Cultural heritage is often taken for granted by many Maltese people who rarely, if ever, take time to visit and appreciate the islands' historic sites.
But what if people could experience heritage from a whole new perspective by zooming into the elaborate sculptures and paintings inside St John's Co-Cathedral online?
Wouldn't it be interesting to get a close-up of the Mosta Dome's peak from the outside while sitting at your computer?
Microsoft Malta yesterday laun-ched a local heritage competition to encourage people to appreciate their heritage by applying a new piece of software called Photosynth.
The system stitches together a series of photos of a particular site and transforms the information into a three-dimensional image.
The competition is divided into two sections - one for primary and secondary school students who can compete as a class in who makes the best virtual model and the other for the general public.
Contestants get to pick a heritage site, take a series of photos and apply the Photosynth software. The photos need not be professional and can be taken by various people. By selecting salient features of the photographed area, the software then builds a collage that allows for a virtual walkthrough.
"The idea is to bring people closer to their heritage through technology. Once the data is collected, all the images of the different sites will be uploaded into a heritage map and handed over to the tourist authority... The idea is to create content that can also help entice more tourism," explained Karl Davies-Barrett who represents Microsoft in Malta. Mr Davies-Barrett gave details of the competition during a panel discussion about Photosynth.
Anandan Padmanabahn and Vidya Natampally, from Microsoft Research India, explained how the software worked and had been applied to cultural heritage in India.
After their presentation, a discussion was held with representatives from the University of Malta and Heritage Malta. They spoke about the benefits that a tool like Photosynth could have on making education more interesting, increasing interest in heritage, enticing tourists to visit the island and other sectors.
Heritage Malta Collections' manager Martin Spiteri said he believed that allowing people to virtually walk through heritage sites would not reduce interest in actual visits. On the contrary, he said, it would stimulate people's interest and encourage them to see the real thing.
Those interested in entering the competition can register on the website www.digimalta.com where they can access the free software to make their heritage collage.
Prizes include trips to heritage sites and technological gifts such as digital cameras.