Jan 20, 2016 -- The City of Depok, located int he West Java Province, Indonesia, has cemented its commitment to achieve smart city status by 2025 by leveraging state-of-the-art mapping technology to boost government efficiency and productivity.

The 2015 winner of the Indonesian Smart Cities Awards is working together with leading geospatial solutions provider Esri Indonesia, to equip the city’s local planning and development agency (BAPPEDA) with the capability to reengineer business processes – all by using smart mapping technology.

Smart mapping – also known as Geographic Information System (GIS) technology - integrates and analyses data from multiple business systems to create a dynamic and interactive map-based view of information.

Esri Indonesia’s local government specialist Gilang Widyawisaksana said a team of experts is working closely with the government to assess and identify existing processes and programmes that can be improved through the use of GIS technology.

“Activities such as planning, zoning, property registration, and asset management often requires two or more government agencies and departments to routinely work together through time-consuming manual processes,” Mr Widyawisaksana said.

“For example, with property registrations the process requires the staff involved in field operations to collect data using paper-based spreadsheets and reports. They then have to go to the office to manually input their data on the servers which takes a significant amount of time and effort,” he said.

Using GIS technology would not only give agencies a digitally enabled and integrated system that will tie their information together, but it would also lessen administrative procedures and human error in data collection.

“A more streamlined process can significantly reduce the cost, time, and number of procedures involved in registering property and other land instruments. This could then potentially contribute to helping the city become an attractive business destination for investors,” Mr Widyawisaksana said.

The partnership between the City of Depok and Esri Indonesia will also include the creation of a broad-reaching spatial policy that would see 16 other government agencies actively share their geospatial data on a common platform.

The goal of the initiative is to enable agencies to better meet the development needs of their respective communities by providing planners and decision-makers with easy access to regional geographic insights.

“By opening up access to information that would otherwise be trapped in data silos, decision-makers will have the ability to make more informed choices on a range of areas including resource and budget allocations, policy development and urban planning,” Mr Widyawisaksana said.

“Furthermore, with the potential for this information to be delivered in real-time, decision-makers will have the ability to quickly assess the impact and overarching value of new initiatives on the community.”  

The City of Depok has cemented its commitment to achieve smart city status by 2025 by leveraging state-of-the-art mapping technology to boost government efficiency and productivity.