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Abu Dhabi Smart City Summit: '70% of global population will be living in cities by 2050'

ITC completes linear referencing system and navigational road network project.

It is estimated that close to 70 percent of the global population will be living in cities by 2050. This brings several challenges from traffic congestion over energy consumption to outdated infrastructure, among others, Tareq Hijazi, Public Sector Director for Microsoft UAE told the smart cities summit in Abu Dhabi.

“It is where we see the biggest potential for smart cities, which use cutting edge technologies such as IOT and AI assisted systems to provide citizens with equal access to public services through digital channels and strive to create transparency, sustainability and improve liveability,” Jijazi said during presentation on the final day of the Abu Dhabi Smart City Summit.

“We are excited about continuing to support the UAE’s visionary approach to city planning and it’s forward-looking roadmap towards creating some of the world’s smartest cities.”

Samer Alish, Director - MENA, Streamax, said: “Cities worldwide are attempting to transform themselves into smart cities. If we take the public transportation sector as an example, we will find that the key factor in this transformation is the use of big data, the more data you collect and process on the road, the more control you can have and more efficiency you can achieve, this will take the public transportation to the next level of smart transportation.

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“As presented at the Abu Dhabi Smart City Summit, we showed methods of collecting and processing data from the road that has been developed over the last 20 years, starting from a dot on the map to a high-end AI based engine that can identify each object around the vehicle and drive the action strategy accordingly, focusing on road safety, the presentation showcased how the current technology of AI can do this transformation of data into information to monitor the safety factors and control the risks on the edge.”

ITC completes linear referencing system and navigational road network project

Also, during the summit, the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) of the Department of Municipalities and Transport announced that it has completed executing its linear referencing system and navigational road network project.

This included field surveys and processing of spatial data for the navigational road network in the UAE, with a high accuracy of 10cm, using LiDAR scanning techniques and panoramic imaging to obtain high spatial accuracy and in accordance with the latest approved geospatial data quality standards.

These accomplishments included the development of a Model Engine for Road Network Navigation, Addressing Data Search and Spatial Guidance that can be used in many specialized navigation and transport systems applications and services. The engine contains new navigational functions that are in line with those provided by international companies working in this field.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com