Courtesy Mashable
From the early days of the modern Internet, the promise of virtual reality has captured the imagination of online denizens around the world. Being anywhere, anytime in an instant is a dream we’ve been chasing forever and trying to do just that from the comfort of your own desktop was woven into the DNA of the Internet since its inception.
But the concept of true virtual tourism, of being a voyeur into another part of the world through digital avenues, had a rocky start. The idea got its name in the mid-90s when England’s Dudley Castle was one of the first to host an online portal to host a 3D walkthrough experience of the castle. The Queen of England was scheduled for a visit, needed a description for her schedule of the day’s events and thus the phrase ‘virtual tourism’ was born.
Since then, virtual tours have gone through almost as many iterations and reinventions as VR itself, giving people around the world long-distance access to far-flung corners of the world. Here’s a look at where digital travel has been, where it is and where it might be going.
Where digital travel got its start
Sci-fi has toyed with the idea of virtual reality since the 1930s, most notably in “Pygmalion’s Spectacles,” a short story by Stanley G. Weinbaum which envisioned holograms viewed through goggles depicting fictional worlds. The ‘60s saw The Sword of Damocles, what is now known as the first virtual reality and augmented reality head-mounted display, bringing to life a fantasy from decades before. By the 1980s, virtual reality and, with it, virtual travel was firmly cemented into popular consciousness. VR pioneer and early Internet philosopher Jaron Lanier evangelized the term ‘virtual reality’ to mass audiences with the groundbreaking EyePhone and DataGlove.
The 90s were really into it
The mid-nineties were a pivotal time for virtual reality development, but few options were available commercially viable. Large-scale productions and experimental VR rooms existed but a rich at-home experience remained elusive. In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, which was panned by critics and largely seen as a commercial failure. Despite this, scientists continued to explore VR technology; researchers at Georgia Tech released a VR scenario of Vietnam in 1997 for use as a therapeutic treatment for PTSD in Vietnam veterans.
You are here
We’ve come a long way since the clunky, glitchy headsets of yore, but we’re still very much in the early days of true treks through virtual reality. Probably the most readily available instance of online-based virtual travel is the user-friendly Google Earth, which is famously rich with hidden easter eggs and tours of world-class sites. Most recently Google’s Cardboard is an easy and cheap way to get entry-level VR and functions like the viewfinders of our childhoods. But real honest-to-goodness virtual reality ways to experience travel destinations? So far, only two companies leading the arms race to bring VR to the homes of everyday people: Sony and Oculus. And they’re only just getting started.
The future is now
More and more, fringe VR technology is cropping up, like NASA and MIT’s Mars immersion that lets us go where only robots have gone before.
Unsurprisingly, travel destinations are leading the virtual tourism pack, allowing consumers to explore destinations before they’ve even booked a flight. Las Vegas is at the forefront of this virtual tourism evolution, sharing incredible 360 videos in curated travel guides across multiple platforms.
GeoVegas offers consumers making plans a highly-visual desktop experience, while the new Vegas, which made its consumer debut at the Mashable House at SXSW, allows those in the dreaming stage to take in the city’s sights and sounds through 360 video and virtual reality experiences on a mobile phone.
These forays into virtual tourism have already proved popular for the city of lights and, while it’s hard to predict exactly where this trend will go, we can say we’re looking forward to what’s next.