Role of GIS in Managing Leasable Facilities at Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ)

Power | Telecom | Transport | Others

Abstract

Role of GIS in Managing Leasable Facilities at Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) - A Dubai Business Hub in UAE

Anupam Saharia
Senior GIS Engineer, Civil Engineering Department
Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation
Dubai, UAE
Email: a.saharia@jafza.ae

Abstract
Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ), a major business unit of Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), is a popular business hub in Dubai that offers trading, manufacturing and service companies a unique opportunity to do business from the Middle East with unbeatable business incentives. The Free Zone is spread over 100 square kilometers, and hosts Office Units, Warehouses, and Land sites that are leased to over 2,900 companies from over 100 countries to operate their business activities in one of the fastest growing free zones in the world.

The GIS implementation began at corporate Civil Engineering Department (CED), which is responsible for Planning, Development of leasable Facilities, related Utilities and their maintenance, for various PCFC business units. Objectives of the GIS implementation were to ensure that GIS becomes an integrated business and engineering information resource ready to be shared by Jebel Ali Port, Free Zone and other PCFC business units.

Using Oracle Spatial as the central repository and Intergraph's Geomedia Professional, CED was successful in implementing a GIS system, which effectively integrates and shares Spatial information with engineering and business applications among corporate business units.

The paper will address overall GIS implementation needs and benefits of the PCFC GIS, with special reference to web based GIS applications developed for JAFZ. Experience of integrating GIS and Free Zone Information System stored in Oracle Spatial and Sybase databases respectively. The paper would also explain an approach followed in spatial representation of leasable facilities (offices and warehouses), which are parts of multi storey free zone buildings. GIS role in free zone facility leasing process. The paper will provide information on Intranet and Internet based GIS applications developed using ASP and Geomedia Webmap objects for sharing integrated GIS information among corporate and public users.