Chapter 6 • Managerial Support Systems 247FIGURE 6.7 CirclePix 360-Degree Virtual Tour of Family Room (Courtesy of CirclePix.com, LLC. Copyright © 2010 CirclePix.com, LLC)
An air conditioning/furnace manufacturer is using
VR to permit engineers to walk through an existing or pro-
posed product. By walking through a furnace, for example,
the engineer gets a perspective of the design from a com-
pletely different vantage point. The engineer starts think-
ing of all the ways in which the design could be improved
that were not obvious before. VR also allows the mock-up
of products long before physical prototypes are created.
This enables designers to get the real look and feel of the
product and even get feedback from focus groups. Imagine
sitting in the cab of a large farm combine before it is ever
built and getting an understanding of the line of sight
that the operator will have. Is the steering wheel blocking
important gauges? Where should the mirrors be placed?
VR is increasingly being used for marketing on the
Web. Interactive 3-D images of a company’s products and
services are beginning to appear on company Web sites; these
images provide a more comprehensive view of the product as
well as differentiate the Web site from those of competitors.
A very popular use of VR-like technology is the use of
“virtual tours” for the real estate industry, the travel and hos-
pitality industry, and educational institutions. On these virtual
tours, the user logs on the appropriate Web site and can expe-
rience a 360-degree view from a particular camera location. If
you are house hunting, you can get a 360-degree view of the
great room and the kitchen in a home for sale; if planning a
vacation, you can get a 360-degree view of the grounds and
the lobby of a resort hotel; if selecting a college, you can get a
360-degree look at key buildings on campus. CirclePix.com,
LLC, headquartered in Springville, Utah, is a leader in virtual
tour technology for the real estate industry. Figure 6.7 shows
a virtual-tour view of the family room of a home for sale in
California. By using the buttons at the bottom of the picture,
the user can turn a full 360 degrees, stop the movement, or
zoom in and out. At http://www.campustours.com,you can find
campus tours for most college campuses in the United States;
some of these tours incorporate 360-degree photographs.
Check out your college, and see if it has a 360-degree tour!