OREANDA-NEWS. May 16, 2013. More than 1,000 professionals turned out for the 8th National Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Symposium and exhibition recently in Dammam.

Under the theme “The Road for Building Saudi Arabia GIS,” the three-day event featured more than 30 speakers and 130 technical papers.

With Saudi Aramco as the official sponsor, the event was an opportunity for the company to share its GIS expertise with local institutions. Executive director of Project Management Fahad Al-Helal attended the opening ceremony and received an appreciation plaque from Governor of the Eastern Province HRH Prince Saud Bin Naif.

Participants learned how GIS streamlines Saudi Aramco projections' planning and implementation because it consolidates in one place the information that crews need to design and build facilities. This enables planners and builders to coordinate with the different parties utilizing the facility or land quickly, expediting complex project completion.

The symposium included an exhibition that had booths representing governmental agencies and local and international companies. At Saudi Aramco's exhibit, company representatives explained how data is captured, processed and made available to engineering in the company through advanced software.

Surveying Services Division chief Amer A. Al-Dulaijan led a session on laser scanning, lidar and mobile mapping. Engineer Fathi Y. Dwaik of Project Management’s Geodetic and Photogrammetric Survey Section served as the program chairman and was on the scientific committee along with Yousif S. Ghamdi of the Land Survey Section.

For more information on the organization, visit www.saudigis.org.