COASTAL TRANSPORT INTEGRATED SYSTEM IN THE AEGEAN SEA ISLANDS: FRAMEWORK, METHODOLOGY, DATA ISSUES AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Abstract. Greece has more than one hundred inhabited islands, the majority of them are geographically scattered in small distances in the Aegean Sea. The Aegean Sea suffers systematically from two major issues. First, many islands are not served quite frequently with the continent or other islands' major ports. It is a situation rather problematic for the habitants of the islands who wish to travel, for the patients in need to be transferred to metropolitan hospitals, for the goods transport from and to islands. Second, there is a crucial issue in the Aegean Sea regarding the so-called "thin lines". Governments spend every year tens of million euros in subsidies in order to sustain the thin lines. Our aim is the development of an integrated and holistic spatial information system to effectively design coastal transportation lines to combat the above mentioned problems. This paper will present the project framework, the methodology followed, data issues and preliminary results.