Dubai: The civic body on Tuesday announced that it was working on the final stage of implementing its new address system Makani — aimed at identifying buildings with coordinates.

The coordinates will be set up at the entrances of buildings and accurately measure the distance within one metre of the resident’s location.

“Once the system is approved, it will cost Dubai about Dh5 million to set up the coordinate plates,” said Abdul Hakim Abdul Kareem Malek, Director of Geographic Information System at Dubai Municipality.

“When somebody on the street calls 999, and they do not have a smartphone, they will be able to see the plate on the lamp post or bus station, and report the location of the accident or the crime,” said Malek, who added that the authority aims to integrate the habit of the new address system among residents before 2020.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, explained that the system will make a significant improvement in identifying any location on the Makani map.

“Through the application, people from all nationalities will be able to find locations easier, as it needs only a number code instead of names of places. It will resemble the US zipcode,” he said.

The application is available in all versions of different devices, such as: smart phones (iPhone -Android, BlackBerry) and tablet PCs, computers and navigational devices in cars.

It also aims to make it easier for everyone to get to any location within the city. “The project will contribute to locating the new names of streets, simplify the addressing scheme, and we will provide signs along the streets with the coordinates,” said Lootah.

The application ‘Makani’ will be available to all for free round the clock, and will serve residents, visitors, business owners and institutions in different activities.

The project can be downloaded for free from AppStore (iPhone) and GooglePlay (Android).

“The new system helps public service providers and individuals to reach their destinations, and to facilitate the operations of the security, emergency and rescue services, as well as guiding drivers and pedestrians to their destinations with exact accuracy,” he said.