Virtual tour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A virtual tour (or panaramic tour) is a simulation of an actually existing location, usually composed of panoramic images, a sequence of hyperlinked still or video images, and/or virtual models of the real location. They also may use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and text. As opposed to actual tourism, a virtual tour is typically accessed on a personal computer or an interactive kiosk.

The phrases panoramic tour and virtual tour are often used to describe a variety of video and photographic based media. The word panorama indicates an unbroken view. A panorama could be either a series of photographs or panning video footage; however, the phrases "panoramic tour" and "virtual tour" have mostly been associated with virtual tours created using stills cameras. Such virtual tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single point. The camera and lens are rotated around what is referred to as a nodal point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges).

Contents

[edit] History

The first use of a Virtual Tour and the derivation of the name was in 1994 as a museum visitor interpretation, providing a 'walk-through' of a 3D reconstruction of Dudley Castle in England as it was in 1550 [1]. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British based engineer Colin Johnson. It is a little known fact that one of the first users of a Virtual Tour was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, when she officially opened the visitor centre in June 1994. Because the Queen's officials had requested titles, descriptions and instructions of all activities, the system was named and describes as: "Virtual Tour, being a cross between Virtual Reality and Royal Tour." Details of the original project can be viewed online [2]. The system featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994 and in the subsequent technical paper. [3]

[edit] Methods of creation

[edit] Stitching photographs

Main article: Image stitching

One popular method of creation is to stitch photographs taken from the same point in space but of varying pitch and yaw in order to create a panoramic image which, when rendered using appropriate software (usually through web browser plugins), allows the end user to pan and zoom at will. The benefit of this method is that it does not require any specialized equipment to capture the images, although using such can greatly speed up the process and render a higher quality result. This photographic technique results in a limited depth of field, meaning that the space may appear warped. The next generation of this technology is the Virtual Walk-Through. This technology eliminates the limitations involving depth of field by enabling a user to travel tangentially throughout a space, in addition to rotating the point-of-view in any direction.

[edit] 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. 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.

[edit] Specialized Software

Various software products can be used to create media rich virtual tours, and some examples include methods developed by MOVES Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School.

[edit] Applications

Virtual tours are used extensively for universities and in the real estate industry. Virtual Tours can allow a user to view an environment whilst on-line. Currently a variety of industries use such technology to help market their services and product. Over the last few years virtual tours; their quality, usability and accessibility have improved considerably, some websites allow the user to navigate virtual tours by clicking on maps or integrated floor plans.

[edit] Web-Based

For most of businesses a virtual tour must be accessible from every where and the major solution is a web based virtual tour, besides A rich and useful virtual tour is not just a panoramic picture. for giving a better experience you must gather lots of data types like videos, texts, pictures and etc in an interactive web content. there is lots of ways to gather your data in a mixture web content like using rich content builders (like Java applet, Adobe Flash,... ) or Web content management system.

[edit] Real Estate

Virtual Tours are very popular in the Real Estate Industry. Several types of such tours exist including simple options such as interactive floor plans, and more sophisticated options such as full-service virtual tours. An interactive floor plan shows photographs of a property with the aid of a floor plan and arrows to indicate where each photograph was taken. Clicking on arrows shows you where the camera was and which way the camera was pointing. Full Service Virtual Tours are usually created by a Professional Photographer that will visit the property being sold, take several photos, and run them through some stitching software. Full Service Virtual Tours are more expensive than interactive floor plans because of the expense of the Photographer and specialized software.

[edit] See also

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ^ CSA Newsletter, Feb. '95 - Imaging The Past
  2. ^ Virtual Tours of Dudley Castle archive
  3. ^ 'Imaging the Past' - Electronic Imaging and Computer Graphics in Museums and Archaeology - ISBN 0861591143
Languages