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A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos, still images or 360-degree images. It may also use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, text and floor map. It is distinguished from the use of live television to affect tele-tourism.
The phrase "virtual tour" is often used to describe a variety of videos and photographic-based media.
Panorama indicates an unbroken view, since a panorama can be either a series of photographs or
panning video
footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a ( often special) video camera, which typically must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or ...
. However, the phrases "panoramic tour" and "virtual tour" have mostly been associated with virtual tours created using
still camera
A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
s. Such virtual tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single
vantage point. The camera and lens are rotated around what is referred to as a
no parallax point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges).
A video tour is a full motion video of a location. Unlike the virtual tour's static
wrap
Wrap, WRAP or Wrapped may refer to:
Storage and preservation
* Gift wrap or wrap paper, used to enclose a present
* Overwrap, a wrapping of items in a package or a wrapping over packages
* Plastic wrap, a thin, clear, flexible plastic used to co ...
-around feel, a video tour is a linear walk-through of a location. Using a video camera, the location is filmed at a walking pace while moving continuously from one point to another throughout the subject location.
3D virtual tours can be created using
3D reconstruction.
History
The origin of the term 'virtual tour' dates to 1994. The first example of a virtual tour was a museum visitor interpretive tour, consisting of 'walk-through' of a
3D reconstruction of
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Originally a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortification during the twelfth century but su ...
in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British-based engineer Colin Johnson.
One of the first users of a virtual tour was
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 described as: "Virtual Tour, being a cross between Virtual Reality and Royal Tour." Details of the original project can be viewed online. The system was featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994 and in a subsequent technical paper.
Capture
Virtual tours can be captured using
omnidirectional camera
In photography, an omnidirectional camera (from "omni", meaning all), also known as 360-degree camera, is a camera having a field of view that covers approximately the entire sphere or at least a full circle in the horizontal plane.
Omnidirection ...
s and/or with
image stitching.
Video-based
With the expansion of video on the internet, video-based virtual tours are growing in popularity.
Video cameras
A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...
are used to pan and walk-through real 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
Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It ...
. Editing digital video requires proficiency with video editing software and has higher computer hardware requirements. Also, displaying video over the internet requires more
bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
. Due to these difficulties, the task of creating video-based tours is often left to professionals.
Recently different groups have been using
Google's system to provide access to private areas, which were previously unavailable to the general public.
Applications
Virtual tours are used extensively for universities, sport venues,
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
and
hospitality
Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...
industries. Virtual tours can allow a user to view an environment while on-line. Currently a variety of industries use such technology to help market their services and product. Over the last few years the quality and accessibility of virtual tours has improved considerably, with some websites allowing the user to navigate the tours by clicking on maps or integrated floor plans.
Web-based or online
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For most business purposes, a virtual tour must be accessible from everywhere. The major solution is a web-based virtual tour. In addition, a rich and useful virtual tour is not just a series of panoramic pictures. A better experience can be obtained by viewing a variety of materials such as that obtained from videos, texts, and still pictures in an interactive web content. There are many ways to gather data in a mixed web content, such as using rich content builders (
Java applet
Java applets were small applications written in the Java programming language, or another programming language that compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. The user launched the Java applet from a ...
or
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...
being two examples) or a
Web content management system
A web content management system (WCM or WCMS) is a software content management system (CMS) specifically for web content. It provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools that help users with little knowledge of web programm ...
.
Flash-based tours are becoming very popular today. A study done by the PEW Research Group showed that more than 5 million Americans watched virtual tours every day in 2004. PEW's research data which showed that Americans watching virtual tours rose from 54 million people in 2004 to 72 million people by August 2006, a two-year increase of 18 million.
Real estate
Virtual tours are very popular in the
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
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 the user where the camera was and which way the camera was pointing. Full service virtual tours are usually created by a professional photographer who will visit the property being sold, take several photos, and run them through stitching software. Full service virtual tours are usually more expensive than interactive floor plans because of the expense of the photographer, higher-end equipment used, such as a digital SLR camera, and specialized software. Real estate virtual tours are typically linked to the listing in the Multiple Listing Service.
Home builders use virtual tours as a marketing tool to help buyers have a better home shopping experience. For home builders, “virtual tour” is a broad term used to describe multiple products. In the past, this might have referred to a photo slideshow, a video walk-through often using
Matterport photographic tools, or an
Interactive Floor Plan
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but m ...
(IFP). Other virtual tours include photo-realistic renderings and mix reality renderings in both photo and video formats. All these products allow prospective homebuyers to navigate a home from room to room. This both gives the buyer a true feel for the home as well as the builder a reliable sales tool for distanced buying. Prospective buyers never have to set foot inside of a home and can view a home before it is built.
Historic preservation
3D virtual tour technology has been increasingly used in the documentation and preservation of historic properties that are at risk of being razed or undergoing restricted public access. 3D virtual models using standard file formats, such as the
Object file
An object file is a computer file containing object code, that is, machine code output of an assembler or compiler. The object code is usually relocatable, and not usually directly executable. There are various formats for object files, and the ...
(.obj) format, can be stored in digital archives for future academic research and exploration.
Hospitality
Virtual tours are also popular in the
hospitality industry
The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars.
Sect ...
. Hotels are increasingly offering online tours on their websites, ranging from "360" stitched photos to professionally produced video tours. These tours are typically offered by hotels in an effort to increase booking revenue by providing online viewers with an immersive view of the property and its amenities.
Virtual walks
Virtual walk videos are documentary motion pictures shot as the camera continuously moves forward through an urban or natural area. The effect is to allow viewers to experience the sights they would see and the sounds they would hear were they actually traveling along a particular route at the same pace as the camera. Virtual walks based on real-world photography typically do not require the use of virtual reality goggles or headsets of the kind used by gamers.
In realistically simulating the experience of moving through space, virtual walks—or virtual runs or bicycle rides—differ from conventional travel videos, which typically consist of a sequence of mostly static camera setups along a particular route or within a given area. The advantage of the conventional travel video is that one or more narrators or on-screen guides can provide insights into the geographical, historical, political, military, cultural, geological, or architectural aspects of the area.
Virtual walks appeal to those who want to experience the sights and sounds of particular places in the country or the world, but who may not have the time or the financial or physical resources to actually travel there. They also appeal to treadmill or elliptical trainer users, for whom walking or running while watching these videos enhances the reality of the experience (and, at a minimum, reduce the boredom of the exercise).
Some feature-length narrative motion pictures have made use of the virtual walk technique for dramatic purposes. These include the opening sequences of Orson Welles’ ''
Touch of Evil
''Touch of Evil'' is a 1958 American film noir written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars in the film. The screenplay was loosely based on the contemporary Whit Masterson novel ''Badge of Evil'' (1956). The cast included Charlton Hes ...
'' and Robert Altman's ''
The Player'', the famous tracking shot through the Copacabana in Martin Scorsese's ''
Goodfellas
''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'', Alexander Sokurov's ''
Russian Ark
''Russian Ark'' (russian: link=no, Русский ковчег, ''Russkij Kovcheg'') is a 2002 experimental historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. In ''Russian Ark'', an unnamed narrator wanders through the Winter Palace in Saint Pet ...
'' (which consists of a single 96-minute Steadicam take), and, more recently Alfonso Cuarón's long tracking shots in ''
Gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
'', and almost the entire narrative structure of Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárrito's ''
Birdman''.
Three-dimensional virtual tourism
3D virtual tourism is the realistic 3D geovisualisation of
virtual environments, which allows the user to explore physical places without physical travel.
[Huang, Yu-Chih, et al. "Exploring user acceptance of 3D virtual worlds in travel and tourism marketing." Tourism Management 36 (2013): 490-501.] 3DVT typically creates a virtual tour that uses
3D models and
2D panoramic images, a sequence of
hyperlinked still or video images, and
image-based models of the real world, with additional elements such as
sound effects, music, narration, and text. As opposed to actual
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
, 3DVT is accessed on a smartphone or computer (typically over the Internet). It aims to evoke an experience of moving through the real place without actual travel.
Virtual tours can be especially useful for universities and real-estate operators who want to attract students, tenants, and buyers, while eliminating the cost of travel to numerous locations. For these applications, 3DVT can be designed and constructed from 3D interactive mapping technologies, such as Google Earth or Virtual Earth or X3D Earth.
Virtual tours allow tourists to explore destinations before they visit, and some flexible tours allow visitors to book accommodations.
See also
*
Travel technology applications
*
VRML
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...
*
VR Photography
VR photography (after virtual-reality photography) is the interactive viewing of panoramic photographs, generally encompassing a 360-degree circle or a spherical view. The results is known as VR photograph (or VR photo), 360-degree photo, phot ...
*
3D Floor Plan
*
3D computer graphics software
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
*
Google Expeditions
Google Expeditions was a virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google and designed for educational institutions. Using Android or iOS smartphones, the companion mobile app and head-mounted displays such as Google Cardboard or Daydream Vie ...
*
Virtual environment software
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtual Tour
Virtual reality
Real estate
Travel technology
Types of tourism