Dubai Municipality has signed two contracts with Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency to benefit from global geospatial expertise in accelerating innovation and contributing to the development of fundamental services for citizens, residents, and visitors in Dubai.
The partnership will aid in developing and governing the construction system for Dubai, the happiest city in the world. Ordnance Survey will support the Building Regulation and Permits Agency in Dubai Municipality to improve services for customers and stakeholders in the building and construction sector in the Emirate.
Ordnance Survey also provides Dubai Municipality with expertise to support teams working in the areas of monitoring activities, buildings permits, survey services, executive planning, and geographic information systems. This partnership aims to improve planning and construction processes in the Emirate of Dubai, supported by trusted, and maintained geospatial data and cadastral operations.
Commenting on this announcement, Paul French, Chief Commercial Officer of Ordnance Survey, said: “Dubai Municipality is at an exciting time in expanding its capabilities. We are pleased to be contracted to support the organization in transforming the construction sector.
Our partnership with Dubai Municipality will continue for 12 months, during which we will work on assessing, developing and implementing a sustainable roadmap, which will enable the municipality to successfully complete the transformational process and provide better services to its clients in the sector of building and construction within the public and private sectors.
We play an advisory role by providing the necessary expertise in the sector of land and property life cycle management. The key to success lies in cooperation and reliance on the existing expertise within the Building Regulation and Permits Agency, while providing knowledge from both Ordnance Survey, and pioneers in this sector globally.
It is great to see the important and key role the Building Regulation and Permits Agency plays in such an important project, which will bring positive impact to public and private sector bodies, as well as citizens across the Emirate.”
Engineer Maryam Obaid Almheiri, CEO of the Buildings Regulation & Permits Agency, said: “The agency aims to develop, regulate, and manage the system of construction activities in the Emirate of Dubai, and implement pioneering systems to serve the city, develop executive planning, survey and construction services. Our partnership with Ordnance Survey and other internationally recognized consultancy firms supports us achieving our goals.”
A second contract was also extended between the GIS Center Department (GISCD) of Dubai Municipality and Ordnance Survey, with the aim of implementing the geospatial development strategy over several years, after the success achieved by the previous contract during the past two years.
GISCD supports the efforts of the Government of Dubai in a wide range of activities with the aim of accelerating the pace of the innovation process and enhancing the role of GISCD as a leading authority in the UAE, the Arab Gulf region and the world, in the sector of geospatial services, data and strategies.
The partnership between GISCD and Ordnance Survey developed a road map to achieve the greatest possible benefit from geospatial data in Dubai. The next step is to start the pilot phase of new technologies and to employ them to benefit its citizens.
The third year of the contract will see the activation of new platforms for extracting, managing, and exchanging geospatial data, enabling GISCD to provide the government, companies and citizens in Dubai with richer and up-to-date geographic data, enhancing Dubai’s efforts to achieve its goals in the areas of innovation, Digital Twin and sustainability.
Decisions based on location data intelligence will support citizens with the infrastructure and services they need, exactly where they need them. Accurate and trusted geospatial data will be critical in helping to tackle a range of challenges which are facing cities across the world.
Examples include driving improvements in transport and mobility, helping the city on its net zero journey, improvements in planning and infrastructure, and encouraging citizens to keep active and healthy. The goal is to make Dubai the happiest city in the world for its citizens.
Juliet Ezechie, Director of International, Ordnance Survey said: “GISCD is already recognized as one of the leading geospatial agencies in the Middle East, it is now in the enviable position of being able to take its ambitions for Dubai one step ahead, furthering its vision as a world leader in the global digital economy.
“Dubai is a city primed to be at the cutting edge of geospatial innovation. The city is now laying the strong foundations that will form the tenets of this immense potential, ensuring comprehensive geospatial data coverage, and world-leading data currency and quality.”
Maitha Ali Al Nuaimi, Acting Director of GISC Department said: “Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and GISCD’s strategy will provide an up to date ‘digital twin’ of the Emirate.
“The long-term cooperation between the management of the center and Ordnance Survey contributes to achieving these goals, in addition to enabling us to enhance the aspirations of the Dubai government in making Dubai the happiest city in the world at all in all aspects.”