Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, it took great teamwork and months to develop an immersive virtual tour for the President's official residence. An iconic landmark, The Istana has journeyed with Singaporeans over the past 150 years, and to commemorate the Istana’s 150th anniversary, the digital team at Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) took on this momentous task.
Joining the team, Gong Xiao Meng, NUS-ISS' Graduate Diploma in Systems Analysis (GDipSA), SA47 alumna interned at SPH and was assigned to one of the largest projects won by the digital team in recent years. She recounts her experience in producing the detailed 3D model and animation for the Istana, "it was a very fulfilling experience and my biggest takeaway was being able to engage both logical thinking and creative skills. I also first-handedly gleaned tips on workflow improvement, quality management and directly applied innovative technology such as the new python library learnt in GDipSA' curriculum."
With a scroll of the mouse, fly through the elegant building's vast garden grounds and entrance porch into the neo-palladian styled verandah and columns that welcomes foreign dignataries from past to present and where 'nurses to athletes are honored in state ceremonies.' Ms Rebecca Pazos, Interactive Graphics Correspondent at SPH and Xiao Meng's internship supervisor shares an interesting anecdote, "a beautiful addition to the 3D model was the use of miniature models of working ‘coolies’. This helped add to the historical accuracy and provides a human side to the building of the Istana."
Addition of miniature model coolies in the data-driven visualisation
Always experiment and embrace failure
Adds Ms Pazos, "The 3D elements were probably the most technical and time consuming. Istana was unable to provide blueprints or even floorplans so the entire model was built by hand from 2D photos. I think this is impressive and attests to the technical skills of our interns! The cross-disciplinary skills of the GDipSA student was also helpful in tackling challenges. Each member in the team had a different background - either humanities or design - and were studying technical skills such as coding and data analysis."
Xiao Meng holds a bachelor’s degree of landscape architecture from Shandong Agricultural University prior to taking the one-year GDipSA programme. She lets in that the process required constant revision and she had to work on a tight timeline as she mustered the courage to face some cruel news, in reference to another project she was simultaneously working on - the Christchurch attack here she had to create a 3D model of the crime scene. "3D modelling and cleaning is difficult as it is, even more so when models need to be rendered smoothly on a web or mobile browser with varying internet speeds. I think device testing and checking it works no matter what device our readers are on, is the most difficult process of any project," Ms Pazos further shared.
International recognition
Despite the challenges, learning from other good projects and persevering on, the team went on to clinch a silver medal for ‘Inside The Istana’ at the Malofiej 28th International Infographics Awards also known as the Pulitzers of the industry. President Halimah Yacob also shared the news in a facebook post, highlighting the win and that visitors can still "visit" the Istana grounds despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Taking on the SPH Industrial Attachment Project to expand The Straits Times’ data journalism capability also earned Xiao Meng and her teammate, Bessa Nicoletta the NUS-ISS' Accenture Prize Presentation, emerging top in cohort. Students were required to share their key learning points in solving real world projects and were assessed by a panel of judges.
Xiao Meng (pictured in middle) and Bessa Nicoletta (pictured most right) with other finalists at NUS-ISS' SA47 Accenture Prize Presentation
Xiao Meng, (pictured most left) with course mates and Dr Esther Tan, Programme Chief, GDipSA (pictured in the middle) at the Finalists Accenture Prize Presentation in September 2019
Xiao Meng at her commencement ceremony in November 2019, receiving her Graduate Diploma from Guest-of-Honor Mr Tan Kiat How, Member of the Parliament of Singapore
Unrivalled exposure
"Believe in yourself, put in the ground work to constantly learn and stick to your dreams," is Xiao Meng's advice to future potential students of the GDipSA programme. "There has been strong practicalities in my internship and what impressed me most was that my time was fully utilised and I really enjoyed the internship process, which increased my confidence in my future career path." As for Ms Pazos' advice, "Learn a coding language, any will do, I recommend Python or R for data analysis and try to understand front-end web development (HTML, CSS, JS) because this is the basic building blocks for anything you want to publish interactively online."
There are talks with Istana to pursue a further augmented reality project. For now, go for a virtual tour 'Inside the Istana' here.
Click here to find out more about NUS-ISS' GDipSA programme.
Discover more interactive graphics produced by The Straits Times team here .