Interactive aerial video map showcases Slovakia’s Biela Orava region

The VR map will have educational function and promote domestic tourism as well

Biela Orava region in Slovakia has prepared an interactive 360-degree video map that allows the region to be observed from a bird's eye view, TASR newswire learned from Andrea Farkašová, media manager of CBS publishing house which is behind the project. The video map is intended to serve promotional and educational purposes, as it will be made available to the region’s municipalities, towns, educational institutions and tourism facilities.

"Since the current coronavirus situation does not allow us to visit the most beautiful regions of Slovakia, we decided to create a 360-degree video map of the Biela Orava region. It will help to make the region’s landmarks visible through virtual reality and thus support domestic tourism, which will need a lot of visitors after the lockdown," said pilot and aerial photographer Milan Paprčka.   

Flying over the landscape  

Peter Sloboda, one of the project’s creators, explained that the video map presents information about individual municipalities in the context of the entire region, capturing, for example, not only a village, but also its location in the surrounding countryside. In this way, the spectator -visitor can assess the possibilities of the region as a whole and receive information about other destinations for summer or winter tourism.

According to Farkašová, virtual reality technology using a 360-degree camera allows the viewer to practically fly over the scene. "The video map can be viewed on a computer, smartphone or tablet. VR glasses provide the greatest “flight experience”. By putting them on, one gets the feeling that they are on the belly of an airplane, enjoying the beauty of the region from the point of view of birds. Thanks to the interactivity of this technology, viewers can direct the flight over Biela Orava all by themselves,” concluded Farkašová.