Earlier today the Majjistral History and Nature Park has launched its official mobile application. The mobile app was developed by a team of young students following a call for proposals by the MITA Innovation Hub. The App was launched by Hon. Leo Brincat, Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change and Hon. Dr Jose Herrera, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth.
The challenge had attracted some 17 teams and two teams were short-listed to work at the MITA Innovation Hub in SmartCity Malta. The two teams were later merged into one so that collectively they could contribute towards the creation of a solid mobile application for the Park. The final team was made up of four students - three sixth formers and a second year ICT undergraduate. Elisa Calleja worked on the design of the App while Kurt Dalli, Nicholas Galea and James Zammit developed the software. Throughout their three-month assignment the students were mentored by professionals from MITA, lecturers from the University of Malta as well as mentors from the Microsoft Innovation Centre.
Highly appealing in design, the app features some sleekly designed functionalities that make it a fun experience for visitors to use or consult. The app can, for example, help the layperson identify species of flora and fauna spotted at the park, provide educational information about them, choose a heritage trail to follow or report illegal activities via email. The app can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play, while the database is hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform.
"I feel really privileged to have gone through this experience, as MITA literally allowed us to experience the thrill of doing our project from start to finish under their guidance" said Kurt Dalli, one of the App students.
MITA's Executive Chairman Tony Sultana said that in this instance, the Agency had adopted a crowd sourcing approach in order not to limit the students' creativity. "The team now has something tangible that they can show to their credit as a testimonial of their work at the MITA Innovation Hub," said Mr. Sultana.
Dr Herrera said that, "Through such initiatives Government is supporting and giving opportunities to students, youths and start-ups to succeed and thus contribute towards economic growth." He mentioned that throughout summer, MITA has worked hard in providing students with a hands-on work experience through the Summer Placement Programme whereby 300 students had the opportunity to apply their skills in an actual work placement. "As the Parliamentary Secretary responsible of MITA, I am proud of its work because of its innovative approach. Through its efforts, MITA is stimulating students to garner the necessary skill-set to compete in today's global and digital world," concluded Hon Herrera.
Mr Brincat pointed out that the Majjistral Park Mobile App demonstrates how technology can be used to raise awareness about our environment. "The Mobile App will act as an educational tool for visitors of all ages - both Maltese and tourists. The App is now one of the Park's digital assets that will give added value to the Park itself whilst raising awareness and educating visitors about the richness of our unique flora and fauna, history and the Maltese natural habitat," commented Hon Brincat.
Following the launch of its new mobile app, the Majjistral History and Nature Park organised an open day for everyone and has launched a mobile photo competition. Participants have to use the new mobile app in order to take a photo of the Park and submit the photo on the Park's Facebook group.
The app is available for free on Apple App Store and Google Play. For more information visit www.mitainnovationhub.gov.mt/projects or www.majjistral.org