Nov 3, 2015 -- Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia (JUPEM) has received a prestigious Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award for their efforts to promote the use of geospatial information in Malaysia through a ground-breaking project called Geospatial Data Acquisition System (GDAS).

The highly-regarded global award was presented to officials from JUPEM by Lai Chee Siew – CEO of leading geospatial solutions provider Esri Malaysia – during the annual Esri Malaysia User Conference in Putrajaya.

“JUPEM was selected from a pool of more than 400,000 commercial and public sector organisations worldwide – all of whom have used Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology to address the needs of their industries and communities,” said Mr Lai.

“The recognition of their extraordinary achievement is well deserved. They are defining best practices not only in Malaysia, but also internationally,” he said.

GDAS is a sophisticated smart mapping system that produces authoritative geospatial information and makes it readily available to government organisations, the private sector, and citizens.

It aims to improve the efficiency of the government’s mapping processes, enabling policy makers to make well-informed decisions on areas such as socio-economic development planning, resources management, environmental protection, and disaster preparedness and response among others.

YBhg Datuk Sr Ahmad Fauzi bin Nordin, Director General of JUPEM, said geographic information is at the heart of many of the Government’s important decisions.

“From solving crimes to tracking diseases and improving operational efficiencies - it is already becoming very evident that GIS technology is invaluable for solving many real-world problems.

“The point at which the technology makes a material difference is in how it organises large volumes of disparate – often physically dispersed information sets, into a consolidate data cluster enabling more effective analysis and visualisation,” said Datuk Fauzi Bin Nordin.

“Apart from providing seamless access to geospatial information, GDAS also seeks to provide government organisations with the platform to easily collaborate and share data with one another, thereby enriching the value of our data and extending the impact of the work undertaken to all stakeholders,” he said.

 “I would like to thank Esri for this recognition. Most importantly, I’d also like extend my gratitude to the teams and officers at JUPEM who have worked very hard to ensure the successful implementation of GDAS,” Datuk Fauzi Nordin said.

“Clearly, with its usage there would be improved decision-making as well as more entrepreneurship and application development - the benefits of which will flow right down to our citizens and communities.”

Last year, JUPEM secured the same award for the development of uGEO for Defence to support the Malaysian Armed Force’s mission-critical operations.

The technology was used to help MAF respond to the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff in Sabah and planning the search and rescue operations for the Malaysian Airlines flights MH370 and MH17 tragedies.