Geoinformation technologies
and their use in the Middle East
Spatial Data Infrastructures
The examples for Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar clearly show, what is achievable by the huge potential of modern technology, particularly when it is used in an integrated fashion and not in competition between technologies.
The use of these technologies must however be agreed upon and regulated by a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for a particular (urban) environment. An SDI must receive full support by a leader (such as Sheikh Mohammed and the Director General of Dubai Municipality Qassim Sultan in Dubai).
Based on this, support agreements between stakeholders (other government agencies and private institutions) can be made.
These agreements regulate to adopt OGC standards for use of compatible hardware and software, the use of communication networks, the required accuracies, the responsibilities for data updates to these standards, the access of data and the conditions of use as well as the issue of cost. This opens the road for the development of geodataportals for the user on the Internet or Intranet.
Other Challenges
There is an expanding range of new technologies, which can be introduced for the benefit of urban systems. These should only be mentioned here as examples:
- Generation of urban height models and digital surface models by laser scanning, with height accuracies exceeding those of photogrammetry
- The use of digital aerial cameras or digital scanners for mapping or orthoimage generation, in the future even coupled with lasers
- Use of terrestrial lasers to supplement aerial information
- The generation of 3D city models and flythrough for visualization, designed for managers or the public
- The use of "Pictometry" or "Multivision" type oblique data acquisition systems for rapid imaging of cities for emergency uses
- The use of high resolution satellite images of 1m or 0.6 m ground sample distance (Ikonos, Quickbird) for rapid data acquisition, if accurate and timely aerial photographic coverages are not possible or affordable
- The generation of "true orthophotos" for eliminating height displacements in standard orthophoto technology caused by buildings or bridges
Many such tools will evolve in the
future. A market for these will be established, when they turn out to be profitably used in a workflow process, which saves time and cost.
Kuwait Building Block Model
Kuwait Flythrough produced by Phoenics
Conclusion
The information component is highly significant for the management of sustainable development. This is particularly so in rapidly changing and growing urban regions. Modern computer, information, and communication technology of which geoinformation is an essential part is a rapidly expanding field.
There are many classical applications, such as mapping and related data
management tasks, which can be improved by this technology, but there are also many new application possibilities to be developed.