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Theoretical aspects of virtual tourism. Does a traveler need virtual travel? Description of the virtual trip

Virtual tours one of the most effective and convincing on this moment ways of presenting information, since they allow for exciting virtual excursions and create a complete illusion of presence for the viewer. The fact is that, unlike a video or a regular series of photographs, a virtual tour is interactive. So, during a trip, you can zoom in or out of an object, look around, examine individual interior details in detail, view a panorama from afar, look up and down, move closer to or away from a selected point, move through active zones from one panorama to another, for example, to walk around separate rooms, etc. And all this can be done at the right pace and in a manner convenient for a particular viewer. In this way, you can, for example, walk around the entire house from the inside and even inspect it from the outside, or take a virtual trip to an exotic island without leaving your own apartment.

With the help of virtual tours you can clearly demonstrate to the viewer appearance office, exhibition and store, show him inside and outside houses or cars for sale, familiarize him with the interior design of a restaurant, hotel or fitness club, present the main attractions of a tourist trip, allow him to wander through the halls of museums and exhibitions, etc. However, the technology for creating virtual tours has received the greatest recognition in the real estate industry; today it is widely used by the world's leading real estate companies, such as Century21, ColdwellBanker, Rubloff, Winkworth, Corcorans, etc. Russian realtors are no exception; the pioneer in the use of virtual tours in Russia was real estate portal Home Seekers (http://www.homeseekers.ru/allnews.htm).

The main options for hosting virtual tours are Web sites and CD presentations. The presence of tours on Web sites is especially important for those companies whose appearance of premises and interiors is an important component of their business (hotels, restaurants, real estate firms, salons, shops, travel companies, etc.). The presence of a virtual tour on a website helps companies attract the attention of visitors, and therefore increase the number of potential customers. Viewing tours on the Internet is usually carried out in an Internet browser environment, provided that the Java applet is supported. Considering that a number of users do not have a Java machine installed, some developers additionally create versions of tours that can be played, for example, in a flash player. Web-based virtual tours are quite modest in size and load quickly, but differ from CD tours in lower image quality.

Virtual tours, recorded on CD, are viewed using special tour browsers and are not limited by strict requirements in terms of their size, so they can contain high-quality photo panoramas and are therefore extremely impressive. Such tours can be an integral component of electronic presentations or are a stand-alone software product representing a company, product, technology, etc. Discs with tours can be distributed at specialized exhibitions and fairs to potential clients, and, unlike the usual leaflets and brochures, they are not sent in the trash bin after a quick look.

Virtual tours are very popular. According to statistics from Realtor.com, real estate sites supplemented with tours are visited 40% more often by potential clients, and a British Market Research Bureau report shows that 80% of home Internet users use the Internet and view virtual tours before searching for a property to buy. by directly contacting a real estate agency. Moreover, according to American experts, all real estate firms that began using virtual tours experienced a real increase in sales volumes.

What is meant by a virtual tour?

Virtual tour is a combination of panoramic photographs (spherical or cylindrical), when the transition from one panorama to another is carried out through active zones (they are called anchor points or transition points) placed directly on the images, as well as taking into account the tour plan. All this can be supplemented by foreground sound and background music, and, if necessary, ordinary photographs, videos, flash videos, tour plans, explanations, contact information, etc.

Virtual tours are based on photo panoramas, which differ from ordinary photographs in the interactive nature of viewing. This means that when viewing a panoramic photo, the user sees only that part of the image that interests him at the moment, and that, if desired, he can look around, look up and down, and also zoom in or out on individual parts of the image. Looking at an ordinary photograph, the viewer sees only what is shown to him and cannot control the viewing process. Even more interesting is if the user of the virtual tour can navigate between panoramas through active zones or guided by the tour map.

Advantages of using virtual tours

The main advantage of virtual tours is the ability to save time, both for the party presenting the tour (seller) and for the viewer (potential buyer or client). In addition, for the buyer, a virtual tour serves as an unobtrusive guide, and for sellers, as evidenced by a considerable number of reports, the use of tours helps to actively attract new customers, since the tours themselves turn into an effective sales tool.

Buyers in virtual tours are attracted by the fact that they can get acquainted with the property at any time convenient for them, and in addition, there is an opportunity for a preliminary, and very detailed inspection of all potentially interesting objects available to the seller. As a result, the list of objects (apartments, houses, cars, hotels, restaurants, fitness clubs, etc.) that need to be personally visited or inspected is significantly reduced. Moreover, in a number of areas (for example, in tourism), where a preliminary personal inspection of objects is generally impossible, a tour that complements the description optimizes the process of studying possible offers.

For the seller, the main advantages of virtual tours can be considered the following:

attracting interest in the company, increasing its prestige, and therefore acquiring new clients, since virtual tours today arouse interest among the majority of visitors, increase the number of possible clients and increase the company’s income;
reducing the time between creating a tour and introducing the buyer to it. In the traditional type of business, booklets are used to familiarize the buyer with the proposed objects, but a lot of time passes from the moment the booklet is created until it ends up in the hands of a potential buyer. Another thing is a virtual tour, which becomes available to millions of Internet users almost immediately after its creation;
the possibility of varied use of the same tours on the Internet, even on different servers, and in the form of CD presentations that can be demonstrated at the client’s office, at an exhibition, etc. All this allows you to expand your audience reach;
simplicity and efficiency of posting new, updating and replacing old virtual tours, which guarantees the relevance of the information presented.

About the technology for creating virtual tours

The process of creating virtual panoramas can be divided into three stages: photographing the object, processing the resulting images and the final assembly of the virtual tour.

The first stage of creating virtual tours is shooting an object, which is a very labor-intensive and extremely important process, since the quality of the panorama will directly depend on its results. To obtain high-quality panoramas with minimal distortion, you should adhere to a number of rules:

The camera must be installed in such a way that, with the selected aperture, all frames in the series are in focus ( the best thing, if the camera is in the center of the circle being photographed);
a set of stitched images must be taken in such a way that the seams of the future spherical panorama are located in fairly monochromatic places (for example, on monolithic walls in the case of real estate objects);
the tripod head must be equipped with levels that are designed for strict positioning of the camera in space;
for all three shots, it is imperative to synchronize the camera in the horizontal and vertical planes camera alignment is carried out using levels;
The camera's circular rotation angles should be 120°, which is adjusted by the turn signal scale.

Photo panoramas are created from several specially prepared overlapping photographs (Fig. 1) using special programs, which stitch together images into a single panorama, removing the distortions that always arise (Fig. 2). There are quite a lot of such stitching programs offered today, and each program uses a special technology for stitching images and its own format for the created panoramas, and the stitching itself can be done in automatic, manual or mixed mode. You can view photo panoramas using special browsers, and you need to select the latter based on the format of the panoramic file. Many types of photo panoramas can also be viewed in an Internet browser, but only if there is support for a Java applet or by installing a special plugin.

Virtual tours are assembled from pre-created photo panoramas in other specialized applications - tour builders. In most cases, the program for developing virtual tours is focused on its own panoramic file format (although sometimes it is possible to import panoramas from other formats), so in practice the tour builder is used together with a stitcher from one manufacturer. Separate photo panoramas are connected with each other by smooth transitions due to the allocation of active zones on them (special areas on photo panoramas), which are not only responsible for moving from one panorama to another, but are also used to display additional information about objects. Active zone technology allows you to focus on individual parts of the panorama on interior details, on new products in shopping centers, on interesting sights, on specific exhibition stands, as well as on any other information that needs to be drawn to the attention of a virtual visitor. In addition, it is possible to include interactive floor plans and navigators in the virtual tour, allowing users to determine their “location”. The tour can be viewed according to a plan, by transition points, or automatically in accordance with the plan defined when creating the project. Virtual tours, like photo panoramas, can be viewed both in an Internet browser (Fig. 3 and 4) and in specialized virtual tour browsers, specific to each tour builder (Fig. 5).

as a virtual brochure

as a 3D model

in a special browser

Software applications for creating virtual tours

Programs for creating tours are distinguished by a friendly, intuitive interface and ease of use, and also ensure the achievement of impressive results in a relatively short period of time (however, the latter is only possible if you have perfect pictures stitched into a panorama). As a result, a minimum of time is spent on developing a software product, whereas using other technologies to obtain the same result would require a week of work by an entire team of developers.

Additionally, there are two things worth noting regarding tour builders. Firstly, there are very few well-known programs with such capabilities, and the undisputed leader in this area is the American company IPIX Corporation (http://www.ipix.com), which is the author of virtual tour technology. Therefore, its software products are most often used in the development of tours, including in Russia. However, there are very interesting alternative options from other companies that also provide excellent results, but cost much less.

Secondly, when choosing a tour builder, you need to keep in mind that slightly different principles of payment for programs apply here. If usually when purchasing software you have to pay for the program or purchase a time-limited license for it, in this case you may need to pay additionally for the panoramas used. This payment principle was introduced by IPIX Corporation and currently it is actively used. For this reason, the cost of virtual tours may be much higher than expected. However, there is also software for which the traditional type of payment is implemented. There are also completely free programs, but also with payment for the created panoramas. For example, Spherical Panorama, Inc. today offers free products you only pay for the use of ready-made panoramic images, and the license cost of this software is much lower than that of other analogue programs.

Now let us present to your attention the most interesting applications to develop virtual tours.

Easypano Studio 2005

Developer: Easypano, Inc.

Distribution size: Easypano Studio 2005 79.07 MB, Panoweaver 4.0 40 MB, Tourweaver 1.30 41.84 MB

Distribution method: shareware (demo versions http://www.easypano.com/download/software/studio2005_win.exe, http://www.easypano.com/download/software/panoweaver400_win.exe, http://www.easypano.com /download/software/twwin.exe)

Price: Easypano Studio 2005 $999.99, Panoweaver 4.0 $599.95, Tourweaver 1.30 $499.95

Work under control: Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2K/XP and Mac OS X

Easypano Studio 2005 is a tool for quickly creating professional virtual tours, which successfully combines wide functionality with simplicity and ease of use. The package includes two software modules: Panoweaver 4.0 (Fig. 6) and Tourweaver 1.30 (Fig. 7). The first of them is a 360×360 spherical panorama stitcher, which is possible both in fully automatic and manual mode, and the second allows you to combine panoramas, as well as other information, in virtual tours. The Tourweaver application can be used not only in conjunction with Panoweaver, but also stand-alone, since it supports importing panoramas created in other stitchers. For example, you can import cylindrical panoramas produced in Panorama Factory, or panoramas generated in 3D packages, particularly 3D Studio Max. In addition, it is possible to import panoramas from digital panoramic cameras Kaidan’s 360 One VR, Panoscan, RoundShot, etc.

Rice. 6. Create a panoramic photo in Panoweaver

The package is intended for professionals, but the user-friendly interface of the program, a detailed help system, and the inclusion of educational tours in the package allow beginners to work with it. Virtual tours created in this application have unique navigation capabilities: in addition to the classic button and mouse control when viewing panoramas and moving from one panorama to another, there is built-in support for a dialog map with a compass effect, which provides additional options for managing the tour.

The Panoweaver module supports basic images for stitching graphic formats: JPG, TIFF, BMP, PICT, PNG, TGA, compatible with a wide range of cameras, provides full control over the image stitching process and supports PTViewer, QTVR, MGI Panoviewer and VRML file formats as output. In addition, the program allows you to correct some artifacts that may appear due to inaccurate installation of the camera relative to the horizontal, axis displacement when rotating the camera, as well as due to the influence of a number of other mechanical and optical factors.

Virtual tours created in Tourweaver can include spherical and cylindrical panoramas, regular images, music, links, waypoints, interactive maps and plans, regular slideshows, and text. In addition, the tour can be supplemented with a variety of information about the company, including its name, fax, telephone, Web site, email address and logo. Transition points can be set not only when moving from one panorama to another, but also to open a static image (for example, a map or plan), to follow a link, to play a music file or animation, to access a virtual compass that makes it easier to navigate the tour . Support for built-in templates, the list of which can be increased by purchasing additional template libraries on the program website, as well as a variety of panoramic display effects, provides a variety of tour design options. All this opens up enormous opportunities for tour developers, since based on the same initial information they can create a whole series of tours, which allows them to find the most effective data presentation option in a particular case and achieve excellent results.

Each of the objects introduced into the tour has a whole series of properties that can be easily managed through the Properties window. Thus, you can change the position of objects, their sizes, the reaction of the mouse when moving or when clicking, you can set a background or add a border, change visibility, etc., which allows you to quickly and easily adjust the settings and get the desired effect. The created virtual tour can be saved on your computer or immediately published on an FTP server, for which you just need to specify the server settings. In this case, BMP image files will be converted to JPEG format with a user-defined compression level. In case of local saving, files will be automatically generated for autorunning the tour from the CD. To view tours saved in the program's native format, the Easypano Tourweaver viewer is required, while tours exported to Java Applet can be viewed as usual in an Internet browser.

360 Degrees Of Freedom Developer Suite 6.3

Developer: 360 Degrees Of Freedom

Distribution size: 19.73 MB

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo that adds a watermark is available after registration at: http://www.360dof.com/survey/survey.php?dl=developersuite)

Price:$395

Work under control: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP

The professional virtual tour development package Developer Suite includes several applications, the main ones being 360 Image Assembler, 360 Panorama, 360.3D Project and VRbrochure Project. 360. The package has an intuitive, strict and at the same time convenient interface, and detailed documentation, supplemented with useful examples, reduces the time to master it. All this, combined with its rather modest (compared to many analogues) size, simplicity and ease of use, as well as ample opportunities for individualizing the result, allows us to consider the Developer Suite application one of the best in its class.

The Image Assembler module is an application for automatic, semi-automatic or manual stitching of individual images taken from any standard digital camera into 360×360 panoramas (Fig. 8). The 360 Panorama application allows you to create simple virtual tours based on 360×360 panoramas (Fig. 9). The 360.3D Project module (Fig. 10) is designed to generate interactive three-dimensional models of objects, which are indispensable for demonstrating products offered by companies in interactive product catalogs, and at the same time can become one of the elements of a virtual tour.

Rice. 8. Creating a panorama in the Image Assembler environment

in 360 Panorama

But the greatest interest in this regard is the virtual tour builder VRbrochure Project (Fig. 11), which allows you to combine photo panoramas and 3D models into a virtual tour with the formation of a connection between them through ordinary transition points. In addition to panoramas and 3D models, the tour may also include slide shows, animations, and interactive maps and plans. And for greater effectiveness and to add individuality, the tour can be supplemented with a variety of special effects (gradual appearance and disappearance, image scaling, flickering of certain areas, etc.), and you can choose a suitable graphic template and design style for it.

at VRbrochure

The resulting tours are easy to view and allow you to effectively present information about the property being sold to potential clients. Viewing of tours (both simple panoramic ones and those showing 3D models and presenting virtual brochures) is usually carried out in an Internet browser with a Java applet. However, when creating tours, you can additionally enable the option of creating a tour oriented to viewing in a flash player, which allows you to reach the maximum possible audience.

SP_VTB 4.10, SP_STITCHER 3.2

Developer: Spherical Panorama, Inc.

Distribution size: SP_VTB 4.10 7.94 MB, SP_STITCHER 3.2 11.7 MB

Distribution method: freeware (the latest versions of programs can be downloaded at: http://sp.zdt.ru/download_rus.php)

Price: free, use of ready-made panoramic images is paid for; cost of one license: $12 when purchasing from 1 to 9 licenses; $8 for purchasing from 100 to 999 licenses; There is a special discount for CIS countries

Work under control: Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000/XP

Spherical Panorama company specializes in software development for creating different types panoramas and combining them into virtual tours, however, in our case, the most interesting are the image stitcher into panoramas SP_STITCHER (Fig. 12) and the virtual tour builder SP_VTB (Fig. 13). They are supplied as separate applications, but when developing virtual tours they complement each other, since SP_VTB allows you to create tours only based on panoramas in spf format obtained in the SP_STITCHER environment. Both applications are quite easy to use, and the accompanying detailed documentation, several fisheye stitching test kits, and a trial virtual tour will help you quickly understand the intricacies of the work.

in the SP_VTB application

SP_STITCHER fast automatic three-shot fishege stitcher, which can be configured to work with both standard panoramic equipment (IPIX, Kadian, etc.) and non-standard ones. This allows us to recommend this program not only to professionals, but also to ordinary amateur photographers. SP_STITCHER supports automatic and manual operating modes and, if necessary, allows for image correction: color correction, getting rid of barrel distortions, optimizing the position of seams in fisheye images, etc.

SP_VTB allows you to combine spherical and circular panoramas into virtual tours, supplementing them with background music, sound, text comments and special objects: static photographs, videos, flash videos, tour plan, etc. As a virtual tour plan (map), you can use any images in jpg, gif, bmp formats with sizes from 100x100 to 800x570 pixels. It is possible to connect videos in avi or mpg formats, which will be played when moving from one panorama to another.

The process of creating virtual tours is not particularly difficult and can be mastered quite quickly even by non-professionals, and the ability to choose a graphical shell for it allows you to achieve originality to some extent. To take a virtual tour of a tour, which is an exe file, no additional software is required, since a standard tour browser is automatically built into the file. If necessary, you can use special virtual tour browsers, such as the SP_VST application, designed for real estate agents and providing various viewing options with different types of download, including Internet download, and the ability to use a configuration file.

IPIX Interactive Studio 1.4.2, IPIX Real Estate Wizard, IPIX i-Linker 3.1.0

Developer: IPIX Corporation

Distribution size: IPIX Interactive Studio 1.4.2 37 MB, IPIX Real Estate Wizard 9.13 MB, IPIX i-Linker 3.1.0 4.7 MB

Distribution method: shareware (limited demo versions available after registration at: http://www.ipixstore.com/dl/dldetail.cfm?detailid=7)

Price: IPIX Interactive Studio 1.4.2 depending on the licensing option (for example, a 1-year license with an unlimited number of panoramas costs $899; a complete list of license types can be found at: http://www.ipixstore.com/cart/ index.cfm?cat=3&subcat=13), IPIX Real Estate Wizard with five keys (additional keys sold separately) $20, IPIX i-Linker 3.1.0 $99.95, IPIX Multimedia Toolkit $99 .

Work under control: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

As applications for creating virtual tours, IPIX offers the IPIX i-Linker 3.1 and IPIX Multimedia Toolkit software packages, which make sense only in conjunction with the IPIX stitcher, since both applications are configured to use IPIX panoramas. IPIX Interactive Studio and IPIX Real Estate Wizard packages can be used as programs for stitching panoramas. All of these programs are easy to use and have detailed and well-illustrated documentation.

IPIX Interactive Studio (Fig. 14) panorama stitcher for professionals, which is different large set convenient tools for precise stitching of hemispheres, retouching seams and entire panoramas. The IPIX Real Estate Wizard program (Fig. 15) is focused on use in the field of real estate trading and is intended for realtors. Even a child can create a panorama in its environment, but the capabilities of manual processing of panoramic images in the program are minimized to the limit, which negatively affects the quality of the created panoramas. To save panoramas, specialized paid keys are required.

in IPIX Interactive Studio

The IPIX i-Linker application (Fig. 16) is used to create virtual tours based on IPIX panoramas for the Internet and CD, and is best used in conjunction with IPIX Interactive Studio. The program allows you to set the automatic movement of a virtual camera across a panorama, add background sound, highlight transition points and link them with hyperlinks to additional information (texts, photos, audio, transitions) and to other panoramas.

The IPIX Multimedia Tool Kit is used to quickly create simple template virtual tours and is also designed primarily for realtors, and therefore can be a successful addition to the IPIX Real Estate Wizard. The package includes three software modules: IPIX Brochure, IPIX TV-Studio and IPIX e-gallery. The IPIX Brochure module is a simple and convenient tool for generating simple virtual tours in the form of electronic brochures, which are posted on the company’s website and allow you to clearly present the necessary information about the company, technologies, etc. in the form of interconnected panoramas, regular photographs, text and contact information. IPIX TV-Studio allows you to create tours with simple navigation through iPIX images, including automatic movement, pausing viewing for a more detailed study of the image and scaling its individual sections. Watching the tour can be accompanied by playing a melody or listening to comments. The IPIX e-gallery module (Fig. 17) is designed to quickly generate simple virtual tours intended for sending via e-mail. Tours are created using a template, and the tours themselves contain an IPIX image, contact information and short description tour.

Rice. 17. Creating a virtual tour in IPIX e-gallery

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1 VIRTUAL TRAVEL: TECHNOLOGY OF CREATION AND ANALYSIS OF MEANS Klimenko E. V., Smirnov E. B. Tobolsk State Social-Pedagogical Academy named after. D. I. Mendeleeva Tobolsk, Russia VIRTUAL TRAVEL: TECHNOLOGY OF CREATION AND ANALYSIS OF MEANS Klimenko E.V., Smirnov E.B. Tobolsk State Social and Pedagogical Academy named after D.I.Mendeleev, Tobolsk, Russia Introduction On the Internet, especially on travel sites, you can increasingly find virtual trips that create the complete illusion of presence and allow you to take exciting virtual walks. Before a tourist trip, it is worth taking the proposed cruise virtually, evaluating the hotel room and restaurant service during the virtual trip, as well as walking through the places of the proposed excursions. It is therefore not surprising that virtual travel is being offered more and more often and is gaining more and more popularity among visitors. Virtual trips are created from panoramic photographs. Panoramic photography is a static image that allows you to view a wide viewing angle and demonstrates a view of the area from one point. Based on panoramic photographs, you can create a virtual tour. A virtual tour is a dynamic panoramic representation of a photograph of one place. A virtual trip is a certain combination of virtual tours (cylindrical with a viewing angle of 360 degrees), while the transition from one to another is carried out through active zones (they are called anchor points) placed directly on the images, as well as taking into account the tour plan. The virtual journey can be accompanied by additional audio files. Virtual travel allows the user to get acquainted with the object of visit in conditions close to real ones. There are not enough recommendations on the Internet for choosing software for creating virtual trips. This problem determined the relevance of this study. The purpose of the study: to develop recommendations for choosing software for creating virtual trips, as well as to determine the technology for creating virtual trips. The object of the study is the process of creating immersive virtual travel experiences. The subject of the research is the individual features of software for creating virtual trips, the specific features of the technology for developing virtual trips that realize the effect of presence. In accordance with the specified object, subject and to achieve the set goal, the following research objectives were identified: analyze regulatory, technical, and special literature on the research topic;

2 2 identify criteria for comparing software for creating virtual trips; determine the optimal software tool to create virtual trips; develop recommendations for the user on creating virtual trips. The basis for the study was informational resources on using software to create virtual trips and on using panoramic photographs. (Svetlana Shlyakhtina, Alexey Zakirov,) The course work consists of three sections: theoretical analysis of the aspect of creating virtual travel; analysis of software for creating virtual trips; presentation of technological features of creating virtual trips. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the presented recommendations for choosing software and technology for creating virtual travel can be practically used by everyone interested in this process. 1. Theoretical aspects of creating virtual travel 1.1 Virtual travel. Basic concepts Since ancient times, humanity has dreamed of moving in space. With the advent of computer technology, this possibility has become a reality thanks to virtual travel that can show any place on planet Earth. Virtual travel is one of the most spectacular and available ways visualizations that exist today. Virtual travel allows you to take fascinating virtual excursions and creates the complete illusion of presence in the viewer. The main advantage of virtual travel is the saving of time both on the part of the travel customer (excursions to ecological reserves) and on the part of the user (the “virtual” tourist). The virtual trip serves as an interactive guide for the user-client, and for the customer, the tour owner, serves as a demonstration of specially protected areas. A virtual trip is a certain combination of virtual tours (cylindrical with a viewing angle of 360 degrees), while the transition from one to another is carried out through active zones (they are called anchor points) placed directly on the images, as well as taking into account the tour plan. The virtual journey can be accompanied by additional audio files. Using a mouse or keyboard, the user can view the space around him at 360º, zoom in and out of objects and objects, examine details or study the general plan. Unlike video shooting, the user does not depend on the movement of the camera; movement in space is completely under control. Thanks to virtual reality, the user makes a real journey, moving from one panorama to another. For better orientation of visitors to the virtual journey, there is an interactive map with a radar showing the viewing direction and viewing angle. Virtual travel is ideal for

3 3 trips to specially protected natural areas, excursions to cities and museums. Virtual tours are based on panoramic photographs that feature interactive viewing. When viewing a regular photo, the user sees only what is shown to him and cannot control the viewing process in any way. Virtual travel allows you to practically “live” familiarize the user with the surrounding environment. To make a virtual trip convenient and informative, it is necessary to assemble it from many elements: hot spot (hotspot transitions between tours); button and control panel; interactive list of tours and thumbnails; virtual travel map and radar; pop-up windows with text, video; sound accompaniment. The term “hot spot” (derived from the English hotspot) refers to an image, text or travel area. When you hover over a hotspot, a tooltip appears, and clicking it will load the corresponding virtual tour or open a pop-up window. The terms “button” and “control panel” mean the main element of virtual travel control. The button can display text graphic image in jpg, bmp, gif, png or swf file format. You can assign several values to the buttons at the same time, if they do not contradict each other, and use the following values: panorama movement control (turn on/off rotation, zoom in/out, reset, etc.); switching between panoramas; enable/disable full screen mode; enable/disable soundtrack; opening/closing a pop-up window; By “interactive list of tours and miniatures” we mean a list that includes the names of all virtual trips. It allows you to quickly find and open any panorama included in the virtual journey. Thumbnails are the same list, only in the form of photographs. A “virtual travel map” is understood as a map that makes it easier to navigate in the space of digital reality. Hot spots located on the map have an additional function - radar. A "radar" is a colored zone orbiting a hot spot. It indicates the direction that currently corresponds to the image in the virtual journey. This is an important element that allows you to make your virtual trip more informative. A pop-up window that appears when you hover your mouse over the virtual tour icon allows you to make your virtual trip more informative. The placement of information takes place without compromising the viewing of the tour itself, since after loading the pop-up windows are hidden from the user and appear only after it is activated. An Mp3 file with audio can be used as soundtrack

4 4 a description of the shooting location, a pleasant melody or sounds of natural and artificial origin. You can also assign your own melody for each hot spot included in the virtual tour. It will be played after pressing the corresponding button. The advantage of virtual travel: the effect of presence and detail of the visual object; the ability to post additional information and tips directly on the journey; increased attractiveness and originality compared to photography and accompanying explanation in the form of text; 1.2 Scope of virtual travel Today, ordinary photography or video filming cannot present the surrounding space as fully and attractively as a virtual travel will. This modern tool truly works wonders, completely immersing the user in the atmosphere of the interior or landscape. The user controls the space himself: he can look around 360 degrees, look in any direction up to the floor or ceiling pattern, pay more attention to the details, zooming in at his discretion and turning at the desired angle. The range of applications of virtual travel technology is extremely wide. A virtual walk is most effective in the following areas: hotel and tourism business; catering business; landscape design; leisure and entertainment business; business in the field of trade; municipal institutions; auto business; sports and health sector. Hospitality business (hotel complexes, hotels, motels, hostels, estates). After walking through the virtual interiors of a hotel or hotel, the future client will visually evaluate the number of rooms and choose a decent apartment to his liking directly on the hotel’s website. In the field of tourism, virtual travel will allow you to preview your future vacation destination, visit protected areas and specially protected natural landscape sites. Restaurant business (restaurants, cafes, banquet halls, bars, coffee shops). The choice of a place for a comfortable pastime, anniversaries, weddings, corporate celebrations and other significant events in people’s lives only secondarily depends on the chef’s skill in preparing delicious food and caring staff. At the first stage, when a client uses the Internet to choose a place for leisure among dozens of others, it is extremely important for him to look at the ambiance and design of the establishment. A virtual trip will be ideal here, which will present and highlight the advantages of a particular establishment in all its glory! Interior design for landscape design, such technology will allow you to clearly carry out the presentation.

5 5 Leisure and entertainment business (entertainment complexes, cinemas, theaters, nightclubs, billiard rooms, bowling centers). With the help of virtual travel you can visit the best museums in the world, theaters, and exhibitions. Business in the field of trade (shops, shopping centers, boutiques, antique shops, retail). Municipal institutions - Business in the field of medicine (general medical centers, dental clinics, pharmacies). Business in the field of education (higher educational institutions, secondary educational institutions, institutions additional education, private kindergartens). Automotive business (car showrooms, dealerships, car rental). Sports and health sector (fitness clubs, gyms, swimming pools, stadiums, spas, beauty salons, tanning studios, sports and fitness complexes). Virtual travel has firmly entered modern life. The technology for creating and choosing software for a virtual trip is described in the following paragraphs. 1.3 Technology and tools for creating virtual trips The process of creating virtual trips can be divided into four stages: photographing the object; processing of received images; stitching panoramic photographs, creating a virtual tour and editing a virtual journey. The first stage of creating virtual tours is choosing photographic equipment, photographing the object. Main aspects when choosing photographic equipment: SLR camera with interchangeable lens; fisheye lens; tripod with panoramic head. To obtain high-quality panoramas with minimal distortion, you should adhere to a number of rules: the camera is installed in such a way that, at the selected aperture, all frames in the series are in focus; a set of stitched images must be taken in such a way that the seams of the future spherical panorama are in fairly uniform places; For all pictures, it is imperative to synchronize the camera in the horizontal and vertical planes; camera alignment is carried out using levels; The angles of circular rotation of the camera should be equal to 120, which is adjusted by the turn signal scale. During the second stage, the resulting photographs are processed using graphic editors, for example Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Photoscape. Graphic editors allow you to perform color and light correction and level the horizon angle. At the third stage, photographs are combined from the selected material using special computer programs for example Autopano Giga, Panorama Factory, Hugin.

6 6 Thanks to this program, photographs are combined into one panel. The fourth stage consists of the final creation of a virtual tour by arranging panoramic photographs into one interactive journey. Programs for creating virtual trips are called virtual tour builders, for example Kolor Panotour Pro, Krpan, Pano2QTVR free. The virtual journey is assembled from virtual tours based on panoramic photographs. Each virtual tour is connected to the next one using smooth transitions by creating so-called active zones in them, which have the function of transitioning from one tour to another. Virtual travel is a modern technology that is open to everyone. Thanks to modern technologies the user is able to make immersive tourist excursions without leaving home. This is especially important for those users who do not have the opportunity to visit this place in real life. 2. Software analysis Virtual trips are created using specialized software: graphic editor; program for creating panoramas; program for creating a virtual excursion. 2.1 Programs for photo processing In real practice, the following are used for image processing: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom; Adobe Photoshop; Photoscape; GIMP; Picasa and others. Graphic editors allow you to perform color and light correction and level the horizon angle. As part of the study, three specialized programs for photo processing were selected. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a graphic program for working with digital photographs. A feature of the program is “non-destructive editing”, in which the original image file remains unchanged, and all image editing operations are carried out on automatically generated working “version” files. extensible architecture; local brush settings; support for multiple monitors; advanced organizational tools; enhanced output sharpness; 64-bit support Windows systems and Mac os. Adobe Photoshop is a multifunctional graphics editor developed and

7 7 distributed by Adobe Systems. Mainly works with raster images, but has some vector tools. The product is the market leader in commercial raster image editing tools, and the most famous product from Adobe. wide palette of colors; creating three-dimensional objects and editing properties; working with masks; quick canvas rotation; auto-leveling of layers; scaling based on image content; automatic image overlay; editing animation graphics; processing images in RAW format; integration with other Adobe software. Photoscape free program, which is very similar in its functions to the Adobe Photoshop graphic editor. The possibilities of this graphic editor allow you to fully process photos. The program is capable of converting files in RAW format. resize photos by reducing, enlarging and stretching; adjust brightness, sharpness, color contrast; use “filter”, “auto level”, “auto contrast”; choose a frame and shape for the image; insert text; add picture to picture; crop image(crop); remove red eye effect and mole effect. Thus, a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the considered graphic editors is presented in Table 1. Table 1 Characteristics of graphic editors for photo processing Program name Program cost (December 2013) Batch editing Application plugins for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom $ yes yes Adobe Photoshop $ yes yes Photoscape free no no The programs reviewed have similar basic functions - a Russian-language interface and the presence of presets (pre-created settings for photographs). If you need to process a photo pixel-by-pixel, down to the smallest detail, you need Photoshop. If you have a large number of photos that do not require changing the composition, you need Lightroom. In this case, processing in Lightroom will take much less time, and the result will be better.

8 8 2.2 Programs for creating panoramas In real practice, the following are used for stitching panoramic photographs: Autopano Giga; Panorama Factory; Hugin; Panorama Maker; PhotoFit Harmony, etc. Thanks to these programs, photographs are combined into one pane. As part of the study, three specialized programs for photo processing were selected. Autopano Giga is a program for fast semi-automatic creation of panoramas, virtual tours and gigapixel images from selected photos. This program independently determines the boundaries of photographs and places them next to each other in such a way that the junction becomes invisible. The program contains color correction tools that help ensure a uniform color scheme throughout the entire panorama. In addition, you can eliminate the shortcomings associated with different shutter speeds. The program works with images in HDR format and is fast. automatic stitching and search of images; color correction; smartblend technology to remove ghost effect; export to Flash, creation of virtual tours; easy to use interface; full support HDR stitching; support for multiple file formats; support for multiple processors; multilingual interface. Panorama Factory is a program for creating panoramic images from a set of digital photographs. The program corrects forced distortions by the lens and creates cylindrical or spherical projections of the image. automatic detection of camera rotations and tilts; easy rotation of imported images; automatic and manual editing; reads and writes in bmp, jpeg, tiff and png formats; automatic image alignment with manual correction. Hugin is a free cross-platform program that allows you not only to automate the process of stitching panoramic photos, but also to manually set parameters or change them. It is possible to use automatic exposure reduction in the program, which gives a more believable image compared to traditional methods as a display of tones of HDR images after compression dynamic range for viewing on a regular monitor. works on Windows and Mac Os;

9 9 automatically stitches photos; works with jpeg, tiff and png formats. Thus, a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the considered programs for stitching panoramic photos is in Table 2. Table 2 Characteristics of programs for stitching panoramic photos Cost Automatic and Intuitive inter- Name Russian-language interface (December program manual stitching panoramic program 2013) Autopano Giga yes yes yes Panorama Factory yes no no $79.95 Hugin no (automatic only) no no free The programs reviewed have similar basic functions - color correction of panoramic photos and export to Flash, creation of virtual tours. The most convenient and functional program for stitching panoramic photos is Autopano Giga as it has: several modes for stitching panoramas; simple and convenient interface; color correction of finished panoramic photographs. 2.3 Programs for creating virtual trips In real practice, the following are used to create virtual trips: Kolor Panotour Pro; Krpan; Pano2QTVR free; freedexpano; JATC, etc. Thanks to these programs, the final creation of a virtual trip is carried out. As part of the study, three specialized programs were selected to create a virtual excursion. Kolor Panotour Pro is a program for creating interactive virtual trips from digital photographs. You can create an interactive tour in a few clicks using the intuitive program interface in Russian. The program supports most image file formats. You can create a virtual trip by simply dragging the hotspot from image to image, after which links are created automatically. export to Flash, creation of virtual tours; adding and creating interactions between images of any size (up to 360 x 180); choice graphic theme simple or 2D and 3D, choose colors for them;

10 10 intuitive interface; creating and adding your own themes; adding highlights and transition effects; a large number of navigation methods and mouse zooming; interactive maps in a virtual tour with the addition of GPS data/coordinates, radar; Krpano is a set of flexible and high-performance tools for viewing all types of panoramic images and virtual journeys. Flash and HTML5 formats are available to the user. The program allows you to play panoramas in browsers in streaming mode with remote servers(online) or from local drives (offline). Krpano offers many unique features - a customizable fisheye effect for a more realistic view with a wide viewing angle, support for very large panoramas, the creation of guided virtual tours, and the ability to create your own plugins. work in Flash and HTML5; high performance and high quality display; intuitive interface; various formats of panoramic images; supported formats jpeg files, tiff, psd; multi-resolution - uploading very large images; 3d projections. Pano2QTVR free - allows you to create cylindrical and cubic panoramas with auto-rotate function and background music. The program also includes HTML templates for Quicktime, PTViewer, DevalVR and SPi-V. You can add your own templates for other “viewers” or edit existing ones. work in Flash and HTML5; various formats of panoramic images; customizable interface; create and add your own themes. To determine the popularity of programs for creating virtual trips, a survey was conducted in one of the groups social network VKontakte “Spherical 360 panoramas and virtual tours” (Respondents were asked the question, “Which program do users give greater preference when creating virtual trips?” The following programs were presented to choose from: Pano2VR; Kolor Panotour Pro; Pixtra TourMaster; KRPano; Tourweaver Pro. Voting lasted from October 20, 2013 to November 12, 2013. During this time, 44 people took part in the survey. Of them: Pano2VR was chosen by 12 people. The same number of users chose Pixtra TourMaster. Pixtra TourMaster was chosen by 16 people, Tourweaver Pro was chosen by 2 people.

11 Pano2VR Kolor Panotour Pro Pixtra TourMaster Pixtra TourMaster Tourweaver Pro Fig 1. Survey results in quantitative terms Tourweaver Pro 4% Pano2VR 27% KRPano 37% Pixtra TourMaster 4% Kolor Panotour Pro 28% Fig 2. Survey results in percentage terms At the last stage of creation virtual travel, you need to switch to virtual travel builder programs. Thus, a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the considered programs for creating virtual excursions is in Table 3.

12 12 Name of the program Table 3 Characteristics of programs - virtual travel builders Cost Creation Russian-language intercom- Intuitive- Adding a radar (December program of an individual theme face interface 2013) Panotour Pro yes yes yes yes Krpano yes yes yes no Pano2QTVR free no no no free no U The programs reviewed have similar basic functions - adding hotspot transitions and exporting to Flash. Based on the survey results and comparative analysis, the Panotour Pro program was selected for this study. 3. Technological features of creating virtual trips In order to create a virtual trip, you will need specialized technical equipment and software: a camera with a fish-eye lens and a tripod with a panoramic head; graphics editor; program for creating panoramic photographs; program for creating a virtual trip. At the first stage of creating a virtual trip, the footage is loaded into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Fig.3. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom workspace 1. File => import photo => select the path to the photo => import.

13 13 2. After importing a photo into the program, the user is taken to the Library work area. To start processing the photo, you need to go to the Correction (Develop) tab: Option I. On the work panel, go to the Detail section => select the Sharpness and Noise Reduction option. Option II. Main section => Appearance => Clarity and Vibrancy. 3. To straighten the photo horizontally, go to the Crop tools (R) => select the Straighten option. 4. The last step is to save the processed photo on your computer's hard drive. File => Export => Export location => select (save path => Select folder) => Export. At the second stage of creating a virtual trip, we switch to Kolor Autopano Giga, which stitches the photos into a panorama. Rice. 4. Kolor Autopano Giga work area 1. File => select an image (path to the desired photos) => open. 2. After this, the photos appear in the work field => press the group parameters button to set the parameters of the future panorama => OK. Click on the "Create/Abort" button and the panorama will automatically begin stitching. 3. In order to process the resulting panorama, you must click on the “Edit” button. After clicking, the corresponding window opens. Now you need to edit the horizon, make color and light correction. 4. Save File => save the workspace (save the project). 5. After saving, close the panorama editing window and start batch assembly. 6. Click on the “Assemble panorama” button (set the necessary panorama parameters, select the saving path) => Apply => Assemble.

14 14 The last stage of creating a virtual trip is to assemble all the panoramic photographs into one virtual trip. Rice. 5. Kolor Panotour Pro work area 1. To do this, you need to go to Kolor Panotour Pro. Import panoramic photos: File => add panorama (select path => open). Panoramas are loaded into the program work area. 2. Go to the “Project Properties” work area, select a template for the future trip. The templates, which are already available in the program by default, make it possible to decide which navigation elements will be present, as well as choose their design, customize the color and labels. 3. To create a virtual trip, you need to combine several virtual tours, arranged in hot spots. To do this, in the “editor” panel active points» add hotspots to selected panoramic photos. After that, go to the “Property of hot spots” and combine the selected panoramic photos into a virtual trip. 4. Save. Click on the create tour as button (select save path => OK)

15 15 Conclusion Today, computers can offer a new world by creating the illusion of everything that a person knows, touches and feels. The combination of the words “virtual travel” symbolizes the emergence of a new standard in the field of tourism. The ultimate goal of “virtual tourism” is to provide the opportunity to feel, see, travel, study, an object that is nothing more than a perfect imitation. There are many difficulties along the way of creating a virtual trip. From the selection of technical equipment and software to theoretical aspect when working with software that includes not a single program: a graphic editor; program for creating panoramic photographs; program for creating a virtual trip. The social significance of virtual travel lies in the availability of information for all segments of the population. Not every user can visit a particular object in real life, and thanks to virtual travel this becomes possible. Virtual travel has its own characteristics and advantages: bright graphics and modern effects set the desired emotional background in the visitor’s attitude towards the brand; high density and duration of contact. Visitors perceive the excursion/tour as a pleasant game-walk; the use of corporate identity and brand elements in the design of the tour strengthens recognition; moving away from a tabular textual presentation of materials to a visual presentation sets an association with reality and arouses interest. Thus, the penetration of virtual travel into all spheres of life of a modern person becomes final and irrevocable, so one should actively use those forms that have a positive impact in tourism and spiritual terms.

16 List of sources used 1. Gulyaev V.G. New information technologies in tourism. - M.: "Prior Publishing House", p. 2. Zaitseva M.A., Dorofeev S.Yu., Koshevoy S.E. Visual-interactive technology for integrating CAD and GIS // Microsoft technologies in the theory and practice of programming: Sat. Proceedings VII All-Russian. scientific-practical conf. students, graduate students and young scientists. - Tomsk: TPU Publishing House, C Zaitseva M.A., Dorofeev S.Yu. CADGIS Integrator - a comprehensive technology for integrating CAD and GIS // Student and scientific and technical progress. Information Technology: Mater. XLVIII Int. scientific student conf. - Novosibirsk: NSU, S. Zaitseva M.A., Koshevoy S.E., Lysak A.P. Technology of data exchange between GIS and CAD CADGIS Integrator // Modern equipment and technologies: Sat. mater. XVI International scientific-practical conf. students, graduate students and young scientists. -Tomsk: Publishing house TPU, C Overview of the GML format URL: (date of access:) 6. Scientific electronic library CyberLeninka: [Electronic resource] URL: (date of access:) 7. Journal "ComputerPress": [Electronic resource] URL: (Date access) 8. How to create a panorama: [Electronic resource] URL: (Date of access) 16

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Technology has changed our lives greatly in recent years. In particular, new travel opportunities have emerged. Now people are offered to go on a tour without leaving their home. Scientists are creating virtual tours that can replace real travel.

Barcelona-based company Omnipresenz invites people to explore the far reaches of our planet through camera-equipped avatars. Additionally, #GetTeleported, developed by VFX studio Framestore and Marriott Hotels, offers the ultimate immersive virtual travel experience. Her system is equipped with an Oculus Rift virtual reality helmet, which creates a 4D effect. In 213, these projects were able to raise more than $1.159 million and will therefore soon be able to offer their services to a global user.

The creators of these projects were inspired by the ideas of science fiction films in their work. “The idea of Omnipresenz was born from illusions that demonstrated real travel into the future. We have seen this many times in movies and on TV,” Omnipresenz executive director Carlos Soro Sanzo told Metro.

The possibility of virtual travel causes skepticism among experienced travelers. Steve Burgess, a journalist who writes frequently about his travels around the world, told Metro that traveling without travel “destroys the whole point of the act – it's like fruit juices with little to no real fruit in them. If I want to disappear from reality for just an hour, I can always use TV or the Internet. A real journey is always connected with the exploration of new lands, a world unknown to you. To do this, you need to interact with people, not programs.”

But the creators of new technologies for virtual tourism do not set themselves the goal of finding an alternative to real travel. They hope to create an add-on that will encourage people to travel even more. “We think our Omnipresenz technology will bring back people's desire to experience new cultures. I am confident that after experiencing various places virtually, people will want to see them in person,” said Soro Senzo.

Burges shares the idea that virtual tours are only an add-on for travelers because they can never replace the experience of getting to know a place in person. “Virtual travel can be a great way to have fun and relax, but it can never replace reality,” says the Canadian writer.

In addition to inspiring people to go on real expeditions, technologies like Omnipresenz have other purposes. They can give people with limited physical or financial capabilities the opportunity to go places they would never go. “One of the goals of Omnipresenz is to enable people with disabilities to travel. They will be able to share their experience with other people, look with their own eyes at those places that seem infinitely distant to them. We create a unique new channel communication,” said Soro Senso.

While discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of virtual travel continue, the first testers talk about what they experienced. They are truly satisfied with the new experience. “It was incredible,” said Marte Ruhl, Omnipresenz’s first tester. I would really like to share this experience with my friends or partner.”

- Tell us about your journey with Omnipresenz?

This is a unique experience: a feeling of freedom and the possibility of transformation. I mean, I ended up in a place I never expected to be and could influence what was happening on the other side of the screen.

- Did you really feel like you were in a different place and space?

Yes, I felt that I was in a different place, not only in a geographical sense. I was ready for adventurous travel. Besides exploring a new place, I got in touch with new people and made fun connections.

- Can you compare a virtual trip with Omnipresenz and a regular trip?

This experience was something new for me. Yes, it can be called a journey, but it is a specific journey where you can experiment, talk to people and see their unusual reactions. It's like traveling with a mask while you continue with your household duties. On the other hand, the relationship with avatars is quite strange; some decisions are made suddenly, after a conversation and mutual sympathy... It was a really interesting experience.

- What actions can be performed during a virtual trip?

I especially remember the moment when I ran as my avatar to the Catalan Palace in Barcelona, scattering pigeons. At that moment, all the people looked at me as if I was crazy - it was amazing. And then I went to a group of cool girls, they were very nice, and I gave a rose to one of them. [laughter]

Metro presents a selection of companies that offer virtual travel

Virtual reality test

British travel agency Thomas Cook offers its clients a virtual tour using a 3D helmet. Its advantages are a wide field of view and low image latency. The helmet, combined with a newly developed application, will allow you to project all the user’s movements into the created new reality, and audio accompaniment and even aromas will allow you to immerse yourself in the new environment as much as possible.

Virtual travel app

This app, created by Czech company Panoramas, shows different places around the world using imaging technology - 360-degree virtual tours that are created using GPS. A virtual tour is a special photograph that shows the area in a maximum viewing angle of 360 x 180 degrees. The application is available for iPad, iPhone, Android 4+, BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8.

Journey to the Moon

Google's Moon is an app similar to Google Earth, but shows the landscape of the Earth's satellite. The application was launched back in 2009, when the 40th anniversary of the 11th Apollo landing was celebrated. Google's first version of the Moon included only satellite images with a fairly low image resolution. IN latest version Map programs have been improved, and a 3D effect has been added.

#GetTeleported

The innovative program, created with the support of Marriott Hotels, offers virtual travel Teleporter. The company has created a phone booth-like device that recreates images from popular science fiction books and films. Teleporter is equipped with an augmented reality helmet, wireless headphones and special touch sensors.

Since ancient times, humanity has dreamed of moving in space. With the advent of computer technology, this possibility has become a reality thanks to virtual excursions that can show any place on planet Earth.

A virtual tour is one of the most spectacular and accessible visualization methods that exist today. Virtual excursions allow you to take fascinating virtual excursions and create a complete illusion of presence for the viewer.

The main advantage of a virtual excursion is the saving of time both on the part of the travel customer (excursions to ecological reserves) and on the part of the user (the “virtual” tourist). The virtual excursion serves as an interactive guide for the user-client, and for the customer - the owner of the tour - it functions as a demonstration of specially protected areas.

A virtual tour is a certain combination of virtual tours (cylindrical with a viewing angle of 360 degrees), while the transition from one to another is carried out through active zones (they are called anchor points) placed directly on the images, as well as taking into account the tour plan. The virtual tour can be accompanied by additional audio files.

Using a mouse or keyboard, the user can view the space around him at 360º, zoom in and out of objects and objects, examine details or study the general plan. Unlike video shooting, the user does not depend on the movement of the camera; movement in space is completely under control.

Thanks to virtual reality, the user makes a real journey, moving from one panorama to another. For better orientation of visitors to the virtual tour, there is an interactive map with a “radar” showing the viewing direction and viewing angle. A virtual tour is ideal for traveling to specially protected natural areas, city tours and museums.

Virtual tours are based on panoramic photographs that feature interactive viewing. When viewing a regular photo, the user sees only what is shown to him and cannot control the viewing process in any way.

Virtual excursions allow you to practically “live” familiarize the user with the surrounding environment.

To make a virtual tour convenient and informative, you need to assemble it from many elements:

hot spot (hotspot transitions between tours);

button and control panel;

interactive list of tours and thumbnails;

virtual travel map and radar;

pop-up windows with text, video;

sound accompaniment.

The term “hot spot” (derived from the English hotspot) refers to an image, text or travel area. When you hover over a hotspot, a tooltip appears, and clicking it will load the corresponding virtual tour or open a pop-up window.

The terms “button” and “control panel” mean the main element of virtual travel control. The button can contain text, a graphic image in jpg, bmp, gif, png or swf file format. You can assign several values to buttons at the same time, if they do not contradict each other, and use the following values:

panorama motion control (turn on/off rotation, zoom in/out, reset, etc.);

switching between panoramas;

enable/disable full screen mode;

enable/disable sound;

opening/closing a pop-up window;

By “interactive list of tours and miniatures” we mean a list that includes the names of all virtual trips. It allows you to quickly find and open any panorama included in the virtual tour. Thumbnails are the same list, only in the form of photographs.

A “virtual excursion map” is understood as a map that makes it easier to navigate in the space of digital reality. Hot spots located on the map have an additional function - radar. A "radar" is a colored zone orbiting a hot spot. It indicates the direction that currently corresponds to the image in the virtual tour. This is an important element that allows you to make a virtual tour more informative.

A pop-up window that appears when you hover your mouse over the virtual tour icon allows you to make the virtual tour more informative. The placement of information takes place without compromising the viewing of the tour itself, since after loading the pop-up windows are hidden from the user and appear only after it is activated.

An Mp3 file with an audio description of the shooting location, a pleasant melody or sounds of natural and artificial origin can be used as soundtrack. You can also assign your own melody for each hot spot included in the virtual tour. It will be played after pressing the corresponding button.

Advantages of a virtual tour:

the effect of presence and detail of a visual object;

the ability to post additional information and tips directly on the trip;

increased attractiveness and originality compared to photography and accompanying explanation in the form of text;

2. Panoramic excursion.

Virtual tours are one of the most effective and convincing ways of presenting information at the moment, since they allow you to make exciting virtual excursions and create a complete illusion of presence for the viewer. The fact is that, unlike a video or a regular series of photographs, a virtual tour is interactive. So, during a trip, you can zoom in or out of an object, look around, examine individual interior details in detail, view a panorama from afar, look up and down, move closer to or away from a selected point, move through active zones from one panorama to another, for example, to walk around separate rooms, etc. And all this can be done at the right pace and in a manner convenient for a particular viewer. In this way, you can, for example, walk around the entire house from the inside and even inspect it from the outside, or take a virtual trip to an exotic island without leaving your own apartment.

With the help of virtual tours, you can clearly demonstrate to the viewer the appearance of an office, exhibition and store, show them inside and outside houses or cars for sale, familiarize them with the interior design of a restaurant, hotel or fitness club, present the main attractions of a tourist trip, allow them to wander through the halls of museums and exhibitions, etc. However, the technology for creating virtual tours has received the greatest recognition in the real estate industry - today it is widely used by the world's leading real estate companies, such as Century21, ColdwellBanker, Rubloff, Winkworth, Corcorans, etc. Russian realtors are no exception - the pioneer in the use of virtual tours in Russia was real estate portal Home Seekers.

What is meant by a virtual tour?

A virtual tour is a combination of panoramic photographs (spherical or cylindrical), when the transition from one panorama to another is carried out through active zones (they are called anchor points or transition points) placed directly on the images, as well as taking into account the tour plan. All this can be supplemented with foreground sound and background music, and, if necessary, with ordinary photographs, videos, flash videos, tour plans, explanations, contact information, etc.

Advantages of using virtual tours

For the seller, the main advantages of virtual tours can be considered the following:

attracting interest in the company, increasing its prestige, and therefore acquiring new clients, since virtual tours today arouse interest among the majority of visitors, increase the number of possible clients and increase the company’s income;

reducing the time between creating a tour and introducing the buyer to it. In the traditional type of business, booklets are used to familiarize the buyer with the proposed objects, but a lot of time passes from the moment the booklet is created until it ends up in the hands of a potential buyer.

Another thing is a virtual tour, which becomes available to millions of Internet users almost immediately after its creation;

the possibility of using the same tours in a variety of ways - on the Internet, even on different servers, and in the form of CD presentations that can be demonstrated at the client’s office, at an exhibition, etc. All this allows you to expand your audience reach;

simplicity and efficiency of posting new, updating and replacing old virtual tours, which guarantees the relevance of the information provided.

The process of creating virtual panoramas can be divided into three stages: photographing the object, processing the resulting images and the final assembly of the virtual tour.

The first stage of creating virtual tours is shooting the object, which is a very labor-intensive and extremely important process, since the quality of the panorama will directly depend on its results. To obtain high-quality panoramas with minimal distortion, you should adhere to a number of rules:

a set of stitched images must be taken in such a way that the seams of the future spherical panorama are located in fairly monochromatic places (for example, on monolithic walls in the case of real estate objects);

the tripod head must be equipped with levels that are designed for strict positioning of the camera in space;

For all three shots, it is imperative to synchronize the camera in the horizontal and vertical planes - camera alignment is carried out using levels;

The camera's circular rotation angles should be 120°, which is adjusted by the turn signal scale.

Photo panoramas are created from several specially prepared overlapping photographs using special programs that stitch the pictures into a single panorama, removing the distortions that always arise. There are quite a lot of such stitching programs offered today, and each program uses a special technology for stitching images and its own format for the created panoramas, and the stitching itself can be done in automatic, manual or mixed mode. You can view photo panoramas using special browsers, and you need to select the latter based on the format of the panoramic file. Many types of photo panoramas can also be viewed in an Internet browser, but only if there is support for a Java applet or by installing a special plugin.

Virtual tours are assembled from pre-created photo panoramas in other specialized applications - tour builders. In most cases, the program for developing virtual tours is focused on its own panoramic file format (although sometimes it is possible to import panoramas from other formats), so in practice the tour builder is used together with a stitcher from one manufacturer. Individual photo panoramas are connected with each other by smooth transitions due to the allocation of active zones on them (special areas on photo panoramas), which are not only responsible for moving from one panorama to another, but are also used to display additional information about objects. Active zone technology allows you to focus on individual parts of the panorama - on interior details, on new products in shopping centers, on interesting sights, on specific exhibition stands, as well as on any other information that needs to be drawn to the attention of a virtual visitor. In addition, it is possible to include interactive floor plans and navigators in the virtual tour, allowing users to determine their “location”. The tour can be viewed according to a plan, by transition points, or automatically in accordance with the plan defined when creating the project. Virtual tours, like photo panoramas, can be viewed both in an Internet browser and in specialized virtual tour browsers specific to each tour builder.

Did you know that you can travel without leaving your home, without leaving your workplace? And all you need is your computer and Internet access. Just recently we could not imagine that this was possible. Of course, it’s better to see new cities and continents with your own eyes, walk the streets, listen to the pronunciation of local residents, try national dishes, and wander through museums. But this is not always possible. This is where virtual travel can help us. 10 services for virtual travel

In addition, not all interesting places on our planet are accessible for travel. The underwater world or the top of an Icelandic waterfall. A walk into the stratosphere. Fly low over the rooftops of Paris in real time. All this seems impossible. But virtual tours, maps and satellite communications give us the opportunity to participate in these tempting adventures.

Let's see how technology has advanced over the past few years. We offer you an overview best programs and services for virtual travel. Decide for yourself where to go, but don’t limit yourself. There are more possibilities than meets the eye.

Panoramas 360cities.net

360cities.net shows us the world in 360 degrees. These are magnificent detailed panoramas. Tens of thousands of photographs, very detailed images from all corners of our planet. By the way, not only ours. There is data from the Mars rover, so we will be able to visit Space, look around on another planet.

You can walk around London, turn your head in all directions at the top of Nepal. Any of your wishes is possible, the virtual trip is fast and free. In some images the resolution is so high that you can see people's faces in the windows of houses. Maybe you'll spot yourself somewhere?

Google Photo Tours

Until recently, GoogleStreetView captivated travelers. Now this won’t surprise anyone, but Google came up with something more interesting. Photo tours allow you to take a walk through the most interesting places on the Planet. For example, walk through the Taj Mahal or climb the Eiffel Tower. Paris, London, Dubai are waiting for you right there.

There are non-standard tours for lovers of protected areas. For example, the Wieliczka salt mine, the climb to the Chichen Itza pyramid (Mexico). Explore all the tours, there are unexpected offers. Even going underwater.

Do you want to ride around Russia? Then you should go to RusMap.net, which also uses Google services. This way you can easily plan your actual trip by examining the upcoming route in advance. Then your actual trip will be easier, more enjoyable and less unpredictable. Especially if you're going to a big city with a confusing street system.

Google Street View app

Let’s not forget about the good old “Street View”, which even fits on your phone. The application is available for Android and iPhone.

By the way, it is not necessary to use it only in an emergency situation when someone is lost. Are you taking the subway? Distract yourself from the panoramas of other cities, walk around the center, turn into small side streets. Venice, Paris, Barcelona, Europe and Asia are all at the touch of a button.

Such walks can last as long as desired. Or, just remind yourself of your summer vacation by running once again along the familiar street of your favorite city.

Panoramas Yandex

Yandex is not lagging behind Google. From a bird's eye view you can admire the cities of Russia. For example, St. Petersburg is well represented. Here is Palace Square in all its details, a walk along Nevsky. You can even take a ride along the canals if you want. By the way, these maps are more visual. You can view the map and panorama at the same time.

Please note that Yandex is developing successfully. It’s not just Russia, but almost the whole world. Try all the possibilities for quick travel or planning your trip.

Air Pano

Air Pano is an amazing and ingenious project. It was not easy to implement it, but the team managed it 100%. And this is not the limit. Everything is realized thanks to spherical aerial panoramas.

Everything you need to be seen filmed in high resolution, - here the company showed its best side. Very detailed, thoughtful photographs. You rotate the panorama, viewing the smallest details of a geographic feature.

How is this done? Everything that flies can be equipped with a camera. Balloons, planes, drones... Different angles, different visions of the same objects. This produces a spherical panorama. And you can scroll it with your mouse as many times as you like.

This is how they filmed the northern lights, glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes, tropical islands and mountain peaks. It is difficult to get here on foot, but by air it is quite accessible. So, you have an excellent opportunity to be curious about what is happening on the Bromo volcano or the island of Java.

Many panoramas are provided not only with names of objects, but also with descriptions. So it's also educational.

Youtube 360 video files

Another interesting service to add to our portfolio is 360-degree video. So we swam around Venice, for example. The boat slowly floats past the Doge's Palace, goes around the Venetian Lagoon, and glides along the route. Look for such videos on Youtube, Air Pano.

Video travel on Vimeo

With the help of slow motion you can create real miracles. You can easily verify this if you use this service.

Vimeo.com has hundreds of interesting video compilation. With their help, you can get the necessary dose of inspiration to plan a new trip. Real, of course. All the most romantic, interesting, distant, mysterious corners of our planet with slow-motion mode. There is the Golden Gate Bridge, Norwegian sunsets and northern lights, the golden pagodas of Myanmar. Don't miss updates as they regularly add to the vimeo.com collection.

Virtual museums

We have already written about world-class museums that you can visit without leaving your home.

Google global project. The idea is great: to unite all museums, large galleries, exhibition centers in global network. From anywhere in the world you can travel through the halls and see the exhibitions of the most interesting cultural and scientific centers in the world.

Already more than 60 objects around the globe have taken part in the project. Another global project Art Project.

Google has tens of thousands of paintings and works of art in its database. The key here is detail. You can see every stroke of the famous painting. For example, “Starry Night” by Van Gogh. We bet, even if you see it with your own eyes, you won’t be able to examine it in such detail, or get closer to it the way you want?

All the most interesting museums in the world want to take part in the project. Today you can take free virtual tours of the Louvre, Acropolis, British Museum, and Doge's Palace.

Webcam on the ISS

Now even more interesting! We can go into space. The ISS also has cameras that broadcast everything that happens in outer space. Who knows what we might even notice there. Broadcast always online, so you'll always be up to date with the latest news from orbit.

Things happen slowly, but sometimes that's the way to watch our blue planet. There are interruptions in communication, but, you know, this is already interplanetary technology. The most interesting thing is the astronauts going into outer space. Of course, you don’t see this every day, but such video broadcasts will be a pleasant surprise.

Webcams around the world

To see what's happening right now in the Maldives, New York or a nearby city, just find the nearest webcam. Now they are everywhere.

Earthcam.com has a huge collection of webcams from around the world.

On the website a-russia.ru you can admire the corners of Crimea and Russia. Plus many more places around the world.

On the slopes of mountains and the most famous highways, in the center of world capitals, on islands of any seas. It is very comfortable. Don't believe in the weather forecast? See for yourself how things are going right now at your final destination. Traveling becomes easier, preparation for travel moves to new level. It often takes some effort to find a camera with a good signal, but it's worth it.

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