Abu Dhabi residents welcome smart addressing system

ABU DHABI // Changes to Abu Dhabi's street address system will make it easier for people to find their way around and reduce journey times, residents say.

A new, smart addressing system, called Unified Addressing System and Wayfinding for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, was officially launched by the Department of Municipal Affairs on Tuesday.

The implementation of the initiative, which is easy to understand and practical to use, will see a drastic shortening of street names, while repetition of street names will be a thing of the past. An address will also feature the number of a building, followed by the street name, city and postcode.

At the moment, most residents and visitors have to rely on landmarks, such as a shopping mall, a hospital, a hotel or a well-known coffee shop, to locate a specific place.

"The new system will be really helpful to people and businesses," said Shaji Shajahan, 44, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 30 years. "The names of the streets keep on changing so we always use landmarks to direct people to a building."

He owns Jubilee Flowers on the ground floor of the Sheikh Tahnoon Building, and lives on the first floor of the same building.

“I don’t even know the name of this street,” Mr Shajahan said. “The Nissan showroom and Al Khazna Insurance building are right across from my building, and on Najda Street, you can see the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. These are well-known landmarks.”

With the new system, he said, people will no longer have to circle the entire block to get to a specific place.

There are small sections of the city that already have the smart blue signs with clearly indicated numbers and names. The rest are half or completely covered up.

A street sign on the junction of Najda and Hamdan streets is partially covered. Some of the known landmarks in the area include the Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana and the KFC building on Hamdan, and the Al Mariah Mall on Najda.

“People want a detailed street addressing system and I’m glad that Abu Dhabi is working on it,” said Lou Alejo, 36, who works at a shop on Hamdan. “It will get you to a certain place faster than asking for all the landmarks, and it won’t be time-consuming too.”

The smart street addressing system has been implemented in North America and Europe, and makes it easy for GPS users to navigate their way around the cities, said Iftekhar Ahmed, 56, a Bangladeshi-born Canadian electrical engineer in Abu Dhabi.

"Nowadays, everyone has a GPS on their phone and in their cars," he said. "No doubt, Abu Dhabi's new smart addressing system is a step in the right direction. It would now be easier to locate a place without the need to provide each and every landmark in the area."

But Sayed Masood, 27, a manager at an optical shop, was unconvinced.

“A new street addressing system will not really make much of a difference,” he said. “It is easy to locate our Hamdan shop using landmarks. For example, everyone knows which street Al Mariah Mall is on.”

Mohammed Abdulhadi, 31, a police officer, said residents and visitors will be able to navigate using the new addressing system as well as learning the landmarks in the area.

“But the names on the street signs should be bigger,” he said, pointing to a street sign at the junction of Muroor and Al Falah. “Here, there is no need to put Sector 35 on the street sign.”

rruiz@thenational.ae