For both economic and environmental reasons many families have opted for shorter jaunts in state. But what if you long to talk along the streets of Paris and just can't afford it?

 

As I blogged recently the field of immersive digital photography has been taking off. 360 Cities created a virtual reality software that allows the viewer to look up and down inside a photograph. And now Immersium, a French hi-def photography technology will give people the ability to virtually "walk" down a city street.

 

Paris has created a digital Champs-Elysees, perhaps the most famous and fabulous street for shopping in all of Europe, and just like 360Cities you can look up or down. But with the Immersium platforms, these individual speherical images have been knitted together so you can flow seamlessly down the street online.

 

You can "tele-transport" (as they call it now) via the Champs Elysees website, and take a leisurely stroll down the avenue. You'll miss out on the sounds and smells of the city, and for now no shopping privileges but that may change.

 

One could easily imagine adding a click to enter a specific store to check out the merchandise and buy online. Not a reality yet, but as fast as this technology is moving, we may start to see whole digital cities emerge. And unlike Second Life, it will look like the real thing.

 

via: Google News