Today we are excited to announce the official launch of UA’s new virtual campus tour on UA.edu. Certainly 360-degree tours have been around a while, but we feel this tour differentiates itself from traditional smaller Quicktime-based 360-degree movies in a number of ways, and injects new life into the format by creating a pretty impressive experience for users.
This tour utilizes high-quality 360-degree photography in an immersive and interactive Flash-based environment to showcase our beautiful campus, and allows visitors to see campus as if they were actually here. Visitors can navigate through various key locations on campus, and click, drag and zoom around each photo to explore each location. They also have the opportunity to learn more about each location and the programs and opportunities that each location represents.
Our intent for this tour was to build something to capture the beauty of our campus, but to do so in a way that is student-centered and that showcases the wide range of academic and social opportunities at UA. We have attempted to capture the Alabama experience by creating photos that “feel” like UA.
This new tour is a key new piece for us that will enable us to showcase our campus, recruit students, and appeal to all of our audiences. We’ll be aggressively promoting it throughout UA.edu and other areas, and feel free to find opportunities to do so in your work as well. Thanks to all who helped produce it, and please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.
- UA Virtual Campus Tour – http://tour.ua.edu/virtual/
By the way, the vendor we worked with on this project is Virtually Anywhere, http://www.virtually-anywhere.com/. Kudos to Carrington Weems and his team for helping us put together a first-class tour!
