Accessible Way of Saint James
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
This project facilitates the realization of the Way of Saint James considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO by people with visual and intellectual disabilities. Its accessibility is solved thanks to these strategies: Sound guidance application to follow the French Way of St. James, Guidance system in rural areas and an application for the preparation of wandering. In addition, this project evaluates guidance on how to overcome pysical-archectonic barriers, offering alternative routes.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Other Funds
Partners:
-Spanish Royal Board on Disability;
-Spanish Ministry of Development; Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism; Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport;
-Xunta de Galicia; Junta de Castilla y León; Government of La Rioja; Government of Navarra; Government of Aragón;
-Association of Municipalities of the Pilgrims' Route to Santiago de Compostela;
-Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Way of St. James;
-Microsoft.
Funding mechanism:
The project is financed by the ONCE Foundation's own funds and by funds from some of the entities participating in the project. These subsidies are both in money and in kind.
Description of the project
Summary
The aim of the ONCE Foundation is the inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas. This project identified the need to make it easier for people with visual and intellectual disabilities to walk The Way of Saint James in the most independent and autonomous way possible. The Way is done in rural environments, so accessibility in this area is solved thanks to the following strategies: Guidance application to follow the French Way of St. James, Guidance system in rural environments and an application for the preparation of wandering. In addition, this project provides guidance on how to overcome physical and architectural barriers, offering alternative routes, thanks to the evaluation of the physical accessibility of the existing routes and shelters along the route.
This project has coordinated the implementation of a digital solution that helps visually and cognitively impaired pilgrims in particular, and the population in general, to orient themselves in a precise way:
-Blind Explorer app: Guidance system in rural areas. Developed by Geko
-Soundscape app: Guidance system in urban environments. Developed by Microsoft
-IGN app: it will be used to prepare the trip. Developed by Centro Nacional de Información
In addition, the accessibility of accommodation and leisure facilities along the route is currently being assessed.
The project is financed by the ONCE Foundation's own funds and by funds from some of the entities participating in the project. These subsidies are both in money and in kind.
This project is replicable for any rural environment, making it accessible for people with disabilities. It would only be necessary to add the contents of each of the areas.During 2021, the final website will be published in several languages. Pilgrims will find information about the project and access information about the accessibility of the stages.
Key objectives for sustainability
- Thanks to this project, all people, and in particular people with disabilities, can walk The Way of Saint James independently. In this way, surplus resources and infrastructures are significantly reduced, which has a significant impact on the sustainability of the activity and the natural and rural environment.
- This project is replicable for any rural environment, making it accessible for people with disabilities. The technology used to guide the Way of Saint James could be replicated on any other route. The start is with the French Way, but it could be any option of the Camino de Santiago or any other route. It would be necessary to put the contents of the new options in the apps.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Thanks to this project, pilgrims with disabilities can access an incalculable historical wealth. The pilgrimage of people with disabilities on The Way of St. James Route, helps not only in the conservation of historic buildings, but also in providing accessibility to emblematic streets, ancient routes and religious treasures of the Route. The Route also enjoys an unique architectural heritage in the world, as its monuments mix Romanesque and Baroque styles with aesthetics very advanced for the time in which they were built.
Pilgrims on the Camino will pass through more than 150 towns and villages with more than 1,800 historic buildings, both religious and civil, to be discovered along the way: churches, palaces, bridges, cathedrals... All of them are protected as assets of Cultural Interest.
The Way of St. James or the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago, as it is also known, was declared the First European Itinerary of Cultural Interest by the Council of Europe in 1987. In addition, the route is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
This project manages to turn the Way of St. James into an inclusive, interactive and playful Way for all its visitors, regardless of their functional abilities.
Key objectives for inclusion
The main objective is to improve the accessibility of The Way of Saint James , promoting the use of technologies that facilitate information on the accessibility of the different stages of the French Way, as well as its main points of interest for pilgrims. In addition, the accessibility of accommodation and the main points of interest is evaluated.
Vumarks codes have been installed along the route so that pilgrims, using their mobile devices, can access the accessibility information of the most relevant points of interest.
During this year 2021 ONCE Foundation is carrying out a diagnosis of accessibility on a sample of physical facilities that pilgrims make use of during the development of the route, such as hostels, so that they can plan and develop their journeys normally.
To bring together the information available on physical and technological accessibility on The Way of Saint James , ONCE Foundation will have this year with an "accessible" website in which the accessibility features of the physical facilities evaluated and the technologies available to enhance the inclusion of this experience in the group of people with disabilities are collected.
Results in relation to category
The Way of St. James or the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela, as it is also known, was declared the First European Itinerary of Cultural Interest by the Council of Europe in 1987. The route is also considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The origin of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela dates back to the 11th century, when it became one of the great pilgrimage routes of medieval Christianity. Today it is still one of the oldest and busiest routes in Europe.
The Way of St. James was declared a European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe for its commitment to the protection of European cultural values, for promoting new ways for young Europeans to meet, for highlighting little-appreciated heritage and for developing cooperation programmes.
This cultural asset has an architectural heritage made up of buildings for pilgrims such as bridges, hostels, hospitals, churches and cathedrals.
It received the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in 2004 as a place of pilgrimage and a meeting place for people and peoples which, over the centuries, has become a symbol of fraternity and the backbone of a European conscience.
The Accessibility Project of the Way of St. James presented by the ONCE Foundation has been incorporated into the official programme for the Jacobean Holy Year 2021.
Many pilgrims are people with different abilities and needs, including olde people, people with disabilities and other groups, who find it more difficult to make the journey due to lack of accessibility and other barriers. It is therefore vital that this historical, artistic and cultural heritage, declared a World Heritage Site, has an infrastructure and services that allow everyone to enjoy it, eliminating all barriers that prevent them from doing so on equal terms.
This project manages to turn the Camino de Santiago into an inclusive, interactive and fun Way for all its visitors, regardless of their functional abilities.
How Citizens benefit
Tests are carried out at all times for users with disabilities. With the results obtained, the different implementations that will improve the experience of pilgrims with disabilities on the Route are carried out.
The tests of the applications have been designed by Ilunion, Microsoft, Geko, National Geographic Institute and the collaboration of the Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Camino de Santiago to help the blind and people with reduced mobility (PRM).
A group of blind and visually impaired people, accompanied by technicians, have travelled the stages from Arzúa to Santiago testing the different applications for mobile phones and information technologies that are being designed to help them both on the roads and in the towns and pilgrim hostels.
The tests have been carried out with the support of their usual means - guide dogs - and apps that used to guide the Camino some sections that were completely unknown to them.
Innovative character
The greatest achievement is that blind people and/or people with intellectual disabilities can walk the Way of Saint James as independently as possible. However, the application is not only usable for people with disabilities, but is available to all people who walk the the Way of Saint James.
This project is replicable for any rural environment, making it accessible for people with disabilities. It would only be necessary to add the contents of each of the areas. It also promotes the development of tourism in rural areas.
In addition to assessing the Accessibility of the Way of Saint James, the Way of Saint James' accommodation and monuments, the project aims at coordinating the implementation of a digital solution that helps visually and cognitively impaired pilgrims in particular, and the population in general, to orient themselves in a precise way. This is being done in the following way:
-Digitization of the selected routes.
-Generation of accessible digital contents associated to points of interest, as well as alerts, and their integration in an application for sensorial guidance. Which is by means of binaural sound (3D sound) with bone conduction headphones.
-The result of this work is a mobile application accessible using the digital information of the routes generated with high quality and precision. The user is provided with accessible audio described information of the points of interest and alerts that facilitates the interaction and experience both on the route and with the elements of the environment.