Abu Dhabi: The Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi announced on Sunday that Kuwaiti Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah received Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of DoT, to honour the department for its smart application ‘Darb’, which was ranked among the five top smart applications in the Arab World at the 14th Annual Shaikh Salem Al Ali Al Sabah Informatics Award.

The DoT official received the award from the Kuwaiti emir at the official annual awards ceremony held at the Emiri Diwan in Bayan Palace. The ‘Darb’ application placed fourth among the best smart applications in the Arab World.

The decisions regarding the awards are made by the award jury, which comprises of senior e-government officials, researchers and academics as well as representatives of the IT community.

The excellence award serves as proof of the DoT’s efforts to develop information technology systems for the optimal management of traffic and transport networks in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Such systems enable better functioning of public transport services in addition to improving traffic safety standards and overall services for road users in general. The Darb smart app, which was launched this March, is one of the most important outcomes of the smart transport systems strategy in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Darb provides the public with basic interactive maps, showing public transport routes and timetables within a fast and user-friendly interface. The app provides the public information about real-time road conditions including any construction activity, traffic detours, accidents or congestion on roads.

The UAE won three awards in the best websites and smart applications categories. The DoT’s Darb smart application won its award in the category of the best smart applications and the most popular in the Arab World. The application went through three stages of qualification that included the assessment of more than 10,000 applications from 13 Arab countries.

The awards jury based its decision on the criteria of comprehensiveness, diversity and quality.