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28 March 2024

Dubai 360: Amazing tour... from your home

The site allows viewers to explore every angle of the city from the comfort of their home, providing a first-hand experience that has never been seen before in the virtual world. (Dubai360.com)

Published
By Staff

Dubai 360 officially launched its website with the first-of-its-kind online interactive tour at midnight on January 19, 2015.

The website allows viewers to explore every angle of the city from the comfort of their home, providing a first-hand experience that has never been seen before in the virtual world.

Developed over an eighteen-month period and utilising 1,298 pieces of panoramic video and photo content, Dubai 360 is the world’s largest and highest quality interactive city tour.

Having already given internet users a glimpse of what was to come with the Dubai International Airport time-lapse video and more recently, a live broadcast interactive video of the Burj Khalifa fireworks for the New Year, the launch of Dubai 360 has been much anticipated by photography enthusiasts, UAE residents and tourists alike. Through the use of state-of-the-art technology, Dubai 360 will redefine how cities are viewed and explored worldwide.

Building on Dubai’s legacy of creating best-in-class experiences, Dubai 360 is the first virtual city tour that exclusively uses fully interactive and immersive 360 degree panoramic photo, time-lapse and video content. The ground-breaking technology that is at the heart of the project enables access to exclusive views of the city. With content filmed at the pinnacle of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, the site users can see a bird’s eye view of the city with sweeping panoramas down Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai’s coast. From there at a click of a button, viewers can travel to the luxurious Royal Suite at the Burj Al Arab Hotel and experience the gold clad interiors, opulent rooms and stunning sea-view. A visit to Dubai Mall’s famous aquarium will allow users to swim amongst the sea creatures, or take a ride on Dubai’s new metro and view the city at speed.

“Dubai 360 is illustrative of what Dubai stands for. It started off as an idea and was brought to life through the passion of talented and committed individuals. The project showcases the very best of what Dubai has to offer and we will continue to use the platform to demonstrate the progress the city makes,” said Ismaeil Al Hashmi, Project Manager for Dubai 360.

Leveraging the latest visual technology, Dubai 360 project was created by professionals equipped with best-in-class medium format, DSLR and video cameras. From helicopters to rooftops, the making of Dubai 360 provided the team with unprecedented access to city landmarks. The Dubai 360 team also developed a custom interface for the website which enables viewers to interact with Dubai’s landmarks providing a number of viewing options including rectilinear and ‘Little Planet or fish eye’ view. People can also share their favourite views with their friends through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and email.

“With Dubai360.com, whether you live in Dubai or are planning a visit, you can discover something new in the city every day. From the cultural area of Bastakiya to luxury hotels and the Dubai International Airport, this project has something for everyone, making it an exciting way to explore Dubai,” continued Ismaeil Al Hashmi.

The making of Dubai 360 facts:

• 500,000 individual photographs were needed to create the still and time-lapse panoramas

• Over 8 TERApixels (8,000,000 megapixels) of imagery – not including the videos

• Custom-manufactured helicopter and metro mounts

• Custom-manufactured telescopic poles for installation on building pinnacles

• 830 meters highest rooftop filming location (Burj Khalifa)

Dubai360.com -  a living tour and imagery - will continue to be updated to capture the ever growing metropolis and the various experiences the city has to offer.