2. VIRTUAL REALITY
The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from
the definitions for both ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. The
definition of ‘virtual’ is near and reality is what we
experience as human beings.
So the term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-
reality’. This could, of course, mean anything but it
usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.
3. SO WHAT IS VIRTUAL REALITY ?
Answering "what is virtual reality"
in technical terms is straight-
forward. Virtual reality is the term
used to describe a three-
dimensional, computer generated
environment which can be
explored and interacted with by a
person. That person becomes
part of this virtual world or is
immersed within this environment
and whilst there, is able to
manipulate objects or perform a
series of actions.
4. MULTI-SENSORY EXPERIENCE
They are aided by various
sensory stimuli such as
sound, video and images which
form part of most virtual
reality environments. But
many newer environments
include touch or force
feedback through a haptic
device such as a ‘data glove’
which further enhances the
experience.
5. VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
Many people who work with
virtual reality prefer to use the
term ‘virtual environments’
instead. This is a response to a
perceived negativity to this
technology which has often
turned out to be true.
6. There are people who view virtual reality with
little enthusiasm and dismiss it as ‘science
fiction’, seeing it as having no practical
application in the real world.
7. VARIETY OF USES
Architecture
Sport
Medicine
The Arts
Entertainment
8. FEATURES OF VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS
There are many different types of virtual reality systems
but they all share the same characteristics such as the
ability to allow the person to view three-dimensional
images. These images appear life-sized to the person.
9. FEATURES OF VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS
Plus they change as the person moves around their
environment which corresponds with the change in their
field of vision. The aim is for a seamless join between
the person’s head and eye movements and the
appropriate response, e.g. change in perception. This
ensures that the virtual environment is both realistic
and enjoyable.
A virtual environment should provide the appropriate
responses – in real time- as the person explores their
surroundings.
10. FEATURES OF VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS
The person becomes aware that they are in an
artificial environment and adjusts their behaviour
accordingly which results in a stilted, mechanical
form of interaction.
The aim is for a natural, free-flowing form of
interaction which will result in a memorable
experience.
The problems arise when there is a delay between
the person’s actions and system response or latency
which then disrupts their experience.
11. WHAT IS VIRTUAL TOUR ?
Virtual tourism, the activity of "visiting" sites of interest over
the Internet without having to physically travel to them, can
take on many forms. An early form of virtual tourism presents
the user with a slideshow or video which explores a limited
area, for example, a museum.
12. Some museums offer a 3D graphical interface that allows
one to explore the attraction site using simple directional
camera controls. Most of these early efforts met with
limited success and didn't really take off for various
reasons, among them the limited ability to immerse the
user in a believable environment.
13. VIRTUAL TOURISM
Virtual tourism, the activity of "visiting" sites of interest
over the Internet without having to physically travel to
them, can take on many forms. An early form of virtual
tourism presents the user with a slideshow or video
which explores a limited area, for example, a museum.
Some museums offer a 3D graphical interface that
allows one to explore the attraction site using simple
directional camera controls. Most of these early efforts
met with limited success and didn't really take off for
various reasons, among them the limited ability to
immerse the user in a believable environment.
14. VIRTUAL TOURISM
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
has caused immense revolution in tourism industry
leading to the new generation of sightseeing called
“Virtual Tourism” (VT). In this way, different aspects of
impact on the development of VT, introduced as the
success key factors. These aspects consist of an exclusive
combination of ICT and Tourism.
15. HISTORICAL PROCESS OF VIRTUAL TOURISM
One of the first users of a
Virtual Tour was Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II, when she
officially opened the visitor
centre in June 1994.
Because the Queen's officials
had requested
titles, descriptions and
instructions of all activities, the
system was named and
describes as: "Virtual
Tour, being a cross between
Virtual Reality and Royal Tour."
16. VT is a non-physical form of tourism that emerges in 3D
world to integrate computing systems and human
attitudes towards virtual and unreal travel. And also VT
utilizes the natural attractions to those who are unable to
travel physically but intend to experience different places.
17. Although the opportunities that VT offers the tourism
sector are quite significant, many questions and
challenges remain regarding VT's future roles in tourism.
For instance, even though VT technology will continue to
evolve, it is difficult to predict the level of advancement
that the future technologies will offer.
18. Second Life
Internet-based location is Linden Lab's Second Life . In the online world of
Second Life, people may buy virtual property, make virtual goods that can be
sold for real money. In what turned out to be one of the first of many such
activities, the Dresden Museum decided to place its Old Masters collection
online; every item in the collection was reproduced digitally, and placed in the
Second Life universe for anyone to see.
19. There has been an increasing
trend of tourism organizations
sponsoring virtual sites inside
worlds like Second Life, which
faithfully reproduce a real-life
location.
Thus it allows users to embark
on a virtual tour of, say, the
fabled Chichen Itza from the
comfort of their homes.
While the primary goal of
endeavors like these is to
promote tourism, they offer a
quick getaway to those too
busy to visit these exotic
locations themselves.
20. VIRTUAL TOURISM AND WILDLIFE
As a new era of Internet and
broadcasting technologies
emerge, the possibility of
minimal impact mass tourism
is nearing a reality. Through
the use of powerful web
servers, streaming
video, broadcast-quality
cameras, video
compression, and satellite
communications, it is
increasingly possible to bring
live wildlife images to huge
numbers of virtual tourists.
21. Whereas in the past wildlife footage has been exclusively the
domain of professional production companies, today’s
latest, relatively inexpensive technologies allow almost anyone to
package and deliver live or edited wildlife footage to viewers
around the world.
Traditionally, broadcast companies and production firms gain
access to wildlife for free through national parks
authorities, conservation site managers, or wildlife researchers.
Though production costs are high, risks considerable, and
margins thin, they make money through wide
distribution, sales, and advertising.
22. A FOR-PROFIT VENTURE
One of the most popular sources for virtual wildlife
tourism has been AfriCam, a for-profit South African
Internet and broadcasting company. It used all forms of
wildlife content delivery to try to turn a profit. Despite
early signs of success, it has recently suspended its web
cam and streaming video services because they were
not financially sustainable.
23. AfriCam’s initial set-up was impressive. Free web cams of
wildlife from over twenty locations attracted online shoppers
and advertisers. Due to its early start in wildlife viewing on the
Internet, it attracted a huge visitor base. At one
time AfriCam boasted over 30 million visitors to its site per
month and accounted for 48 percent of all of South Africa’ s
Internet traffic, all this with very little promotion
24. CAN WILDLIFE WEB CAMS GENERATE MONEY?
So far, most virtual wildlife
tourism on the web has been
free. Though virtual tourists
do not appear willing to pay
for unedited wildlife
footage, they may be willing
to pay for edited highlights.
After all, cable television
subscribers pay for wildlife
programs.
25. REAL AND VIRTUAL MUSEUM
According to the definition of the International Council ofMuseums
(ICOM) about museums: “A museum is a
nonprofitmaking, permanent institution in the service of societyand
of its development, and open to the public, which
acquires,conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for
purposesof study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of
people and their environment.”
Virtual museum enjoy the samefunctions of
acquisition, storage, documentation, research, exhibitionand
communication as the ‘brick and mortar’ museums as set out by the
above definition. They can, in addition, actin a complementary and
auxiliary manner.
A virtual museumwebsite can provide worldwide publicity. Research
has revealed that 70% of people visiting a museum website would
subsequentlybe more likely to go and visit the ‘real’ museum
[69].Museum curators can digitally preserve the artifacts of their
collections.
26. The effective safeguarding of cultural artifacts can beachieved
through the use of technological advances, by meansof the
comparison of different images across time to monitor their
conservation.
Furthermore, they provide the means tocreate digital
representations of cultural artifacts and databasetechnologies
with which multimedia information about the virtualmuseum
artifacts can be stored and retrieved whenever isneeded. The
digitized information can be re-used in a variety of ways, for
different purposes and probably even by other
culturalinstitutions.
27. GIGAPAN
Gigapans are gigapixel panoramas, digital images with
billions of pixels. They are huge panoramas with
fascinating detail, all captured in the context of a single
brilliant photo.
Phenomenally large, yet remarkably crisp and
vivid, gigapans are available to be explored at
GigaPan.com. Zoom in and discover the detail of over
50,000 panoramas from around the world.
28. A NEW DIMENSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
GigaPan gives experienced and novice photographers
the technology to create high-resolution panorama
images more easily than ever before, and the resulting
GigaPan images offer viewers a new, unique perspective
on the world.
GigaPan offers the first solution for shooting, viewing
and exploring high-resolution panoramic images in a
single system: EPIC series of robotic camera mounts
capture photos using almost any digital camera; GigaPan
Stitch Software automatically combines the thousands
of images taken into a single image; and GigaPan.com
enables the unique mega-high resolution viewing
experience.
29. VIRTUAL TOURIST
VirtualTourist is a worldwide travel community where
real travelers and locals share real travel advice and
experiences.
As one of the largest sources of unbiased, user-
generated travel content in the world, VirtualTourist is
the premier resource for travelers seeking an insider's
perspective. Real travel tips, reviews and photos from
real people who have actually been there and done
that; and this is what makes the travel content on
VirtualTourist so useful.
30. On VirtualTourist, tips and reviews are organized by
destination and everywhere in between-and then into
13 separate categories, like Hotels, Things to Do, Local
Customs, Shopping, Tourist Traps and more. This makes
it easy for members to contribute content and for other
users to find it.
31. IN TO THE AMAZON
Doug and his team lived on a boat and in the Rainforest in the
heart of Amazonia. Now we can follow these thirty men and
share in their experiences
When you register for the Into the Amazon Expedition Virtual
Tour, you will enjoy exclusive access to seven online video
episodes. At the conclusion of each video episode, listen to a
follow-up discussion by Doug Phillips and other team
members as they recount exciting anecdotes from their
adventures and offer additional insights into each episode’s
mystery.
You will also enjoy photo galleries that feature some of the
best images shot during the trip, giving you an even better
picture of one of God's most singular creations, as well as
what life is like in modern-day Amazonia