Arounder recently launched a new issue – Arounder Barcelona – with 20 panoramas of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Barcelona captured the world’s attention with the 1992 Olympics, but travelers visit today for its unparalleled architecture, boulevards full of people strolling on their evening walk, cozy restaurants serving tapas, noisy bars and the city’s historic love affair with art and the artists it has generated.
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Located on the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the shores of the Mediterranean, Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain in both size and population (1.5 million). It is also the country’s hippest town featuring the architecture of an eccentric genius named Gaudi, museums with collections by Picasso and Miró, and alive with vibrant, stylish and fun-loving people.
Visit Arounder Barcelona and tour the city: take in the Fundacio Joan Miro, one of Spain’s greatest artists; the famous Picasso Museum; Gaudi’s monumental yet unfinished cathedral Sagrada Familia; the historic Barri Gotic, Barcelona’s oldest quarter; and Gaudi’s spectacular Park Guell, among many others.
What is Arounder?
Arounder was conceived as a series of online magazines, each profiling a different city and the best that city has to offer with a series of 360-degree panoramas. It’s an online magazine that educates with immersive panoramas rather than heavy in-depth text … a picture speaks a thousand words, as they say.
Arounder was created by VRWAY Communication’s R&D company, webidentity dot com. The nucleus of the concept is the virtual tour – 360-degree photographic panoramas that the user pans left, right, up and down – a format many believe better than a standard photograph as it gives the viewer a better sense of being there, standing within the scene. Users may then click on hotspots within each panorama to move on to another pano, and thus take a virtual tour. Each panorama within the series highlights a historic point of interest within that city – such as cathedrals or old town squares, and places where a tourist would visit if physically in that city – museums, parks, local marketplaces and seaside promenades. But the panoramas also take you virtually where you could not travel physically and bring you a depth of detail often not available in person due to crowds and other restrictions.
Technology Neutral
Arounder launched in 2004 with the first in a series of issues - Arounder Lugano - and followed with the popular Arounder Milan. In early 2005, Arounder will release issues on Barcelona, Monaco, and Rome. Each issue contains many panoramas in a selection of formats – QuickTime Full Screen, QuickTime Medium and Java – so that both dial-up and high-speed Internet users can participate. Navigation is easy with Zoomify Flash maps of the city and surrounding area. Every issue also links to local merchants with virtual tours of hotels, restaurants and stores.
List of Panoramas
Once you reach the Arounder Barcelona homepage, either mouse-over the map to find your panorama of interest, or click the ‘City Tour’ link and you will be redirected to a page with thumbnail links to the following panoramas:
1. Anella Olimpica
2. Palau de la musica Catalana
3. Port Olimpic
4. Park Guell
5. Barri Gotic
6. Port Vell by night
7. Sagrada Familia
8. Casa Batllo
9. Casa Batllo Hall
10. Casa Mila – La Pedrera
11. Fundacio Joan Miro – drapery
12. Fundacio Joan Miro – sculpture
13. Passeig de Colom
14. Placa Reial
15. Tibidabo Sagrat Cor
16. Forum 2004 Installation
17. Museu Picasso
18. Tibidabo Parc de Collserola
19. Tibidabo – panoramic view
20. Place del Portal de la Pau, by night
Related Articles:
- Arounder Lugano
- Arounder Milan
