At the PORT of MARINA DEL ESTE (Almuñecar), the day 22 October 2013, touchscreens and interactive kiosks were already placed to access ODYSSEA AL ANDALUS from the Port Reception, and navigate the world of possibilities offered by the platform.
The European project ODYSSEA AL-NDALUS, currently under development in several Euro-Mediterranean regions, aims to promote and implement an innovative model of sustainable territorial and socio-economic development, as well as the creation of a structured network of port cities in Andalusia and Morocco through a common management model, valuing tourism resources, nautical-sports, enogastronomy, cultural and natural at European level, in order to achieve a balanced and harmonious development between the city, port and its inland territory.
The Ministry of Tourism and Commerce has promoted the implementation of this new model of sustainable tourism development to improve the management and promotion of the nautical offer of Andalusian municipalities through the cross-border cooperation project ODYSSEA AL Andalus.
ODYSSEA AL-NDALUS belongs to the initiatives approved within the framework of the Operational Programme for Cross-Border Cooperation Spain-External Borders 2008-2013 (POCTEFEX).co-financed by the program in a 75 percent with ERDF funds.
It is a question of implementing the foundations of a transnational certification "Odyssea City" whose obtaining will be linked to the definition and appropriation by the city and its coastal area, of a common methodology, a model of territorial organization around a new project space that will contribute to the excellence of the overall tourist offer of the municipality and its territory as its destination and its dissemination, promotion and marketing in the markets, as members of the European network of Odyssea port cities.
The project involves the MARINA SPORT PORT OF THE EAST (Almuñecar), to use new technologies to improve their tourism competitiveness.
Among the actions included in the portal, you find multimedia supports, creating an interactive database accessible from mobile devices, transmission of virtual images in GPS and/or PDA support, Interactive and virtual mapping, to enhance nautical resources, tourism and cultural and emblematic spaces of the coast of Almuñécar and thus ensure their networking at European level with a thousand multimedia themed resources and the implementation of a common web platform to commercialize the services of each area.
This platform is accessible from a networked PC, from the electronic navigation systems of ships ('plotters'), from all kinds of mobile devices (Smartphones, Tablets, touchscreens or interactive kiosks) and from information points located in tourist offices and port offices in the pilot cities as is the case of the Marina del Este.
This pilot initiative, integrated into the Operational Programme for Cross-Border Cooperation Spain-External Borders-Kingdom of Morocco (Pontefex), has had the participation of marinas of MARINA DEL ESTE in Almuñécar (Granada), Port Sherry (The Port of Santa Maria, Cadiz) and El Ejido (Almería), along with those from Tangier and Tetouan in the North African country.
Among the activities that have been developed within the framework of this interregional project, the development and implementation of a system for assessing environmental quality indicators and services provided at community port facilities.
Among the resources offered in this portal are cartographic maps, web geoservices, video clips, Podcasts, and information about itineraries, points of interest, cultural and leisure activities in cities, anchoring places or virtual seascape reading buoys.
All in all of them, the project makes the new technologies available to the user so that the user has all the necessary information in the different phases of his journey, pre-planning, permanent mobile guide during the itinerary, tools to communicate and share opinions and experiences through social media, as well as the possibility of purchasing products from the territories visited and requesting services from the Ports involved.
The application is available to any customer or user who approaches the PORT of MARINA DEL ESTE.