Virtual Reality Tour Research Articles

Factors That Influence Virtual Tourism Holistic Image: The Moderating Role of Sense of Presence

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically restricted domestic and foreign travel; thus, virtual tourism has become a new option for traveling. As regards virtual tourism, the present study seeks to investigate the effect of tourist involvement on the three components of holistic image, namely cognitive, affective, and conative images; the influence of cognitive, affective, and conative images on the construction of the holistic image; and the moderating effect of sense of presence on the relationships between cognitive, affective, and conative images on the holistic image. Prospective tourists were chosen as research subjects in the present study on non-immersive virtual reality (VR) tourism, or virtual tourism. Participants first watched the 360° VR tour video of AirPano. Afterward, they filled out an online questionnaire, of which 386 valid samples were collected for analyses. Results show that tourist involvement considerably affects cognitive, affective, and conative images, which significantly influence the holistic image. Furthermore, a sense of presence was found to positively moderate the relationships between (1) cognitive and holistic, (2) affective and holistic, and (3) conative and holistic images. These results may allow tourism marketing organizations to better understand how to strengthen the holistic image in the context of virtual tourism.

Fostering European citizenship skills to elementary school students through virtual tours and cultural heritage digital collections presented by an educational robot. The design of an educational digital game

Educational robotics is increasingly used in elementary schools. Teachers use robots to design interdisciplinary activities to promote digital and other skills. These activities are, often, designed as part of educational games. This paper presents the design of a digital game developed on the educational robot EI-EDUROBOT. The game contains multiple choice questions based on videos, digital stories and virtual reality tours. The main educational objective is to cultivate European citizenship and introduce children to the European Union.

The impact of the spread of covid-19 on marine tourism-based small businesses and suggested recovery plans

The purpose of this study is to find out the real impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on tourism-based small businesses in the island, as well as what recovery strategies that should be undertaken from the standpoint of company owners, including potential for leveraging digital business technology. This research was conducted using a quantitative descriptive method. Data collected using online questionnaires. 50 questionnaires distributed using non-probability sampling. The distribution of Covid-19 had a detrimental effect on the small companies who participated in this study. The greatest consequence is a decrease in revenues due to a decrease in demand for its products and services. As a result, firms downsized by reducing their business scale and laying off staff. Companies are beginning to employ technology to enter digital industries, such as joining online apps and selling more aggressively in e-markets. Virtual reality tour business opportunities can be tried to generate alternative income.

UAV-BASED 3D VIRTUAL TOUR CREATION

Abstract. Lately, improvements in game engines have increased the interest in virtual reality (VR) technologies, that engages users with an artificial environment, and have led to the adoption of VR systems to display geospatial data. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and thus the necessity to stay at home, VR tours became very popular. In this paper, we tried to create a three-dimensional (3D) virtual tour for Gebze Technical University (GTU) Southern Campus by transferring high-resolution unmanned air vehicle (UAV) data into a virtual domain. UAV data is preferred in various applications because of its high spatial resolution, low cost and fast processing time. In this application, the study area was captured from different modes and altitudes of UAV flights with a minimum ground sampling distance (GSD) of 2.18 cm using a 20 MP digital camera. The UAV data was processed in Structure from Motion (SfM) based photogrammetric evaluation software Agisoft Metashape and high-quality 3D textured mesh models were generated. Image orientation was completed using an optimal number of ground control points (GCPs), and the geometric accuracy was calculated as ±8 mm (~0.4 pixels). To create the VR tour, UAV-based mesh models were transferred into the Unity game engine and optimization processes were carried out by applying occlusion culling and space subdivision algorithms. To improve the visualization, 3D object models such as trees, lighting poles and arbours were positioned on VR. Finally, textual metadata about buildings and a player with a first-person camera were added for an informative VR experience.

Exploring Hong Kong Youth Culture via a Virtual Reality Tour

The advantages of employing virtual reality tours in teaching are attributed to the virtual reality experience it provides to the students. In the case of teaching popular culture, benefits from the potential of VR tour are amplified by the empirical significance that would lead to the students’ imagination and reflection. In addition, an online VR tour suggests a flexibility that allows students to learn anyplace anytime, satisfying the need for blended learning and distance learning, which is a very critical mode of teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article discusses the advantages and challenges of blending “virtual reality” into the teaching of popular culture, and, furthermore, the implications of VR in tertiary education are discussed by examining the research that is conducted through the application of a VR tour in the course: Hong Kong Popular Culture. Sixty-eight students participated in the course. After implementing the VR tour, a questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted. In addition, students wrote essays to reflect on the youth culture of contemporary Hong Kong after the explanation of the tour, and these were also examined. We observed the positive responses from the students and the way in which the VR tour could enhance the learning qualities in the course on cultural studies.

Virtual Reality Tour to Reduce Perioperative Anxiety in an Operating Setting Before Anesthesia: Randomized Clinical Trial.

BackgroundPerioperative anxiety is a major burden to patients undergoing surgeries with general anesthesia.ObjectiveThis study investigated whether a virtual operating room tour (VORT) before surgery can be used to ameliorate perioperative anxiety.MethodsWe employed a randomized parallel-group design with 2 study arms to compare VORT to the standard operation preparation procedure. The study included 84 patients. A validated inventory (state-trait operation anxiety-state) was used to assess perioperative state anxiety before (T1) and after (T2) surgery. In addition, trait operation anxiety was evaluated with an additional validated inventory (state-trait operation anxiety-trait). Moreover, user ratings on the usefulness of VORT were assessed with an evaluation questionnaire. Study arms were compared for perioperative state anxiety with two-tailed independent samples t tests. Subjective ratings were correlated with STOA-Trait values to investigate possible associations between perioperative anxiety with perceived usefulness.ResultsThere were no significant differences in perioperative state anxiety between VORT and standard operation preparation procedures before and after the surgery. Nonetheless, patients’ ratings of VORT overall were positive. The tour was perceived as useful and, therefore, showed acceptance for VR use. These ratings were unrelated to the degree of perioperative anxiety.ConclusionsThe subjective benefit of VORT could not be explained by a reduction of perioperative anxiety. Instead, VORT appears to serve the need for information and reduce uncertainty. In addition, VORT is perceived as beneficial regardless of the age of the patients. Considering this effect and the manageable organizational and financial effort toward implementation, the general use of VORT can be recommended.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04579354; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04579354

Where's the germs? The effects of using virtual reality on nursing students' hospital infection prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundVirtual reality can be a useful substitute to improve nursing education outside of the hospital setting. In the wake of COVID‐19, an opportunity to compare a virtual reality activity for nursing students in the traditional classroom and in an online environment took place.ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to examine the effects of incorporating a virtual reality activity into the traditional classroom and in an online environment to enhance nursing education.MethodsFifty nursing students participated in an exploratory descriptive study. Twenty‐five students participated face‐to‐face while in the traditional classroom setting and 25‐students participated in an online environment using a communication platform. Through a virtual reality activity, nursing students successfully created a tour which demonstrated identifying infectious sites in a hospital room setting.Results and ConclusionsResults of the pre‐and post‐test showed students’ positive perceptions and performances in both traditional classroom and online settings. However, the study revealed a statistical difference between the two group perceptions towards the use of the virtual reality tour creator. Nursing students who were in the traditional classroom group found that the use the virtual reality tour creator was easier.ImplicationsDesigning a meaningful virtual reality activity has a positive impact of the student learning experience. Students may benefit from a more through orientation to the technology prior to engaging in the activity. A carefully constructed activity can enhance student learning outside of the hospital room.

Living the Experience Before You Go . . . but Did It Meet Expectations? The Role of Virtual Reality during Hotel Bookings

Virtual reality (VR) is considered an important technological development to impact the tourism industry. Hotels are constantly attempting to overcome the challenges they face in the presentation of their facilities in the virtual environment. This research has made one of the first attempts to understand VR’s ability to influence tourism consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions during the prepurchase phase and postpurchase phase of their purchase journey across three hotel preview styles, namely, (1) VR immersive headsets, (2) 360° VR tour, and (3) a static image website. Through a lab-based experiment with 270-participants, study 1 outlined the positive role of VR on learning about the hotel and visit intentions. Through a questionnaire with 409 actual tourism consumers following a hotel stay, study 2 detailed that VR plays a significant role in managing tourism consumers’ expectations through providing an authentic experience and stimulating the development of detailed mental imagery prior to their visit.

Factors influencing elders’ intention to use a housing community: a virtual reality approach extending the theory of planned behaviour

The increased population size of the elderly calls upon researchers to address the consequences of the unparalleled demographic change and construct reassuring communities that would be accepted by the elderly. This research suggests and validates a new research model that investigates theoretical variables positively associated with the elders' behavioural intentions to use a proposed community by extending the theory of planned behaviour. 72 participants in the United Arab Emirates experienced a virtual reality tour of the proposed community and statistical tests were conducted on the data collected from the post-test questionnaires. Among a number of significant results, it was inferred that elders find the proposed community functional regardless of other people's influences and that the overall community functionality is positively correlated with the elder's intention to use the community (F(1,70)=122.527, p<.000) with an R2 of 0.636. Also, mobility in elderly houses is highly associated with elders' attitudes which also was strongly correlated with elders' intention to use the proposed communities (F(1,70)=1175.484, p<.000 with an R2 of 0.944). To increase the rate of elders' adoption of a residential facility, this research, among the first empirical research studies integrating the theory of planned behaviour and Virtual Reality models, provides the needed insights to construction managers and engineers.

Our Own Backyard: Can Virtual Reality Help Us (And Others) Understand the CCUS Chain?

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) as a set of activities have been undertaken in various forms for many tens of years to separate CO2 from natural gas or for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The role of CCUS as a tool to mitigate emissions has been increasingly studied and applied, for example at this series of conferences and through coordinated research around the world (e.g. Carbon Capture and Storage Flagship Program in Australia, Regional Carbon Sequestration partnerships in the US, and a whole range of projects in Norway such as Sleipner). The overall value chain and processes typically encompass: • Capture technology (e.g. natural gas clean-up, coal combustion, industrial processes, hydrogen production) • Utilisation (e.g. EOR, production of chemicals, geothermal) • Transportation by pipeline and shipping • Geological storage (aquifer, depleted hydrocarbon fields, EOR, coal, basalts etc.) • Monitoring of storage over the longer term (leakage, environmental impacts) These activities are underpinned by regulatory frameworks, international standards, government policy/legislation and social license to operate. While it is not expected that everyone employed or facing CCUS has expert levels of understanding of all facets of CCUS, few may be familiar or comfortable with the (a) technology (b) footprint (c) scale (d) impacts of the different parts of the CCUS process. How were these observations made? The CSIRO booth at the GHGT-14 Conference in Melbourne (2018) was set up to accommodate two virtual reality (VR) stations with a virtual tour of a carbon capture and storage journey (Figure 1). This was navigated in part by the visitor (i.e. wearing the VR headset) or controlled by the tour guide (operator) or both. The tour provides the visitor with a reasonable proxy for a carbon capture and storage plant. The use of VR can make significant steps in overcoming this lack of built project in the early stages of full-scale development of CCUS (or other large-scale emerging industries) globally. VR could be used in obtaining social license as it could provide much clearer context for community groups where new developments might take place. Some aspects of the tour are highly conceptualized, in particular the space in the base of the well, the diameter of the well bore and the use of bubbles to mimic CO2 movement. Typically, the CO2 would be injected as a supercritical fluid, not bubbles, but that is harder to render for the purposes of the tour. Key observations from running the tours over the course of the conference were that prior to taking part in the VR tour most attendees had not really considered what their levels of understanding of the whole of the CCUS process might be. After the tour they felt much more enlightened and comfortable to discuss those aspects; they understood better the challenges in areas that they were not so familiar with and felt better informed to discuss the different steps in the process with non-specialists. Geological storage has been much more challenging to convey through other imagery, description and information/education [1]. The perception of depth and presence of geological rock overburden as a seal to retard CO2 mobility was therefore much better understood. Areas where the visitor could interact with the location and environment were more engaging and the sense of being transported to another location or environment to interact at a site without induction training, personal protective equipment and no change in climate was not lost on those participating. The tours have now been used in a few Open House activities in relation to the CSIRO In-Situ Laboratory field trial to provide a sense of context for the local community, but a more systematic approach to testing the role of VR tours in social license is required to evaluate this approach as a mechanism to better inform the public of CCUS and its impact locally.

Virutal Reality Tourism - Exploring New Possibilities Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper explores the tourism trends emerging in post COVID- world. This pandemic was conscientious for an abrupt transformation in the way world travelled. This impulsive impediment in the tourism and hospitality industry was not only unconstructive to the growth of the industry but the imminent influences on future tourism are also looking dim and muted. Virtual Reality has emerged as a new innovative approach to attract viewers though providing them a virtual experience of tourism a tour destination with enhanced technological version. Virtual reality is the new normal in the digital world. People are slowly gaining access to digital tourism experiences through Virtual Reality tourism concept. The increase in virtual reality tourism trend is most welcome thing globally. This trend capitalizes on the use of technology to make viewers experience a touring destination. It includes Virtual Reality tours through which a tourist or viewer can experience a tourist destination, hotel interiors, restaurant interiors, outdoor tourist attractions, shopping sites, archaeological inputs, museums, etc sitting in home. This viewer is made to experience complete visit of the destination through VR head gears and comply with his aspirations of touring. Without being physically present on the tourist site a viewer can become a tourist and see all sites as naturally as a tourister. But this usage of technology driven virtual reality tools are challenged by several factors.

Light at the end of the tunnel: Visitors' virtual reality (versus in-person) attraction site tour-related behavioral intentions during and post-COVID-19.

Consumer behavior is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus compelling attraction sites to find new ways of offering safe tours to visitors. Based on protection motivation theory, we develop and test a model that examines key drivers of visitors' COVID-19-induced social distancing behavior and its effect on their intent to use virtual reality-based (vs. in-person) attraction site tours during and post-COVID-19. Our analyses demonstrate that visitor-perceived threat severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy raise social distancing behavior. In turn, social distancing increases (decreases) visitors' intent to use virtual reality (in-person) tours during the pandemic. We find social distancing to boost visitors' demand for advanced virtual tours and to raise their advocacy intentions. Our results also reveal that social distancing has no effect on potential visitors' intent to use virtual reality vs. in-person tours post-the pandemic. We conclude by discussing vital implications that stem from our analyses.

Small Tech, Big Impact: Twenty-First Century Educational Collaborations to Preserve and Share Rural Museum Collections

ABSTRACT Thoughtful and intentional collaborations among small, community-curated museums, colleges, and schools have the potential to create transformative learning opportunities for all partners while also improving access to, and preservation of, museum collections. In this article, we describe the Digital Scholarship in Museum Partnerships (DSMP) project, a project designed to establish authentic, technology-enhanced educational experiences that forge synergistic relationships between college students, area museums and public school educators. We focus on the first of a series of collaborations between DSMP and the rural, volunteer-led museums in Kent County, Maryland. Through intentional collaboration, and on a next-to-nothing budget, project members digitized more than 4,000 objects, collected oral histories, created two middle-school unit plans, and built a virtual reality (VR) tour with more than 70 interactive buttons. Here, we describe the collaborative and planning processes, as well as the strengths and challenges of collaborations of this kind, in order to provide a road map for other museums and educators interested in doing similar work.

How Does Virtual Reality Matter? Evidence from an Online Real Estate Platform

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging vision technology that constructs a simulated 3D environment to mimic the real world. The technique has been used as a tool for online product presentation, which enables consumers to obtain rich product information through interacting with the simulated interface. In recent years, VR has been adopted by leading online real estate platforms worldwide as a novel function for online house tours, referred to as VR Tour. In this study, we analyze the impact of VR Tour on properties’ selling time. Using data from a large online real estate platform in China, we conduct survival analyses and employ multiple identification strategies to investigate the impact of VR Tour. Our results show that VR Tour could significantly reduce the property’s selling time. Properties that support VR Tour benefit from both attracting consumers to their webpage through the display of a VR badge and sustaining consumers’ purchase interest after consumers exploit the VR Tour function and obtain property information. The effectiveness of VR Tour varies over time, with a deceleration effect on the selling process in the short run, but an acceleration effect in the long run. The temporal deceleration effect could attribute to consumers’ lack of experience in using the VR Tour function, hurting both the consumers’ purchase experience and the property’s selling process. Furthermore, we find a substitution effect of VR Tour over pictures on the property selling process, resulting in a longer selling time when more pictures are posted for VR-enabled properties. Our work provides insights into both VR literature and managerial practice.

Exploring participant engagement during an astrophysics virtual reality experience at a science festival

ABSTRACT Virtual reality applications turn abstract concepts into experienceable phenomena and present exciting opportunities to transform science education and public outreach practices. While research has started to look into the affordances of virtual reality (VR) in the formal science education context, the potential of these technologies to enhance public engagement with science is largely unexplored. To improve the way that VR may be used in informal learning and public outreach contexts, the purpose of our study was to undertake evidence-based investigations that shed light onto the relationship between VR and public engagement. Aiming to identify and develop the benefits of VR technologies, we propose a conceptual framework for engagement with VR at a science festival that comprises four aspects of participant activity: immersion, facilitation, collaboration, and visualisation. This framework guided the research design of our exploratory case study of one VR tour at a science festival. Data included visitor surveys, video recordings, VR screen captures, and focus group interviews with outreach and science professionals. Our findings reveal important ways that VR supports visitor engagement at a science festival. More generally, these findings and our framework contribute to the ongoing efforts of engaging the public with science in more diverse informal learning contexts.

Virtual travel experience and destination marketing: Effects of sense and information quality on flow and visit intention

In the digital age, virtual reality (VR) has become a new tool for destination marketing. Building on flow theory and the stimuli-organism-response model, this study examined the psychological process through which the VR travel evokes flow and leads to satisfaction and visit intention. Two key attributes of VR travel, sense and information quality, were identified and found to positively influence tourists’ flow experience. Flow in VR travel consisted of multiple dimensions (telepresence, focused attention, and temporal distortion). Only telepresence and focused attention positively led to a high level of satisfaction. The former had a stronger effect than the latter. The effect of temporal distortion on satisfaction was not significant. Satisfaction with the VR tour experience also positively led to visits to the focal destination of the VR travel. • Identifies three flow dimensions (telepresence, attention, and distortion). • VR travel attributes (sense and information quality) influence flow dimensions. • Telepresence and attention has positive effects on satisfaction with VR travel. • A positive relationship exists between satisfaction with VR travel and intention.

Reimagining Residency Selection: Part 2-A Practical Guide to Interviewing in the Post-COVID-19 Era.

Reimagining Residency Selection: Part 2-A Practical Guide to Interviewing in the Post-COVID-19 Era.

Virtual reality tour for first-time users of highly automated cars: Comparing the effects of virtual environments with different levels of interaction fidelity

Research in aviation and driving has highlighted the importance of training as an effective approach to reduce the costs associated with the supervisory role of the human in automated systems. However, only a few studies have investigated the effect of training on highly automated driving. Moreover, available interactive trainings are mostly based on automated driving simulators and the application of immersive technology such as Virtual Reality (VR) as a low-cost training solution has not been widely adopted. In this study, we developed three types of familiarization tours (low-fidelity VR, high-fidelity VR, and video) to train first-time users of highly automated cars. Then, the effectiveness of these tours was investigated on automation trust and driving performance in several critical and non-critical transition tasks in four groups: control, video, low-fidelity VR, and high-fidelity VR. The results revealed the positive impact of the tours on trust and transition performance at the first time of measurement. Takeover quality only improved when practices were presented in high-fidelity VR. After three times of exposure to transition requests, trust and transition performance of all groups converged to those of the high-fidelity VR group, demonstrating that: a) experiencing takeover transition during the training may reduce costs associated with first critical takeover request in highly automated driving, b) the VR tour with high level of interaction fidelity was superior to other training methods, and c) untrained and less-trained drivers learned about automation after a few trials. Knowledge resulting from this research could help develop cost-effective solutions for automated driving training in dealerships and car rental centers.

Design of a Virtual Reality Tour System for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Case Study

This study focuses on VR as a form of therapy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). The research aim is to develop an immersive and interactive VR system that is tailored for IDD individuals, for which most currently available VR experience systems are not optimized. Being intimately familiar with a place through an interactive VR tour will help alleviate social anxiety—very provident to IDD individuals. Accordingly, we create a hotspot-based VR tour system, which can provide an almost lifelike experience of visiting and learning about the location. We have conducted experiments with nondisabled individuals, acting as the control group, and IDD individuals, acting as the experimental group, to evaluate the tour system and compare the results between two groups. Our experiments show that the VR tour has a positive impact on the IDD individuals. In this article, we present the design of our VR tour system and its evaluation results.

Using virtual reality as a replacement for hospital tours during residency interviews

ABSTRACT Background Residency programs invest a significant amount of time and resources on the recruitment process, and maintaining efficiency and cost-effectiveness are very important. Virtual Reality (VR) has become an adaptive substitute for ‘real life’ experiences and its use during the interview season could help save time and resources. Objective With the intention to maximize the interview day and provide a cost-effective alternative to facility tours, a Med-Peds residency training program introduced a VR tour of their children’s hospital during recruitment. Design The Med-Peds program replaced an in-person facility tour of the children’s hospital with a VR tour. Applicants were asked to complete an anonymous, voluntary survey on their VR experience at the end of the interview season, and rank features of the interview day in order of importance. Results There were 33 respondents out of 54 interviewees. Approximately two thirds (63–66%) agreed that VR was non-inferior and superior to in-person facility tours, and that the use of VR had a favorable impact on their perception of the program. However, almost 50% of the applicants had some difficulty using VR technology. Conclusion Use of VR facility tours as an alternative to in-person tours of affiliate training facilities during a residency interview day is a viable and innovative option that can save time and money and favorably impact the applicant’s impression of the program. More research is necessary to assess whether VR tours can replace in-person tours at the main teaching site, however, while social distancing measures are in place, VR tours may become necessary for programs moving forward. Abbreviations Med-Peds: Internal Medicine-Pediatrics; VR: Virtual Reality; AAMC: Association of American Medical Colleges; IRB: Institutional Review Board