Nowadays, there are 360-degree images and videos available that can give a better visualization of a place from all directions than a normal photo or video. In comparison to 360-degree content, there are new advanced VR apps available that can give you a more real, closer, and clear experience. Most of the companies are using VR technology for different purposes and one of them is to travel the world virtually from home. You can set the destination in your VR headset and start looking for ideas of where to visit? Many museums and art institutions are also offering VR tours. To experience this, you only need one good VR headset and an app. So to have a better choice, here is the list of best VR apps and gadgets to travel the world.
VR Apps:
1. Google Expeditions
Google expeditions offer you a virtual tour of iconic landmarks like mount Everest. It is mainly used for educational purposes. It allows teachers and students to explore the world through 1000+ virtual reality tools. It has both virtual reality and augmented reality capabilities. You can experience an underwater tour, navigate outer space, and many more while sitting on your couch. It is also free in the app stores.
“ Google Expedition is an immersive learning and teaching app that lets you enjoy the VR tour or explore AR objects. The new solo mode allows you to explore 600 different tours. This is the best design travel app yet.”
Piyush Jain, founder of Simpalm, an app development company.
2. Boulevard
Boulevard app allows you to take a tour of anywhere. Some features of this app are you can zoom in and out, enter the address of the place where you want to go, and many more. Boulevard app not only gives a virtual tour of the places but along with this it also gives you some useful textual information about the places you want to visit and increase your knowledge like a tour guide.
“ Boulevard is a very creative, informative, and technologically epic app. It is the best VR museum app. You can experience museum anywhere in the world”
Liv Erickson, co founder of ARVR Academy.
3. Gala VR 360
Gala VR 360 can take you to virtual adventures across the world. With Gala VR 360 app you can see 3D photos of a number of events and festivals that have happened around the world. You can also take a tour of many museums via photos that are taken from professional photographers. It featured more than 300 virtual tours around the world in which some of the content have audio narration that explain what you are seeing and give some interesting information behind the trips. Most of the tours are free in Gala VR 360.
“Gala 360 VR has the best and high quality 360 mono and stereo VR photos set. With this app you can travel the world from living room”
Todd Hooper, CEO at VREAL
4. Google Earth VR
Google Earth VR is one of the most famous VR apps through which you can travel the world as well as space. You can travel virtually from a small city to any place in the world. The main advantage of Google earth VR over other VR apps is that you can just point to the sky and manage the time so that you can visit in daytime or nighttime. You can also zoom in or out across the vast distance in a matter of seconds.
“Google Earth has done a brilliant job at mapping out the earth. You can explore each corner of it, make you feel that you are really travelling the world. Best Travel app”
Jesse Joudery, CEO at VRChat.
VR Headsets
1. Oculus Quest
The Oculus Quest is the best affordable VR headset available in the market with a resolution of 1600×1440 per eye. It is an entirely standalone headset, which means it has all the necessary components to provide virtual reality experience. The headset does not require any expensive laptop, wires, or external sensors to operate. It is integrated with four ultrawide angle sensors and computer algorithms so that you can freely and naturally move in your play space without worrying about running into walls or furniture.
2. HTC Vive
HTC Vive is one of the first premium VR headsets available in the market. It is one of the best VR headsets for PC use. Room tracking capability is one of the key features of HTC Vive. Some other features are it has smooth graphics with little latency, touch controllers are easy to use and highly adaptive, and have a large game library. Vive is a more powerful device in terms of control than Oculus but Oculus is more convenient and comparatively clutter-free to set up.
3. Valve Index
Earlier, Valve was working with HTC to build the VR headset but now Valve has entered directly into the hardware market by producing its first VR headset under its own brand as Valve Index. It is the best VR headset in terms of raw specifications and features. It comes with great build quality, minimal screen door effect, smart design controller, individual finger tracking, and future expansion option. While using the Valve index you can experience high-quality construction, built-in earphones, and comfortable cushions. Valve index is a little heavy to wear as compared to other headsets and can also suffer some technical problems. But this does not overcome its benefit of enjoying virtual experiences.
4. Panasonite 3D VR
Panasonite 3D VR is the best option, If you want a high-end virtual reality headset at an affordable price. The headset features a small flap in front of it to hold your phone. It has cloth design in front with an adjustable headband that is similar to PlayStation VR. Headset also packs with a built-in headphone with an aux input so that you can connect it with your phone. Some of the main features of the Panasonite headset are it is compatible with a number of phones, lightweight, comfortable design, and AR/VR support. This all make panasonite one of best VR headset at affordable price.
Conclusion
All the virtual reality apps and gadgets are enhancing the travel and tourism industry, it is reducing the cost and time by enabling users to have virtual tours of their favourite destinations across the world. It is also widely used in other industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, education, and more. A recent study suggests that the virtual reality market will reach 100 million dollars by 2027. Thus virtual reality has great opportunities in every field of every industry imaginable.