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After successful shows for four consecutive years in Dubai, the fifth edition of Map Middle East (MME2009) from April 26-28 was a resounding hit in Abu Dhabi. With the motto of 'Enabling G-lateral Ties' and 'Geospatial@Work' as the theme, the three-day conference proved to be an enabling platform for all geospatial stakeholders in the region. The conference clearly provided international connectivity while addressing the geospatial issues of the region. Delivering the inaugural address, Dr Abdullah Hassan Ghareeb Al Bloushi, Executive Director at Department of Municipal Affairs, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, exhorted the importance of geospatial technologies in planning processes of infrastructure development and hoped that Map Middle East shows a success path to the region. Stating the objectives of the event, Sanjay Kumar, CEO, GIS Development, informed the audience that the conference primarily targets the user groups that include AEC (architecture, engineering and construction), petroleum exploration and utilities. He thanked various government agencies of the region for their support to MME 2009 and hoped that MME 2009 would create more awareness about various aspects of geospatial technologies in the region. The guest speaker of the conference, Dr Yi So-yeon, first Asian woman astronaut from Korea Aerospace Research Institute, made an appeal to the audience to 'pay back' to our planet Earth. She said that she longs to see space science being used to bring peace in the world. She stressed upon the need for collaboration among nations in this regard. Major General Khalifa Al Romaithi, Director General, Military Works, UAE Armed Forces, brought forth the issues besetting SDI initiatives in Middle East. He briefly delved into the aspects of policy framework, data standards, capacity building and partnerships vis-a-vis SDI. Other speakers during the inaugural session included Ben Eazzetta, President, Rolta International, who briefly touched upon the convergence of technologies and Eng. Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Hussaien, Mayor of Al Madinah Municipality, Al Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Vote of thanks was proposed by Col Khalid Dasmal, Military Survey Department.   EXHIBITION Exhibition at Map Middle East is one of its kind in the region. This year, it had 37 booths spanning over 3000 sq m. Almost all the major geospatial firms of the Middle East, apart from those from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, participated in the exhibition. It served as a perfect platform for the users in the region to interact with the firms and understand their offerings. PLENARY SESSIONS The first day of the three-day conference had two plenary sessions. The subjects discussed included G-governance, international coordination, SDI mechanisms and business focus of national mapping agencies. Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, CEO of Ordnance Survey (OS), in her talk titled, 'Ordnance Survey: Geospatial@Work', presented the highlights of location strategy of the UK government. According to her, geography has gone mobile and 'location' and 'power of place' have become key ingredients for efficient governance. Apart from informing the latest at OS, she showed how OS database is enabling the planning of 2012 Olympics in London. Ben Eazzetta, President Rolta, highlighted the trends in the GIS domain, where GIS is now being used more at personal levels and has grown to become a part of Business Intelligence and Management Information System (MIS). Dr Abdulla Hasan Ghareeb, Executive Director at Department of Municipal Affairs, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, made a presentation on SDI initiatives to facilitate inter-governmental geospatial resource sharing. Under the initiative named ADSDI (Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure), each AD-SDI community member has the responsibility to make its data and services available in a format so that it can be consumed by other members. Presenting the case of GIS in governance, Prof Williamson, University of Melbourne, Australia, elaborated on integration of geospatial infrastructure with administrative set-up. He detailed the present day situation where development is leading to unsustainability and suggested that GIS can provide a solution for this problem. Eng Mohd Al Zaffin, Director, GIS Centre, Dubai Municipality, demonstrated his organisation's initiatives vis-a-vis Internet and GIS based service delivery systems. Prof Ian Dowman from University College, London, talked about the need for international cooperation. He stressed that technology should be 'people centric' and should have social sciences approach. SEMINARS AND SYMPOSIUMS To give more focus to the user groups, the second day of the conference had one symposium and four seminars on Design & Engineering, Oil and Gas and SDI for City Management & Governance, Utilities and Transportation and Geosptial Technology Development and Trends respectively. The symposium on Design and Engineering was chaired by Mark Reichardt, President, OGC. Eng Nazek Al Sabbagh, MD, TRAKHEES, Dubai, talked on how important geospatial technology has become for the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) sector and opined that the major challenge in the adoption of new technology is the opposition from within the organisation.  An interesting case study on BYGGSOK - a public system for e-services in zoning, building, and construction - was presented by Ovind Rooth, Deputy Director General, National Office of Building Technology and Administration, Norway. It showed the audience "How to build smarter" using GIS as a part of the work flow to improve the construction industry. Other presentations made during the symposium discussed various aspects of convergence and interoperability and geospatial construction tools. A noticeable presentation was on 'Atkins SDI'. Atkins is a private design and engineering firm that has developed its own SDI. The key points in the symposium include -There should definitely be electronic sharing and re-use of databases; Interoperability is fundamental; Standards develop optimally if users demand for it. The seminar on Geospatial in Oil and Gas had four presentations on aspects of usage of GIS in exploration, 3D subsurface model building and on education on GIS in the study of petroleum exploration. In the seminar on SDI for City Management and Governance, ' a thought provoking presentation titled 'Proving an infrastructure' was made by Dr Robert Barr, Chairman, Manchester Geomatics, UK. He shared his experiences on working with local governing bodies and viewed that the four basic principles of SDI are - benefit to citizens, collect once - use many times, fund sustainably and regulate (policy framework). The day highlighted the usability of GIS in the domain of construction engineering. There were discussions on GIS and CAD integration and on Building Information Modelling (BIM). AWARDS As a part of Map Middle East 2009, awards were presented under two categories - Geospatial Pioneers Award and Geospatial Development Awards. Dr. Vanessa Lawrence, CEO, Ordnance Survey, did the honours and presented 'The Geospatial Pioneers Awards' to H E Maj Gen Khalifa Al Rumaithi, Director General, Military Works, UAE Armed Forces; Zul Jiwani, GIS Consultant; Eng Mohd Abdullah Al Zaffin, Director, Dubai Municipality and Dr Mohamed Ahmed Tarabzouni, King Abdul Aziz City for S&T. Geospatial Development Awards were given for innovative use of geospatial technologies in various fields. The awardees are Municipal GIS - Al Madinah Municipality, Saudi Arabia; Land Information System - Ajman Municipality; Egovernance - Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA); Development of Real Time Kinematics (RTK) - Abu Dhabi Municipality; Health - Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), Bahrain; Environment - Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi; E-services - Dubai Municipality; Oil and Gas - Abu Dhabhi National Oil Company; Spatial Governance - Department of Municipal Affairs. The best exhibitor award was bagged by Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi, Trimble and UAE Armed Forces and Partners. The event, which was attended by about 1100 people, ended with the closing remarks of Prashant Joshi, Regional Manager, South Asia, Middle East & Africa. He thanked all the delegates, sponsors and partners for their support. He announced that the next Map Middle East would be held in Abu Dhabi. THE CLASS OF MME 2009  It's about training (sensitising rather) them young. A '100% occupied class' within the exhibition area of MME 2009, was perhaps the first ever effort to bring the 'future of the world' to have an encounter with geospatial technology. Here, senior secondary school students got to learn the basics of maps and GIS and their further linkages to environment and nature conservation. The 'classroom event' was organised by Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi and Space Reconnaissance Center. A group of over 250 students from various schools of Abu Dhabi had small lectures from experts of GPS, GIS and marine and avian biologists on the basics of the technology and its applications. They were given the opportunity of hands-on experience with software as well as hardware and understand what GIS means. The children were all excited when Dr Yi So-yeon, the first Asian woman astronaut from Korea, shared her experiences on space flight. In a scenario where GIS domain is beset with low availability of skilled manpower, events like these are sure to ignite curiosity towards geography among students right from their school. Page 1 of 1
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