Making use of advanced technologies for attracting more visitors to historical monuments in Vijayapura, the district administration has got a virtual reality video/audio guide and website developed.
Tourism information can be easily accessed from the website, vijayapuratourism.in, which has been designed by techie Kiran Kulkarni, who is the founder of 6i solutions.
“This is for the first time that advanced technology such as 360 degree rotating camera for virtual viewing has been used for developing a video of the whispering gallery, Gol Gumbaz,”, said Mr. Kulkarni.
He said that the video tour guide could be downloaded from the website and watched in Android-enabled smart phones; however, for better experience, a virtually reality kit can also be used.
Besides this, an audio tour guide has been developed in three languages, Hindi, English and Kannada, which gives the complete details of Gol Gumbaz and 10 different monuments located inside the monument.
“Using earphones, one could keep on listening to historical information pertaining to these monuments,” he said and added that information could be added in other foreign languages in future.
Mentioning about the website, he said that it has details of important visiting places in the city, brief information about the city itself, transport facilities, restaurants and accommodation available.
Mr. Kulkarni, however, said that the project has been completed on a pilot basis. “Based on the response, we can add information on other monuments too,” Mr. Kulkarni said.
The website was launched about four months ago, and so far it has received good response from users.
Mr. Kulkarni, however, regretted that owing to lack of cooperation from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the website is not gaining its potential popularity.
“We approached the ASI on many occasions to request them to install hoardings that give details of this website and also provide a QR Code which could be used to download those details. But ASI officials have not installed a single banner at Gol Gumbaz where a majority of tourists visit. If visitors see the banner, they will not only go through the website but also inform others when they return to their native places. The cooperation of ASI is must in improving tourism here,” he said.