“Some Account of an Extraordinary Traveller”: Using Virtual Tours to Access Remote Heritage Sites of Inuit Cultural Knowledge
The use of panoramic images to transport viewers to remote geographic locations can be traced back to the panorama theatres of nineteenth-century Victorian London. More recently, Google’s World Wonders Project has utilized 360-degree panospheres to capture some of the world’s most famous heritage si...
| Published in: | Études Inuit Studies |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
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Consortium Erudit
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/etudinuit/2018-v42-n1-etudinuit04860/1064503ar.pdf https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/etudinuit/2018-v42-n1-etudinuit04860/1064503ar.pdf https://doi.org/10.7202/1064503ar https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/etudinuit/2018-v42-n1-etudinuit04860/1064503ar/ https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2975790188 https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1064503ar |
| Summary: | The use of panoramic images to transport viewers to remote geographic locations can be traced back to the panorama theatres of nineteenth-century Victorian London. More recently, Google’s World Wonders Project has utilized 360-degree panospheres to capture some of the world’s most famous heritage sites. Using arrows that demarcate a defined path of movement, users can virtually tour these sites by “jumping” from one panosphere to the next. Arvia’juaq National Historic site is located near the community of Arviat. Although the heritage value of the site is highly significant, Arvia’juaq sees few national and international visitors because of its remote location. For a variety of reasons, some local Inuit also find it difficult to regularly visit the site even though it is an important source of cultural identity. In this paper, we explore how panospheres can be used to create interactive virtual tours of heritage sites like Arvia’juaq. Although there are some caveats, we argue that virtual reality (VR) tours are potentially powerful tools for connecting people to heritage sites that might otherwise be inaccessible. This has important implications for raising awareness of polar heritage and its significance to Indigenous people, as well as national and international audiences. L’utilisation d’images panoramiques pour transporter les téléspectateurs dans des emplacements géographiques éloignés remonte aux théâtres panoramiques de Londres victorienne du XIXe siècle. Plus récemment, le projet World Wonders de Google a utilisé des panosphéros à 360 degrés pour capturer certains des sites patrimoniaux les plus célèbres du monde. En utilisant des flèches qui délimitent un chemin de déplacement défini, les utilisateurs peuvent virtuellement visiter ces sites en « sautant » d’une panosphère à l’autre. Le lieu historique national Arvia’juaq est situé près de la communauté d’Arviat. Bien que la valeur patrimoniale du site soit très significative, Arvia’juaq voit peu de visiteurs nationaux et internationaux en raison de ... |
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