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Press Releases20040706 |
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July 6, 2004 Berkeley, California, USA World Heritage - A World Wide PanoramaFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Landis Bennett UNESCO World Heritage Sites are the Focus of World Wide Panorama Project -- Photographers Document Locations with Interactive Panoramic Photos Berkeley, California -- July 6, 2004 -- An international group of photographers has photographed over 60 official UNESCO World Heritage sites and another 11 nominated sites using the latest interactive photography techniques to increase awareness of these international treasures. <http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp604/>. The World Wide Panorama (WWP) project organized over one-hundred photographers in 32 countries to focus their cameras on the UNESCO sites during the solstice 19-21 June 2004. Their 360-degree QuickTime™ panoramas offer a modern interactive glimpse into some of the world's most ancient and precious sites from Japan's Himeji Castle (17th century) to the Greek Church of Panaghia Chalkeon (11th Century). "The inspiration for this panorama project comes from photographer Tito Dupret and his mission to document all the UNESCO World Heritage sites," <http://www.world-heritage-tour.org> said Landis Bennett one of the project organizers, "The photographers have used the power of images -- 360 panoramas -- to help the world better understand and protect our natural and cultural heritage," he added. The UNESCO World Heritage site lists over 788 properties and continues to grow, so World Wide Panorama project photographers have only touched on a small fraction of the total sites. As Dupret continues his worldwide adventure to photograph all the World Heritage sites, the additional coverage provided by the World Wide Panorama Project will increase awareness of the sites. Dupret's mission was recently featured in the June issue of the US-based magazine "Condé Nast Traveler". In March 2004, the highly successful first World Wide Panorama project <http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp304/> involved more than 180 photographers to capture a panoramic moment in time, the Equinox, as it was experienced in some 40 countries. The World Wide Panorama was sponsored by the Geography Computing Facility, University of California Berkeley. It is hosted as part of the Geo-Images Project, directed by Don Bain, who has photographed over 4000 panoramas worldwide, and is author of "Don Bain's Virtual Guidebooks" <http://www.VirtualGuidebooks.com> and Landis Bennett, a cartographer and photographer <http://www.360geographics.com>. Bain and Bennett are both board members of the The International QuickTime VR Assocation (IQTVRA) <http://www.iqtvra.org> a not-for-profit group dedicated to promoting applications of photo VR technologies (360-degree panoramas and object movies) in commerce, education, and digital imaging. -30- |
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