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The University of Macau (UM), in cooperation with the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), today (27 Nov) launched the latest version of the MacauMap™ application which has been downloaded for more than 1300 times since it became available last week on the Apple AppStore for free downloading by iPhone / iPod Touch users. It has become the most popular free-of-charge AppStore application in Macao. 

 

MacauMap™ is a handheld digital tourist map application which displays a map of Macao, including a tourist spot guide, hotel guide and restaurant guide. It also includes a bus routing function which tourists can use to find the shortest route between any two bus stops, and a GPS function for determining tourists’ location on the map. One of the goals of developing MacauMap™ is to enable more users to use it so as to facilitate tourism and enhance Macao’s image as a “tourist city”. It is to this end that various versions for different popular mobile device platforms have been developed over the past eight years. The increasing popularity of the Apple iPhone as a mobile phone platform drove the development of a version for iPhone in 2008. Now users can visit www.macautourism.gov.mo to download free of charge the latest versions of MacauMap™ for various platforms, including PalmOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ, Apple iPhone. A version for the web can also be used.

 

The new version of MacauMap™ for iPhone was developed by UM students Chan Chi Chon, Tang Kai Lon and Wu Chon Iong, and completed earlier this year in cooperation with SinoKru Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. In addition to the basic functions of the other versions of MacauMap™, this new version has some new functions that make full use of the unique software and hardware features of Apple iPhone—such as finger-operated touchscreen, multi-touch, tilt sensor and built-in GPS. For example, the map can be zoomed by moving two fingers on the screen closer together to zoom out, or moving them apart to zoom in. With the iPhone’s built-in GPS, the user can know his location at any time; a “find nearby” function allows the user to find nearby restaurants, hotels and tourist spots.

 

MacauMap™ was developed by the Faculty of Science and Technology of UM in 2001 under the guidance of Dr. Robert P. Biuk-Aghai. The first version was released in 2003 to the public for free downloading through MGTO’s website, and to date all versions have been downloaded more than 400,000 times. The new version for iPhone, which has gained widespread recognition for its innovative functions, won the second prize at the IEEE Macau Chapter Project Competition 2009, and a Bronze Cup Prize at the 2009 Amway Cup University Student IT Project Competition in Kunming, Yunnan, China.

 

For more information on MacauMap™, please contact Dr. Robert P. Biuk-Aghai at 83974375.