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Lisbon, August 13th 2019

App Praia em Directo makes the beach even Smarter

Vodafone Foundation releases new features in the well-known App ‘Praia em Directo’, which has real-time data on 186 bathing areas both in continental Portugal and the islands. This year, the App presents a number of new characteristics that will allow an improvement in quality and accessibility of the bathing areas, transforming them in smart beaches (SmartBeach).

The five technological innovations that are now available in the App ‘Praia em Directo’ were implemented as a pilot at Carcavelos beach, with the support of the Town Council of Cascais, perfectly aligned with the strategy of collection and processing of data adopted by the municipality to improve the comfort level and quality of life of both residents and visitors. Both Praia Viva and Associação Brave Heart contributed to this.

The most recent App’s features, which can be extended to other bathing areas next year are:

  • SmartAlert Service. The users that require this service will receive an alert through vibrations of a bracelet each time the lifeguard issues a warning for people to get out of the water. This service will simplify communication between the lifeguard and people with hearing difficulties.
  • Reservation of spots. The user will be able to book a spot from the dealer Grande Onda online.
  • The functionality Safety flag hoisted allows for the visualization of the hoisted safety flag in real time in the beach station covered by the­­ service.

The data collected from the App are measured through the monitoring stations along the Portuguese coast and in fluvial beaches, in the covered bathing areas. Furthermore, Instituto Hidrográfico provides information related to the tides, while Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente provides information about the bathing water’s quality.

Besides the news, the App contains information such as water and air temperature, air humidity, UV rays index, wind’s speed and direction and atmospheric pressure.

The ‘Praia em Directo’ App is available in portuguese, english, spanish, german, french and italian, to iOS 11 or superior and Android 7 or superior.

QR Code to install App ‘Praia em Directo’