BENGALURU: ON your next trip to Hampi, a virtual guide could come in handy while visiting the monuments. Anand Babu C, an IIM-B graduate, developed a virtual guide which can soon be availed by tourists in Hampi.
Anand, who founded Digitour Technologies, was in Bengaluru to take part in Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2017. “I was born and raised in Hagaribommanahalli, a village near Hampi. As children, Hampi was the first choice for picnics. We used to visit often, but did not anything about the monuments,” he said.
Anand is a techie who has previously worked with Wipro and Accenture. A few years back, he started Digitour technologies.
Impressed with his innovation, the state tourism department funded it under the Idea2POC scheme of the Karnataka Startup Policy. “For the past two years, we have been doing research and developing the virtual guide and we have been successful,” he said.
Explaining how the virtual guide works, Anand said, “We will provide a scratch card (for a nominal fee) and the number on the card should fed into your smartphone. This will take you on a virtual tour of the monument with information on each monument. The phone will act as a guide. The visitor can view the monument in real and see it virtually,” he said. “We also plan to provide virtual reality glasses.”
Anand has received a proposal from Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia where a similar venture is planned. Anand hopes to set up this feature across the country.