databases for the State of Qatar according to international technical specifications. It also touched on the capabilities available to the center, which were enhanced by the accession of the mobile scanning system and unmanned aerial vehicles (Drones) during the past two years, and how these tools contributed to the implementation of many requirements of the various state institutions.
The presentation also clarified the new developments in that the center of the Ministry of Municipality owns the aerial surveys system, which contains a pilot aircraft specialized in aerial survey work and is equipped with appropriate aerial cameras and lidar scanners for remote sensing.
The system has actually started operating over the past four months, the aerial survey of Qatar and Halul Island has been completed. Aerial images are currently being processed to produce the corrected images with an accuracy of 20 cm and updated linear data and make them available to all state institutions during the month of July to meet the requirements of the FIFA Qatar 2022 events.
It is worth noting that the GIS Center is affiliated with the Ministry of Municipality, Emiri Resolution No. 36 of 2009 defined the departments and functions of the center, which consists of four sections: Topographic Survey Section; Mapping and Archiving Services Section; Planning and Projects Section; Geographic Systems Services Section.
As for the center's specializations, it shall be competent to: providing basic geographical maps of the country and related services in coordination with the competent authorities in the country, establishing and maintaining horizontal and vertical national geodetic networks and related services, in addition to providing connection and maintenance of the digital topographic database. It also includes carrying out studies and research necessary to develop geographic information systems and a comprehensive global positioning system.
On the project of the aerial survey of the State of Qatar, HE the Minister of Municipality said that this project is one of the works that the Ministry carries out periodically through the Geographic Information Systems Center, where accurate and updated digital data is produced periodically.
His Excellency added that the ministry had recently invested in purchasing an aircraft specialized in aerial photography that includes the latest cameras and high-resolution systems, which gives live data to users from all sides, and helps urban planning specialists, infrastructure engineers, and various agencies to carry out their work.
For his part, the Director of the Centre for Geographic Information Systems (CGIS)at the Ministry of Municipality Manaf Al Sada, considered this workshop an important occasion to contribute to helping the community understand the impact of progress in mechanical information sciences on applications related to the real world in various fields, by integrating the intelligence of geographic information in the operations of Decision-making, as this contributes to building an effective, connected and intelligent society while improving the quality of life in an environment of growth and innovation, explaining that GIS is a scientific framework for collecting, analyzing and displaying geographic data to help make better decisions.
 
 
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