Virtual Touring (idea)
Virtual tours allow people to look around places without being there.
Fictional graphic adventure games like Myst or Riven might come to mind, but this is based on the real world.
The user interface connects geographically related images of real places. Navigation is achieved by clicking the mouse pointer on active parts within the images.
Clicking on different sections of a scene allows changing directions, or simulating movement along various paths, or both.
If the concept is interesting, take a look. It's not hard to search for and find virtual tours. There are also some less personal approaches to virtual touring (MS, Google, etc.).
However, taking a few well-thought pictures and making simple links between them is approachable for anyone with a digital camera, a computer, and a little programming skill.
It's virtual touring for the masses.
I remember, around 1990, I met a fellow walking trails in Torbay, in Devon, England. It became evident we both worked with "computer stuff". I mentioned to him I'd seen nice interactive virtual tours of the area. We were both about equally surprised-- he told me he had been involved with the photography and production of those tours. It's a small world.
Some examples are available at XXX*http://tor-bay.com/tour/index.htm|virtual tours in and around Torbay in Southwest England. They were done by a company called XXX*http://www.halien.net/about.htm|Halien.
* Update 11/11/10: I was re-checking the off site linke and noticed AVG was giving a warning, so I've bogged the links to there. If they fix that I can put them back.