High school graduates in computer science from HTL Pinkafeld developed a virtual reality tour guide.
Pinkafield. On the centenary of Burgenland, three IT alumni from HTL Pinkafeld have created something very special. High School alumni Leo Herbsthofer, Bastian Roiland and Florian Volmuth have created a virtual reality tour guide, a digital travel guide and a virtual tour through Burgenland, as part of their diploma thesis “100 Places After 1921”.
LH Hans Peter Doskozil and State Education Adviser Daniela Winkler were present when the letter was delivered to the Burgenland Department of Education and were excited about the new tour guide. “In the diploma thesis, high school graduates set themselves the goal of using modern technology to create a virtual space with a large number of sights in Burgenland. Starting with the Haydn Hall in the Esterházy Palace in 3D, Burgenland sights can be viewed with the help of virtual glasses. The result was remarkable. With the diploma thesis, high school graduates are showing innovative possibilities to allow multimedia to increasingly flow into the fields of tourism and culture and at the same time to make history interesting,” said the governor happily. Content designed by HLW Pinkafeld.
Four scenes to get you started
Sights such as Haydn Hall in Eisenstadt, Forchtenstein Castle or Marian Column in Pinkafeld, have been recreated as realistic as possible in virtual space in order to create the most authentic experience possible. They are displayed as selectable markers on the digital castle map in the main menu, through which individual models of landmarks can be visited digitally. “The goal is for people to actually learn about the landmarks in advance and then visit them on site,” says Bernd Hochwarter.
LH Hans-Peter Doskozel: “Through the diploma thesis, high school graduates show innovative ways to integrate multimedia further into the fields of tourism and culture while at the same time making history interesting.”
Additional videos, text, and images can then be displayed nearby, depending on the availability of appropriate content. The task was carried out using Oculus Quest VR glasses, which are ideally suited for this purpose.
cooperation project
High school graduates not only had to master the Unity 3D technology, but also to master the graphic components to be able to implement this complex project. Prof. Bernd Hoechauerer and Prof. Thomas Quartich supervised the high school graduates during their diploma thesis.
“It was a challenge because it was a pretty much new field for us. On the one hand, we had to first read the topic and then deal with implementing programming on 3D glasses. It took hundreds of hours to do it. In the end, we did it but we mastered it,” Bastian sums up Roiland from HTL Pinkafeld.
Scene contents were provided by HLW Pinkafeld High School alumni Selina Zapfel, Sandra Tiefingerber, Anna Lena Halper and Nina Bush. Celina Zapfel of HLW Pinkafeld said: “We collected the basic historical facts about the sights and then clearly put them back. It was an exciting experience.”
future project
“The project fits perfectly into 100 years of Burgenland. It can also be expanded to other scenes. I congratulate the students for the challenge of 3D programming. HTL Pinkafeld works with such projects with the latest technology and shows what will be in the future, I am convinced that with such projects, Burgenland will be at the forefront of technology and innovation,” says BD Heinz Josef Zitz.
The project was also submitted to the state school competition “100 Years of Burgenland”. “Three of these projects will actually be implemented. For me, this is a project that is completely future-oriented and caters to the ravages of time. Going out in history is one thing, then making it interesting and bringing it closer to the youth is an ideal. This project has been done”, says Doskozil.
“Certified gamer. Problem solver. Internet enthusiast. Twitter scholar. Infuriatingly humble alcohol geek. Tv guru.”
