http://www.immersivemedia.com/haiti/map/index.html
Use your mouse to click and drag around the video to change the view. You can also zoom in and out.
The video below was shot on Sunday, January 17, at 3:53 p.m. EST in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/haiti.360/index.2.html
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/haiti.360/index.html
New videos are being loaded @ www.immersivemedia.com each day. Here is the latest.
“All of us at Immersive Media are terribly saddened by the events of January 12th and want to do whatever we can to help improve the immediate and long-term situation in Haiti,” said Myles McGovern, president and CEO of Immersive Media. “As previous natural disasters have shown, detailed imagery and assessments of the affected areas are critical to relief efforts and future planning. Since many of the first responders and government organizations are not on-site in Haiti, these 360-degree videos give them an unprecedented view of the devastation from the ground level.”
Not long after the images started coming to all of us around the world from earthquake-ravaged Haiti, I started getting questions from readers, friends, and family about getting a 360° video camera down to Haiti to document the destruction and the relief efforts that we all want to help with in some way. My new coproducer at SlopeViews, James Hay, and I talked late into the night on strategies on getting to Haiti with our camera, but word came that a team was already on its way.
Today, CNN posted 360° video from that team on the ground that was shot on Sunday and Monday in Port-au-Prince. One video is very Google-Street-View-like, but it's in video. Shot from a vehicle traveling through the city, the viewer can clearly see that everything is not destroyed, but those buildings that did fall, collapsed completely. Last time, I complain about building permits.
The second video that I've embedded above is a walking tour of one of the city's parks where thousands now make their home. This new paradigm of virtual tourism allows the viewer to go inside the experience, but this is not intended as voyueristic. None of us has been able to look away from the images that have come from this disaster, nor should we. We need to this heartache to empathize and be compelled give as much as we can to the rescue and relief efforts.
Please Donate Again and Again to Help with Recovery Efforts
I have been looking forward to CNN's first use of 360° video for years now. I just wish it didn't have to be for something like this. My sources tell me that this is combined effort from several organizations and that services have been donated from all.
The thing I notice in this video is how relatively calm and normal everything seems. Perhaps, this will contribute to a reduction of the security requirements for relief workers that have slowed the flow of aid in recent days.
I have to wonder...Would we Americans do nearly as well given our anarchal fetishes and proclivity toward gun justice if we found ourselves in the same position?
To the Haitian people and anyone in the earthquake zone, please hold onto hope. The whole world is watching and stands with you.
To learn more about the technology and to see the latest videos as they come in from the field click here
If you have a project, idea, or application for 360 degree video, talk to us at www.SlopeViews.com
Here is this morning's press release from Immersive Media:
Media advisory: Immersive Media makes available 360-degree, geo-coded web videos of Haiti to help relief agencies, first responders, government departments and news organizations
Full-motion, interactive videos of earthquake devastation provide detailed views to aid emergency planning and response efforts
CALGARY, Jan. 22 /CNW/ - Immersive Media Corp. (TSXV: IMC www.immersivemedia.com) the world leader in 360-degree, interactive video, today announced the availability of 360-degree, interactive, online video footage of the earthquake devastation in Haiti free of charge to relief agencies, government departments and news-gathering organizations involved in the ongoing recovery efforts. The interactive videos can be seen at www.immersivemedia.com. The website shows an initial sampling of location sites in Port-au-Prince, with new video being captured and made available on an ongoing basis in the weeks ahead.
Immersive Media cameras capture 100 million pixels at 30 frames per second for high-resolution detail. Due to the number of agencies expected to access video over low-speed connections, the video quality has been optimized for lower-bandwidth web viewing. The video can be freely embedded into other websites and also be shared via Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
High-resolution, 360-degree video footage of the destruction in Haiti is also available upon request via the Immersive Media website.
The videos place viewers in the middle of an environment, giving them full control over what they see in a scene. With a simple click and drag of a computer mouse, online viewers can look sideways, up, down or all around in 360-degrees, while also pausing or zooming in and out. Each frame of the video is geo-coded, which will enable the planners and operations teams to pinpoint exact locations for relief, recovery and rebuilding operations. The video footage can be integrated with ESRI and other standard mapping applications.
Capturing and making the videos available has been a team effort, involving Immersive Media and IMTS (www.imtacticalsolutions.com), an Immersive Media Authorized Agent that specializes in working with military and special operations teams. The DRC Group (www.drcusa.com) and Integrated Electronic Technologies have been handling logistics, transportation, operations and government relations.
IMTS has significant experience in gathering surveillance video data for military, law enforcement and security applications. It has captured 360-degree video data in Iraq and elsewhere for advanced monitoring, protection and response. The 360-degree videos help operations teams identify risks and threats, monitor hostile environments from afar, and maximize the safety and understanding of their operations.
"All of us at Immersive Media are terribly saddened by the events of January 12th and want to do whatever we can to help improve the immediate and long-term situation in Haiti," said Myles McGovern, president and CEO of Immersive Media. "As previous natural disasters have shown, detailed imagery and assessments of the affected areas are critical to relief efforts and future planning. Since many of the first responders and government organizations are not on-site in Haiti, these 360-degree videos give them an unprecedented view of the devastation from the ground level."
About Immersive Media Corp.
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Immersive Media Corp. is the pioneer and leading provider of 360-degree, full-motion, interactive video experiences. Its one-of-a-kind geodesic camera and full production services - including rental equipment, training, filming, post-production and distribution options - create high-resolution, immersive video for a variety of uses. From mapping and exploration to monitoring and surveillance to branding and entertainment, Immersive Media customers and agents produce the deepest, most engaging video experiences possible.
Immersive Media is a publicly traded company that is listed under the symbol "IMC" on the TSX Venture Exchange. For more information, please visit www.immersivemedia.com.
(C) 2010 Immersive Media Corp. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
%SEDAR: 00021691E
For further information: David G. Anderson, Investor Relations, Tel: (866) 333-8817; Larry Logan, Media Relations, Tel: (503) 863-2940, llogan@immersivemedia.com
