KUWAIT: Participants of the 11th session of the Joint Gulf Municipal Work Conference affirmed on Wednesday the importance of urban planning based on geographic databases to meet the challenges facing decision-makers in laying their spatial plans. Participants presented on the second day of the conference, which was held in Kuwait, the top global uses of the GIS system as well as volunteer work in fields of municipal work. Muneera Al-Jeri, from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), discussed the importance of analyzing the pattern of human temporal and spatial transport in urban areas, which is considered a necessity to face traffic and other problems.

Abdulelah Al-Otaibi, From the Saudi Ministry of Municipal Rural Affairs and Housing, presented a paper titled "Land and Property Management System" which helps decision-makers to lay their spatial plan. Maitha Al-Nuaimi, from Dubai Municipality, presented a paper titled "Geospatial Digital Twins" which reviewed Dubai's Municipality's digital strategy to build a modern and reliable, and a first of its kind technology in the UAE, through "Digital twins."

Meanwhile, Huda Al-Afifi from Oman discussed the "digital system for drilling permits for Muscat Governorate", and the positive outcomes of implementing it in eliminating the arbitrary approach of drilling permits. Amer Al-Hmedi from Qatar talked about the "Geographical Information Systems Techniques - My Address Project", where he referred to factors that distinguished the GIS in Qatar as a technical reference and provider of basic databases, licenses, and technical support for ministries. Hmedi reviewed the mechanism of establishing the national network for GIS and the network of continuous transmission of ground coordinates and cartographic specifications of the country's maps and their compatibility with international standards and the National Center for Aerial Photographs.

In the meantime, Munera Al-Manae from Kuwait Municipality's Space Administration discussed the use of GIS and its implementation in the Municipality, and the steps for digitalizing maps, data types in the Space Administration, and the conversion of paper survey plans into information in the GIS programs. Manae reviewed the unified real estate number, one of the most important projects Kuwait Municipality implemented, as it contributes to facilitating communication processes and linking transactions and data related to the property. The 11th session of the Joint Gulf Municipal Work Conference under the title 'Smart Municipality' kicked off Tuesday, will last for three days, with the participation of GCC municipalities, and will discuss several important files. - KUNA