Internet users can now visit a three-dimensional virtual world of Thailand's past, presenting a new and surprisingly real insight into Thai heritage, arts and culture.

Called 3D Virtual World Heritage Wat Chaiwattanaram, the glimpse into Thailand's history is a joint effort by Kasetsart University, Sun Microsystems and the Inter University Network, UniNet, using Sun Wonderland technology.

Above all else, the project, at http://niramit.hpcnc.com/WatChaiWatanaram, involves pride in the Thai heritage, by promoting a kind of Internet tourism.

A professor at Kasetsart University's Computer Engineering Department, Putchong Uthayyopas, said the three-dimensional virtual world of Wat Chaiwattanaram had been developed by students of his department.

The Sun Wonderland project, under which it has been developed, provides a Java open-source toolkit for creating collaborative 3D virtual worlds. Users can communicate with high-fidelity immersive audio and share live desktop applications and documents.

The Wonderland system is also completely extensible. Developers and graphic artists can extend its functionality to create entirely new worlds or add new features to existing worlds.

Putchong said the Wat Chaiwattanaram project aimed to investigate the use of a 3D virtual world to recreate a cultural heritage that was in danger of being lost. As it was being hosted by the UniNet infrastructure, it could be used for education.

On the other hand, development of the virtual world with Wonderland technology had been a first step in developing students' skills with standards and their information-technology literacy, to enable them to support the software industry.

"I think that the virtual 3D temple will create the inspiration for students to develop this 3D virtual environment and promote Internet tourism to a global audience," he said, adding that it was also helping to reduce the cost of developing three-dimensional educational tools.

He said the student team had spent about seven months developing the 3D virtual temple. Its use of computer-human interaction is moving towards a true 3D virtual environment, bringing an immersive feeling of space and realism. Visitors to the virtual world of Wat Chaiwattanaram will have a 360-degree point of view, such as with 3D immersive movies. A human interface can create a real-life avatar, where an actor or visitor acts in front of a blue screen and is rendered in real time in the virtual world.

The virtual Chaiwattanaram temple was created from documents and a site plan provided by the Department of Fine Arts. Up to five Internet users are able to visit the virtual temple at the same time. Visitors can also set up a guide leader to explain the temple by chatting in real time.

A member of the student team that developed the virtual temple, Sirisilp Kongsilp, said the 3D virtual world heritage Wat Chaiwattanaram would promote both local and international tourism.

Putchong said the student developers planned in the future to create a "video brief" related to Wat Chaiwattanaram.

The virtual-world technology can also be used to support the real-estate industry, virtual tourism and virtual education. Kasetsart University also plans to develop a training course that uses the 3D technology to teach students how to develop 3D virtual environments. This will create professional 3D skills which students can use to support the Thai software industry, Putchong said.

-The Nation/Asia News Network