Singapore – Google and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have officially unveiled the expansion of their augmented reality (AR) guided tour ‘Merli’s Immersive Adventure’ with new iconic landmarks in Singapore.
Powered by Google’s ‘ARCore Geospatial AI’ that can build location-based AR experiences, travellers can now discover and experience more of Singapore’s landmarks virtually at the touch of their fingertips through Merli’s Immersive Adventure.
Merli, Singapore’s tourism mascot, will guide travellers on a tour through six enchanting stops in the popular tourism precincts of Singapore’s Civic District and Chinatown. With just their mobile devices, tourists and residents alike can uncover the country’s historical, cultural, and culinary experience and interact with the nuances of its heritage and modernity.
Amongst the new landmarks included in Merli’s Immersive Adventure is Singapore’s first-ever post office, now the iconic Fullerton Hotel, where travellers can send out some virtual postcards to their loved ones.
The expanded map also included the Great Emporium stop, where the life-sized bumboat is brought to life in AR and tourists can learn about the significance of the Singapore River for the city and its people.
Merli also uncovers hidden spots like the Peranakan Tile Gallery, a local Chinatown business that sells tiles salvaged from demolished shophouses. Lastly, the tour includes an AR map for popular food spot offers and must-try hawker dishes at Maxwell Food Centre.
Google and STB share a common vision of helping people explore destinations in more than one way. By leveraging Google’s immersive technology, they were able to lower the barriers of entry and provide an AR map that people can use to travel to destinations without having to be physically there.
Simon Ang, STB director for The Collaboratory, said, “STB actively looks for possible tourism use cases in emerging technologies like Extended Reality (XR). We’ll always be open to piloting new technologies to create novel experiences for visitors and are excited to be working with Google to pioneer this movement.”
Merli’s Immersive Adventure can be accessed through the Visit Singapore Travel Guide app.