SINGAPORE - Students from Republic Polytechnic (RP) can now contribute to a mobile application that will enhance tourists' experience, thanks to a new partnership between RP and local company LDR.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed at RP yesterday, students will be able to work with local technology start-up LDR on a series of location-based apps, including one supported by an STB grant.

They will be equipped with LDR's development tool Pocket Trips, which enables users without programming knowledge to create their own mobile apps by combining content with location-based technologies such as image recognition and GPS.

LDR's chief executive officer Png Bee Hin said the app will feature various historical, cultural, arts, nature, lifestyle and heartland trails comprised of "hot spots" that will trigger interactive content based on the user's GPS location.

"Working millennials form a growing number of tourists coming to Singapore, so who better to design trails for them than millennials themselves," said Mr Png.

The app will be soft launched in September with at least 15 trails and 200 hot spots, and a targeted 30 trails and 400 hot spots when it is officially launched next April.

Student Samuel Chia, 19, from SOI's Interactive and Digital Media course, is part of a team that is working on a trail for Orchard Road that will be incorporated in the app.

At the MOU signing, Mr Chia presented his group's work, which comprises of 11 hotspots including Ngee Ann City and 313@Somerset. Proximity to each hot spot triggers information, recommendations, history of the site and even games that can earn the user discount vouchers to nearby retailers.

While there is still work to be done on the final-year project, he said: "I didn't expect our project to go this far, it's exciting."

Correction Note: This article has been edited for clarity.