“The Azores are, once again, one step ahead with concern to technological innovation; we are making considerable advances in the field of new technologies.” This belief was conveyed by the Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures, who presented on Monday the SIGEndA project - Geographic Information System of Azores Address, the first system in the country, with regional status according to the rules defined by the INSPIRE directive.
The entry into force of the Community Directive INSPIRE - through which the various European regions should provide data for the Community bodies, national, regional and local authorities, and citizens in general - requires the access to several categories of spatial data, among which the "Addresses,” this is, the “location of the properties based on address identifiers, usually, by street name, door number and postal code.
As José Contente underlined, “the municipalities are charge of providing this information, as they are responsible for naming streets and assigning the police numbers. However, most municipalities do not have this information, or when they have it, the information is not in accordance with the rules imposed by the INSPIRE directive. In this case, the Regional Government took the initiative to establish this database containing the geographic regional addresses - SIGEndA, which comprises Azorean islands.”
The information on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira, Faial and Pico is available starting today. Meanwhile, the Secretary announced that database containing information on islands of Santa Maria, Flores and Corvo will be available within two months. It is expected that the entire archipelago will be covered with the inclusion of São Jorge and Graciosa by the end of the year.
All information will be available to the public through a website, where one may search for addresses at the IDEIA portal at: ideia.azores.gov.pt.
This system may provide a response to a wide range of applications, from the georeferencing of all the existing identities in the Azores; the provision of information for our tourists and visitors, Civil Protection systems, service providers, mainly telecommunication companies, etc.
“Our project is even more ambitious insofar as we consider adding photographic image and video to the information, which will enable a virtual visit across our roads and provide visitors with a digital vision what they really are,” José Contente stated, announcing the second phase of the project.
Given the major territorial expansion, particularly in the main urban areas of the Azores, a supply/upgrade contract was signed for a two-year period in order to prevent the map information from becoming quickly outdated. Simultaneously, this interactive tool allows any citizen to correct deficiencies or provide data for the system load.
The Regional Secretary also stated that “the digital cartography and georeferencing are themes that have evolved in the Azores in recent years,” adding that “this project demonstrates the growing technical capacity in the region, thus encouraging the development of skills in an area of extreme strategic importance, such as the information and communication technologies, particularly in the field of geographic information systems.”
The SIGEndA is part of the “IDEA project - Interactive Spatial Data Infrastructure of the Azores” in the area of the Geographic Information Systems –SIG, which is being developed by the Secretariat for Science, Technology and Communications.”