More than 90% of the building equipment at the Tainan Mountain Garden Waterway Museum retains its original appearance. In the 1970s, the chimney, an early iconic structure, was removed owing to safety concerns; and to recreate the scene, the Tainan City Cultural Bureau employed Augmented Reality (AR) technology.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Tainan City Government cited that the Shanshang Garden Waterway Museum is renowned for its distinctive building techniques and preservation of waterway-related equipment.
It has been constructed for a century since the Japanese occupation. It is still in its original condition, but the 36.6-metre-tall chimney of thermal power-producing facilities was dismantled owing to safety concerns in the 1970s, leaving only the base.
Since the construction of the Shanshang Garden Waterway Museum, the Tainan City Culture Bureau has endeavoured to reconstruct this lost heritage and with the help of DPP legislator Guo Guowen, the Ministry of Culture has granted funding to restore technology and enable tourists to use their mobile phones and download the special application on a tablet computer so that people can view the spectacular chimneys.
On the other hand, the museum staff noted that, in addition to the large chimney, if there is a point stand in the museum, the look of the required equipment can be replicated after scanning with the special APP. Red brick in the inner layer and cast iron in the outer layer allow visitors to obtain knowledge while having fun, and this is a highly common method of exhibition.
The Tainan City Cultural Office specified that they recently hosted a party of Japanese visitors who visited the park and arranged for them to snap an AR photograph of the chimney scene. The Japanese tourists were astonished and applauded Tainan’s efforts to preserve significant cultural relics.
Moreover, the Smart City Taiwan Programme assists businesses in utilising AR/VR technology to create a remote tour guide and a remote investment in certain industrial parks.
Prior to the breakout of Covid-19, many nations began constructing smart city plans, which accelerated the commercialisation of AR, Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies over time. Throughout the epidemic, these technologies have become increasingly popular in numerous businesses. Similarly, this occurred in Taiwan.
In addition to the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) promoting the Smart City Taiwan Programme, the central government and local governments have utilised Taiwan’s high-tech enterprises.
Health, governance/safety, tourism/retail, agriculture, education, and transportation are among the six aspects of people’s livelihoods that have been emphasised by the group. The goal is to assist businesses in obtaining opportunities for field testing and to jointly develop creative applications and solutions to satisfy local requirements.
Taiwan aspires to use AR, VR, and MR technologies in the smart retail industry to address difficulties affecting businesses today. When it comes to brick-and-mortar investment promotions, conferences, and exhibitions, these developing technologies can lessen the communication gap and transportation costs for businesses.
So far, more than 320 Taiwanese enterprises have engaged in the Smart City Taiwan Programme, which has not only incubated more than 241 smart services in 22 Taiwanese counties and cities but also served more than 8.54 million Taiwanese citizens. In the future, the Programme will continue to aid Taiwanese businesses in their efforts to innovate and expand abroad.
