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Mapping World’s Greatest Archaeological Sites with Virtual Reality

Mapping World’s Greatest Archaeological Sites with Virtual Reality
AFP Photo | Mapping Bagan with Virtual Reality

Few countries in the world have experienced such rapid discovery of technology than Myanmar which has leapfrogged from the analogue to the digital era in just a few years. 

During the decades of outright junta rule, which ended in 2011, it was one of the world's most isolated nations, a place where a mobile phone sim card could cost up to $3,000. 

Nyi Lin Seck (L) and two members of his team stand next to a drone carrying a 360?4K video camera with which they are documenting the crumbling 700-year-old walls of the ancient city of Bagan. Image: AFP Photo
Nyi Lin Seck (L) and two members of his team stand next to a drone carrying a 360?4K video camera with which they are documenting the crumbling 700-year-old walls of the ancient city of Bagan. Image: AFP Photo

For half a century its paranoid generals cut off the country, restricting sales of computers, heavily censoring the Internet and blocking access to foreign media reports. 

But today phone towers are springing up around the country and almost 80 per cent of the population have access to the Internet through smartphones, according to telecoms giant Telenor.

Tech startups are emerging around the commercial capital Yangon, many seeking to improve the lives of rural people, most of whom still live without paved roads or electricity.

"The increase in activity from last year till now -- new startups, more people determined to become entrepreneurs and working in the tech sector in general -- is significant," said Jes Kaliebe Peterson, CEO of community hub Phandeeyar.

Virtual reality is the latest advance to cause a stir, with a handful of entrepreneurs embracing tech for projects including preserving ancient temple sites to shaping young minds of the future.

A 360 video camera records a fading mural in Bagan. Image: AFP Photo
A 360 video camera records a fading mural in Bagan. Image: AFP Photo

 

The Phandeeyar incubator works with more than 140 startups. Among them is 3xvivr Virtual Reality Production which launches a large drone into the skies above Bagan, one of Myanmar's most famous tourist sites.

Bagan in central Myanmar is one of the world's greatest archeological sites, a sight to rival Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat. It occupies an impressive 26-sq-mile area. Some 2,230 of an original 4,450 temples survive, a legacy of the Buddhist belief that to build a temple was to earn merit. Most are superbly preserved or have been restored by UNESCO.

Nyi Lin Seck shows some of the 360?4K video camera footage he took of the crumbling 700-year-old walls of the ancient city of Bagan to women and children residing in a Buddhist monastery located nearby. Image: AFP Photo
Nyi Lin Seck shows some of the 360?4K video camera footage he took of the crumbling 700-year-old walls of the ancient city of Bagan to women and children residing in a Buddhist monastery located nearby. Image: AFP Photo

The drone, which carries a 360-camera, circles one of the many ninth-to-thirteenth century temples that dot the landscape of what was once a sprawling ancient city.

The data it records allows those with virtual reality headsets to explore the temples, their crumbling centuries-old walls so close it feels like you can touch them.

3xvivr Virtual Reality Production founder, a former head of the local TV station, Nyi Lin Seck says he makes most of his money providing virtual reality footage for hotels and luxury apartments.

A 360-degree video camera records the grounds of the crumbling 700-year-old ancient city of Bagan. Image: AFP Photo
A 360-degree video camera records the grounds of the crumbling 700-year-old ancient city of Bagan. Image: AFP Photo

 

But after an earthquake damaged the Bagan site last year, he vowed to use the tech to preserve a digital replica of Myanmar's archaeological treasures. 

"A lot of artworks on the pagodas collapsed and were lost. Using this technology, we can record up to 99 per cent of the ancient art," he says.

 

 

 

 

 


Source : AFP | The Nation Multimedia | The Express Tribune

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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