I'm not making a direct correlation here, but note that Qatar has won many a GIS award (six at the ESRI conference this year alone). Today news of a newly funded startup: "Qatar Science & Technology Park has awarded a $400,000 to Qatar Navigator, a local start-up company, to develop an automated map of the country." It's to develop a navigation database with POIs to be licensed for use on GPSs, phones, etc. The local university students will be involved and the project is expected to take five months.
- Arabian Business