Nabeel Koshak
Nabeel Koshak is the Vice President for Business & Innovation of Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He is the Vice Chairman of Makkah Techno Valley Company. Koshak is the Director of KACST GIS Technology Innovation Center at UQU. He is the Chairman of Board of Directors of Transportation and Crowd Management Center of Research Excellence. Koshak is the former Director of Center of Research Excellence in Hajj & Umrah. He is an Associate Professor and the Founder and former Director of the Design and Planning Support Systems (DPSS) Research Unit, Department of Urban and Engineering Research, Hajj Research Center, UQU, Saudi Arabia. Koshak teaches courses at the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture, UQU. He joined Umm Al-Qura's faculty in May 2002.
His research, teaching, innovation and business interests focus on computing in architecture and urban design/planning, including Computer Aided Design (CAD), Building Information Modeling (BIM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM).
Koshak received a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Umm Al-Qura University in 1993, a Master of Architecture (Computing in Design and Planning) from the University of Colorado in 1997, and a PhD in Computational Design from the School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University in 2002.
As an entrepreneur, Koshak is the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAD & GIS Co., Ltd, Digital Models Co., Ltd., and Digital Perspective Co., Ltd. CG, DM, and DP are leading companies in providing solutions, professional services, consulting, and training on CAD, GIS, and CAFM. Partners are ESRI, Autodesk, and ARCHIBUS.
Phone: +966555507925
Address: PO Box 9009
Makkah, 21955
Saudi Arabia
His research, teaching, innovation and business interests focus on computing in architecture and urban design/planning, including Computer Aided Design (CAD), Building Information Modeling (BIM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM).
Koshak received a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from Umm Al-Qura University in 1993, a Master of Architecture (Computing in Design and Planning) from the University of Colorado in 1997, and a PhD in Computational Design from the School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University in 2002.
As an entrepreneur, Koshak is the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAD & GIS Co., Ltd, Digital Models Co., Ltd., and Digital Perspective Co., Ltd. CG, DM, and DP are leading companies in providing solutions, professional services, consulting, and training on CAD, GIS, and CAFM. Partners are ESRI, Autodesk, and ARCHIBUS.
Phone: +966555507925
Address: PO Box 9009
Makkah, 21955
Saudi Arabia
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Papers by Nabeel Koshak
This paper presents an interactive integrative framework of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to monitor and provide real-time online information about the movement of pilgrims. The framework also captures and stores information for future use in transportation planning. The RFID system is com-posed of RFID tags embedded on the vehicles that transport the pilgrims and RFID readers installed at key locations. The data read by the RFID readers are sent wirelessly to a workstation for analysis and, then presented on interactive maps utilizing a GIS application. A prototype of this project was successfully implemented during Hajj. The system developed through this research is essential to support urban transportation planning and management of Hajj. Decision makers and urban transportation planners can use this system to monitor and control the pilgrims’ movements and then archive the data for future urban transportation planning and management.
resources management and environmental planning. GIS and a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) have been utilized for the morphometric analysis of six basins exist within Makkah metropolitan area, southwest Saudi Arabia. Several morphometric parameters have been computed and analyzed,such as total relief, relative relief, relief ratio, ruggedness number, texture ratio, elongation ratio, circularity ratio, form factor ratio, drainage density, stream frequency, sinuosity factor, and bifurcation ratio. Impacts of morphometric parameters on flash flood characteristics have been also investigated. It has been found that the catchment no. 3 has the least time of concentration, the highest runoff depth. Such hydrological hazards are mainly due to the basin’s small area and its highest relief ratio, relative relief, and ruggedness factor. Hence, it is concluded that this specific catchment might be considered as the most hazardous area in Makkah city in terms of flash flood impacts. Therefore, it is recommended that the attained results be utilized in water resources management and environmental planning in Makkah city.
Pilgrimage) and Umrah. A cornerstone of Hajj and Umrah spirituals is to perform Tawaf, which is the circumambulation of the Ka'bah in the center of the Holy Mosque in Makkah. The areas of performing Tawaf (called Mataf) become very crowded during Hajj and the last ten days of Ramadan. This paper demonstrates how we utilized Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze pedestrian movement while
performing Tawaf. During the Hajj of 1424 H (2004 in the Georgian
Calendar), several GPS devices were used to collect pedestrian movement coordinates at specific time intervals. Computer software for tracking analysis is used to visualize and analyze the pattern of pedestrian movement in Tawaf. The software allows users to view temporal data, which can be set up with past time windows for historical data analysis. The findings of this research
show levels of service and flow rates throughout different zones and times of Mataf. They indicate the most critical zones and times for Tawaf during Hajj. They also visually demonstrate the track pattern of pedestrian movement at different locations in the Tawaf area. The paper concludes with some redesign recommendations to remove obstacles and facilitate pedestrian movement in Tawaf. The approach described in this paper can be implemented in architectural and urban design space modifications to improve pedestrian movement in open spaces.
the areas covered by tents. It utilizes the intensity in digital images in two stages. First, it classifies tents from other features in Arafat's environment. Second, it calculates the number of tents based on image matching subroutines. This can evaluate the design and planning of tents' layout and space optimization. Using this automatic approach, the number of pilgrims in a tested area can also be estimated according to the average capacity of one-meter squares covered by tents. Moreover, services, utilities, and transportation needs can be determined more precisely. An actual sample area in Arafat during the Hajj season is used to test the approach developed in this research.
of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, is planning the movement of vehicles and mass transit during the period of Hajj (Islamic Pilgrimage) when a huge number of people come from all over the world for religious activities. Every year, local authorities need to provide a traffic awareness plan that can be implemented during Hajj to avoid traffic congestion. A traditional means to distribute awareness of the traffic plan is to publish hard copy maps and distribute them to local authorities and the public before each Hajj season. This method requires extensive time and resources. This paper demonstrates how the web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) can be utilized to provide broader and easier distribution of the traffic plan. Such a system will facilitate understanding and ease the following of the traffic plan. Awareness of the plan will help implementation and reduce traffic congestion due to unawareness. In addition, urban planners and urban designers can easily access the annual Hajj traffic plans to support research and investigation."
Saudi Arabia) during the Hajj an Islamic Pilgrimage is a major concern for urban planners and designers for a number of reasons. The "Stoning the devil" ceremony in Mina’s Jamarat area during the ceremony of the Hajj is performed by more than three million Muslims every year. The pilgrims "Stone the Devil" by throwing seven stones at each of three Jamarah (stone pillars).
As the number of pilgrims increase, the Jamarat area witnesses overcrowding problems every year. In recent years, the crowd has panicked and pilgrims were trampled to death, also Managing the pedestrian traffic in urban environments is an important way to prevent these types of tragedies created by overcrowding. A way to help curb the problem of overcrowding could be accomplished by designing the more robust urban environment, and better managing the movement within the urban environment. This paper discusses a spatial-temporal visualization of the movement of pilgrim groups to and from Jamarat area according to a schedule developed by the Ministry of Hajj. The approach utilizes GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to simulate the movement of groups of pilgrims from their tent camps to Jamarat and back to
their camp. Using the API of GIS, a code has been developed to generate
series of points with time stamps that represent and track the movement of each subgroup of pilgrims. This is done based on a shortest path algorithm. These track points are then loaded into a tracking analysis extension of the GIS software. A spatial-temporal visualization of pedestrian movements to and from Jamarat area is then played. The software can also visualize critical overcrowded areas at different times over the three days of the ceremony. In this research it is customized to visualize overcrowding at the Jamarat area. This provides a useful tool to when evaluating the developed time schedule for group movements. It could be used to evaluate the design and planning of the urban environment. The paper concludes with possible applications of the approach developed through this research. Some ways of making this approach is to be more reliable, validated, and realistic which are also discussed in this paper. Future approaches to designing a fully automated system that generate a movement time schedule are also proposed.
social values, economic conditions, and culture of a particular period. However, current paper-based static documents, such as descriptive lists, words, and simple marked maps, for describing the historic sites are lack the capability to depict the meanings and changes of the historic sites in a spatial and temporal manner. When integrated with advanced visualization tools, GIS can become a very effective tool for analyzing and representing complex data. The event-based spatial-temporal data model (ESTDM) that has recently been proposed by Peuquet and Duan (1995) is useful in representing the spatial-temporal database. However, in the ESTDM, each event representation is static and fragmented, even though it must still be captured and integrated in a temporal manner. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss the
visualization of spatial-temporal information as a way of escribing and representing the past in several historic sites. We focus on improving the socalled “ST-ESTDM” (Smooth-Timing Event-based Spatial-Temporal Data Model) to overcome the disadvantage of ESTDM mentioned above. We develop a GIS-based system prototype for Taiwanese historic sites to exemplify our concepts and methodology.
about the available accommodations. This paper demonstrates the way the development of a web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) for different hotels available in the
central area of Madinah. The system provides a comprehensive database of hotels including maps, attribute data, and photos. The system can be used by local authorities who are managing and supervising the process of accommodating visitors. The system
supports researchers and decision-makers in the areas of urban design, planning, and housing to make better decisions in providing adequate housing conditions for the visitors of
Madinah. It can also help visitors to choose hotels according to their needs and preferences from their own countries via the Internet.
solution for this problem. Data warehousing is a technique initially developed for business applications, but is equally useful for urban design: The data warehouse constitutes a communication layer between the urban design applications and data sources. It makes the data available through a unified interface that hides the sources themselves and represents that data in terms of a general-purpose, preferably object-oriented, model. We also describe an implementation prototype that supports different applications. The City of Makkah in Saudi Arabia provides us with real-world data and a context to test our prototype.
buildings' construction, and standard operations in current CAD programs. We briefly discuss tools for architectural heritage recording, construction of CAD models of historic buildings, and systematic analysis of built form. Finally, the paper shows how
the method can streamline the construction of accurate CAD models.
Talks by Nabeel Koshak
This paper presents an interactive integrative framework of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to monitor and provide real-time online information about the movement of pilgrims. The framework also captures and stores information for future use in transportation planning. The RFID system is com-posed of RFID tags embedded on the vehicles that transport the pilgrims and RFID readers installed at key locations. The data read by the RFID readers are sent wirelessly to a workstation for analysis and, then presented on interactive maps utilizing a GIS application. A prototype of this project was successfully implemented during Hajj. The system developed through this research is essential to support urban transportation planning and management of Hajj. Decision makers and urban transportation planners can use this system to monitor and control the pilgrims’ movements and then archive the data for future urban transportation planning and management.
resources management and environmental planning. GIS and a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) have been utilized for the morphometric analysis of six basins exist within Makkah metropolitan area, southwest Saudi Arabia. Several morphometric parameters have been computed and analyzed,such as total relief, relative relief, relief ratio, ruggedness number, texture ratio, elongation ratio, circularity ratio, form factor ratio, drainage density, stream frequency, sinuosity factor, and bifurcation ratio. Impacts of morphometric parameters on flash flood characteristics have been also investigated. It has been found that the catchment no. 3 has the least time of concentration, the highest runoff depth. Such hydrological hazards are mainly due to the basin’s small area and its highest relief ratio, relative relief, and ruggedness factor. Hence, it is concluded that this specific catchment might be considered as the most hazardous area in Makkah city in terms of flash flood impacts. Therefore, it is recommended that the attained results be utilized in water resources management and environmental planning in Makkah city.
Pilgrimage) and Umrah. A cornerstone of Hajj and Umrah spirituals is to perform Tawaf, which is the circumambulation of the Ka'bah in the center of the Holy Mosque in Makkah. The areas of performing Tawaf (called Mataf) become very crowded during Hajj and the last ten days of Ramadan. This paper demonstrates how we utilized Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze pedestrian movement while
performing Tawaf. During the Hajj of 1424 H (2004 in the Georgian
Calendar), several GPS devices were used to collect pedestrian movement coordinates at specific time intervals. Computer software for tracking analysis is used to visualize and analyze the pattern of pedestrian movement in Tawaf. The software allows users to view temporal data, which can be set up with past time windows for historical data analysis. The findings of this research
show levels of service and flow rates throughout different zones and times of Mataf. They indicate the most critical zones and times for Tawaf during Hajj. They also visually demonstrate the track pattern of pedestrian movement at different locations in the Tawaf area. The paper concludes with some redesign recommendations to remove obstacles and facilitate pedestrian movement in Tawaf. The approach described in this paper can be implemented in architectural and urban design space modifications to improve pedestrian movement in open spaces.
the areas covered by tents. It utilizes the intensity in digital images in two stages. First, it classifies tents from other features in Arafat's environment. Second, it calculates the number of tents based on image matching subroutines. This can evaluate the design and planning of tents' layout and space optimization. Using this automatic approach, the number of pilgrims in a tested area can also be estimated according to the average capacity of one-meter squares covered by tents. Moreover, services, utilities, and transportation needs can be determined more precisely. An actual sample area in Arafat during the Hajj season is used to test the approach developed in this research.
of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, is planning the movement of vehicles and mass transit during the period of Hajj (Islamic Pilgrimage) when a huge number of people come from all over the world for religious activities. Every year, local authorities need to provide a traffic awareness plan that can be implemented during Hajj to avoid traffic congestion. A traditional means to distribute awareness of the traffic plan is to publish hard copy maps and distribute them to local authorities and the public before each Hajj season. This method requires extensive time and resources. This paper demonstrates how the web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) can be utilized to provide broader and easier distribution of the traffic plan. Such a system will facilitate understanding and ease the following of the traffic plan. Awareness of the plan will help implementation and reduce traffic congestion due to unawareness. In addition, urban planners and urban designers can easily access the annual Hajj traffic plans to support research and investigation."
Saudi Arabia) during the Hajj an Islamic Pilgrimage is a major concern for urban planners and designers for a number of reasons. The "Stoning the devil" ceremony in Mina’s Jamarat area during the ceremony of the Hajj is performed by more than three million Muslims every year. The pilgrims "Stone the Devil" by throwing seven stones at each of three Jamarah (stone pillars).
As the number of pilgrims increase, the Jamarat area witnesses overcrowding problems every year. In recent years, the crowd has panicked and pilgrims were trampled to death, also Managing the pedestrian traffic in urban environments is an important way to prevent these types of tragedies created by overcrowding. A way to help curb the problem of overcrowding could be accomplished by designing the more robust urban environment, and better managing the movement within the urban environment. This paper discusses a spatial-temporal visualization of the movement of pilgrim groups to and from Jamarat area according to a schedule developed by the Ministry of Hajj. The approach utilizes GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to simulate the movement of groups of pilgrims from their tent camps to Jamarat and back to
their camp. Using the API of GIS, a code has been developed to generate
series of points with time stamps that represent and track the movement of each subgroup of pilgrims. This is done based on a shortest path algorithm. These track points are then loaded into a tracking analysis extension of the GIS software. A spatial-temporal visualization of pedestrian movements to and from Jamarat area is then played. The software can also visualize critical overcrowded areas at different times over the three days of the ceremony. In this research it is customized to visualize overcrowding at the Jamarat area. This provides a useful tool to when evaluating the developed time schedule for group movements. It could be used to evaluate the design and planning of the urban environment. The paper concludes with possible applications of the approach developed through this research. Some ways of making this approach is to be more reliable, validated, and realistic which are also discussed in this paper. Future approaches to designing a fully automated system that generate a movement time schedule are also proposed.
social values, economic conditions, and culture of a particular period. However, current paper-based static documents, such as descriptive lists, words, and simple marked maps, for describing the historic sites are lack the capability to depict the meanings and changes of the historic sites in a spatial and temporal manner. When integrated with advanced visualization tools, GIS can become a very effective tool for analyzing and representing complex data. The event-based spatial-temporal data model (ESTDM) that has recently been proposed by Peuquet and Duan (1995) is useful in representing the spatial-temporal database. However, in the ESTDM, each event representation is static and fragmented, even though it must still be captured and integrated in a temporal manner. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss the
visualization of spatial-temporal information as a way of escribing and representing the past in several historic sites. We focus on improving the socalled “ST-ESTDM” (Smooth-Timing Event-based Spatial-Temporal Data Model) to overcome the disadvantage of ESTDM mentioned above. We develop a GIS-based system prototype for Taiwanese historic sites to exemplify our concepts and methodology.
about the available accommodations. This paper demonstrates the way the development of a web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) for different hotels available in the
central area of Madinah. The system provides a comprehensive database of hotels including maps, attribute data, and photos. The system can be used by local authorities who are managing and supervising the process of accommodating visitors. The system
supports researchers and decision-makers in the areas of urban design, planning, and housing to make better decisions in providing adequate housing conditions for the visitors of
Madinah. It can also help visitors to choose hotels according to their needs and preferences from their own countries via the Internet.
solution for this problem. Data warehousing is a technique initially developed for business applications, but is equally useful for urban design: The data warehouse constitutes a communication layer between the urban design applications and data sources. It makes the data available through a unified interface that hides the sources themselves and represents that data in terms of a general-purpose, preferably object-oriented, model. We also describe an implementation prototype that supports different applications. The City of Makkah in Saudi Arabia provides us with real-world data and a context to test our prototype.
buildings' construction, and standard operations in current CAD programs. We briefly discuss tools for architectural heritage recording, construction of CAD models of historic buildings, and systematic analysis of built form. Finally, the paper shows how
the method can streamline the construction of accurate CAD models.