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THE KNOWLEDGE
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HOUSING IN DUBAI
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With all the change that is going on, getting an accurate map of any city in the UAE is a hard task. A map of Dubai, for example would be out of date as soon as it is produced, with new regions being built on. Well, we can do our best to get the best maps available on line. Offline, you should consider purchasing one of the guides, that we have recommended.
We are not cartographers so we have scouted through all the maps available to recommend to you the best ones on Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
UAE Maps
You'll get people mentioning the UAE is on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Well, over here they call it the Arabian Gulf, due to a dispute over some land. Either way, the UAE borders Saudi Arabia and Oman and is close to both Iran and Qatar. Back in the day its location was crucial as commercial port, and to some extent still is.
To understand where the UAE is, here are a couple of sites worth checking out:
In the context of the Middle East and the world, Worldatlas and Theodora show how that the UAE is intersection between Europe, Asia and Africa, while the Emirates Network shows the boundaries of the various emirates and how large the emirate of Abu Dhabi is to the rest.
Meanwhile, The University of Texas at Austin provides a collection of UAE maps giving size comparisons, population densities etc.
Dubai Maps
In very basic terms, Dubai is this: Deira to the east, and Bur Dubai to the west, separated by Dubai Creek, and both stretching northwards to the shore which is the Arabian Gulf. This is probably what you would consider the crux of old Dubai, although that term is not officially used. Further west from Bur Dubai along the coast is Jumeirah and parallel to that is the Sheikh Zayed Road. Further west of Jumeirah is Jebel Ali which will eventually turn into the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This description is more detailed if you want to check it out prior to viewing the maps.
All well and good, but which are the best maps of Dubai so you can see it pictorially. By far the best Dubai map available online is the one offered by Arabian View. It is well worth the 1mb download and definitely worth the purchase. You will be able to see all the developments as well as all the areas, all drawn to scale and in significant detail. (The most updated version of this map is located at the Belhane Website) Combine this with the Dubai GIS Centre Maps and you have pretty much all you could need. Some other offerings include the Dubai Interactive Road Map, the Dubai Tourism Map, the Dubai City Guide map , the Matco Map, the Mapquest Map and the one from Explocity. With all of those you have as good a picture as you could get online, without buying one of the guides we have recommended or driving the streets yourself.
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Abu Dhabi Maps
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is relatively large, but the majority live and work in Abu Dhabi the City (as well as Al Ain, further inland). Abu Dhabi is essentially an island off the coast of the Emirate and is connected to the main land by two bridges, Maqta Bridge in the North and Al Ain Bridge in the South. If you are coming to Abu Dhabi from Dubai, you will most probably enter the city via the Maqta Bridge. Either way, both will lead you in the direction of where you need to be and eventually to the Corniche. To get to Abu Dhabi from Dubai, you need only to go west from the Sheikh Zayed Road towards Jebel Ali and follow the road for about an hour and a half, until you see signs for the City Centre. The directions by HCT give you an idea of where you need to go relative to their campuses, but since the city is quite small this will be very useful.
The maps available online have been relatively poor, but recently Belhane have been commissioned to produce a map for Abu Dhabi - and this is the best map that there is for Abu Dhabi. The rest are not amazing but the best ones out there essentially demonstrate the grid system, starting at the north west from coast at the Corniche outwards. This is shown by the University of Texas map. The best detail you can get online with regard to Abu Dhabi is from this one, the one from Mapquest and from the City Discovery map. The Abu Dhabi Police site gives a little more detail on some locations, as does the Emirates Media Map but in the main this is the best you will get without purchasing one that we have recommended.
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Distances between Cities
Here are some rough estimates of distances between the main cities in the UAE. While they do not determine exact driving distance, they give you a little perspective on how far each of the emirates are from each other. It obviously does not give any perspective of the traffic and how long it would take! For example the commuter belt from Sharjah to Dubai should take maybe 25 minutes with no traffic, but during rush hour, depending on where you work, you would be lucky to make it within two hours. Also, Abu Dhabi to Dubai is roughly an hour and a half, but once you hit traffic on entry to Dubai, you could be spending another hour or even more bumper to bumper.
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Dubai Map Books
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