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Author(s): Royal Commission for Riyadh City

Resource Type: Case studies

Countries: Saudi Arabia

SDG: Agenda 2030

Keywords: Access to Information, Transparency, Accountability, Participation, Collaboration, Public Sector Innovation

2019

Geoinformatics portal of Riyadh

Source in Arabic:   ESCWA-OECD Case Study - Geoinformatics portal of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 

The Riyadh Geoinformatics Portal provides access to data, spatial information, results of studies, research and electronic services, to support policy- and decision-makers in the public and private sectors and civil society organizations and residents of the Riyadh city and region on various development areas, and to enhance their participation in the development process. 

The portal covers the areas of urban, environmental, service, transportation, disaster risk management and urban security; and it includes historical maps, base maps and topography, satellite and aerial images, land uses, building systems, strategic plans, population, education and income, transportation and traffic, urban security, utilities and public services, environment and water, and climate.

Implementation: 2019

Contributor(s)

Royal Commission for Riyadh City
Government entities and national companies

Purpose

The portal highlights the urban, social, environmental, heritage and touristic features of Riyadh city and region, for promoting development and investments in its governorates, and enhancing services that could facilitate communication and sharing information on the local changes.

Functions

The portal provides a geographic information system and contains a set of tools for reviewing spatial data, to detect changes in space and time and measure distances, inquire about the descriptive data of geographic phenomena, draw and write on maps, display location coordinates, search for and save locations for later use, and add base maps, and other functions.  It also provides a data archive that enable users to access the thematically classified geographic layers and the data identify.

Clients

All government entities can benefit from the portal through registering to access its data; and the future phase would make available some to academic bodies, research centres and the public, based on the data owners' access criteria for each data set.

Outcome

  • Deploying a unified portal that enables all stakeholders in Riyadh to share their spatial data. 
  • Enable all users to access and benefit from spatial data through the portal.

Challenges

  • Agreement between the various entities on the necessity for a unified platform for spatial data of Riyadh.
  • Governance of spatial data and ensuring its quality and documentation, towards developing a spatial data governance and management system.
  • Reducing the cost of developing databases and systems through relying the expertise of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City.

Useful links

Geoinformatics portal of Riyadh

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