The first map of Dubai's District Addressing System includes 14 districts and list of communities under each of them

Finding locations in Dubai gets easier with new address system

13 January 2016

Giving your address and finding locations using guide signs in Dubai just got easier, with communities in the emirate now divided under 14 districts.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Tuesday released the first map of Dubai's District Addressing System that includes 14 districts and the list of communities under each of them.

People will now have to familiarise themselves with names of at least four new districts. The Hadaeq Mohammed bin Rashid (Mohammed bin Rashid Gardens) district covers the Mohammed bin Rashid City which is slated to be the hub of family tourism, and surrounding communities including Al Quoz, Al Barsha, Nad Al Sheba and Al Thanyah.

The other three new names of districts are Madinat Al Maktoum District - which covers the localities surrounding Al Maktoum International Airport - Madinat Al Qudra and Al Wajeha Al Bahriah districts that cover areas towards the Southeast and Southwest of it.

The remaining districts are Deira, Bur Dubai, Nakhlat Deira (Palm Deira), Mushrif, Al Awir, Ras Al Khor, Zabeel, Jumeirah, Dubai Land and Jebel Ali.

Hussain Al Banna, director of Traffic at RTA, told Khaleej Times the district addressing system follows international practices in guide signs.

"This will help people know their location faster," he said.

"There are many communities under each district ... But we cannot put all communities' names (on) signboards. So we will now have the street name and district name on the road sign boards. For example, you will see Jumeirah written just below the name of Umm Suqeim," he explained.

The ambitious project of revamping the addressing system in the emirate in cooperation with the Dubai Municipality also involves replacing the old system of street numbers with unique names to streets. Almost all main roads have been covered under the project and all new projects comply with it.

"We have changed six to seven communities with road names ... We will finish the first phase of installing new road signboards by July 2016."

The entire stretch of the Shaikh Zayed road, right from the Abu Dhabi border to Al Gharoud Bridge, and the Financial Centre Road are being covered in this phase.

He said the RTA's Smart Drive app is compatible with the new addressing system and the new street names will eventually be integrated with Makani, the 10-digit digital addressing system of Dubai Municipality.