Five Iranian virtual reality and augmented reality services have been employed to promote inbound tourism in recent years.
Mana, Takht-e Jamshid mixed reality; Iran Virtual Museum, Toghrol Tower Virtual Tourism Project; Seiro and Agira are five successful platforms developed with the support of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Isti.ir reported.
Mana is a project that reconstructs Persepolis using virtual reality and augmented reality, and is developed by Mahd Ertebat Gohar Aria, an Iranian knowledge-based company.
The platform allows users to visit virtual 3D version of the landmark structure using their smartphones, tablets and headsets.
Persepolis is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by southern Zagros mountains of Iran. Modern-day Shiraz is situated 60 kilometers (37 mi) southwest of the ruins of Persepolis. The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture.
UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Virtual reality and augmented reality are technological breakthroughs that stimulate reality perception, hence both have been applied to improve tourists’ experience
Iran Virtual Museum is developed by Paydar Miras Arka, another knowledge-based company. Developers have incorporated various technologies, including photogrammetry, laser scan, gigapixel photography, 3D printing, virtual reality and augmented reality to help promote virtual tourism and create an infrastructure for showcasing a virtual exhibition of artifacts and other historical objects kept in Iranian museums.
As per the figures, there are currently about 650 museums in Iran’s
Toghrol Tower Virtual Tourism Project, which help visitors get a realistic experience of visiting the monument and related artifacts. The platform employs various cutting-edge technologies to achieve its goals. Toghrol Tower is a 12th-century monument, located in the city of Rey, near Rashkan Castle. The 20-meter-tall (66 feet) brick tower is the tomb of Seljuk ruler Tughril who died in Rey in 1063.
Agira, a knowledge-based company hosted by Sharif University of Technology, has been working on various projects to support virtual tourism and develop the needed infrastructures. Seiro is reportedly the most notable project developed by the group, which is a virtual catalogue of Iran’s tourism attractions.
Virtual reality and augmented reality are technological breakthroughs that stimulate reality perception, hence both have been applied to improve tourists’ experience.
VR simulates real scenarios whereas AR focuses on enhancing physically-based reality perception through computer-generated sensory outputs. The former has advanced considerably thanks to computer technology’s fast-paced evolution, while AR has been greatly developed recently due to major advances in mobile equipment, including smartphones, tablets and wearable devices.
Virtual reality refers to interactive images or videos that enable the viewer to explore the entire 360 degrees of a scene. Unlike a regular image of video, which is shot from a fixed viewpoint, VR production captures every part of a location.
In the travel industry, virtual reality can be used to capture tourism destinations in a unique and immersive way. This is achieved using specialist cameras, rigs and software. The finished package can then be viewed on either a VR headset or a regular computer or mobile device.
According to a survey carried out in Germany by Statista, almost 50% of people would use VR as a tool for choosing their holiday destination (provided it was free) while 13% of those surveyed were willing to pay for VR.
Research carried out by Tourism Australia found that almost 20% of consumers had used VR to select a holiday destination. Around 25% of consumers said they planned to use VR in the future to help them decide on a holiday destination.
