September 28, 2001: Volume 53, Number 4

New virtual tour up on Web site

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."

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