Google’s old VR Tour Creator offered a great way to create virtual tours that could be viewed in your web browser and or in the Google Expeditions app. Unfortunately, Google shuttered both the those programs last year. Fortunately, there is an alternative available in the form of Expeditions Pro which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
360 imagery is the backbone of creating tours in Expeditions Pro. To start creating a tour you will need to capture your own 360 imagery or find some online that is Creative Commons-licensed or in the public domain.
Expeditions Pro lets you add 360 imagery and audio to each scene and point of interest in your tour. The audio has to be recorded outside of the Expeditions Pro and then uploaded to the scenes or points of interest. Any MP3 file will work in your tour. Vocaroo.com and TwistedWave.com are a couple of simple tools for creating an audio recording.
Completed tours can be shared publicly or privately. Your tours can be viewed in your web browser and in the Expeditions Pro app. The benefit of using it in the Expeditions Pro app is that you can guide your class or you can let students guide the class through the tour.
5 VR Creation Projects for Students
- Virtual reality tours based upon students’ favorite books. (On a similar note, VR to illustrate stories that students have written.)
- VR tours about places students study in geography / history lessons.
- VR tours to illustrate examples of math and science used in the design and construction of landmarks.
- VR tours to illustrate examples of types of landforms, rocks, waterways, and bodies of water.
- VR tours to illustrate examples of an animal’s natural habitat and range.
