ADEC achieves first place at the International ESRI’s GIS Competition
Abu Dhabi 8th August, 2012:
Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) achieved the first place at the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Competition at the International Education User Conference, San Diego, USA, organized by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) from July 20th until the 27th 2012, and attended by more than 15,000 participants from all over the world.
ADEC’s winning GIS application is called “i-ADEC”, a mobile application developed as an external portal not only for ADEC staff but also for parents and community members. The application provides school search capabilities, access to latest ADEC publications, news, and videos and allows users to send concerns and suggestions to ADEC's central operation in different multimedia format where appropriate actions are taken.
HE Dr. Mugheer Khamais Al Khaili, ADEC’s Director General, said that the award recognizes the team efforts over the past years to apply the latest GIS/IT technologies in most of the academic and administrative areas.
Organizations and GIS specialists from all over the world contested over four GIS application categories, namely Web GIS, Mobile GIS, Desktop GIS and Map GIS where ADEC won the 1st place in Mobile GIS applications.
Dr. Alaaeldin Aly, a Division Director of Knowledge Management at ADEC participated in the conference commented that “Participants were impressed by i-ADEC application features due to its easiness of use and utilizing GIS features to present valuable information. The application is bilingual and provides simple, easy and multiple ways to find a school and browse its general information through interactive maps. The application detects the GPS location of the user and finds the shortest route to the located school. Users of i-ADEC are able to browse latest news, videos, and documents published by ADEC. This way, parents and members of the community can access ADEC's latest news anywhere anytime from their mobile devices such as iPhone or iPad”.
In 2008, ADEC decided to deploy the GIS technology in its IT infrastructure to support planning and decision making. One year later, ADSIC established a Spatial Data Infrastructure and allowed 11 AD government entities to share latest maps and geospatial information. The award is a result of such vision and initiatives where currently there are more than 50 AD government entities that are sharing and exchanging latest geospatial information in a seamless and automated manner. As a consequence, ADEC has established a geo-portal application and used GIS to support many key projects such as the 10-year master plans for public and private schools, the schools merger plans, and the full control over the utilization of the educational lands in AD emirate.
In 2011, ADEC achieved the second place in the international GIS competition organized by esri but in another category “Web-Based GIS Applications”. In 2010, ADEC received the “Making a Difference in Education Award” from esri Education User Conference (EdUC) for its exceptional work in implementing GIS solutions. Also in 2010, ADEC received the award for 'Best GIS Implementation for Business Support' at the 5th Excellence in GIS Implementation (EGI) awards ceremony held in Dubai.
ADEC is keen to develop and implement world-class educational policies, plans and programs in order to elevate the quality of the educational system in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to the best international level. Advanced technology is applied to inform decision making and implement educational initiatives. Therefore ADEC is planning to train geography and IT teachers on latest GIS technologies and tools to incorporate some of its features in teaching and learning. The use of GIS in teaching and learning will help students in critical thinking, creativity, and innovation.
Currently, ADEC is in the process of integrating the GIS with its Students Information System (eSIS) to maintain accurate students’ addresses and catchment areas for each school, which will help in automating the process and operation of students’ admission and transportation.
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