UAE Census Takes Just Three Months Using PDAs to Capture Data in Real Time

Overview

UAE Tedad (Census) 2005, the most important nationwide initiative in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was completed on time, thanks to Microsoft technologies. A regular census has happened in the UAE since 1968, but for the first time in the Gulf region at the national level, enumerators used Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and satellite technology to record information in real time. The Ministry of Economy first selected Java for collecting information, and later switched to the Microsoft NET Framework. FOHMICS, an Abu Dhabi-based software development house, helped to deploy iPAQ PDAs running Microsoft Windows CE 4.21, and a custom-built smart device application running on the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework.