RIYADH: The Royal Commission for AlUla has received a SAG award at the Esri conference in California for outstanding performance in using geographic information systems. The annual Esri conference in the US is one of the most significant global events for geographic information systems. Hundreds of sectors gather to showcase their technical capabilities through the development of GIS, whether at the level of planning, organization or in improving services. RCU won the award for its excellence in mapping and analytics techniques, leadership in using and developing system inputs, and achievement of international standards in the field, a commission statement said. “The award highlights the efforts of the RCU, AlUla governorate and its partners in using the GIS, analyzing various data, addressing challenges, and organizing geographical interdependence according to the technical method to achieve the objectives of the commission in promoting and developing multiple services and achieving comprehensive and sustainable development, to achieve the vision of AlUla and in line with the Saudi Vision 2030,” the statement said. RCU is working on employing systems, including GIS, to develop a work platform between the various sectors as part of its strategy to contribute to providing and improving outputs through technical solutions. Since its inception, the commission has begun to form a geographic information systems unit to link various services according to a technical system that responds to multiple inputs of spatial analysis of services and facilities to raise the quality of work, evaluate it, forecast all future challenges, and provide innovative solutions within several areas such as situation and impact analysis, orientation assessment, planning and municipal administration.