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Map Middle East 2006 Report
26 - 29 March 2006
World Trade Centre, Dubai






The Second Annual Middle East Conference on Geospatial Information, Technologies and Applications was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from March 26 to 29. Organized by GIS Development and Dubai Municipality the event witnessed participation from more than 1,000 delegates from around 41 countries, strengthening its position as the regional forum for the Middle East geospatial community.

The conference, held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and Industry and Chairman of Dubai Municipality, it provided the best platform to all the stakeholders in the geospatial domain of the Middle East region to interact, deliberate and share their experiences with one another. Under the theme of “Geospatial for All – All for Geospatial” the conference focused on the capability of geospatial information and technology for improving quality of life for the public.

Opening Ceremony
The conference was inaugurated by H.E. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality on 26th March. In his inaugural speech Eng. Lootah said, “The rate of change in infrastructure facilities in Dubai and the UAE, which is faster than most of the similar regions in the world, is a direct result of the focused proactive approach of its leaders and the visionary foundation laid by its founders.” Lootah said the vision of the country's rulers, both past and present, have in the true sense of the word created a 'Jannat' - paradise on earth within just a few decades. “As geospatial technologies are today being used for various infrastructure developmental activities like road, telecom and port to e-governance and enterprise business solutions, Dubai Municipality has initiated many projects, which will soon fructify to give this city still better governance through the exhaustive usage of these technologies in Governance, Security, Infrastructure and Education. We have always believed in using the state-of-the-art tools for the timely delivery of infrastructure projects," he said.

He hoped that the conference would provide a stage for the professionals in private sector, government officials, researchers and academicians in the Middle East region to learn about the new developments in the field of GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing and Aerial Photography. He also hoped that the event would also be an opportunity for them to share the experiences they have gained through the multitude of projects that have been completed in the region, which has seen the highest growth in infrastructure in this part of the world.

The inaugural session of the conference was also addressed by Dr. M P Narayanan, President, GIS Development; Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, India; and Prof. Milan Konecny, President of International Cartographic Association.

In his paper on Dubai Municipality's E-government, Eng. Lootah said the Municipality has so far achieved more than 1.6 million online transactions and collected over Dhs14 million through e-payments. "We now offer 381 Online Services and we have over 17,000 registered business users," he said.

Talking about the achievements so far, Lootah said the Municipality has re-engineered, developed and deployed the bilingual DM portal, which has a directory of services providing useful information on 50 services. He said the portal offers 93 informational services and 238 transactional services with an average of 17,000 transactions per week.

"DM portal offers engineering services for contractors and contractors, laboratory testing services, services for food traders and food handlers, public services such as parking fine payment, etc. It has a secure online registration service, online payment facility through credit cards and e-Dirham Card. Besides the portal has also introduced email and SMS as customer communication channels and launched free e-Service Training programme for external customers," said Eng. Lootah.

PLENARY SESSION
There were interesting speeches by eminent geospatial leaders during the two Plenary Sessions. Prof. David Rhind, Vice Chancellor, City University, London touched upon the topic of ‘GIS and the Safety of Society’.

The series of natural and man-made disasters in 2005 and 2006 have highlighted the role that GIS and its users can play in safeguarding society, said Prof. Rhind. He added that coping with disasters - natural or man-made - is an area where GIS can potentially make a major contribution. His presentation examined the range of benefits and threats GIS provides, describing some examples of actual use and the importance of institutional structures within which the GIS is operated.

It also highlighted the tension between the value and the danger of having wholly open access to Geographical Information, especially over the Web. The paper concluded by assessing the management issues involved and how best to use GIS skills and tools in a world where threats to society are endemic.

Rhind said the greatest contributions can be made if GIS is integrated into the work of all the responsible authorities long before any particular threat materializes. “But the prime factors which determine whether GIS actually contribute to the safety of citizens are management ones. We need many more managers of organizations who have good GIS experience and this suggests the need for appropriate education and training and career development for GIS personnel,” he said.

Ian Dowman, President, ISPRS in his presentation on 'Earth Observation and Society: Opportunities and challenges for all' emphasized that there is an enormous potential for earth observation data to serve society, but there are still many problems in this field. Dowman's presentation dealt with the current technical and political developments, which reflect the value of earth observation, and the challenges that the geospatial community must meet to extend and enhance the value of Earth observations data.

Preetha Pulusani, President (Security, Government and Infrastructure Division), Intergraph Corporation, USA spoke on the topic of ‘Technology for a More Secure World’. She said security applications used to prevent crises today are much more than traditional GIS and provide a more comprehensive, information-rich geospatial environment that are bringing together emergency and incident management with sensor, alarm and video surveillance technologies to provide a complete COP.

"Increasing security concerns from manmade and natural disasters throughout the world continue to pose challenges to predict, prepare, respond and recover from these events. Today, a system has to be responsive and adaptable and further be able to anticipate intelligent adversaries," said Pulusani. She said in a crisis situation, responders must have an entire overview, a Common Operating Picture (COP), to access and respond quickly to an emergency.

In his speech on "Land Management and Cadastre" Em. Prof. Gottfried Konecny from the Institute of Photogrammetry & Geoinformation, University of Hannover, Germany said that in many parts of the world, land - which is a limited, non-renewable resource - is over utilized and degraded by urbanization and industrialization. "The prerequisite to land management is to create legal security for occupation of land, and to create investment opportunities under legal rights. This is an economic incentive permitting urban and rural land reforms, as endorsed by the UNCED process," he said.

"The first task is to create a legal basis for the different legal types of land (state owned, private, communal and open access). Based upon the created laws the technical solution is the establishment of a cadastral system, in which the current rights are geolocated, described and continuously maintained," said Konecny.

Styli Camateros, Vice President (Geospatial) Bentley Systems talked on Advancing Geospatial Technology in Infrastructure. He said infrastructure is the cornerstone of economic development and because of its long lifecycle is particularly difficult to manage. "Current use of Geospatial technology in Infrastructure falls short in critical areas such as precision, 3D, integration of planning, analysis, design, and facilities management, and integration of data required for lifecycle management of the asset but that is not conducive to being stored in a database," said Camateros. He said concepts such as Federated Data Management will be explored as avenues to advance GIS for infrastructure.

KEYNOTE SESSION
There were three separate Keynote Session from March 27 to 28. The first keynote session was on the topic of ‘Satellite Photogrammetry: Emerging Trends’. During this session Prof. Christian Heipke, Institute of Photogrammetry & Geoinformation, University of Hannover, Germany spoke on Emerging GIS and mapping trends. Mr. Rich Turner, Senior Product Manager, ESRI talked on GIS - Trends driving GIS evolution in our Rapidly Changing world; Dr. C. V. S. Prakash, Director, Antrix Corporation talked on Satellite Photogrammetry: Emerging Trends and Mr. John W Allan Director (Sales & Marketing), BAE Systems talked on Making 3D geospatial databases a reality.

In the second keynote session, on the topic of ‘Positioning and Locational Intelligence’ Mr. George Moon, Chief Technology Officer, MapInfo Corporation spoke about Technology Trends in Positioning & Locational Intelligence; Dr. Vanessa Lawrence, DG & Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, UK talked on 'Underpinning the Nation with Geographic information for informed decision making'; Mr. Michael Jones, Chief Technology Officer, Google Earth talked on The Expanding Role of Geospatial Information and Mr. Ron Lake, President & CEO, Galdos Inc, USA talked on Spatial Data Infrastructures and the future of GIS.

During the third keynote, which was on ‘GIS in the Middle East’ Eng. Muhammad Alrajhi, Director General of Surveying and mapping, MOMRA, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, spoke about Geo Information in Saudi Arabia; Brig. Khalifa Al Romaithi, Director, Military Survey Department, UAE talked on Abu Dhabi Emirate Geoportal (GeoADE); Eng. Khalil Almaharmeh, Royal Jordanian Geographic Center, Jordan talked on Geo Spatial And GIS Data In RJGC – Jordan.

SPECIAL TRACKS
Apart from the above there were Special Tracks on the topics of Governance and Land Administration, National Security, Infrastructure. These included Special Track Keynotes on the before mentioned subjects. The speakers in the Special Track Keynotes included: Governance and Land Administration: Mr. Salem Khamis Al Shair, Director E Services, Dubai e–Government; Mr. Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, GIS Development; Eng. Marwan Ahmad Bin Ghalita, Technical Administration Director, Land Department, Government of Dubai; Dr Abdel Munem Samara, Director General, Department of Lands and Survey, Jordan and FIG Commission 7 Representative. National Security: Maj. Ali Al Shehhi, Space Reconnaissance Centre, UAE; Mr. Mark Cahart, Director International Defence Programme, Leica Geosystems; Prof. Dr. Helmut Kraenzle, UAE University, UAE. Infrastructure: Mr. Geoff Zeiss, Director Technology, Autodesk; Ms. Amina Ali Hashem, Manager (Project & Engineering –Drawing & Permits), DEWA, Dubai.

WORKSHOPS
There were two interesting workshops on “GIS Project Management” and “GIS Ethics and Laws”. The first workshop was run by Dr. A R Dasgupta, Distinguished Professor from BISAG, India and the second workshop was run by Mr. Roger Longhorn, Director, Info-Dynamics Research, and UK. The workshops witnessed participation from people from different domains.

PAPER PRESENTATIONS
Altogether 215 papers have been received by the Map Middle East 2006 Technical Committee. Map Middle East 2006 had 59 paper presentations spread across the many Technical Sessions and Special Tracks and more than 50 poster presentations.

STUDENTS FORUM
Also as part of the Map Middle East 2006, the First GIS Students Forum was organized by Dubai Municipality in cooperation with the Ministry of Education in which 60 students from 12 schools in the UAE participated.

Sixty students in the age group of 12-15 from 12 government schools in the UAE participated in the Forum, which provided the participants a first hand experience on map making and data collection, in addition to presentations by international experts in the field. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, who was present during the presentations, awarded trophies to the winning students in the Map Drawing Competition, held as part of the Forum. He also inaugurated the Map Gallery, which showcased the maps drawn by students on their emirates and the UAE.

Dr. Jamal Al Muhairi, Secretary of the Ministry of Education was also present on the occasion. Eng. Mohammed Al Zaffin, Head of GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality welcomed the participants in the Forum. During the hour-long session called, "Filed Survey Game held outside the Trade Centre, students joined a professional team led by Yousuf Al Marzouqi, Head of Geodesy Unit in the Planning and Survey Department at Dubai Municipality in conducting a field survey for map making. They were shown how the data for map making is collected and processed on location, and then how it is incorporated in a map on the computer.

In the first presentation about Google Earth, Michael Jones, Chief Technology Officer, Google Earth gave studetns a brief idea about the different advantages of Google Earth programme. "We make you fly over the earth. There are millions of place marks on Google Earth shared by users around the world," he said. Jones said the users include real estate companies, who benefits by it for sale of houses. "People can also learn about the place where the house is located," he said The second presentation on the Advantages of Digital Cameras in GIS, Gottfried Konecny, Professor in Geoinformation at the University of Hanover, Germany, talked about the different digital cameras used for aerial mapping. In the third presentation, Major Pilot Ali Al Shehhi of Space Reconnaissance Centre, UAE talked about the "Day to day use of satellite imagery.

GALA DINNER
A gala dinner was organized at the Dubai Municipality Officers’ Club on the cool evening of 28th March. The delegates enjoyed the hospitality and the good food.

EXHIBITION
The Exhbition was inaugurated by H.E. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality with the ribbon cutting ceremony. About 51 Exhibitors participated in the exhibition from the government and the industry. The exhibition was a great success, with Military Survey UAE, Intergraph and Dubai Municipality sharing the top honors for the best exhibitors.

List of Exhibitors
BAE Systems, Saudi Geological Survey, Jena Optronik GmbH, Optech, TeleAtlas/Transport Hi tech, Map Info, DVP Geomatics, Geokosmos, Map 24, Spatial Networks, ITC The Netherlands, Vianovis GmbH, OGC, Cybercity, Infotech, CP-PROGIS, Terralink International, Vexel Imaging, Technokraft, Centre for GIS, State of Qatar; Speck Spatial Tech, Maps Geosystems, Digital Globe, HP, Trimble GIS and Mapping, UAE Military Survey Department, UAE Space Reconnaisance Centre, Global Scan Technologies, Space Imaging, Dubai Municipality,Share Clive, Selected Equities, Leica Geosystems, Department of Science and Technology (Government of India); ESRI Middle East; Toposys, Nest Technologies, Pictometry, Sokkia, Bentley, Rolta, Intergraph, NZAM, PCI, Spot Image, Antrix, Lounge (Sponsored by Dubai Land Dept), Navtech, Geo & Logic, Al Amjad LLC, Alrabhia AEROmetrex

CLOSING DAY
The Map Middle East 2006 conference concluded on 29th of March with a call to build educational infrastructure in geospatial technology and to integrate geospatial technology with other engineering streams. The various keynote and technical sessions focused on contemporary topics and various people from the industry and academics in the Middle East and abroad concentrated on throwing valuable insight into the growth of Geoinformation and Geospatial sciences in today's world.

"The conference was also aimed at delivery of E-government services using GIS technology and promoting GIS technology and its applications for land administration, security, and infrastructure development like roads, transport, electricity, gas and telecommunication," said Eng. Mohammed Al Zaffin, Director of GIS Centre at Dubai Municipality.

MAP MIDDLE EAST 2006 AWARDS
Three papers were selected by the Technical Coordination Committee as best papers of the conference based on their technical content, adherence to the conference theme and presentation. During the closing ceremony, trophies were presented to these.

The winning papers included "Local Urban Observatory at Sin El Fil Municipality, Lebanon" by Mounia Bedran Seba, Victoria Zwein, Khatib & Alami, CEC, Lebanon, "Tracking Shipping Containers with a Geospatial Information System for National Security," by Helmut Kraenzle, Professor in Geography, UAE University and "Progress towards the implementation and development of Tide-Met stations in the Emirate of Dubai," by a team of Dubai Municipality officials that included Yousuf AbdulRahman Al Marzouqui, Mehran Samdholla Ghassemi, Satheesh Gopi Neelakandan, and Amira Ahmed Al Zarouni. The Military Survey Department UAE, Intergraph and Dubai Municipality shared the top honours for the best exhibitors.