نظم المعلومات الجغرافية في المدن الصناعية في السعودية فعيلت

Utilizing GIS in Industrial Cities in Saudi Arabia

Ali H. Baissa and Sami M. Al Homod

College of Business Administration, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Keywords: GIS; Government; Saudi Arabia; Industrial Cities; Modon

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gives much importance to the industrial sector, due to the

influence this sector has on the economy. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority—

Modon—is overseeing the planning and development of industrial cities throughout the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Modon performs its roles through deploying effective

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems and tools, in order to

effectively support industrial land development and allocation processes for investors.

Therefore, Modon needs to implement a Geographic Information System (GIS) to

integrate with its e-services and optimize internal customer service processes.

The successes of utilizing a GIS system are in the contexts of planning, allocating

industrial land, and effectively integrating it with other e-services and property

management system (PMS).

1. Introduction

The topics presented within this paper are as follows:

o GIS (Geographic Information System) overview

o GIS examples in Saudi Arabia

o Review of the industrial cities in Saudi Arabia

o Methods by which Modon manages the industrial cities

o Description of GIS implementation in Modon, and how it is applied to

manage the land within industrial cities—this is the primary focus of the

paper

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o Conclusion of GIS implementation in Modon; lessons learned from

implementation; and the recommendations

GIS technology enables organizations to store, access, and integrate special information

with other data in a secure way. This data can be saved in a way that is easy for the end-

user to display, as the data includes related maps. The data handle many processes, in

order to generate the results in a timely and efficient manner. It is therefore a good

resource to generate information that can assist in the decision-making process.

Church (2002,p.541) defines a GIS system as a system “designed to store, retrieve,

manipulate, analyze and map geographical data.”

According to Church (2002), the following six factors increase the use of a GIS system:

The existence of different GIS software applications and tools throughout the

world

The high capacities of workstations that can store, analyze, manipulate, and

process the huge traffic amount of traffic from modern applications.

The existence of plotters and geographical displays, which generate high-quality,

high-resolution images.

The reasonable cost of GIS systems.

The expansion of remote sensing (especially for environment monitoring), which

needs a powerful system to handle the huge volume data traffic.

The existence of satellites that depend on GPS technology to gather data attributes,

such as location, with low cost and high accuracy.

It is crucial to mention the following benefits of GIS, as articulated by Alterkawi (2005).

1) Faster procedures.

2) Increased procedural efficiency.

3) Support the decision-making process (e.g., quicker and less costly).

4) Increase the accuracy of the information.

5) Automate the tasks.

ESRI, the leading company in GIS system development, describes GIS characteristics

thusly: “GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and

statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered

by maps.” GIS organizes and stores information about the world as a collection of

thematic layers that are linked by geography. Each layer contains features with similar

attributes, for example, the streets and cities located in the same geographic extent. This

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simple, powerful, and versatile concept has proven invaluable for solving real-world

problems, from tracking delivery vehicles to modeling global atmospheric circulation.

The fundamental operations for valuable GIS systems rely on key concepts, such as the

accuracy of data captured; therefore, a GIS system must provide methods for inputting

geographic coordinates and tabular attribute data: the more input methods available, the

more versatile the GIS. The second concept is manipulating and storing data. There are

two basic models for geographic data storage: vector and raster. A typical GIS system

should be able to store geographic data in both models. A third concept is the data query,

which is necessary in GIS applications to provide utilities for finding specific features,

based on location or attribute value. Finally, analyzing and displaying data are needed to

answer questions regarding the interaction of spatial relationships between multiple data-

sets, and tools are necessary for visualizing geographic features using a variety of

symbologies. Urban land analysis needs a great deal of spatial data manipulation—as

studies have shown—so, this type of analysis difficult without using GIS (Okunuki, 2001).

2. Historical studies

The master plan is the framework that distributes areas of land to specific zones, such as

residential, industrial, green areas, transportation, and utilities. Therefore, it is an

important document in the decision-making process related to land use in local

government (Patterson and Pullen, 2009).

There are several factors related to the success of a master plan:

Geographic coverage.

Covering all of the issues concerning land use in the future.

Long-term objectives.

With respect to the master plan, the GIS plays a central role in data collection and

analysis.

Bishop et al. (2000, p.86) state that “more than 90% of information required for a city’s

administration has a spatial components such as parcels of land, road networks, utility

infrastructure, emergency services, garbage collection and recreational areas.” Dave

(1992) mention that more than 80% of the data processed by a government is geographical

data. This shows how important a GIS is to government organizations. It has important

tools for decision making at the governmental level (O’Looney, 2000).

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In the governmental context, Budic and Godschalk (1994) note that the success of a GIS

depends on how it is mandated by the organization. The scope should be formal and based

on GIS utilization in performing tasks, and based on the management of GIS technologies,

such as infrastructure, resources, and personnel training. Opadeyi and Brown (2008) add

that overall, GIS services have two primary goals: 1) to improve the quality of decision

making and 2) to improve the efficiency of daily operations.

There are two GIS models: centralized and decentralized. In the centralized model, the

GIS department is only responsible for spatial data needs and geographic data updates. In

this model, the organization will minimize duplicate and mismatched information in the

system, because it will be under one department (e.g., the GIS Department). The focus is

on training the GIS team.

In the decentralized model, more coordination is needed between departments, because

each department has GIS needs, trains staff to work with the system, and has to maintain

and upgrade the system. The standards, storage, and infrastructure will be provided by the

GIS Department. The decentralized model is more costly than the centralized model, and

it requires more coordination.

3. GIS Examples in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia knows the importance of using a GIS; as such, it has

established a temporary committee comprised of members from different government

organizations, led by a military surveyor from the Ministry of Defense. The main

objective of this committee is to put standards and general requirements in place to

establish a national GIS database.

This committee has proposed the following recommendations to the Saudi Government:

Alshahrani and Molla (2008)

Establish a program called the Infrastructure Program for National Geographical

Information Systems. This program should establish a GIS database based on

national specifications and standards, and coordinate between many different

agencies, in order to provide services to the users from public and private

organizations.

Generate legislation for information exchange.

Train human resources for GIS through workshops, and release regular magazines.

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In 2010, the Saudi Government decided to establish a standing committee called the

National Committee for GIS. The responsibilities for this committee include the

following:

Generate national policies and define priorities.

Establish the Infrastructure Program for National GIS. The national database will

be established from this program.

Strengthen human resources via training and qualification strategies.

Organize a national GIS conference (to be held every three years).

Now, we will describe one example of how a government agency uses a GIS; this case is

similar to the way in which a GIS is used by Modon in industrial cities.

Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, is growing in size and population. In the 1930, Riyadh

increased from 1 km2 to over 1500 km2. Riyadh’s population was 30,000 in the 1950, and

it increased to over 4 million by 2000. Rapid growth trends are certainly evident, and in

order be controlled, effective planning—with proper automation—is needed.

Alterkawi (2005) describes GIS usage in the municipality of Riyadh, in terms of planning,

managing, and controlling urban areas. He also explains building permit procedures.

Riyadh Municipality uses the Building Information Management System (BIMS), which

contains many modules designed to support business needs, as they relate to building

permit management. The Building Permit Division is responsible for issuing permits for

building construction, as well as monitoring the actual construction process. The City

Planning Department contains three divisions:

1) Building Permit Division.

2) Survey Division.

3) GIS Division.

The GIS Division is responsible for building the GIS system and maintaining it. The

procedure associated with obtaining a building permit, before using a GIS, was manual,

and it took a long time; however, it became faster after using a GIS.

The customer requests a building permit, and then, this request is received by the engineer,

who does an initial review and registers the request with the BIMS. Next, the request is

forwarded to the Survey Division, in order to make sure that the site location coincides

with the request and that the land status is “undisputed.” After this information is

confirmed, the request gets sent back to the engineer for final review. If the request is

approved by the engineer, it gets sent to an authorization officer for final approval; the

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officer sends it to the customer service center, so the customer can be notified and the

permit can be sent.

BIMS is integrated with many divisions in the Municipality of Riyadh, such as the

Financial Division, Purchasing and Contracts Division, and Land Information Division.

The features of BIMS are as follows:

Create maps containing specific information about areas of land, which can be

displayed and printed. These maps can be used by management, engineers, and

inspectors.

Know the key issues from the Land Management Division, such as information

about land parcels and their histories.

User friendly, so the system can be accessed via the Internet and Intranet.

Easy to link with any application, which minimizes human input and increases

information control.

The inspectors can view the information and add comments if there are any site

violations, and can apply penalties in the system directly.

Next, we will show the example of Modon, in order to illustrate a case of industrial land

management.

4. Industrial Cities in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s industrial cities development plans were initiated in 1970, due to their

importance to economic growth. Industrial cities require basic infrastructure services, such

as electricity, water, and telecommunications. By 1973, three industrial estates in Riyadh,

Jeddah, and Dammam, with over 1.4 km2 of land, were operational.

An “industrial city” is defined by Peddle (1993) as a “large tract of land, sub-divided and

developed for the use of several firms simultaneously, distinguished by its shareable

infrastructure and close proximity of firms.” According to UNIDO (1997), industrial cities

are developed and divided into many zones, according to the master plan, with provisions

for roads and public utilities. An “industrial city is defined as “a cluster of industries

within a defined geographical area, administered and/or managed by a single authority

having a defined jurisdiction with respect to tenant companies” (UNEP, 1996).

In 2009, the number of industrial cities reached 14, with a total area of over 92,000 km2,

and over 2,883 operational factories. Table 1 highlights the growth in each of the 14

industrial cities.

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# Industrial City Total Area (M²) Developed Area (M²) Factories

1 Riyadh 1st. 451,000 451,000 59

2 Riyadh 2nd. 18,786,000 15,409,000 806

3 Jeddah 1st. 12,807,000 9,474,000 988

4 Dammam 1st. 2,704,000 1,806,202 126

5 Dammam 2nd. 24,800,000 15,785,000 534

6 Makkah 730,117 730,117 57

7 Qaseem 1,542,934 1,232,365 52

8 Ahsa 1,543,000 1,500,000 93

9 Madinah 9,949,000 1,750,000 44

10 Assir 2,663,000 904,000 84

11 Al-Jouf 3,000,000 629,000 8

12 Tabuk 4,000,000 1,350,000 12

13 Hail 2,560,000 870,000 19

14 Najran 6,560,000 750,000 1

Total Area 92,096,051 52,640,684 2883

Table 1: Saudi Industrial Cities Statistics in 2009

5. Industrial Cities Management

The Government of Saudi Arabia established Modon in 2001, when legislation was passed

to set up the Saudi Industrial Property Authority. Modon oversees the establishment,

development, and operation of Industrial Estates and Technology Zones. It also provides

integrated services, where required, to meet investors’ demands, and contributes to the

development of modern society and environment preservation.

Modon has been actively working with the government and other agencies toward shaping

a Saudi industrial cities development vision for the twenty-first century. It has an

operational set of over 22 industrial cities, and manages the organization of these cities,

which are spread throughout various regions of the Kingdom.

In the 30 years prior to the inception of Modon, total developed industrial land spanned

40.7 million square meters, whereas after the establishment of Modon, 36 million square

meters was developed within a period of just nine years—and not only that—but Modon

plans to develop 75 million square meters of land over the next five years.

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Figure 1: Land development growth

Modon started to develop and integrate a GIS system in early 2010, with the key

objectives of optimizing customer service and achieving operational excellence.

A GIS is a good solution for overcoming the challenges associated with decision making,

such as the following:

More than 20 industrial cities and over 5,000 factories demand a very well-

managed geo-db.

Fact-based decision making is essential to make sure the geo-db reaches 100%

credibility.

Integrate missing data that is of value to management and investors.

Automation, with no need to refer to paperwork.

Organize departments at Modon.

Ruiz et al. (2011) mention that industrial locations are very important for city planning for

many reasons, such as environment, economy, and social factors. Therefore, a system is

needed to support decision making.

With the increased number of industrial cities, investors, clients, and partners, it has

become necessary to develop a highly sophisticated Geo-db, in order to enable easy access

to valuable information. In addition, confidential data can also be acquired, located, and

discussed much easier with Modon’s GIS application and supporting extensions.

In order to facilitate the process of industrial land allocation to investors, and oversee the

infrastructure development within industrial zones, Modon developed a GIS application

that was essentially integrated with its property management system (PMS). A few more

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extensions were also added to the application, such as the mobile interface (using Android

3.1 map production) and a GIS-to-CAD extension to generate CAD drawings based on

GIS maps. Finally, a web interface was introduced to enable clients and potential investors

to search Kingdom industrial cities.

Modon is also responsible for evaluating the applications for land leasing and enforcing

practices that maintain a “green” environment. Hence, integration between the GIS

application, e-services, and PMS was introduced to make sure these elements are working

in accordance with internal Modon processes. The application enables land classification

for various industrial, commercial, and residential sites within the industrial cities

throughout the Kingdom.

6. Modon’s GIS Implementation

Modon started developing a GIS system application in 2010, with the goals of optimizing

its operational functions, simplifying the land allocation process, and better serving

industrialists and investors.

The scope of the GIS implementation project can be outlined as follows:

Establish an integrated system of hardware and software that would support

advanced geo-processing analytical tools, high-quality maps, and reports on

production for various Modon departments.

Design and build a GIS database of all features within industrial cities, in terms of

both spatial representation and their associated descriptive attributes.

Integrate 14 industrial cities (initially), satellite images, and geo-referencing for

AutoCAD drawings into the system.

Provide training on the GIS system to Modon managers, administrators,

developers, and technical and general users.

The master plan plays a major role in making decisions regarding land development in an

industrial city, and helps in the allocation process.

There are many zones classified in the GIS system.

Industrial zone: Developed for the factories.

Residential zone: Developed for the residential areas, for the factory engineers and

workers.

Services zone: Developed for industrial services, such as hotels, restaurants, and

fuel stations.

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Modon’s internal GIS application is positioned in-line with its peer applications—the

PMS and e-Modon—so it can provide the Industrial Cities and Project Management

Departments with the necessary support to implement processes and policies.

The GIS application is currently beneficial in the following ways: 1. Proposing and allocating new parcels to potential investors, both industrial and/or

commercial, within the Kingdom’s industrial cities. 2. Retrieving spatial data related to existing properties in the cities, and generating over

17 types of reports related to industries, properties, tenants, and services within the

industrial cities; providing the necessary data for review during the decision-making

process is also key. 3. Providing Modon officers ذthe flexibility of accessing the geo-db through mobile

devices, while on customers’ premises. 4. Integrating applications that exchange information, in order to provide better service.

Figure 2: MODON GIS benefits

Modon gains many advantages by using a GIS to control and maintain the accuracy of

geographic data:

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Dedicated GIS team.

Industrial Cities Department: Update land status during the allocation process

Modon GIS Components

Modon’s GIS consists of the following:

Internal GIS application: Adheres to Modon’s land allocation policies and

processes; generates various reports associated with industrial cities; customizes

parcels and Krokies; and offers sophisticated parcel searches and attribute

modifications. External web-based flex-viewer interface: Mainly directed to Modon customers,

and has different search types, map marking tools, and satellite images. Modon geo-db: Incorporates topographical information/attributes related to parcels

leased throughout all operational industrial cities in the Kingdom; map production

is utilized for marketing activities, such as printing brochures, booklets, maps of

different scales, and sharing marketing information.

GIS to CAD conversion: Client-based extension mainly used to convert GIS maps

to CAD files for contractors operating in the industrial cities, and for the sake of

keeping a common point of reference between the data on all projects.

GIS mobile extension (“Rased”): A mobile tablet, mainly for Modon field officers

who are in charge of site surveying and customer visits. This device enables direct

access to Modon geo-db, and enables sending updated information to customers in

real time.

Figure 3: Modon GIS MAPS website

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Figure 4: GIS Mobile extension ("Rased")

Modon’s utilization of the GIS system indicates the significant role this system plays in

day-to-day operations. In addition, the system is used to proactively generate statistical

information related to investment growth in industrial estates within the Kingdom.

Modon’s local IT Department team carries out the operation and maintenance efforts. The

integration between the different systems, in order to optimize operations, is reached

through developing web services across the multiple applications.

Modon’s IT team trains not only the end-users on utilizing the system, but it also holds

internal workshops to discuss the different enhancements required, as well as the resources

needed to mobilize the modifications and changes—these are facilitated through the ITIL

Change Request Committee.

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Figure 5: GIS project methodology

The migration from old forms of paperwork and complicated processing, which are both

lengthy and unprofessional, result in complications and a general sense of unreliability,

when it comes to utilizing a GIS as an intermediate application to better manage industrial

units. By way of integration with the portal system, which links customer profiles with

unique information, Modon has improved its processes and moved toward a more

professional customer service environment.

The existing internal application functionality allows Modon to perform daily operations

related to recommending, proposing, and allocating industrial and investment parcels for

investors. In order to gain confidence in making decisions, audits are done on the geo-db

on a regular basis.

Modon’s GIS has a centralized cadastral editing and management tool, in order to perform

the following:

Create, edit, and manage GIS features, based on data survey results.

Store survey results in GIS database for future analysis and reuse.

The GIS application generates over 20 different reports; however, Modon’s expansion,

coupled with the existence of different departments, will continue to require additional

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reports. A web-based access-control interface, through which the management of the

authentication is given to Modon users, is processed.

In addition, a mobile extension enables Modon field officers to access all the necessary

information they need during site surveys, and they can verify the changes that were made

and “synced” to the Geo-DB again, after the visit is finished.

Modon’s web interface presents the basic layout of the industrial cities’ GIS maps and a

search engine, in order to enable investors to allocate zoning interests; it also provides a

way to better educate potential investors and the public about factories and services in the

industrial cities. Investors should be able to report any issues in the industrial cities

relating to violations or environmental abuse through this interface, allowing visitors to

provide all the facts interactively online. Modon security officers can be dispatched to

resolve any issues.

Figure 6: MODON GIS map

Land Allocation Process 1. The Project Department at Modon develops the master plan needed for new cities, and

divides the land areas into three types: industrial, residential, and services; industry

types are also divided.

2. After the master plan is done, it is mapped to Modon’s GIS system.

3. The investor inquires about industrial parcels through the e-services website.

4. The investor will receive the request; then, the request will be forwarded by e-

Services system to the Industrial Cities Department to start the allocation process.

5. The Industrial Cities Department will examine the investor’s request, and based on the

study, it is either approved or rejected. If the request is approved, then the Industrial

Cities Department will assign suitable land from the GIS system (which is based on

the investor’s request). The land inputted into the GIS will be transferred to the

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"planned land", and the same request will be forwarded to PMS to register the

investor’s account, as well as account for the allocation and rental costs.

6. After the investor pays the parcel allocation fee through Sadad, The request is

forwarded to PMS to change the status, and the land status is changed to “allocated

land.”

The following land statuses may appear in the GIS:

Undeveloped industrial land.

Newly developed land available for allocation process.

Parcels proposed for potential investors, but not yet approved.

Approved and allocated parcels.

7. Future Key Enhancements to GIS

Land allocation privileges and access control are managed through the access control

interface. There are other potential benefits of deploying a GIS, which could be optimized

in the following ways, as we look toward the future:

Generating maps in different forms, such as GIS/CAD. This extension is more

suitable for use in communicating and sharing information with

developers/contractors working on Modon infrastructure projects.

Map publishing extensions can provide many benefits, in terms of marketing

newly developed industrial cities and providing maps and atlases to existing

operational cities.

Remote sensing applications should be integrated into the GIS system, in order to

ensure compliance with environment protection regulations enforced in industrial

zones. Also, sensing applications provide fast response times in cases of accidents

or environment incidents.

As the organization grows and more applications are developed, it is important

that the GIS application be integrated into the back-end side, in order to support

front-end applications, as needed.

8. Conclusions and Lessons Learned

As more entities realize the significance of GIS applications, government organizations, in

order to make implementation a success, should consider the following:

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Management’s commitment to GIS deployment is a key factor to success.

Training is crucial to end-users and the IT help desk, to make sure it is supported

and utilized effectively.

Effective changes in management play a key role in moving away from relying on

AutoCAD for land allocation to utilizing a GIS application.

The IT background for project sponsorship plays a major role in influencing upper

management’s decision to support the project.

Modon employees are selective, motivated, and committed to deliver; as such,

implementing changes will be easier. The team gets rewarded, and Modon is

ranked among the top three best work environments, in terms of government

organizations in Saudi Arabia.

That Modon was given the SAG Excellence Award in GIS by ESRI signifies its success in

the GIS implementation project, which contains from three subsystems: 1) the Modon

External GIS system, which is used by investors and the public; 2) the Internal GIS

system, which is used by the Modon team to handle many tasks, such as land allocation

processes; and 3) Mobile extensions (Rased), which is used by industrial supervisors in

outside surveys.

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