KUCHING – A travel guide app for devices using the Android platform won first prize in the SAINS Open Source Competition for Mobile Applications, recently.
The interactive travel guide on Sarawak invented by computer science undergraduate students Bong Kin Kiet, Alexius Lom and Wong How Ming provides information on ”must see” tourist attractions in the state.
The application also engages users in a simple game where points can be collected and are redeemable for gifts.
Built to engage users in a fun and exciting manner, the students believe the app will encourage more to use the application, and thus boost the tourism industry in the state.
Winning third place in the same category of the competition was Swinburne Sarawak computer science undergraduate student Daniel Vong Wei Liang.
Vong’s invention revolves around the “Internet of Things” application where the system synchronizes with the user’s smartphone calendar.
Through Wi-Fi connectivity, information on the calendar is displayed on the user’s schedule via an LCD panel.
The second prize of the SAINS Open Source Competition for Mobile Applications went to a student from Unimas.
The competition also saw Swinburne Sarawak lecturer Mujahid Tabassum taking second prize in the English category for his article “The Rise of VoIP Technology.
The article was published in Campus and Beyond, Swinburne Sarawak’s fortnightly column in the Borneo Post.
The annual SAINS Chief Minister’s ICT Media Competition encourages journalists and writers to address ICT related topics and promote the usage of ICT, and awareness of its importance, for the socio-economic development of Sarawak.