Capital to deliver on addresses

Method will eclipse 'near cinema, behind bank' location system.

ABU DHABI // Getting across town - not to mention ordering a pizza - will be easier by the end of next year, thanks to an addressing system revealed at Cityscape Abu Dhabi yesterday. Although it is not the first time the Government has announced an addressing system, it is the most detailed: more than 9,000 streets will be given a unique name. Signs will have larger fonts. Buildings will be assigned numbers based on their positions on each street.

The idea is to make the capital easier to navigate for residents and emergency services. "It is important for everyone. Now no one depends on an address," said Ahmed al Mazrooei, a geographic information systems specialist with the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA), the body setting the standards. "Even for security purposes it is important everyone has a proper address. So all the internal roads will have a name."

The system is expected to be implemented by late 2011 across the emirate and will be applied to new developments. Every street will have a unique name displayed in both Arabic and English. There will be no numbered streets, to avoid confusion over which "9th Street" a person might be trying to find. Each building will have a unique number clearly displayed, with odd numbers on one side of a street and even numbers on the other. The numbers will be assigned sequentially, starting at one end of a street and increasing until the street ends.

Districts will have specific names, such as Al Markiziya, which will be incorporated into the system. Planners acknowledge one of the key challenges for the new system will be getting people to use it rather than the current ad hoc navigation by landmark or intersection. The municipality's plans also include introducing a postcode and GPS system to assist emergency services, a DMA official said.