Congratulations! to Dr Ng Giap Weng and his Augmented Reality Group for winning the Merit Award at the 8th International ASIA PACIFIC INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AWARDS (International APICTA) 2008 for Best of Tourism and Hospitality category. The project has earlier struck the top award at the national MSC Malaysia APICTA 2008.
The International APICTA 2008 was hosted by Department of Information and Communication Republic of Indonesia and ASPILUKI (Association of Computer Software Industry of Indonesia). Held at the Jakarta Convention Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia on 12-16 November 2008, the competition drew 134 applications from 11 different countries in the region. UNIMAS won the Merit Award for Best of Tourism and Hospitality, an award which is presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions for the support of the tourism and hospitality industry.
All winners were announced during the Gala Dinners and Award Ceremony held at BAPINDO PLAZA Ballroom, Jakarta, Indonesia. The awards were presented by the Vice President of Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Jusuf Kalla, who was the G.O.H for the Gala Dinner.
Project Summary:
Tourism is a thriving industry in many parts of the world. Every year, millions of visitors move from one foreign place to another. And a visitor in a foreign country, can feel anxious and disorientated if information is written in a foreign language. This situation can be improved if a translation of this information is instantly available. This project investigates the feasibility of automatic real-time translation of text on a street sign by constructing a system capable of identifying text on a sign, translating it into a familiar language, and displaying it within the user’s field of view using a certain device such as a head-mounted display. The system described in this study performs image processing techniques to locate a sign and template matching to identify the text on it, and is equipped with a database of various texts translations in a designated language. Augmented reality technology is used to superimpose the translated text onto the real scene. The system implemented in this pilot study focuses on known signs; translating the English texts to Malay. The system has been developed for street and road signs, and can be expanded to constrained environments such as museums.
Award:
MERIT Award for the Best of Tourism and Hospitality
An Augmented Reality System for Recognising Text on Street Signs for Tourism
Project Members: Dr. Edmund Ng Giap Weng (Leader), Allen Choong Chieng Hoon, Lina Chai Hsiao Ping, Joyce Lee Sze Tynn, Amy Tiong Siaw Wei, and Angeline Lee Ling Sing.
