A Turkish pc engineering pupil has received first prize at a serious worldwide tech occasion in Portugal with an AI-powered journey information app impressed by his expertise overseas.
Yusuf Yilmaz, a pupil at Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul, developed the app after dealing with challenges whereas touring throughout Europe throughout a five-month Erasmus trade in Portugal final yr.
His venture, an interactive journey assistant that promotes cultural consciousness by means of video games and quizzes, earned first place within the “Gamification” class at Shift APPens 2025, a distinguished software program and innovation occasion held in Portugal.
The app makes use of location information to generate real-time questions on close by cultural landmarks and assigns duties that encourage customers to discover their environment.
Currently out there as a demo on internet browsers, Yilmaz plans to launch a cellular model of the app within the coming months.
– ‘WİNNİNG FİRST PLACE WAS MY DREAM SİNCE LAST YEAR’
Speaking to Anadolu, Yilmaz stated the concept got here from his personal journey experiences.
“Last year, I traveled across various European countries during my Erasmus stay in Portugal. I enjoyed learning about the cultures of the places I visited—that’s where the idea came from,” he stated.
“Winning first place was my dream since last year. This was my second time joining the competition. I also participated while I was an Erasmus student. The hospitality I experienced there drew me in. Even before last year’s competition ended, I had already made up my mind to return this year. I completed the project and presented it to the jury—and I won.”
Yilmaz stated that manually getting ready questions and content material for every location would have taken a major period of time, so he integrated synthetic intelligence to automate the method.
Language fashions “can work like a human, generating reliable information,” he stated. “A regular user can do this with AI — and so can my app.”
– HOW THE APP WORKS
Yilmaz defined that when customers seek for a metropolis or share their location, the app retrieves related cultural data robotically and presents it briefly, user-friendly codecs.
“It’s designed to work as if you’re using a phone or a computer, but it operates completely automatically in the background, delivering bite-sized answers,” he stated.
The app assigns exploration duties across the metropolis and guides customers to key cultural spots — a useful software for first-time guests.
As customers full these duties and reply questions, they earn factors that may be redeemed for reductions by means of the app’s inner market.
“You have fun while exploring and gain something in return,” Yilmaz stated, including that each one visited places are saved to the person’s profile so “nothing is ever lost.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr