The AED9 million project is expected to be completed in eighteen months

Ras Al Khaimah, March 12, 2007: The Ras Al-Khaimah e-Government Authority (EGA) and Hyderabad, India-headquartered business conglomerate Navayuga Group recently concluded an agreement for the development and implementation of an Enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) turnkey solution for Ras Al Khaimah. Through this agreement, the EGA has formally awarded the GIS project to Navayuga Group.

Navayuga is expected to GIS-wire the entire emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the next eighteen months.

The Enterprise GIS solution for RAK is the vision of HH Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qassimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah. The Crown Prince envisions the emirate to adopt modern GIS and spatial technologies, which would enable better governance and continuous improvement of lifestyle of the residents of Ras Al Khaimah.

EGA developed a blueprint for implementing the vision of the Crown Prince and crafted the Enterprise GIS project, which is built around the use of high quality reliable, geo-spatial technology and applications. The solution makes governance successful and meaningful for the people and residents are assured of the up to date services and map information. The Enterprise GIS will be delivered through the RGIN network, by which various departments and users will be able to use the solution effectively for transacting governance and citizen-good information.

The agreement for the project was signed by Dr. Hashem Ar-Refaei, Director General, EGA and IT Advisor, Government of Ras Al Khaimah and Dr. Mukund Rao, CEO of Navayuga Spatial Technologies (NST), Bangalore, India and Director, Navayuga Middle East FZC, Ras Al Khaimah. The agreement was signed in the presence of Dr. Muhamad R Bualhamam, Chairman, RAK-GIS Committee and Deputy Director General of Ras Al Khaimah Municipality.

Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Dr. Hashem Ar-Refaei said: "The Enterprise GIS is a very prestigious project of R?s Al Khaimah. Many GIS solution providers bid for the project. Navayuga's solution was chosen because it was comprehensive and developed over a detailed understanding of our requirements."

He added: "Dr. Mukund Rao is an internationally renowned GIS professional. Dr. Rao's team are committed and dedicated bunch of professionals. We are certain that RAK EGA has made the right decision in awarding the project to Navayuga."

Dr. Muhamad Bualhamam said: "Ras Al Khaimah is envisioning transition from the old AutoCad mode of working to a true-GIS solution. This calls for a change in work-culture in the emirate. Navayuga has an important task in training people in this project and the success will be when the officials of RAK are fully geared to derive benefits of what Navayuga will develop. Navayuga has immense technical capability as proven in the pilot phase of the project."

Talking about the Enterprise GIS solution developed for Ras Al Khaimah, Dr. Mukund Rao said: "The Enterprise GIS project is a logical extension of the Pilot GIS, which was implemented by NST. The turnkey solution will call for an integration of a complex suite of technologies. The system consists of a suite of servers that manages the Web, Metadata, Application and Database Servers; the database engine is on Oracle Spatial. The ArcGISServer provides the GIS suite for the total solution. Unique solutions for the defining a standard Spatial Framework for the geodatabase; direct ingest of AutoCad data layers and for quality evaluation of the database have been developed that provides the test-suite for the solution."

Dr. Rao added: "We will put all best efforts to make the project successful and bring to fruition the vision of the Crown Prince and implement the tactical plan of the EGA. We are already geared up and shall soon start, and if possible, hopefully, even deliver ahead of time".

Mr. K. Gowtham Shenoy General Manager, Navayuga Middle East said: "The over AED 9 million-project will be completed in eighteen months. We would want to use this opportunity to thank the Ras Al Kahimah Free Zone Authority -- where our offices are based -- who have been very supportive of our initiatives here."

The Pilot GIS and the e-Map for the Portal will be shortly unveiled in a formal handing-over function. RAK-EGA will formally launch the Portal and the Pilot GIS - providing the first glimpse of the major GIS initiatives in the emirate at the event.

-Ends-

ABOUT THE ENTERPISE GIS SOLUTION PROJECT
Ras Al Khaimah has made modest beginnings in the use of GIS for governance and planning. The emirate has already undertaken considerable work in this regard. It has had an aerial survey done in 2002 for the northern part of the emirate from which ortho-images have been generated and mapping completed. The emirate has also been allocating land and these allotted land records are also being digitized. Most of these data are available in AutoCad files and land allocation in Oracle database.

A lot of economic development has been witnessed in Ras Al Khaimah since 2002. Thus, using a 2002 GIS would certainly need updation to 2007 status. This is yet another major component for the Enterprise GIS.

RAK has already developed a Pilot of the Enterprise GIS by developing seven key GIS Applications and development of a pilot GIS database for 9 per cent of Ras Al Khaimah City area - which is the design core for the Enterprise GIS Solution. RAK has also developed an e-Map software/database on its RAK Portal that allows citizens to access spatial data and undertake basic querying and finding map-based information of the emirate.

The Enterprise GIS is, thus, a logical culmination of the strategic direction of the emirate's GIS initiatives and will be a landmark project that will support the needs of Building and Engineering Administration (BEA); Public Works and Services Department (PWD); Town Planning and Survey Administration (TPSA); Land Department; Sewage Authority; Emergency Management and Environmental Planning departments.

The Enterprise GIS solution will feature on almost everything in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah --  road, water and water body, airport, buildings (including residential and industrial), vegetation, utility, contours and DEM layer, administrative units and ortho images from specific aerial surveys and satellite images.

Tentatively, 16 GIS Applications will be a part of the Enterprise GIS:

  • General Map Handling Module - allows for basic display and querying operations

  • Map Publishing Module - allows for publishing displayed maps in standard templates

  • LIS Module - allows for land records applications

  • RAK-Plan Module - allows for Plan related actions on the RAK-Plan data

  • Sewerage Management Module - allows for basic management on sewerage network

  • NOC Module - Will allow applying and tracking NOC applications on land allotments

  • Project tracking Module - Will be able to track status of projects on-going in RAK

  • Sign boards GIS - Allows for planning, monitoring and maintaining all sign-boards in the city

  • Addressing Application - Allows for address management of each property in RAK

  • Site plan application - Allows for applications, approvals and monitoring the building site plan applications

  • Planning conditions application - Allows for incorporating future plans and their status monitoring

  • Integration of GIS with SCADA - For real-time integration of process SCADA data

  • Integration of GIS with CCTV for monitoring all CCTV systems

  • Fleet management - For fleet management solutions for RAK logistics and service fleets

  • Pavement management application - For planning, monitoring and licensing all pavement assets

  • Solid waste management for an environmental planning and monitoring of solid-waste sites

The road to the Enterprise GIS solution is embedded in the e-Governance activities of RAK - and a strategic approach has been taken for its development. Starting with a comprehensive consultancy that established the broad framework, the next step has been a Pilot-GIS implementation. With the Pilot developed successfully, RAK is now embarking on a full-scale enterprise solution for the whole of RAK.

The Enterprise GIS is envisioned to be a hub allowing sharing appropriate spatial datasets and applications with other government departments, authorities, some companies and the public, at large, using advanced Spatial and Information technologies. The Enterprise GIS will have a back-end Spatial Data Infrastructure - a set of computing and networking hardware; systematic and standardized GIS databases and search/access tools for delivery of RAK GIS. The SDI is then integrated into the e-governance databases of RAK and specialized customized Enterprise Applications are developed - that clearly synergises the spatial and conventional information technologies and provides an end-to-end enterprise solution.

EGA envisages that the Enterprise GIS will not be static but be dynamic and evolve - evolve with most updated datasets (requiring updation of maps and GIS), evolve with newer applications (requiring "integrated" ST/IT solutions) and evolve with finer technologies that will make governance activities most efficient in the Emirate.

About Ras Al Khaimah e-Government Authority
The EGA is considered the official authority that looks after all the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) activities in all RAK government departments. More information can be obtained at www.rak.ae

About Navayuga Group
The Navayuga Group is a conglomerate of companies under the flagship Navayuga Engineering Company (NEC) headquartered in Hyderabad, India. NEC is a front-ranking enterprise in India - with over 30 years of experience in handling major projects of infrastructure works, special foundations, marine structures, industrial structures and civil engineering projects. More information can be obtained at www.navayugaspatial.com

For further information, please contact:
Gowtham Shenoy
Navayuga Middle East FZC
Tel: +971 7 2077830
Mob: +971 50 2196589
Email: shenoyk@navayuga.com

Tasneem Raza
Watermelon PR
Tel: +971 4 2833655
Mob: +971 50 7059269
Email: tasneem@watermelonme.com

© Press Release 2007