Posted on Sep 28, 2001

Union has launched a new edition of its online virtual tour, one of the most popular parts of the Union web site.
The tour, available at www.union.edu/Tour, has been redesigned to take advantage of some eye-catching new technologies, said Tom Smith, director of the Web site.
The tour received a “Four-Star Campus Tour Award” from www.campustours.com when it was initially launched more than two years ago.

“We've added a lot of great material and some exciting
new features that make this one of the best virtual campus tours on
the Web,” Smith said.

There are more than 40 stops on the tour, each with at least
one image and many with interactive, 360-degree views.

Perhaps the most fun part of the new tour is the new
campus map, Smith said. Users of Internet Explorer can drag a
“magnifying glass” over a map of the campus
to see areas of the campus enlarged in more detail.

Other new features include:

— Panoramic aerial views of campus.

— A “guided tour” that leads visitors as if walking (with
drop-down menus to visit certain points);

— A section on residence halls with floor plans for eight of
the buildings;

Which begs the question: will people need to come to campus
for a “real” tour?

“The virtual tour is not meant to replace the traditional
on-campus tour,” Smith assures. “It's really just a taste of our
beautiful campus, designed to whet people's appetite to visit us in person.”