National Committee of Geographical Names

The National Committee of Geographical Names is a committee concerned with documenting geographical names in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unifying efforts related to writing, standardization, spelling, and everything related to the national standard for them, and preparing a database that includes cities, villages, centers, mountains, valleys, wells, islands, ports, and rock formations.

Establishment

The Supreme Order was issued on August 5, 2013, approving the establishment of the National Committee of Geographical Names. In 2018, the Council of Ministers approved the rules governing the work of the Committee, including its authorities, tasks, and functions.

On October 5, 2021, the Council of Ministers approved amendments to the rules governing the work of the Committee and the transfer of its headquarters and supervision from the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) to the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information.

Tasks

The National Committee of Geographical Names is responsible for coordinating between government agencies concerned with geographical names when launching new names or changing existing ones, representing Saudi Arabia locally and internationally, cooperating and participating internationally in the preparation of the International Geographical Index Dictionary, collecting and publishing geographical names and preparing a database for them, and preparing an updatable national indexed dictionary in Arabic-Latin characters (Romanization) to serve as a binding reference for government agencies after its approval by the supreme authority.

Participating Entities

The National Committee of Geographical Names includes in its membership the following entities: General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information; the General Directorate of Military Survey at the Ministry of Defense; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Municipalities and Housing; Ministry of Energy; Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources; Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Culture; Ministry of Media; Ministry of Tourism; Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture; Presidency of State Security; Saudi Geological Survey; General Authority for Statistics; King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah); King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology; National Center for Archives and Records; Saudi Post; and Saudi Geographical Society.

The Romanization Project

The National Committee of Geographical Names represents Saudi Arabia in local and international forums to establish standards for writing geographical names globally, enabling easy access to them from any location to serve security, research, tourism, and other purposes, through the Romanization project supervised by the United Nations, and in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030 and its economic requirements.

The committee played a role in the United Nations’ approval of the unified Arabic system of Romanization submitted by the Arab Division of Geographical Names Experts in 2017.

Achievements

The National Committee of Geographical Names has completed a number of achievements, including the design of two mobile applications, on iOS and Android, as part of its regular maintenance of the "Geographical Names Explorer in Saudi Arabia" applications. These efforts aim to facilitate users' access to information, review and audit the names of the Red Sea islands, Romanize the names of road signs and streets through the Standard Arabic System of Transliteration of Geographical Names unified by the Arab countries and approved by United Nations geographical names experts, and provide consultations to government agencies to amend or change certain place names.

The committee also prepared maps of Saudi historical sites, designed a website for the Dictionary of Geographical Places in the Red Sea, and started a project to re-edit and print the digital national historical atlas of Saudi Arabia. In addition, it contributed to developing the national geospatial infrastructure, the national geodetic reference, and national geodetic networks; conducting hydrographic marine surveys; providing data, products, services, electronic applications, and topographic, aerial, and navigation maps and marketing them; and preparing specialized human cadres, as well as the necessary studies and research, to make it attractive for investment.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Health used interactive maps based on the geographical names database to illustrate potential risk areas for the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at the level of administrative governorates, provinces, villages, and cities. These maps helped identify some uncommon or unknown geographical names and reinforced recognition of geographical names by linking them to their correct locations on digital maps. In addition, news bulletins in audio and visual media helped convey the correct pronunciation of some geographical names. Applications developed by the committee on iOS and Android have helped identify some remote and difficult locations that are hard to find on other maps.

The National Committee on Geographical Names created an electronic database to collect information on countries, including the official name of each state in Arabic and English, and coordinated with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to implement a project aimed at strengthening capacities in the use of geospatial information systems to improve resilience in the Middle East and North Africa, and to develop the institutional capacity of Arab professionals in using geographic information technologies to address disaster risks.

National Geospatial Platform

It is an official national reference for geographical names in Saudi Arabia, providing metadata and geospatial data associated with the names, introducing Saudi Arabia and its geographical names, including their spatial and historical dimensions, and enabling entities to access geographical names and their locations based on national maps.

Geographical Names Explorer App

The National Committee on Geographical Names supervised the 2017 launch by the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) of the “Geographical Names Explorer in Saudi Arabia” application, which was developed by the Saudi Center for Historical Geographical Information Systems.

The application enables users to search for geographical names in Saudi Arabia within a database containing more than 73,000 entries, view their locations on Google Maps, and review details such as the geographical name in Arabic, the Romanized geographical name in English, the administrative governorate in which it is located, its classification (residential, agricultural, mountainous, sandy, or marine), and its geographical coordinates.

The Geographical Names Explorer application also allows users to add new geographical names, search the map, find the closest geographical names to their current location, create navigational routes, and switch between road maps and satellite images.