Panoramas

They say the camera never lies. We say it lies every time, for the simple reason that no single-frame view of the world can ever come close to capturing our "wide-angle" experience of our surroundings. However, photographs are taken for granted as a means of visual communication.

Panoramas take them a step forward, by providing a "wide-angle" view of the world, closer to our own visual perception - at least, now, you can see what is to the left, right and behind, as well as in front, of the camera!

360-degree panoramas can be effectively presented in web browsers and subsequently they offer many possibilities for conveying information and experience:-

• Linked sequences of views, as with Somerset WAVE;
• Map overlays and links - see Meare Manor Hotel;
• Full 360 horizontal by 180 degree vertical views - see the Humber Bridge panorama;
• Used as a background to photomontage techniques, they are suitable for describing larger-scale changes with before/after images selected by the user - see the Humber Bridge panorama.
• Enhancement of site photography and presentation - for example they convey the context of the visual and cumulative impact assessments for Tansterne Power Station.

Project examples:

Humber Bridge - here today...

This is a rough and ready proof of concept - can you show significant changes using panoramas? Yes you can. Click and drag to move the view. When you can see a bridge or road, click 'No Transport'. Click 'Show Transport' to bring it back.

Meare Manor Hotel (virtual tour)

Somerset WAVE Visualisation

Somerset WAVE Visualisation

This a work-in-progress, so we can't show you the website or functional panoramas. What we can tell you is that this is the most exciting panoramic project we have yet been involved with.

Tansterne Power Station

Tansterne Power Station - Visual Impact

On the Tansterne project (see also Environmental Assessment), we used panoramic photography to directly show intervisibility of the power station.

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