Malaysia aims to launch National Address System in 2026, experts urge tech use to bridge gaps
KUALA LUMPUR: How do you send a rescue team to a distressed caller who describes his location as somewhere behind a yellow house?
For Ahmad Aswadi Yusof, digital innovation and geospatial division head at the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the lack of standardisation in address listings has posed challenges for emergency response services, for example.
He cited reports of help reaching people too late because they couldn't locate the address in their system.
At the National Address Conference 2025, Ahmad Aswadi said MCMC aims to develop a National Address System as the centralised database for addresses in Malaysia.
"It will serve as an open address database where it can be used to update or check information related to addresses. It will also provide information to geocode addresses into coordinates with latitude and longitude," he said during a presentation at the event today (July 16).
Ahmad Aswadi also presented a three-year roadmap with plans to start a pioneer project this year by working closely with local governments.
In 2026, Ahmad Aswadi said MCMC aims to develop and launch the NAS system with the goal to make the system fully functional in the following year.
"NAS will not reveal any personal details such as (homeowner) names. Only number and street name, locality and other address details," he added.
Internet of Things solutions provider Favoriot CEO Dr Mazlan Abbas said a number of technologies can be implemented in the NAS initiative, including geographic information system (GIS) to analyse and visualise mapping data for specific information.
"AI for example, can be used to make better sense of unstructured information," he said, adding that human intervention is still crucial in the process.
Datin Habsah Nordin, head of PETRONAS Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence, shared the possibilities of augmenting AI for the NAS initiative.
"Based on training data, AI can provide suggestions to help improve or clean up the data and even merge duplicate entries," she said.
She added that Malaysia can also leverage on AI-driven satellite imagery to monitor urban growth and maintain an up-to-date address database in line with rapid development.
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