Jul 1, 2016 -- The Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI) has won the prestigious Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award for their MyGOS application, a mission-critical decision-making tool used by government agencies nationwide to support public services.

The highly-regarded global tech award was announced yesterday by Jack Dangermond, Founder and President of global mapping giant Esri, during the Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California.

MaCGDI was selected from a pool of more than 350,000 commercial and public sector organisations worldwide to receive the honour, which recognises the innovative use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to solve real-world challenges.

MyGOS (Malaysia Geospatial Online Services) is a collaborative platform that facilitates geospatial information sharing and use among government agencies and the private sector.

Since its development, agencies such as the Public Works Department have used MyGOS to monitor potholes and efficiently facilitate the required road repair and maintenance.

It also supported flood relief operations in Cameron Highlands and Kelantan in 2014 by making it easier and faster to collect and share information on the affected areas. Data collected by damage assessment teams onsite was  shared via MyGOS with the command and operations centre in real-time. This provided teams with greater situational awareness enabling them to respond and mobilise resources in the most efficient way possible. 

The platform has also enabled the National Hydrography Centre to share and disseminate maritime SDI and charts to the Navy community without having to develop their own mapping tools.

“Geospatial information has been recognised by the government of Malaysia as an essential resource that supports the economic, social, and environmental interests of the nation, and this is evident in the increasing use of GIS technology within the nation to address the needs of various industries and communities. Through MyGOS, MaCGDI has demonstrated its prowess in using GIS and the recognition of their extraordinary achievement is well-deserved,” said Esri Malaysia CEO Lai Chee Siew.

Last year, JUPEM received the SAG award for their Geospatial Data Acquisition System (GDAS), a sophisticated smart mapping system that aims to improve the efficiency of the government’s mapping processes.