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NIIT zooms in on tourism with WARP

Surajeet Das Gupta

So how can you promote tourism from the top of the Qutub Minar? Sounds incredible but for all those tourists who have not had the fortune to climb up the minaret to have a breathtaking view of Delhi, here is some good news.

Two intelligent tele-robotic cameras developed by NIIT Ltd have been fitted on top of the Qutub Minar on a tripod which can be controlled through a wireless system on the ground. Called the Wireless for Remote Presence, it uses NIIT's patented remote presence technology.

An antenna picks up the signal on the ground and then transfers it through wireless interfaces to a personal computer loaded with a special software, from where tourists can control the camera and have a view of Delhi. The camera has the ability to recognise the landmark buildings in Delhi and transfer the information to the viewer. The signals received by the computer are digitised and are relayed by high performance real-time software. This software has an intuitive, touch screen-based front-end.

Realising its commercial potential, the Archaeological Survey of India has set up a kiosk for tourists to view the panoramic sight and even take a printout, all at a small cost. Says Sugata Mitra, NIIT research and development head, "The software and the experiment has tremendous potential for the tourism industry and also for surveillance in sensitive areas."

NIIT is already in discussions with the Department of Tourism to expand the experiments to other tourist sites. In Hyderabad, four cameras are being put up on the Charminar to allow tourists a view of the city as they are no longer allowed the climb the minars. Mitra is also talking to national park authorities for using the software.

Says Mitra, "Take Sariska for instance, people spend so much of time to see a tiger but they fail. We can place the cameras in those locations where tigers move about in the night and transfer the images through wireless to a hotel computer on which the tourist can watch the entire event."

Meanwhile, Mitra is planning to put up the wireless system on the net and has asked for security clearance from the government.

If that happens, people from across the globe would be able to log on to the site and then control the cameras from the security of their houses. "Of course, for this to happen we will need government clearance," says Mitra.

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