Nowadays, data-intensive applications and systems play a pivotal role in enabling the existence of some services and significantly facilitate the provision of a wide array of other services (Kleppmann, 2017). One of these is geographic information systems (GIS), which capture, store, analyze, manage, etc., geographic and spatial data. Although some services using GIS are already available in Dubai (Government of Dubai, 2017), there are still opportunities for further development and implementation of GIS in that city.
For instance, it is possible to recommend the implementation of the technology of GIS in Dubai with the purpose of facilitation of car parking in the city. It is stated that “the Parking Authority [of Dubai] has not implemented GIS software” at the moment (ESRI, n.d., p. 24), which means that there exists an opportunity for introducing this type of service in the mentioned city.
It should be observed that the utilization of GIS services for facilitating the process of parking might be of considerable utility for drivers of various automobiles and vehicles, for it may sometimes be quite difficult to find an appropriate parking space for one’s car. The fact that this process might sometimes take up to 10 minutes or even more means that when this time is summed up, hundreds of hours may be wasted by drivers each day. Therefore, it should be highly useful to implement the technology of GIS so as to permit drivers to quickly find a parking space for their cars that is close to their intended destination, as well as to identify the shortest route that one should take to reach that parking space.
Another potential opportunity for the implementation of GIS technologies also lies in the sphere of transportation. More specifically, the practice of car-sharing today is becoming more and more popular around the world, in Dubai in particular (Masudi, 2016). It should be observed that car-sharing is a new form of service, the crux of which is that a number of cars are available for users, who could book a car via an application, then borrow it for a certain amount of time, use it to get to a destination that they are interested in, and then leave it in a certain area which is specifically allotted for this purpose (Masudi, 2016).
It is rather clear that such practice can be of considerable convenience and utility to individuals who have a need to quickly get somewhere, but do not possess their own car (or their car is currently inaccessible), and do not wish to pay for the services of a taxi driver. It is also quite obvious that for the implementation and utilization of such a service, the use of GIS is indispensable. Therefore, the car-sharing service presents another opportunity for implementing GIS in Dubai.
Finally, another opportunity for the implementation of GIS technologies in Dubai lies in the sphere of marketing (Ramadani, Zendeli, Gerguri-Rashiti, & Dana, in press). It should be stressed that marketing is a discipline and practice of implementation and utilization of geographical data into a wide array of marketing activities with the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficacy of distribution of products, as well as increasing the number of sales (Ramadani et al., in press).
The methods of marketing often prove highly effectual when it comes to conducting marketing research and making marketing decisions so as to increase the sales of a company and improve its profits (Ramadani et al., in press). It is quite clear that the utilization of the methods of marketing should rely on the use of technologies that allow for gathering, processing, analyzing, and providing access to various geographical data. Therefore, it is possible to propose that GIS should be used for this purpose. The implementation of GIS for marketing in Dubai may have a considerable positive impact on the local businesses, allowing them to operate more effectively in order to satisfy the desires of their customers.
Therefore, there exist numerous opportunities for implementing GIS in Dubai. Such implementation might prove highly effective and efficient, permitting to significantly facilitate the lives of Dubai citizens.
References
ESRI. (n.d.). GIS for the Middle East and North Africa. Web.
Government of Dubai. (2017). Geographic information system. Web.
Kleppmann, M. (2017). Designing data-intensive applications: The big ideas behind reliable, scalable, and maintainable systems. Boston, MA: O’Reilly.
Masudi, F. (2016). Car-sharing in Dubai attracts interest. Gulf News. Web.
Ramadani, V., Zendeli, D., Gerguri-Rashiti, S., & Dana, L. P. (in press). Impact of geomarketing and location determinants on business development and decision making. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal. Web.