GIS in Qatar - An Integral Part of the Infrastructureby Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Thani
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Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Thani |
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Abstract : |
It is the responsibility of Government leaders to provide infrastructure services to its citizens. It is also every Government leader's dream to provide these services so effectively and efficiently that the average citizen takes it for granted; i.e when a citizen flicks a light switch he gets electricity; when he opens a tap he gets water; when he pulls a flush the waste disappears; when he picks up a phone he gets a dialing tone; etc. etc.. A citizen should be able to do this without worrying about how it happens or without worrying about whether it will happen or not. If, when a citizen turns on a tap, he has to hope and pray that there will be water, then that is a clear indication of inefficient infrastructure service provider (in most cases this is Government). We would not tolerate a situation like this. Yet, in this information driven society we often tolerate long delays in getting access to basic government information. And the delay in getting access to government information almost always leads to delays in making decisions that affect the daily lives of our citizens. Sometimes such delays could lead to disastrous results. Imagine an ambulance service not having access to the latest street data and is unable to respond to a life-and-death emergency call in time. Government leaders need up-to-date and comprehensive information to make right decisions. Enhancing the well being of citizens is the responsibility of every Government decision maker. Making the right decision is directly associated with having the right information at the right time. The decision maker's problem today is not the decision making process but getting to the right information to make the decision. In this day and age, access to the right information at the right time is as important as having access to other infrastructure services. Therefore in the years to come, access to information will be treated at par with access to what are currently referred to as basic infrastructure services. In Qatar we have anticipated this and are using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as core technology for providing this service.
This paper will highlight how Qatar has implemented a nation-wide GIS, linking all participating Government agencies by a high speed network providing instant access to each others' standardized, up-to-date public information without centralizing responsibility or authority.
Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Thani - Profile :
Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Thani graduated from Boulder, Colorado as a Civil Engineer. He started his career as a civil engineer at the Ministry of Industry & Public Works and subsequently moved on to senior levels of management. He was Qatar's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture from 1992 to 1996. He pioneered GIS within the State of Qatar and was appointed as the first Chairman of The National GIS Steering Committee. He is often referred to as the GIS champion of the arab world.
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