Excellence Award in GIS for Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre

Awarded by ESRI, US

San Diego, USA, 21 July 2009
Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), the steward of the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI), was awarded for ‘Special Achievement in GIS’ during the GIS Award Ceremony at the 40th ESRI International User Conference on July 15, 2009.

Thousands of organisations worldwide were nominated for the "Special Achievement in GIS" award. ADSIC was recognised for setting precedents throughout the GIS community and making an extraordinary contribution to the global society.

Such achievement is yet another milestone for the Abu Dhabi e-Government initiative, highlighting the quality and effectiveness that has been achieved, particularly in light of being such a recently launched initiative.

In June 2007, ADSIC launched the AD-SDI initiative to provide a common framework of standards, policies, data sharing, governance, and infrastructure. Today, AD-SDI enables more than forty member entities to collaborate for the effective use and sharing of common geospatial information in Abu Dhabi. This initiative is a cornerstone of Abu Dhabi Government in its continuous drive to become one of the best governments in the world.

In this occasion, HE Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of ADSIC expressed his pleasure on attaining this recognition by saying: "AD-SDI initiative includes broad endeavors involving 40 institutions from both public and private sector as well as the civil society, where they collaborate together to develop and use the key geospatial data. Most of these entities assume responsibility for providing the significant geospatial data, or are involved in major projects focused on producing such information. He added: "in light of this initiative, we – in ADSIC – are concerned to furnish the decision makers with an integral set of geographical information, spatial and numerical analysis."

The initiative will inspire, facilitate, and support the development of a resilient and dynamic geospatial environment that will, in turn, ensure efficient access to information while protecting exclusive rights and privileges.

Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) is participating in the 40th ESRI International User Conference taking place in San Diego in the United States from July 13th through July 17th 2009. With more than 10,000 attendees, this event is considered the world's largest gathering of prominent and leading international thinkers and decision makers in the GIS domain, including representatives from both public and private sectors, IT professionals, e-Government and global organisation experts, GIS technicians, competent technical associations, Civil society institutions, and educational and academic organisations.

The recognition of the AD-SDI highlights the favorable impact the spatial infrastructure has on the various sectors that will benefit from interactive services and e-transactions that contain geographical maps and data.

It is worth mentioning that the Abu Dhabi e-Government program is steadily promoting internet services extensions via such unprecedented initiatives as the Abu Dhabi Government Contact Center, Abu Dhabi e-Portal, and Abu Dhabi Jobs. These programs not only enhance government efficacy, but also encourage the creative use of technology as a factor assisting in the modernisation process across all Emirate’s sectors.