Dr Stephen Evans the University Web Manager at the University
of St Andrews has just written a great blog post on
the
virtual tours supplied by FullVisual:
The University of St Andrews has added a number of interactive
360 degree virtual tours
(view
these at http://www.st-
andrews.ac.uk/visiting/Virtualtours/)
throughout the website. The tours give visitors to the website
the opportunity to explore
different
parts of the University from the comfort of their PC. There
are four types of tours that have
been
taken:
- Outside locations e.g. St Salvator’s Quad
- Internal locations that are used for graduation, conferences
and weddings e.g. Younger
Hall, St
Salvator’s Chapel, Lower College Hall
- Rooms within halls of residence
- Locations within Schools e.g. a clean room with the School
of Physics and Astronomy
The tours give a unique insight into locations that are
normally restricted to the general
public so
this help visitors, such as prospective students, decide
whether to book a venue or rent
accommodation. Parents have particularly appreciated the
ability to see the venues for
graduation.
The high quality tours were taken by FullVisual, a company
based in Edinburgh. Their very
reasonable cost has enabled us to commission tours of bedrooms
and kitchens from each of
the
University halls of residence. Compared to conventionally
commissioned 2D photography,
the
virtual tours are very cost effective, especially when you
consider that each tour is
comprised of
over 100 photos!
The tours on the University website are currently in Quicktime
movie format. The website
will be
updated in the near future with tours in Flash, which is more
universally supported by web
browsers and provides a better user experience e.g. controls
are overlaid on the screen to
allow
the user to zoom in and out of the tour.
So, if you want to give visitors to your website a unique view
of your university, I would
highly
recommend the friendly staff at FullVisual!
It was a great pleasure to work with St Andrews University.
Over the next few months more
virtual
tours will appear on the University website. We will keep you
posted on any updates.
FullVisual