Virtual tour

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It has been suggested that Virtual tourism be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

It has been suggested that Video tour be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

A virtual tour (or virtual reality tour) is virtual reality simulation of an actually existing location, usually comprising 2D panoramic images, a sequence of hyperlinked still or video images, and/or image-based models of the real location, as well as other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and text. As opposed to actual tourism, a virtual tour is accessed on a personal computer (typically over the Internet). It does not require travel, but ideally, virtual tour viewing evokes an expereince of moving through the represented space.

Virtual tours can be especially useful for universities and in the real estate industry, looking to attract prospective students and tenants/buyers, respectively, eliminating for the consumer the cost of travel to numerous individual locations.

[edit] Methods of creation

Photo-Stitching Software:

One popular method of creation is to 'stitch' still-photographs to create panoramic images where the the end user can control zooms and pans of the stitched image. The benefit of this method is that it does not require any specialized equipment to capture the images. Any digital camera will work. A downside is that since the point of view is not constantly changing as with video, the images can be distorted. If the individual images have varying exposure or color settings the stitch marks will be obvious.

Video-Based Virtual Tours:

With the expansion of video on the Internet, video-based virtual tours are growing in popularity. This is where video cameras are used to pan and walk-through subject properties. The benefit of this method is that the point of view is constantly changing throughout a pan. Therefore the room is not distorted. However, capturing high-quality video requires significantly more technical skill and equipment than taking digital still pictures. Video also eliminates viewer control of the tour. Therefore the tour is the same for all viewers and subject matter is chosen by the videographer. Editing digital video requires proficiency with video editing software and has higher computer hardware requirements. Also, displaying video over the Internet requires more bandwidth. Due to these difficulties, the task of creating video-based tours is often left to professionals.

Other:

Various software products can be used (individually or in conjunction with each other) to create media rich virtual tours. See methods developed by MOVES Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School.