The People's Party caucus held a press conference to question the Ministry of Digital Industry's spending 20 million yuan to create a digital clone of Yehliu Queen's Head. In response, the Digital Industry Department issued a statement and put forward three points of explanation, emphasizing that the modeling scope is not only the Queen's Head, but covers the complete landscape of about 3 hectares in the second area of Yehliu Geopark and the surrounding environment.
The People's Party Legislative Yuan Caucus held a press conference today (14th) to question the Ministry of Digital Development's 20 million yuan spent on creating a digital clone of Queen Yehliu, which attracted attention from the outside world. In this regard, the Digital Industry Agency of the Ministry of Digital Development issued a statement in the evening, emphasizing that the modeling scope is not just a queen's head, but covers the complete landscape and surrounding environment of about 3 hectares, equivalent to 30,000 square meters, in the second area of Yehliu Geopark. Currently, 4 companies have invested in application development, and the cumulative number of people who have experienced the related results has reached 100,000. However, due to the complete deletion of the 2015 plan budget, follow-up work has been suspended. The three points explained by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology are as follows:
1. The modeling scope is not only Queen’s Head, but also covers 3 hectares of Yehliu Geopark.
The Department of Digital Industry stated that the 114-year demonstration project of the "Urban and Rural Modeling and Digital Twin Infrastructure Application Plan" comprehensively considered the funding scale, ministry needs, international reputation, tourist flow and landscape preservation needs, and cooperated with the Tourism Administration of the Ministry of Transport to select Yehliu Geopark as the demonstration site. Since Yehliu Geopark has been affected by weathering and sea erosion for a long time, the landforms continue to change and are difficult to preserve. Therefore, 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) high-precision digital modeling technology is used to record the current status of the landscape as the basis for future preservation, display and diverse applications.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce emphasized that this project has completed high-precision modeling of approximately 3 hectares, equivalent to 30,000 square meters, of the second area of Yehliu Geopark. The scope is not only the Queen's Head, but also includes the playful princess, nearly 100 mushroom-shaped stones, Renhe Palace, Yehliu Elementary School, park trails, various facilities and surrounding landscapes. Through high-precision modeling, three-dimensional scenes viewed from different angles can be created. In addition to recording important landscapes and surrounding natural and cultural environments, it can also provide gaming, tourism and digital content industries as application development materials.
2. 9 cross-department meetings were held in the early stage, and 4 industries invested in application development
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that in order to make the plan meet actual needs, a total of 9 cross-department and cross-industry discussion meetings were held during the preliminary operation and promotion period. Relevant ministries such as the Tourism Administration of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Culture were invited to participate, as well as industry associations and industries. It also investigated the application needs and specifications of 38 independent game industry players for modeling materials as a reference for demonstration site planning and application of results.
The Department of Industry and Information Technology stated that after the completion of the demonstration project, four companies including Mies Digital, Red Tomato Games, Dream Creation and LiveABC have invested in application development. The relevant results were exhibited at events such as the 114 Information Month and the 115 "Night Visit to the Queen's Head", with a cumulative experience of 100,000 people, demonstrating the application potential of high-precision field modeling in digital content development and tourism experience.
3. The budget for 2015 will be completely deleted and subsequent plans will be suspended.
The Department of Digital Industry stated that high-precision field modeling and digital twin technology can be used in fields such as cultural preservation, tourism promotion, educational display and digital content development. There are already cases in the world such as Japan's "Virtual Shibuya" and digital content based on the digital modeling of Notre Dame de Paris, which can be used as a reference for my country to promote related applications.
According to a preliminary domestic inventory, 21 ministry conference sites have expressed their demand for participation, showing that the relevant technology has potential for cross-field application. However, due to the complete deletion of the 2015 plan budget and the suspension of the follow-up work of the plan, some of the originally planned field modeling and cross-department cooperation demonstration work must be adjusted in scope and schedule. This will not only affect the progress of subsequent field expansion and cross-department demonstration work, but may also delay the application development of my country's digital twin industry and its integration with international standards.
