Venice’s Famous Gondolas To Be Fitted with GPS Tracking Devices
15 Oct 2013The iconic waterways in Venice go high tech with GPS tracking devices on gondolas.
The gondolas that run up and down the waterways in Venice, Italy are an iconic treasure. They conjure up images of romance as tourists and residents of Venice alike visit the gondolas to ride with someone special.
Venice’s gondolas are world famous, which also makes them attractive to large amounts of people. But just like some of the highways and byways here in the states, the waterways of Venice have gotten clogged with a lot traffic.
Unfortunately, this waterway traffic has led to fatalities, which was the case with a recent fatal accident with a gondola and a waterbus. In order to approve the safety of the people riding the gondolas in the busy Venice’s waterways, the use of GPS tracking technology is being employed.
After the project has been completed, ever water vessel in the Venice waterways will have a GPS tracking device. Each of them will have an identification numbers and bright reflectors so they are easy to spot. Cameras have already been installed, so the new technology is simply adding to the overall security. Not only will gondolas have GPS tracking devices, but the water taxis throughout the waterways of Vaporetto and other areas within Venice.
“We had no alternative, we can no longer pretend that the problem does not exist,” said transport councilor for the city of Venice project, Ugo Bergamo, to reporters.
While Venice waterway traffic dangers were known for some time, it wasn’t until a German tourist was killed that prompted action. Tourist Joachim Vogel was traveling by gondola down the Rialto Bridge area in August with his family when it collided with a waterbus. Vogel was killed shortly after the accident took place. This has been the only fatality, but there have been other accidents and near-fatal occurrences.
Just under the Rialto Bridge alone, 1,600 boats, which includes 200 gondolas and 700 water taxis, travel in a 10-hour span daily. The amount of traffic is partly to blame for such accidents, but the GPS technology is poised to help keep it in check.
Once the devices are outfitted onto the Venetian flat-bottom gondolas, they can be tracked and identified. They will only be allowed to operate during normal hours each day and never before 10:30am. They will also be monitored very carefully for any dangerous operating behavior.
Operators of gondolas and water taxis will be informed of the GPS trackers and that each of them can also be seen by several cameras throughout the Venice waterways. They hope to avoid future crashes and congested waterways so that tourists can continue enjoying themselves and operators continue driving their vessels as safely as possible.
Reflective patches and identification plates on the vessels, along with vessel operator drug and alcohol testing will also be implemented as part of a 26-point plan to help improve the safety of Venice waterways.
All-told, 5,000 water vessels are expected to be equipped with GPS tracking devices.
Comments are closed.