Kuching VR, a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) smartphone application providing immersive experiences of Kuching city and especially Swinburne University of Technology’s Sarawak Campus, is now available for download on Google Play, with future plans for Apple App Store.
Launched by Chief Minister YAB Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg at Swinburne Sarawak, the application was a project funded and governed by the Marketing and Student Recruitment department of the university to create global awareness about Kuching and Swinburne specifically.
Leveraging the trends in global smartphone adoption rates, increasing smartphone computing power and faster mobile data speeds, the department decided to look inwards and engage its faculty and alumni to develop the application.
Hence, the development of Kuching VR by Trifold Enterprise, whose co-founders are Sarawakians and recent graduates of Swinburne’s multimedia design programme. The company is the first extended reality (XR) company in Sarawak that works on VR, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) creative content development.
In his remarks, the Chief Minister believed in the potential of applications like Kuching VR as a promotional material for Sarawak’s tourism sector, where users could familiarise themselves with the State before even stepping into it.
He also opined that the use of VR, as well as other advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics and together with overall innovation and creativity, would be able to drive Sarawak’s economy forwards.
Essentially, he expressed certainty that users will have the experience of being in Kuching via Kuching VR.
“I hope this particular VR application becomes a precedent for us to produce other (beneficial VR) applications,” he said.
