Award-winning technology showcases Maori cultural hotspots

September 21 2011

Award-winning technology showcases Maori cultural hotspots

An award-winning, interactive i-phone and i-pad application which highlights Māori cultural points of interest and provides information about marae and heritage buildings, has been developed in Dunedin.

The result of a partnership between third-year Information Technology students at Otago Polytechnic and Kāi Tahu rūnaka, the application helped the development team win the NZ Microsoft Innovation Award in the Business in Higher Education category at the 2011 Tertiary ITC Conference.

Information Technology graduates Nolan Ratu, Taua Piri, Anton Smith developed the winning applications, with mentoring and support from Otago Polytechnic staff.

“The app can calculate the user’s current position, and show them how to get to destinations of cultural interest,” says Nolan Ratu.

The app provides comprehensive multimedia information on the sites; through audio, images, video and text. It also provides links to relevant websites.

“It even includes what’s known as augmented reality. If you reach a site, you can hold the camera up to it and the app will recognise it and instantly provide you with all the information relating to it.”

The app is targeted at several demographics. “It encourages Maori to get back to their roots and offers them a new way of learning about their culture. But it’s also ideal for other New Zealanders and international tourists who want to learn, too,” says Nolan.

Currently, the application only covers the Otago region, but there is scope for it to be expanded and used all over the country.

And, while it has been designed as an iPhone and iPad application, it can also be used on android devices.

Otago Polytechnic Information Systems and Support Project Manager, Peter Sinclair, is thrilled by the team’s success. “We like to provide on-going support to our graduates and this was the perfect opportunity for them to gain some corporate experience and work on an exciting project.”

ENDS

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