VRWAY RELEASES AROUNDER ROME
by Michelle Bienias
Arounder Rome will soon launch with 19 stunning panoramas of the ‘Eternal City’: throw a virtual coin into the Trevi Fountain; glimpse the Vatican from St. Peter’s Square; take in Marcus Agrippa's Pantheon dedicated to “all the gods”; imagine the gladiator fights, mock naval battles and wild animal hunts at the Coliseum; and view the center of ancient Roman life at the Forum, as seen from the Capitoline Hill. If you’re planning a trip to Rome in the near future, Arounder Rome/Roma offers you a chance to scout out the sites ahead of time. And if you have no near-term plans to visit Rome, here is your chance to check out why Rome remains one of the top destinations for travelers across the globe.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 Arounder Roma homepage, click the ‘City Tour’ link and you will be redirected to a page with thumbnail links to the following panoramas: 1. Roman Forum
2. Coliseum by night
3. Coliseum by night with olive tree
4. Vittorio Emanuele II Bridge
5. Santa Maria Maggiore Square
6. San Giovanni in Laterano Square
7. The Mouth of Truth
8. Jewish Ghetto
9. Portico d’Ottavia
10. Piazza del Popolo Obelisc
11. Piazza di Spagna
12. Quirinale Square
13. Lungotevere Vaticano
14. Sant’angelo Bridge
15. Trevi Fountain
16. Trevi Fountain (another view)
17. San Paolo Fuori le Mura
18. Pantheon
19. St. Peter’s Square Related Articles:
- Arounder Lugano
- Arounder Milan
| 
