College students create digital maps for Shropshire tourist attractions

Telford College computing students have created interactive digital maps for two of Shropshire’s leading visitor attractions.

The level three students have captured dozens of images around Blists Hill Victorian Town in the Ironbridge Gorge, and Attingham Park near Shrewsbury as part of their second-year hardware course.

Computer lecturer Martin Seymour said: “These were fantastic projects for our students to be involved with, and we are really grateful to the venues for giving us the chance to show what we can do.

“We had a total of 13 students working at both Attingham Park and Blists Hill, splitting into separate teams.

“It was a huge undertaking – to create the digital maps, each team had to take an average of around 200 images, which all then had to be pieced together back at college to turn into an interactive guide.

“It is fabulous for our students to be working on real-life projects such as these, which are going to be potentially used by visitors from far and wide.”

Jodie Furness, family and school engagement officer at Attingham Park, was given a demonstration of the digital map by students in the college’s virtual and augmented reality suite.

She said: “The project with Telford College has been a joy to be part of, and very exciting for us.

“The staff and students were very organised and looked after themselves on the day they collected the photos and have kept in touch with us to let us know how the tour has progressed.

“We are hopeful of using the tour on our website and social media platforms in the future to inform new visitors, or maybe those who are a little anxious about visiting us for the first time of what to expect and where to go when they arrive at Attingham Park.

Martin added: “We hope there may be further opportunities to map other local attractions in the same way – if anyone is interested in using our students to create an interactive digital map, we would love to speak to them.”

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