GIS Day 2020 falls on November 18, 2020 and have been celebrated worldwide. On this occasion, Dubai GIS Center - Dubai Municipality has celebrated GIS day by organizing an virtual event, which was attended by 200 people belonging to a number of government entities in Dubai, in addition to strategic partners, semi-government entities and free zone authorities. The event aimed at exchanging domain field news, achievements and action plans, increasing coordination and cooperation links with all participating parties as well as reviewing the latest systems and innovations in this field. Eng. Maryam Al Muhairi, Director of GIS Center, started the event with a presentation of the GIS Center's accomplishments achieved in 2020, such as cooperation with Dubai's COVID-19 Command and Control Center; in order to develop the Dubai Geo-Pandemic Control System. Al Muhairi also talked about the launch of the "Dubai Here" electronic geospatial system, aerial drone photography, and street LiDAR scanning services, geospatial software licenses, and training workshops in various fields in cooperation with specialized international companies. Eng. Maryam went on to present glimpses of the Center's services of providing geospatial data and maps through direct network links or through the "GeoDubai" portal. She also shed some light on several projects such as: the Unified Map project for Dubai Lands, the Smart Unit Addressing System, the Building Information Modeling (BIM) Road Map Project, the compilation of a unified geospatial asset information dictionary. The Director hailed moving to a new independent building which has be re-designed to encourage creative ideas, facilitate display of distinguished experiences, and provision of an incubator for research projects and emerging companies which leads to Dubai becoming a global center for innovation in geospatial systems and digital transformation.
The event also included a live introductory tour around the Center's geospatial domain experience area presented by a number of the Center's employees, in addition to distinguished presentations of the Smart Units Addressing Project and the comprehensive new agreement between the Dubai government and ESRI company specialized in geospatial software. These are followed by a presentation on the UAE branch of the International Building Information Modeling Standards Organization, followed by training workshops. The event was, then, concluded by a draw for a number of distinguished prizes offered to attendees, with the wishes and hope of meeting next year.