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Winnipeg VR – Explore The City Immersively

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Winnipeg VR

Explore The City Virtually
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By BSD Marketing

Over the past several months we have been working on a 360-degree video experience with the  Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce  called  Winnipeg VR. This experience takes you to multiple different businesses including some well known, and some new businesses that show our diverse business ecosystem here in the prairies

In the App

When we initially approached the chamber to talk about the potential technology we had very loose guidelines on how we needed to produce this application. We wanted to give them creative freedom over whom to include, as long as they had a good role to play in the application.

The Technology

We shot the content using a couple different cameras. All of the content is in  360-degree photos and video. The cameras we used were:

  • Ricoh Theta S – Great for shooting large areas quickly, like the CN Rail Training Facility
  • Samsung Gear 360 (2017) – This camera we actually got later on, it shoots great photos and uses HDR. We used this for our outside locations like with the Blue Bombers.

The application was developed for Google Cardboard and is released on the iTunes store and the Google Play Store. We also built an Oculus Rift version to showcase at events with the chamber. This early demo video shows the application running within Unity3D.

The idea is to expand this technology to enable any business access to this for marketing and tourism.

360-Degree Content

  • Supported
  • Android Smartphones
  • Apple iPhone
  • Apple iPad
  • Unsupported
  • Android Tablets

VR Content

  • Supported
  • Android Smartphone (with accelerometer & gyroscope)
  • Apple iPhone 5 and Up
  • Unsupported
  • Android Smartphone (without accelerometer & gyro)
  • Apple iPhone 4S and older

VR Viewer

  • Supported
  • Google Cardboard
  • Plastic Cardboard Compatible Devices
  • Unsupported
  • Oculus Rift
  • HTC Vive
  • Gear VR
  • Daydream VR

Tourism-Focused VR Application

We are currently working on future plans for the technology. For now, the  Winnipeg VR application  is a good example of businesses coming together and utilizing technology to build something of cultural significance.

Eventually, we would like to turn this into a framework for creating tourism-focused VR applications. There are limitations to 360 videos and photos, but until better technology like  photogrammetry  becomes more accessible. We don’t want to create something the average user can not handle.

FAQ

commonly asked questions

Photoshoots take roughly 30 – 45 minutes depending on your location and how prepared you are.

The content generated for the app currently is owned by you, this may change in the future as the app evolves but current content will not be repurposed for future applications. 

Unfortunately, no. The content is specific to the application. However, if you wish to schedule a 360 content shoot for other purposes, you can contact us at info@bitspacedevelopment.com 

No. The Winnipeg VR app is accessible through most smartphones without a VR viewer. 

Bit Space Development charges a one-time $100 fee for the photo shoots for the Winnipeg VR application. This price does not reflect our standard photo shoot price. It is a special price for Winnipeg VR participants. 

The Chamber of Commerce handles all billing information. BSD does not store or use this data at all. 

The application does not store any personal data, and participation in the app does not put you on any mailing lists.

Downloads

You can download the app onto your smartphone, you do require a Google Cardboard enabled VR HMD  to operate.

Eventually, we would like to turn this into a framework for creating tourism focused VR applications. There are limitations to 360 videos and photos, but until better technology like photogrammetry becomes more accessible. We don’t want to create something the average user can not handle.

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Any member of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce can have their business featured in Winnipeg VR. Contact the Chamber for more information
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