WHERE FANTASY
IS
REALITY
Travel the world from the comfort of your home ‌..
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Overview
Travel though a world created by fellow players. Gives you the opportunity to be whoever you want, be it a man, woman, animal or even a truck. Lets people escape reality and enter a world where they are free to go to places they have only dreamed of.
Travel to a country across the globe that was a vacation dream. Go back in time and walk around during the middle ages. Travel to a land of fairies and mermaids. Go to a land to hang out and converse with friends Roam historical monuments, gaining knowledge from their beauty And all without judgment and without consequence.
Overview
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View the world as only astronauts have had the opportunity of doing before. Now with a telescope looking back down at us. Great detail of the landscapes and cities throughout earth. You can even view places from ground level because of spectacular 3-D renderings of many structures and natural wonders.
See landscapes of everywhere on earth. Get idea of places you want to visit. View how stadiums or areas of your sport teams are set up. See distances between important places, be it small or large. Zoom in on your neighborhood to view surrounding houses. And all without leaving your home.
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Interesting Places
Athens - Acropolis
Walk around Athens and explore the wonders where the past meets the present Greece. Stroll through the Parthenon without having to hike up the mountain to get there, and view the famous Six Maidens. You could also visit the famous night club “The Cave” in downtown Athens to relax. You could also stroll the streets and view some historical monuments located around the city. It helps that you could explore the whole city in hours as oppose to the days it would normally take you.
Santorini Island - Greece
This was an excellent destination with many offerings. While on the island you could explore the beaches, view the blue topped churches, or even goes into a dance club. Santorini is a beautiful island, and this rendering lets people who are unable to travel there experience the joy of “virtually” being there. It does not cover the whole island however and was disappointed that Emonda Bay and the Red Beach were not
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Interesting Places
Rutgers – Old Queens
Back to my old college and place my mothers work. You could visit the Kirkpatrick cathedral (where a pair my friends got married) or walk through the administration buildings. And of course the best part is being able to visit the Grease trucks, a place where many a student packed on many of pounds late at night. The world is very accurate and I almost feel as if I am walking though in real life. My only disappointment was that the Greece trucks were closed and I did not have the opportunity to buy any food.
Rutgers Football Stadium
Great rendering of the Rutgers Football Stadium. Great place to go and see what view you will have from your seats before you got there. Also it will be one of the only times a lot of people are able to step foot on the football field, as you can run around it. And you could also experience the joy of running out of the Rutgers tunnel just like the team. The only downside is that there is really nothing else to do here. Not football game, no tailgating, no stadium food.
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Interesting Places
Blarney Castle
For those of you that cannot travel to Ireland and experience kissing the Blarney Stone in person. The only thing missing is the hike up to the top of the castle (flying is much easier), and the little old man helping you lean back. Very accurate depiction of exactly goes on up there. It will help many people learn a little bit about it to as far as history and placement goes based on posters throughout the land. Besides the castle it also has a nice little main street with a clothing store and Irish Pub.
St. Patrick’s Day Town 2012
This was my favorite place to visit because of the many things going on here. You are able to get some Irish food (cost money though), play with Leprechauns, and drink some green beer. It is an interactive destination that also lets you go down water slides, dance jigs, or sit and have a drink with a friend. It is a very bright lively place that will bring hours of joy to those during the month of March dancing and partying away. And on your way out grab a green beer or St. Patrick’s day hat for free to wear around for the day.
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Interesting Places
Dublin – Ireland
Excellent rendering of one of the busiest cities on the Emerald Island. You can visit the Guinness factory or simply walk through the streets. Some of the downfalls though were the lack of things to do here. If they would have had Trinity College and the book of Kells it would have been much better. Also they if might be better if they choose to add something about James Joyce because he was such an influential figure form the city.
Mathematical Art
Excellent source of 3-d geometric figures for interacting with. For children it has a playground built out of to interact with surrounded by mathematical art. Contains the floating house form Escher that you could fly up to and walk around in. If you pay $5000 LP you can get a Fibonacci Pinecone which is pretty interesting, however pretty expensive. Great place to visit for the Mathematics teacher to show how art is involved in math. You can spend hours here exploring everything tit has to offer.
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Interesting Places
San Diego – Hotel Del
Excellent depiction of one of the most famous hotels in all of the United States. Hang out on the beach or stroll through the corridors of this grand hotel. Speaking from personal experience by visiting this hotel virtually you will not be missing out on anything. The only thing missing was all the kelp that is present in the Ocean there, but when you create something it is always better to improve it. The most enjoyable thing to do there is to go for a bike ride or go surfing so maybe they should add that to the options at this destination.
Monkey Tail Surfing
Great place to hang out and relax. Go surfing for free without even having to leave your house. You could also hang out with some people at the local dance club or pub. I explored many surfing Islands, and this seemed to be one of the only ones that offered you the chance to catch waves for free. Just click on the wooden board and swim out to a wave and it will do the rest.
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Interesting Places
Rutgers University/ Football Stadium
I was able to zoom in on New Jersey onto the Rutgers campus and into the Rutgers Football Stadium. It shows an accurate 3-d rendering of the stadium, where you could move around and view the field from different angles. It is also nice because it shows the surrounding facilities of the football stadium, as well as how the campuses are set up.
Fed Ex Field - Landover, Maryland
You can visit the home of the Washington Redskins in Maryland. It also shows a nice 3-D rendering of the stadium and has some nice links to purchase tickets and memorabilia listed as well. It also gives you a nice idea of what is in the surrounding area in terms of eateries and hotels in case someone ever goes watch a game there.
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Interesting Places
Santorini, Greece
It gives you an incredible view of the whole island and you are able to zoom in on the important beaches and towns. Unfortunately it does not have any 3-D rendering of the houses set back in the cliffs or of the beaches with steep red cliffs in the background available. It does show how an old volcano sits inside its crescent shape but wish it could have showed a little bit more because it is such a fantastic island.
Athens, Greece
Gives you the ability to appreciate the combination of new and old Athens. From far out you could see ruins strewn about the city between modern high rise buildings. You can also see just how high the Parthenon sits above the city, and how pieces of it are missing.
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Interesting Places
Trinity College – Dublin, Ireland
There were some incredible views of Dublin’s street and canal system from above. When viewing at ground level the views were still impressive, however they were not too clear. I happened to focus on Trinity College, the home of the book of Kells, and got a pretty nice view. Downtown in the Trinity Bar district was also great, and would give someone visiting a good idea on how to get around.
Washington D.C. - Pentagon
For those who have never been to our Nation’s Capital, and will never be allowed to step foot in the pentagon this is a great tool. It even shows us what is in the middle of those 5 sides after wondering for all those years (trees). It also gives you a nice idea of where it is located and any national monuments located nearby. Unfortunately you will still not be allowed to see what in inside those walls though.
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Interesting Places
Half Dome – Yosemite Park, California
Shows just how high this mountain sits above the Yosemite Valley floor because of the 3-D views. By rotating around this natural wonder you could view the trails hikers take to get to the pinnacle of the dome. It also shows the beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountains as a whole and how the jut out from our nations ground.
Alcatraz – San Francisco, California
The map shows just how isolate the island is from the rest of the city sitting in the middle of the bay. It also has great views of the island and how the buildings are configured from above. The ground view is spectacular because it shows a great picture of San Francisco or Sausalito in the background. The only disappointment is that the Golden Gate Bridge cannot also be a background picture when viewing.
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Interesting Places
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
You are able to see just how beautiful the Caribbean Sea is with no industry polluting it. You can also use this application to view different resorts to try and get an idea on which one you would want to pick if going on vacation down there. It shows just how close they are to the beaches and downtown and how far they are away from a populated society.
Atlantis Resort, Bahamas
Not the greatest use for Google earth because in the overhead view there are some clouds blocking out the resort. I was hoping to get an overhead view of the waterpark but was unable to do so. It did show how clean the beaches are and how clear the surrounding water is though. For the 3-D ground view the only thing popping out was the resort itself which was OK at best.
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Recommendations
Travel To different time Periods Interact with Surroundings Links to real life related topics Worlds inside worlds Interaction with other real life people Visit places that you only dreamed about traveling to You are free to be whoever you want to be
Not totally accurate in depiction of places Graphics can be less than desired in some areas Can not interact with everything one would like to Have to use real money to pay for some features
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Recommendations
Travel anywhere on earth Zoom into detailed overhead views of places 3-D ground views of structures and topography View real life pictures of town streets Links to real life related topics As accurate as possible Free
Some of the 3-D graphics are choppy Can not be used to see inside something No ability to interact with surroundings Only available for current time period
RUDY VALENTINO
Graduate Studies and Special Programs EDST 6305 - Production of Instructional Resources II