The VR project Virtual Helsinki offers tourists a futuristic highlight

Helsinki is one of the first interactive cities that can be explored and visited virtually. Virtual tourism will become increasingly popular in the future, according to Finnish developers Zoan. 

Nordic countries are in vogue. Those who find it too cold there and too dark in winter may soon have a cool alternative so that they can at least have a bit of a say.

The Virtual Reality Studio from Helsinki Zoan creates 3D and VR models that create a realistic image of the future building before the viewer's eyes via screen. Thanks to virtual reality technology, the viewer can enter the scene, walk through it and get an idea of the conditions. Zoan began - as so many VR developers do - with projects in the field of architecture. In the meantime, Zoan's clientele no longer includes only real estate clients.

Helsinki becomes interactive

The latest project: Virtual Helsinki - a VR model of the city centre of the Finnish metropolis, including the interiors of tourist-relevant buildings. The city is based on the present day, but will also have futuristic and historical versions. In the future, users will be able to interact with each other, making the virtual visits as close as possible to the actual city.

Virtual Helsinki, Zoan's latest prestige project, represents a huge step towards virtual tourism. Via the VR worlds it will future be possible to discover foreign places without going on a journey yourself. Thirty-five 3D model experts worked on Virtual Helsinki for three years. The result will be presented to the public in 2019.

Another current Zoan project that is still in development is a VR scenario of Helsinki Airport.

Education for the National Museum

For the Finnish National Museum, Zoan turned a spectacular project, the famous painting "The Opening of Parliament" 1863 by Alexander II by R. W. Ekman, into a VR experience. Equipped with VR glasses, visitors can enter and walk around the painting. For this interactive Experience actors were equipped with motion capture.

The VR scenarios that Zoan has realised for Virtual Helsinki and the Finnish National Museum, for example, inspire with their realism. Not only static structures were depicted, but also interactive features and details in motion were captured. In Virtual Helsinki, for example, trams run and passers-by move along the streets. The actors in the painting are also alive. This makes Zoan a producer of outstanding digital products.

Source: homeandsmart / Virtual Helsinki