Tuesday, July 28, 2015

How not to get lost in UAE?

Abu Dhabi Municipality has said that Street Route numbers will positively impact and greatly ease the process of finding any location that one may desire through the creation of a smart underground system aimed at making travel simpler and more convenient for the city’s residents and visitors alike.


Route numbers have also been added to overhead signs in both the city and its outskirts under the new addressing system ‘Onwani’ (My Address). Onwani is now being rolled out by the Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM), in coordination with the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA).

In the light of recent advancements, the new street names used in tandem with the route numbers, will contribute to navigating across the city in a much faster and smoother manner. The main streets of Abu Dhabi Island have been named after the Emirate’s visionary leaders and heroes. Notable examples are Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Street (Route No. 18); and Sultan Bin Zayed the First Street (Route No. 20).

The Abu Dhabi Municipality has said that in order to honour the visionaries’ wishes of making Abu Dhabi a world-class hub, the new system is in line with exemplary international standards while proudly upholding the local heritage.

"In addition to honouring our Emirati heritage through the new street names, overhead street name signs also clearly display the route numbers. This way our residents and visitors can easily navigate along different routes throughout the Island, and traveling from one location to another will become smoother and more convenient than ever before," according to ADM.

There are odd route numbers in one direction, and even numbers in the other. The odd route numbers are exactly the same as previous numbering; for instance Corniche Street remains as Route No. 1, while Route No. 3 remains Khalifa Bin Zayed the First Street. "However we have changed the even numbers to make them much easier to follow. Therefore Route No. 2 has been renamed Khalifa Al Mubarak Street (Al Bateen area); Route No. 4 is now King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street (formerly Baynouna Street); with Route no. 6 now being Al Bateen Street. Meanwhile Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Street (previously Salam Street) will now be Route No. 24, among other vital changes," the ADM added.

Under Vision 2030, Abu Dhabi aims to cement its rise as one of the world’s most advanced societies, and Onwani is a crucial component of that goal. The new overhead route numbers are part of an ambitious series of 17,000 new street name signs and 66,000 unique building number plates that ADM is installing throughout the year. Onwani will soon be implemented in Al Ain and in the Western Region as well. Onwani will serve the purpose of unifying the Emirate’s addressing system while empowering citizens, residents, tourists and service providers alike to find any location accurately and instantly.

The Department of Municipal Affairs in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Municipality has installed 11,488 internal street foundations and completed 95% of the installation. Over 59,848 address number has been installed in the buildings and villas whilst the process up to 91%has been completed in Abu Dhabi City. The address number panel includes the building number along with the QR Code. "To benefit this feature, you need to scan the QR code in your smart phone to receive your location instantly and any point of service close by. It can therefore, be safely assumed that this smart tool is 100 % ready for official use. This feature will make it much easier to share and receive location information on your smart phones via the Internet and will enable you to use it as a method of contact in emergency situations or to call for assistance should an ambulance be needed, among many other crucial uses," the ADM said.

The ADM has said that street signs installation has been completed in major districts such as Al Bahiya, Al Falah and Al Nahyan. The rest of the districts are in process of receiving unique street names as Onwani grows and develops itself as the smart wayfinding and navigation system of emirates of Abu Dhabi. 
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