Tamsui has always been an important tourist town in northern Taiwan. The old street on the outside is close to the river bank, and the light sea water adds to the feeling of freedom and comfort. Meanwhile, the beautiful sunset surrounded the old street with romantic atmosphere; the old street on the inside reserved many traditional old shops and historic sites. Traces of time are displayed between the combination of the buildings and the streets.
Based on the concept of in-depth tourism experience, the USR team of Tamkang University has alloweds tourist to travel through humanity history and nature by accessing street theater, free guided tours, clothing experiences, AR/VR interactive experiences, real-world puzzle games and other activities . At the same time, the tourist attractions of Tamsui Old Street are extended to the ancient waterways of Tamsui-Kavalan Trial (Tamsui, Yilan), so that tourist attractions are no longer limited to Tamsui Old Street. The interaction of digital technology allows visitors to explore special sightseeing spots and enjoy various interests and interactions with tourism.
Various kinds of interesting interactive AR and VR applications were developed to present the characteristic of art, history, culture and life style of Tamsui District. For example, “The Sunset of Tamsui” is a VR time-lapse film recording the famous scene, Tamsui Sunset. “The life style in Tamsui” is an experimental VR project, which allows viewers to immerse themselves in the water-color panorama paintings presenting the everyday life of Tamsui residents. It provides tourists a brand new travel experience. In addition, several creative FB AR cameras are developed and shared online. They allows tourists to wear ancient costume or have Priest Mackay’s beard in the photos. The photos can also be shared easily on social medias. Finally, a series of VR videos promoting aesthetics In-depth tourism of Tamsui are going to be produced in the near future.
Meanwhile, Tamsui-Kavalan Trial(淡蘭古道) used to be an important pathway between Taipei and Yilan in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The USR team of Tamkang University is developing an interesting and informative interactive game by applying AI technology, from which visitors may realize the hardship our ancestors had been through. The team also mapped out a presentation on the AVR Tamsui-Kavalan Trial experiences in the Lanyang Museum, which served as the blueprint of the time-travel ARV experiences that will soon be realized with AVR technology in the next phase. In the future, the USR team will cooperate with both Lanyang Museum and Suao Township Hall to install the Q-and-A robots to lower down the staff’s work loads and to provide instant services to the public. From the standpoint of making traveling both joyful and educational, the USR team proposed the idea of “Yistablisher,” a mobile phone game APP. Yistablisher adopted features of gamification and was designed for the visitors to know more about the history and local customs while traveling around Yilan.
This project is focusing on developing innovative applications of new media. The interactive game, which is based on Line@ app called “Cat in Tamsui“, was designed to encourage players to pass challenges with their collective memory about cat. The local cat “Hana” will provide hints to help players to solve puzzles. The game has six stages (sites), including Gutta Books&Coffee, Fu-De tea house, Chongjian Street, waterfront, Tamsui Customs Officers' Residence (Little White House), and the historical Tata Aikichi's residence of Tamsui mayor. With the Line@ app, visitors can enjoy personalized tours by interesting animation and video, so the COVID 19 pandemic will not affect the promotion of this novel service.
Food is important in the travel process. The team works with the restaurant to develop the menu,
‘A Culinary Exploration: The Sino-French War at Hob’. Every dish is a story, Through the design of the dishes, we can understand the Sino-French war, and the diners have a double feast of taste buds and knowledge, while activating local development. On the other hand , Students will participate in relevant activities held every year in Tamsui to give back to the place and make history more interesting.
The Tamsui River is the only river in Taiwan where boats can be sailed. There are many rich historical stories in this area. The tourism planning combined with historical stories through canoeing will make Tamsui River sightseeing more historical and cultural, and you can learn more about the history of the Tamsui River. Such planning makes tourism more interesting and can promote local development.