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Cyberpresse is featuring three new 360-degree photos on its website. One shows a woman shovelling out her car on Mentana Street in the Plateau, another shows a snowy Gilford Street nearby and a third takes you to the scene of a truck accident on Crémazie Boulevard.
“It’s just another example of how big media companies like Cyberpresse understand the Internet and are prepared to use cutting-edge 1994 technology to bring things that are cool but uninformative to users,” writes Steve Faguy on his blog. It’s true that these images have no news value whatsoever. They don’t shed any new light on our streets; they’re just pleasant eye-candy. Still, as a kind of divertissement for a cold evening, they’re fun to play with.
(You can see the Gilford and Mentana images above and below, but check out the larger versions on Cyberpresse’s website for the full effect.)
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7 comments
These photos are amazing!
I don’t get the “just another example” criticism. There’s lots big media does that is dumb, this seems alright and quite neat though. The interface may need some work, but otherwise why not?
This Flash application allows you to zoom into pics: http://galeriedephotos.cyberpresse.ca/index.php?t=Black&a=1102&m=cp (a photo gallery of the perhaps-UN headquarters in Mtl)
I think that Steve was looking at it from the sense that newspapers do a lot of web things that are kind of dumb and pointless. After all, this is a gimmick, but like Google Street Views, it’s a lot of fun.
Of course, that said, anytime a newspaper exposes its readers to the everyday urban reality of Montreal, it’s a good thing.
Last night I put on some good tunes and played around with the larger versions. By slightly moving my mouse above or bloew the “equator” of the photo, I was able to make it spin and spin and spin while slowly raising or lowerig the “camera”. It felt like I was watching a good video.
I find google earth is rather useful in figuring out what a place is like — on top of being lots of fun.
I love these 360’s! Gimmicky? Yes, but also fun. The shoveller is cute too!