In recognition of its best road map for geographic information systems, The Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars has received the Excellence in GIS Implementation Award, one of the highest international awards for the Middle East and North Africa in the field of geographic information systems.

The award, which is given to parties that excel in their innovation and leadership by making use of this technology, was presented in Dubai during the 10th edition of the annual round of Geographic Information System, GIS, workshops and exhibitions, specifically organised for users of systems developed by Esri, GISWORX 2015.

The centre won the award for its innovative mobile application AbuDhabi Taxi, which uses GIS technology. The mobile app achieved great success amongst taxi service users in Abu Dhabi in terms of time, effort and cost, increasing the quality of passenger transport services by taxi in Abu Dhabi, and raising the efficiency associated with managing taxi booking operations.

Mohamed Darwish Al Qamzi, General Manager of the centre, said, "We are delighted to have received this prestigious award in the field of geographic information and technology, where using the latest international technology is one of the main strategic objectives of the centre and our way of improving services in line with the ambitious vision of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and ensuing from the enlightened policy of our wise leadership.

The mobile AbuDhabi Taxi app aims primarily to improve the taxi booking via smart devices without the need to talk to the Call Centres' Agents or entering information about their locations by using GPS coordinates. GPS technology is employed on several different levels between the Base and the Street Map and Aerial Map and from it the location of the customer is determined.

Through the GIS, the cost of the trip is calculated based on the specified location, and the use of known "points of convergence" registered with the centre to guide the driver to reach the customer in a record period of time ranging from 7 to 10 minutes. This reflects the centre's willingness to provide an integrated service to meet the expectations of users whilst maintaining quality, sustainability and excellent worldwide standards.