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Gary Jurkowski, GIS Coordinator for Qatar's Planning Department (PD) bumps along in his jeep as he slowly navigates Doha's back streets, eyes constantly scanning the buildings lining both sides of the road. Clipboard and pen beside him on the seat, he regularly pulls over to the side of the road to jot down a comment or two. Prior to assigning the automation of specific map sheets, Jurkowski inspects an area to note any special features or potential problems that the technical staff may face.
"I've driven every road in Doha," claims Jurkowski. "We've found that these windshield surveys greatly cut down the time needed by our staff to digitize a particular area."
A 36-month process, the department expects to
complete the collection of topologic data, which includes
all of the country's approved administrative areas, before
the end of the year. The information is maintained on-line.
It is date stamped and referenced according to strict
standards, as outlined in the department's data dictionary.
Accuracy is within 10 cm for surveyed areas, which accounts
for more than fifty percent of all land, and between 50-100
cm for the remaining areas.
"The accuracy of our database is very important," comments Jurkowski. "Planners and engineers use our data on a daily basis. When you're creating subdivisions or laying cable, precision is critical."
Established in 1994, when it evolved from the Planning Information Centre, which was created 2 years earlier, the Land Information Centre (LIC) supports both the Planning and Lands Departments, all of which are within Qatar's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. LIC coordinates all GIS operations for both departments, as well as street naming, property addressing, and the surveying of all parcels of land in the country and assigning them a unique identification number.
"Our database is rich," observes Qassim
Al-Ghanim, Assistant Head of LIC. "We are implementing GIS
in 2 different departments and have collected a vast amount
of information since we began our data automation process
more than 5 years ago. Our data is needed by many of Qatar's
governmental agencies including the Central Statistical
Organization, the Ministry of the Interior, the Drainage
Division, and the Ministry of Electricity and Water. Data
sharing is a very important aspect of Qatar's nationwide
GIS.
"Our ultimate goal," continues Al-Ghanim, "is to create a dynamic GIS that can manage and even instigate certain processes. For example, a new school is planned for a particular area. A dynamic GIS would flag planning and construction milestones so that as a particular phase was completed, the approval process would be automatically triggered and the relevant authorizing agencies informed."
The information collected by LIC is used for Qatar's new digital Land Plan layer, which includes approved subdivision designs, rights-of-way, proposed land use, setbacks, building heights, and zoning. The Land Plan provides immediate information about all land parcels in the country, including the recommended land use by PD and the use of the land in the adjacent parcels. The intent of the Land Plan is to streamline the subdivision approval process.
The gulf region has a tradition of using landmarks as locational references. Due to the rapid growth of the country in recent times, this has often lead to confusion and in some cases danger, as in the case of emergency vehicles trying to reach a specific location when every second counts.
Another project managed by LIC is the Qatar Area Referencing System or QARS, which assigns a unique identification code to each existing property in Qatar. The identification code includes the zone number, street name, and the property number.
"QARS has literally been a life saver," comments Al-Ghanim.
Both APP and QARS were implemented to aid in the development of detailed area planning, which provides specific directives regarding landuse and planning at a block level throughout the country. Detailed area planning will harness the nearly completed Physical Development Plan (PDP) for general reference and direction.
Qatar's PDP, commissioned by the national government and conducted by consulting teams, is close to completion under the supervision of the PD.
The PDP provides an integrated planning hierarchy that addresses planning issues from the national level to that of the neighborhood. The plan establishes land use and general planning guidelines and policies through the year 2020.
A key component of the PDP's usability and effectiveness is its integration and implementation with GIS technology. The PDP has been developed to make maximum use of the technology's search, retrieval, and analytical capabilities. In addition to graphical elements including illustrations, diagrams, and photographs, the GIS database for the PDP contains more than 500,000 pages of textual information.
Summarizes Al-Ghanim, "From the planner's point of view, it is important that each individual decision supports a common goal. The use of GIS technology provides all of us with the ability to work from a common, continually updated map sheet, which enhances communication between us and helps keep our common goals in view."
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