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Discover how we helped transform municipal expansion decisions into a national system powered by data, maps, and statistical analysis
MOMRA Priority System for Proposed Municipalities
2026
Building an intelligent priority system for proposed municipalities and rural complexes using GIS, planning indicators, statistical modeling, and multi-level reporting
The Challenge
The ministry needed to decide which proposed municipalities and rural municipal complexes should be opened first across the Kingdom. This was not an administrative task; it was a national planning decision requiring evidence, comparison, geographic context, and a defensible prioritization model.
Many locations could justify becoming municipalities, but isolated requests, manual judgment, and static reports were not enough. The ministry needed one system to combine population data, village relationships, service distances, infrastructure, administrative context, geography, and planning criteria.
The system also had to support field data collection, map-based records, internal review, updates, and reports for national, regional, governorate, and proposed-municipality levels.
Vision & Objectives
The vision was to transform a complex planning challenge into a structured, evidence-based decision environment. Instead of reviewing proposed municipality requests separately, the platform enabled the ministry to evaluate them through one model supported by data, maps, indicators, statistical weighting, and decision-ready reports.
The objective was to help decision-makers understand demand, service gaps, village relationships, and municipal priorities through clear analytical logic.
- Prioritize proposed municipalities and rural complexes using objective criteria
- Convert scattered planning inputs into a structured national workflow
- Connect planning data with GIS-based geographic intelligence
- Support decisions at national, regional, governorate, and municipality levels
- Build a ranking model based on indicators, weighting, normalization, and comparison
- Generate reports covering service context, rank, population, villages served, and distance
- Create a repeatable workflow for future municipal planning decisions
Strategic Plan & Phases
Discover: Study ministry needs, proposed requests, existing municipalities, field data, criteria, and geography
Define: Structure indicators, form types, GIS layers, records, reports, and prioritization rules
Analyze: Build the data model using fieldwork, GPS, official data, aerial imagery, infrastructure inputs, and statistical weighting
Build: Develop forms, GIS mapping, ranking tools, reports, permissions, facility points, and admin controls
Launch & Sustain: Enable collection, validation, mapping, ranking, reporting, updates, handover, documentation, and future development
Challenges & Constraints
The platform had to simplify a complex national planning decision without reducing its analytical depth. It needed to combine field inputs, demographic data, housing, economic-settlement factors, infrastructure, administrative services, urban planning, geographic boundaries, settlement locations, and ministry criteria.
It also had to work with different levels of data availability. Some proposed municipalities had complete survey data, while others required shorter forms. Reports had to serve multiple decision levels and explain not only the ranking, but the context behind it.
- National planning complexity across regions, governorates, and settlements
- 170 proposed opening requests within the database scope
- Benchmark sample of 10% of existing municipalities
- 54-indicator framework requiring structure, analysis, and weighting
- Need to combine statistical ranking with GIS service logic
- Mixed data availability requiring full and short form modes
- Reports needed at the region, governorate, and proposed municipality levels
- Municipality reports required a 50 km surrounding area analysis
- Ranking model needed retained components explaining more than 90% of decision variance
Research & Insights
170
opening requests were evaluated within the project database scope
54
planning indicators shaped the prioritization framework across key municipal planning dimensions
3
reporting levels were supported: region, governorate, and proposed municipality
50 km
analysis radius was designed for municipality-level reports
+90%
of decision variance was explained by the strongest retained components in the ranking model
Features & Capabilities
A GIS-enabled planning platform combining structured data entry, field inputs, statistical prioritization, geographic intelligence, multi-level reporting, administrative control, and future-development readiness
Full and short forms for proposed municipality and rural complex records
GIS mapping, coordinates, map browsing, point filtering, and 50 km municipality views
Criteria-based ranking using approved indicators, normalization, weighting, and final priority sorting
Multi-level reports covering population, served villages, distance, regional rank, national rank, and spatial context
Admin control, record updates, request management, and integration of SAS, SPSS, Excel, ArcGIS, and ERDAS
User Needs
Ministry teams needed a reliable way to collect, validate, compare, rank, and update proposed municipality requests through one decision model. They needed to manage complete and incomplete survey data, link records to maps, and review priorities through a clear workflow.
Decision-makers needed reports that went beyond a final score. They needed population, villages served, served-village population, current service distance, regional rank, Kingdom-wide rank, and mapped spatial context.
Planning teams also needed to identify service gaps beyond submitted requests. By combining GIS and data analysis, the platform could highlight areas that might qualify for municipal services even without a formal request.
Key Unique Features
National-scale prioritization model for municipal expansion decisions
GIS intelligence embedded at the core of the platform
Formal statistical ranking using weighted indicators, normalization, and variance logic
Flexible field-data workflows supported by a 54-indicator planning framework
Decision-ready reports translating complex inputs into ranked, reportable, repeatable outputs
Key Operational Features
Fieldwork foundation supported by researchers, regional survey coordination, and GPS capture
Data sources included ministry data, statistics data, aerial imagery, roads, infrastructure, and municipal boundaries
GIS methodology covered map creation, unified geodatabase development, settlement mapping, and boundary handling
Analytical and reporting models combined statistical ranking, map logic, planning context, and decision-ready outputs
Handover included Arabic user guides, technical documentation, source code/database guidance, formula mapping, and future-development readiness