The NYU Spatial Data Repository now contains more collections of local data from Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The newly added data includes locations of community facilities in Abu Dhabi—such as mosques, schools, and health centers—and UAE statistical and location data.
In addition to these open datasets with local interest, NYU owns 1970s era Soviet-made topographic maps of the Emirates. The NYU community can view, download, and use these maps for academic and research purposes.
The recently added community facilities data were downloaded as KML files from the Abu Dhabi Geoportal REST server and converted to shapefiles in QGIS.
The UAE statistical and location datasets were selected from the UAE’s open data portal, bayanat.ae. 
These were downloaded as Excel tables and either joined to the level 1 administrative boundaries of the UAE from GADM or coordinate information was visualized in a GIS to create a shapefile, e.g., Metro Stations in the city of Dubai.
For more information about these datasets or questions about contributing and archiving geospatial data, contact Librarian for Geospatial Services Taylor Hixson.