Address Data Editing and Quality Assurance Application

The Addressing Tool is designed to facilitate the creation and management of addressing data for the national addressing system of the Sultanate of Oman. This application aims to provide a comprehensive platform for editing, managing, and visualizing geographic information related to streets and address units. The tool's primary objectives include ensuring fast and efficient editing processes, supporting web-based access, integrating with various data sources, and enabling systematic data management and quality control.

This is the only end user interface where streets, street segments and address units are created, edited or modified.

• Operating System: Linux is preferred for the deployment of the Addressing Tool.
• Deployment as Containers: Utilize Docker and Docker Compose for application deployment.
• Database Server: PostGIS is the preferred database as per analysis provided in system architecture document.
• Web Server: NGINX is the preferred choice for web server deployment.
• Identity Server: Implement the shared authentication with all other addressing applications.
• Map Server: Preferably use GeoServer with pg_tileserv or alternatively, ArcGIS Enterprise Server.
• API Server: Employ Python FastAPI along with Uvicorn to serve the API. The API must expose an OpenAPI end-point.
• Servers: The system should be deployed on two virtual servers - one for the Database and another for Applications.

• Editing Efficiency: The tool must ensure fast and instantaneous editing processes, allowing for easy modifications of multiple features.
• Web Application: The tool should be developed as a web application to support widespread access.
• Map Display and Navigation: Include functionalities for map display and navigation, such as zoom, pan, and toggling layers on/off.
• User Data Upload: Enable users to upload their data for processing.
• Data Sources Integration: Incorporate multiple data sources such as Google imagery, satellite imagery (2016-18), and a basemap service.
• Thematic Data Handling: Manage thematic data involving road centerlines, parcels, buildings, and municipal entrance/sub address data.
• Street Definition: Offer comprehensive street management functionalities, including modifying, deleting, and transferring street segments, editing attributes, and drawing street segments.
• Address Unit Definition: Facilitate creation, editing, selection, and movement of address units along with setting tool settings.
• Data Management: Provide tools for checking out areas for editing, submitting data for quality control, viewing QC queues, and exporting/importing data in geojson/json formats.
• Issue Management: Enable the creation, editing, selection, and deletion of issues, along with exporting issues to GeoJSON format.
• Sub Address Management: Allow users to create sub addresses within the system.

The following workflow is to be implemented in the tool:

• Users must be assigned roles and rights for different areas
  • Roles: superadmin, superuser, editor, user
  • Example: User A has access to check out addresses for streets in al Qabil in Al Sharqiyah North (typically for a municipality level user)
  • Example: User B has rights to check out and approve addresses for streets in all of Al Sharquiya (typically for a governorate level user)
  • Question: It is necessary to establish a user hierarchy
• When editing, users must checks out data to work on
  • Data can be checked out by drawing a rectangle in map
  • All intersected streets within the area the user has rights to work on will be checked out
  • The data will be exported to the local machine and be edited there
  • Data can be saved back to the application without being checked back in
  • Data can be passed on to another user for QC so taht they may be checked back into the system (see below)
  • When sent back, the data are deleted from the local client.
  • Question: what about streets that cross borders?
• When data has been checked out, the concerned streets must be locked for checkout so that multiple people can not edit them simultaneously
  • Nobody else can check out this area until lock has been deleted
  • The lock will be deleted after checkin
  • The lock can also be deleted by a superuser in case the user who checked out data is not available/indisposed
• The actual editing takes place in the application as it is today,
  • User works locally in office
  • Creates, updates, deletes streets, address units
  • Creates, updates, deletes issues
  • Largely, the functionality in the app covers most needs - however, from experience using it, there may be things that could be tweaked or adjusted to make it easier to use
• When the user has identified a number of issues that require field verification, she can export data for field verification (optional)
  • The data can be all data within the area being edited
  • The data can be only data within issue areas
  • The data should be exported to a format suitable for import and use in the mobile field verification application
  • Alternatively, the data can be posted to a web service provided by the mobile field-verification app and it will autoamatically be allocated to a user as per processes there
  • Question: It is necessary to establish a format for data exchange between the field-verification application and the address editor application
  • Question: It is necessary to establish a clear boundary between what the mobile field-verification application does and what the desktop address editing application does. These two applications must be used in symbiosi
• When field verification is done data should be handed back to the editing application
  • Any observations made in the field should be edited and dealt with
  • The status of addresses and streets should be updated accordingly
• Prior to submitting data for QI, an auto-validation processs that checks exactly three things will be implemented
  • Check that all address unit numbers that are assigned to streets in the dataset are unique, i.e. only one number #1
  • Check that all streets have addresses and names
  • Check that all address unit numbers linked to a street are within a reasonable distance away from the street they are linked to
  • Question: What is a reasonable distance?
• When automatic validation has passed, the user can submit the data for QC
  • The data are sent on to another user who can look at them in the address editing tools as well as statistics about each street
  • The QC user can choose to approve all or street by street
  • The QC user can reject all or street by street
  • If rejected, the concerned parts go back to the editing step
  • If all or a selection of streets are approved - those data are checked in, unlocked and removed from the checked out set
  • Question: Who does the QC, is it anyone - just peer review - or is it someone on Governorate level? A thorough review requires detailed local knowledge
• Data are checked back into the addressing database

Upon the completion of the 2024/25 National Addressing System project, a tool consisting of 43 245 code lines has been provided by NorthSys free of charge. In a normal estimation process

• This tool includes all editing functions and integration with underlying data services
• The tool does not include functionality to check-in/check-out data from the database, nor a web enabled database infrastructure
• The implementation of remaining features will be done through a variation order
• The variation order has been approved on the 1st of September 2025