Introducing VR, 360 degree video

Global Access is at the forefront of providing 360-degree video stories and facilitating journeys into the realm of VR. For the past six months, it has been on an experiential journey with a diverse list of clients in industries ranging from the industrial sector to the maritime sector, from tourism to banking and at the same time working on more VR projects for a similar range of clients.

Understanding the tech

VR and 360-degree video are both clumped under the banner of ‘Virtual Reality’, but are fundamentally different.

Virtual Reality is an immersive computer generated environment that you can physically walk around in and interact with - much like a computer game. Unlike 360-degree video, which is a cinematic video experience where you can look around in all directions, but have limited to no interactive capacity.

What makes both of these so difficult to understand on paper is that it is only once you experience them that the difference becomes apparent.

360-degree more accessible

360-degree video is the more accessible of the two, as it can be accessed on any smartphone via YouTube or Facebook, which increases its scope of business use. One of its benefits is that it transports viewers somewhere they could not otherwise be. The CEO can visit a distant work site with the click of a button instead of a four-day site visit. Colleagues from across the globe can tour the new headquarters anywhere in the world.

Millions of people can access one 360-degree video tour and, because the sensation is so ‘real’, they can feel as if they have been on a personal tour.

The retention of information is far greater than any other form of communication as the viewer is there 'inside’ the presentation, according to the IEEE Virtual reality for training: evaluating knowledge retention.

VR and 360-degree video might seem expensive, complicated and hard-to-do, but Global Access proves that these new mediums are none of those. As one of very few companies in South Africa capable of producing both VR and 360-degree video, it recognises the utility and impact of these new mediums and produces cost-effective VR and 360 degree video.

The question isn’t when is VR and 360 degree video coming, it is a question of – what are you doing to join the revolution? For more information, click here.