Geospatial Enabling Sustainability

GIS plays an integral role in the emirate for various purposes, from ecology to social sustainability and quality of life.

By Eng. Aaesha Saif Al Shehhi, & Siva Sankara Reddy K.

The goal of all sustainable planning, policies, and governance is to design processes that can help maintain the balance of planet Earth. This effort’s success depends upon a foundation of science, collaboration, and the implementation of sustainable policies and administration. GIS is an essential tool for designing and implementing sustainable processes at a scale ranging from local to global.

Establishing a base for determining cause and effect, GIS tracks ecological change and provides chains of evidence of human impact. It tracks land use, methods of resource extraction, and peripheral activities, such as supporting road networks. GIS manages large databases, depicts and prioritizes problems, models positive and harmful practices scenarios, and predicts environmental outcomes.

Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Municipality has a unified addressing system for the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which enhances the citizens’ quality of life and promotes sustainable development opportunities under the guidance of the emirate’s vision for economic development. The essential and sustainable advantages of the unified and well-governed emirate level addressing are:

1. Reduced travel times with improved navigation capabilities

2. One-time plan and replicated implementation to any scale

3. Social change via continued community engagement to use the sustainable addressing solution in all day-to-day citizen services

4. Unified data reference at all government levels. Private and federal agencies to maintain well-architected data services.

The GIS complements sustainability in society by having a key influence on geospatial thinking in master & urban planning, buildings, and construction management, economic and statistical studies, environmental studies and preparation of sensitivity maps, GeoDesign of the new areas with scenario-based decision making, public health management, investor relations with a focus on strategic location planning, public policy review and enhancement, real estate development, and tourism development.

Some of the applications developed for enterprises and for the public which are enabling interactive data access are the SDI portal (https://maps.rak.ae/SDIPortal/ Home) and the addressing portal (https://maps.rak.ae/Addressing/ Map). Manage My Land (https:// www.rak.ae/wps/portal/rak/e-services/govt/managemyland) is a virtual journey through an innovative electronic window to manage all the property operations through the official portal of the RAK government.

Principally, the application saves hours/days for the customer service agents with an ampli- fied focus on critical cases and supports sustainability by strategically using the latest advancement in tech and user behavior to decrease the carbon footprint.

Data Infrastructure

Many countries have set up spatial data infrastructures (SDI) that enable data exchange via standards and interoperability. Organizations have created GIS portals allowing fast geo-data and map services access.

Some key benefits include enabling end-users with readyto-use data in the correct format at the right time and easing datadriven decision-making. Sustainable planning is enabled with complete and comprehensive data where conflicts and key project challenges are immediately studied and treated.

Using GIS and data infrastructure in RAK Municipality saves cost and resources, supporting the futuristic and modern government plan to make paperless/ smart/digital offices.

It is also vital in emergency response, planning, and operational response. Case managers and specialists in the municipality have understood and applied the geospatial contexts and developed a spatial mindset based on continuously updated data toward datadriven city management.

Way Forward

GIS Center and its futuristic solutions combined with modern data architecture, automated data pipelines, parcel fabric, earth observation, data analytics, drone-enabled continuous aerial image collection, and GeoAI are strategically implemented following the vision of the RAK Emirate leadership and, more importantly, the growth of the UAE with far-reaching impact on the Middle East Region, with its aim to be a cultural, tourism, industrial along with real estate investments destination. Geospatial advancements of RAK are well advocated and followed by various regional municipalities and government enterprises towards maintaining sustainable societies.

Eng. Aaesha Saif Al Shehhi Director, GIS Center, Ras Al Khaimah aaesha_shehhi@hotmail.com

Siva Sankara Reddy K GIS Project Manager, GIS Center Ras Al Khaimah geospatialsiva@gmail.com