Holograms set to bug travellers
Airport harnesses new technology in cause of biosecurity
New holograms will be gracing Auckland International Airport in a bid to educate travellers about biosecurity. Visitors arriving from overseas will be confronted by a hologram of a hitchhiking fruit fly — many times its normal size — and learn about the damage it could do to an orchard and the fruit sector here.
Brett Hickman, manager of detection technology for the Ministry for Primary Industries, said the trial was an experiment to test if the new technology would reach the public more effectively than the current static signs at the airport.
“The concept here is to create an eye-catching display that really grabs the attention of arriving passengers,” Hickman said.
The display will be mounted atop a purpose-built unit that doubles as a bin where visitors can ditch any fruit or other biosecurity hazards they may still have on them.
The ministry will monitor how many people stop to look at the display and measure how much material is placed in the bins to assess the viability of the project.
The Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency applauded the move, saying Watch video of the new holograms at nzherald.co.nz the Wellingtonmade hologram from Point Zero was a great example of the talent in the capital’s rapidly develop- ing virtual reality sector.
“The Ministry for Primary Industries should be congratulated for recognising the potential of Point Zero’s holograms and helping de- velop it to the point where it can be used in a visually exciting way to bolster New Zealand’s biosecurity,” said agency innovation manager David Jones.