Securing the Safety of Pilgrims and Protecting them from

Risks (Al-Madinah Al-Munawara)

Abdulwahab Fadelelahi [1], Hossam Ba-alawi [2]
1. Department of Geomatics, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah 23436, Saudi Arabia; afadelelahi@stu.kau.edu.sa

2. Department of Geomatics, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah 21474, Saudi Arabia; hbaalawi0001@stu.kau.edu.sa

Abstract:
During Hajj, pilgrims join processions of millions of people. The average number of attendees is
2,269,145 per year. An optional part of Hajj where pilgrims may choose to travel to the city of Medina.
The covid-19 pandemic has made a huge impact in our lives. With the presence of covid-19, gatherings
in tourist attractions can threaten the health of pilgrims. With the ongoing pandemic, precautionary
measures must be taken to ensure the safety of pilgrims. How can these religious attractions receive
pilgrims with considering safety measures? The main goal is to create a story map that illustrates the
religious historical landmarks in Madinah and making a web map that gives a brief summary to each
landmark. then analyze the data concerning pilgrims to smooth the circulation of pilgrims and organize
the way they interact. The objectives of this study are: (1) to provide each attraction in Madinah with
the location and safety requirements are shown with a description listed. (2) And then to create of
database that has all the required information regarding the landmarks and (3) configuring Pop-ups, or
windows of information that appear to show everyone the required information regarding safety. The
data includes GIS vector datasets obtained from the Amana of Al-Madinah of the city’s landuse,
Neighbourhood regions, street lines, and buildings, published in December 2020. Then the Landmark
feature class was created with a database that where all the tabular information was added, after then
each location was vectorized manually and symbolized. Then the analysis was to the creation of a story
map and using configured Pop-ups to identify the attributes. Finally, the story map was published to be
displayed in the web in ArcGIS online. Therefore, by finishing this story map, not only did the
application help to facilitate the process of users visiting the landmarks but also contributed to educating
the users about historical landmarks they did not know about.

Keywords: Pilgrims, covid-19, Madinah, Historical Landmarks, story map, Pop-Ups.

Link can be viewed by clicking on the icons below:

• To view the Story map web page, click icon.

• Video demonstration is available on YouTube.

Submitted on the 1st of May 2021. Scan QR code to view content.

Supervised by; Dr Kamel Faisal, Dr Ahmad Fallatah,

Eng. Abdullah Bourae, and Eng. Mohammed Abduljabar.
Acknowledgments: This work was published in ArcGIS Online as a Story Map
web page. We acknowledge the Madinah Municipality for the provided data of the
city’s spatial features. Special thanks also are extended to the developers of the
getintopc.com website for providing us the softwires needed to complete this work.

KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, GEOMATICS DEPARTMENT