Making use of European funds aimed at providing ports with digital tools and technologies to support port environmental sustainability and performance (namely the ‘GREEN C PORTS – Green and Connected Ports’ project in the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility programme, and the ‘CHARGE’ project of the Italy-Croatia Interreg programme), a new tool has been developed by the Venice Port Authority to assist safe navigation. It can:
- Display on a map the position of any boat, showing its speed and route;
- Update the data collected by 33 weather and sea condition sensors located in the Lagoon;
- Integrate information from the AIS vessel tracking system in real time;
- Incorporate the weather radar run by Veneto’s Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAV);
Publish in real time orders and warnings on the conditions of navigability of the port channels.
The name of the app is a pun created to recall the tool’s double purpose. On the one hand it is a ‘navigator’ to serve those who frequent the Lagoon for pleasure, and an offer, in Venetian dialect, to accompany them (‘ve porto’, in Italian ‘vi porto’, literally “I’ll take you”); on the other hand it is a proper navigation aid for those who use the port, and in this case the ‘Ve’ stands for Venice and ‘porto’ for port of call.
In both cases, thanks to the tool’s functions, for the first time users can download – on any device – data provided by different Lagoon authorities, such as the General Command of the Corps of Harbour Masters, Venice Harbour Master’s Office, Chioggia Harbour Master’s Office, the Interregional Superintendency for Public Works in Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Venice’s municipal Tide monitoring and forecast centre, Veneto’s regional Agency for Environmental Prevention and Protection, Consorzio Venezia Nuova, CNR’s Institute of Marine Science, and CORILA – the Consortium for the Coordination of Research concerning the Venice Lagoon System.
The North Adriatic Sea Port Authority (AdSPMAS) has made two ad hoc videos to inform about the potential of the web app. The first was screened at the Boat Show on the Port Authority’s stand, over three screens that simultaneously displayed what happens when the tool is used on a boat: one monitor showed what is seen on a device, another what happens in the Lagoon in the vicinity of the boat it is on, and the third presented the information that can be accessed at that specific moment.
The second video is addressed to all potential users who were not able to visit the Boat Show and is in the form of a short info clip suitable for social media.
Click on the link now to take a look at ‘vePORTO’ http://veporto.it http://veporto.it