One of the highlights of OTM forum was the panel on Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality with Vikram Ahuja, Founder Byond Travel and Aditya Bhatt, Head, Jio studio.

Byond Travel started with the idea of shooting better videos, later they stumbled upon a 360 camera which they gave it to their travellers and create narrative experiences including their events. Byond Travel has been a part of Facebook’s first AR/VR global accelerator, has worked exclusively with Google on the tango platform and works with tourism boards today to train travel agents. Byond Travel had also recently worked with Karnataka Tourism at last year’s WTM which included AR project on clicking selfie with tigers.

You need professionals to ensure there are no stitch lines in a 360-degree video. With time your cameras are growing each month and evolving with technology. Contrary to the perception entry barrier to 360 videos is not high. The biggest hurdle for virtual reality is hardware, which should change in time and awareness problem in understanding where/how it could be used.

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Leading 360-degree camera maker Insta360 today launched Insta360 Awards, a program to reward and promote the best 360 content from around the world.

Insta360 Awards will collect submissions of raw 360 photos and videos, as well as content edited using Insta360-specific techniques like FreeCapture and bullet time. The best content will be rewarded with cash prizes of up to $2,000, global exposure and opportunities for further collaboration.

“360-degree photos and videos are new forms of storytelling, and they’re being defined today by the creators who pick up a camera and start sharing,” said JK Liu, Insta360 founder and CEO. “With Insta360 Awards, we’re excited to reward the creators who inspire us, and to promote their work to show the world what 360 is all about.” 

Watch the Insta360 Awards video here:

How it works

The Insta360 Awards program accepts 360 photo and video submissions on any theme, from epic aerial videography, to adrenaline-fueled adventure sports, to simple human moments. Edited content, such as a montage of 360 videos, or 360 videos converted into fixed-frame content using FreeCapture, is also eligible for awards.

After submitting content via the Insta360 Awards page, creators will be put into consideration for two award tiers. Pioneer Awards will be rewarded on an unlimited, rolling basis, with winning videos receiving $150 USD, and winning photos receiving $100 USD.

A quarterly Legend Award of $2,000 USD will be rewarded to submissions that rise above the rest with their exceptional artistry or subject matter.

All winners will have their work promoted, with attribution, to Insta360’s global audience. Legend Award winners will also have opportunities to participate in exclusive workshops and events, along with having their content featured in-depth on Insta360’s social channels and blog.

Content captured by all of Insta360’s products – including the Insta360 Pro, Insta360 ONE, Insta360 Nano and Insta360 Air – will be eligible for awards, with a minimum image resolution of 3K for submissions.

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There are no brownie points in guessing that marketers love virtual reality. It’s transformed the travel-tech industry and how destinations are being promoted using interactive 360 videos. While the concept of 360 videos started with the likes of Samsung 360 gear and Ricoh Theta etc. there are many distruptive startups which are transforming the travel experience and making it more immersive and interactive.

Insta360, a company with its HQ in Shenzhen, China is causing major ripples in the VR industry with its range of 360 cameras for Android, iOS and pro users. We connected with them to understand the vision of the product and plans for the future.

Can you tell us about the history of the company. Where is the HQ and how big is the team.
We were established in 2014 and based in Shenzhen, China. Currently we have 180+ people in HQ, we also have colleagues based in Tokyo and Los Angeles. We are a young (average age is 27) and highly diversified team with members from US, Canada, German, UK, Hong Kong and all parts of China. Here you may find more information about our history.

In the age of Samsung VR, Ricoh Theta, what led you to the creation of Insta360. In other-words, why should consumers opt for Insta360.
We name our brand Insta360, which stands for “instant” and “360-degree”, and our 360 cameras excel in the market with the accessibility (easy to use, real-time stitching), the availability (best pricing in the market) and especially the easiness to share the visual content to basically all the social platforms – we’re recommended by Facebook as a doorway into 360 content creation and chosen by Twitter/Periscope as the only 360 camera to be natively integrated into its App. Just like the drone market several years ago, we believe the potential of 360 camera market is not quite explored yet. That’s why we have been sharpening our products and Apps constantly. We have a complete product line for both the mass market and professional producers, which differentiate us from every other player in the market, and we aim to make our product delightful to play with for users at all level of professionalism! As you may know, we are launching a new product on August 28th., which has exceptional features that allow it to be used as a selfie drone or action cam. Some teasers of our new product can be found here on engadget, uploadvr and thedigitalcircuit etc..

In-terms of purchase, is Insta360 product line also available in retail or is it online only model?
We have partnered with more than 150 overseas chain retailers and our products are available in more than 1500 offline stores across the world. Our products are also available on major e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Taobao, JD, etc., as well as our official online store.

What is the difference between Insta360 Nano and Pro?
The main difference is that Nano is a consumer 360 camera while Pro is an enterprise-level device. Their specs can be found here and here.

How has the consumer feedback been so far?
We are rated 4 star at Amazon, 99 on Taobao and JD, and have received a lot of compliments from our users, including general consumers, prosumers, 360 junkies, VR professionals, travelers, extreme sport fans and social influencers. We have also partnered with a number of media and universities in promoting VR journalism. We hear from our users and constantly improve our product and App with their feedback, which makes our product more enjoyable to use.

What are some of the unique use-cases you have seen by the customers.
Some interesting cases include users put our cameras into piles of fruits to create funny (weird) 360 pictures, others mount it onto their puppies and have them run around to get some really cool footage. They are also widely used by professionals in 360 music video and movies, real estate showroom and even VR wedding. More exciting ones are from extreme sport athletes and travelers. You can find more on our Instagram handle.

Currently do you offer support for 360 live videos on FB and other platforms?
Yes for FB. We partnered with Facebook in bringing 360 live available for everyone, and three of our products (Insta360 Nano, Air and Pro) are among the ten cameras recommended by Facebook Live 360 Ready program. Instagram now does not support 360 content for now.

VR has completely disrupted the way people travel, how do you see Insta360 playing a role in the future of travel.
360 content has definitely been making travel fuller and more immersive, and we are proud to be able to help travelers document memories so that they can relive them whenever and wherever they like, let alone our products help bring some cool elements (360 and the popular tiny-planet content) for people to post/show off on social media.

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VR is increasing becoming the most popular medium for travel brands to inspire travellers and get in the spotlight. After some hotel brands exploring the medium, airlines are moving onto VR next. Air New Zealand offered virtual tours of its fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs. Now Etihad, with their brand ambassador Nicole Kidman, has come up with a VR experience aboard Etihad’s A380 superjumbo. They first introduced a promo video of the sae and few days back, introduced a full length VR video through YouTube and their mobile apps.

The video offers a 360 degree look inside the interior of the Airbus A380 which is headed from New York to Abu Dhabi during which the actress Nicole Kidman is seen preparing here lines for a movie role and wandering about the cabin. There is no clear story or message that is communicated through the video but it manages to highlight the experience of travelling with Etihad. It also gives a closer look into Ethihad’s private suite The Residence.

Nicole Kidman, Academy Award winning actress and Etihad Airways’ brand ambassador, said: “The film is a culmination of Etihad’s vision to tell the airline’s story in an extremely innovative way and a commitment to engaging with the public as has never been attempted by an airline before. It was a great challenge but one which has definitely paid off and it was great to be part of such an exciting project.”

YouTube supports Cardboard viewer for watching videos and the Reimagine experience by Ethihad makes use of that. Users can also watch the video on desktop and look around using their mouse pointer but that doesn’t offer an experience similar to the cardboard viewer. To offer an even better experience, they have introduced Reimagine app for Android and iOS devices on which the users can first download the VR video in high quality and then watch with or without a cardboard viewer. We took the Android app for a spin and came back quite impressed. The entire video is seamless and hasn’t got even the minor flaws generally seen in VR videos. An app for Samsung Gear VR is also coming soon. Etihad recently did a successful campaign with the actress and the Reimagine campaign is the next step forward.

Shane O’Hare, Etihad Airways’ Senior Vice President Marketing, said: “This immersive VR film is a massive step-change in the way we present the Etihad Airways brand and product to the consumer using highly innovative new mediums. Based on the success of our recent campaign with Nicole, the decision to take this partnership to the next level was an obvious one.”

The VR film took more than six months of effort and was filmed in Abu Dhabi. It has been recorded using a custom rig capable of shooting 6K videos. The video also features stereoscopic sound to further enhance the experience. The aircraft was highly customised to accommodate the camera and lights used to capture an experience as close to real as possible. The film was produced in association with Barbarian Group, a subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide and MediaMonks. You can see highlights of all the work that went into making the VR video in their ‘Making of film’ video.

You can head to vr.etihad.com to find more details about the video or download the app for your devices.

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Virtual reality has been there for a while now. Travel space is reaping huge benefits from the new possibilities it has to offer. Enhanced guest experience is what primarily everybody is focusing in the traveller’s lifeline. 360 videos are doing a lot of round in travel space. How the power of these videos can be used to deliver information phenomenally is still under construction, but the marketers are gearing up to experiment now. Destination marketers are not far behind in the race. There have been visible instances that destinations were and are leveraging 360VR videos to their maximum benefit. Let’s take a look at them.

Australia

Tourism Australia did a really nice coverage on its Northern Territory area. The video takes the viewer to an expansive Katherine Gorge and its surrounding areas. This being a recent initiative, Tourism Australia along with Qantas has also covered Hamilton Island’s breathtaking 360 footage.

British Columbia

British Columbia did a marvelous shot back in the autumn of 2015. The video Wild Within takes the viewer into the wild corners of the country giving them a raw experience of nature.

Las Vegas

Vegas has always something interesting and insightful to show. The marketers have paired a couple of videos around the place about certain attractions that are depicted so well in the 360 video format. The shots are lit up with the grandeur of the place. One can only see it,to believe it.

Brazil

The Brazilian Tourism Board (Embratur) came up with an amazing campaign in 360 videos format to capture the spirit of FIFA World Cup in 12 hosting cities. The campaign Brasil360 was highly impulsive and drew a lot of travellers to experience the first-hand experience of what they saw virtually.

South Africa

South Africa Tourism Board came up with a 360 video format initiative and created a wholesome experience. The South Africa Tourism UK posed this campaign on their Facebook page. It was immersed in reality and the experience was breathtaking.

With 360 videos making a lot of buzz, content marketing might shoot up the roof with new trends. Let’s hope to catch them soon.

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As the tech giants start to experiment with virtual reality, it has started to find more audience. VR viewers are easily accessible to masses and while content creation is still tough, things aren’t as bad as they were few years back. With this, we have seen some interesting startups that have entered the canvas with amazing travel related VR content. Timelooper is one such startup that offers beautiful virtual tours with an interesting addition of the ability to peek into history.

The app features virtual tours of various tourist attractions but along with that, also includes VR videos of what it used to be like in the past. So instead of the overcrowded attraction, you get to see beautiful forts and medieval markets.

The app is compatible with VR headsets like Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift and works seamlessly using the sensors on your mobile phone. The end result is an immersive experience of the same attraction back in time. The videos have been created using 3D modelling and various special effects.

There isn’t a lot of content yet but that is a given accounting for the effort and resources that go into creating such seamless experiences. Some of the experiences are unlocked to be viewed anywhere while the others will only be unlocked once you visit the specific site. There are minor glitches in the app interface but it could be the case with my specific device. There are no issues while viewing.

While the app also includes list of places where you can buy a Cardboard viewer at your destination, you can also choose to experience the VR tours without the viewer. At this point, there are multiple tours available for London and one for Turkey. China and New York will be added very soon.

YouTube and Facebook allow content creators to host 360 degree VR videos but having access to specific audience is still a challenge. As they grow, apps like Timelooper will serve as platform for creators that are generating inspirational travel VR content. Earlier we came across Ascape which is another great app that features plenty of travel VR content and offers platform for content creators.

You can find more details on their website or download the app for Android or iOS.

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Powered by the Oculus VR software, the Samsung Gear VR virtual reality headset has been launched in India. The viewer is compatible with their new top end Galaxy devices. Internationally the viewer is sold at $99 while here it fetches a slight premium and is priced at INR 8200 (approx. $120). It will be available through Flipkart and company’s physical retail channels.

(Image: Samsung Gear VR by pestoverde/ CC BY 2.0)

With an increase in availability of VR content, travel brands are increasingly adopting this medium for driving travel inspiration. Generating VR content has of course been a major challenge but multiple tech companies are simplifying the process for creators. Earlier Marriott introduced VR postcards to offer in room virtual reality experience to its guests using Gear VR headset.

While the Google Cardboard is made of cardboard (obvious, isn’t it?), the Gear VR is fancier with high quality material used all over. It is comfortable and light (not lighter than Cardboard) and also offers more control and features. The Gear VR can be the right upgrade from a Google Cardboard.

Alongside the Gear VR, they have also launched the Gear S2 smartwatches to pick up the fight of wearables with Apple Watch. There are two variants- Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic and both of them run Samsung’s home cooked Tizen OS. (Read: Top 5 Apple Watch alternatives)

With the Gear VR available to masses in India, it will be interesting to see how soon Indian travel brands start experimenting with it.

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The hotel industry has seen major transformation over the past few years. Hotels, especially the ones at the top end of the spectrum are working hard to innovate and add technology to add to the overall experience of travellers. Even the business travellers are slightly shifting towards the leisure side and that is why they have to stay at the top of technology food chain to keep them coming back. From our observations this year, we have listed down the technologies that we will see going mainstream in the hotel industry in 2016. Here are some of them:

#1- Mobile Payments

It has been too long since we have been pulling out our credit cards to pay for things. With the mobile technology giants experimenting with payment services, we will see the mobile payment systems go mainstream. Apple Pay was launched in United States with large number of partners supporting the payment service. Samsung Pay has been designed to work with existing payment gateways and Google is also ready to eat its share of the pie with Android Pay. This year we will see these services being added by more big brands including some major hotels. So it very likely that soon you will be pulling out your phone instead of your credit card to clear the hotel bills.

Lose your wallet to mobile payments

#2- Internet of Things

(Image: Beacons by jnxyz/ CC BY 2.0)

Internet of Things offers infinite possibilities for the hospitality industry. Devices like low energy Bluetooth beacons can be used to determine the position and identity of travellers. This data can be used in multiple ways depending how the hotels choose to use it. They can offer a personalised welcome message and have the key ready or maybe use more of these beacons for indoor navigation to show him the way to his room. This of course can also be used to unlock the room door using mobile phone and bypassing the front desk altogether. We recently spoke with the Madhu, founder of Proxce, a startup that is innovating in this space.

#3- Smart displays

(Image: By Ergonomidesign (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons)

It is about time the hotel rooms moves away from the conventional setup and brings something fresh to the table. Many hotels are already killing the cable TV in room and offering personal entertainment devices or streaming services on the screen. They are adding such displays in common areas as well to communicate with your devices and offer information. Going forward we will see more hotels adopt this and also add personalisation to the equation. So very soon you might have a hotel room display that shows you your favourite music videos in evening and news in the morning. We might also see more controls for other room electronics offered through the displays.

#4- Robots

We have already started to see robots being added to the hotels. Aloft hotels added Botlr to take care of room service. The tiny robots can carry small items like towels and toiletries to the guest room and can also operate lifts using Wi-FI. These robots have been developed by Savioke which is also working on similar robots for more hotels. Japan has gone even further and the Henn Na hotel almost completely employs robots for everyday hotel operations.

Robot hotels are the future of hospitality

#5- Virtual Reality

(Image: By othree (Google Cardboard) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

Virtual reality is still in the nascent stage but brands are quickly gearing up to ride this coming wave. This year we will see many hotels find use of viewers like Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard. Virtual reality can be used to drive travel inspiration and with more people having reach to VR viewers and content creators having access to the right tools, more luxury hotels will showcase their properties using virtual reality.

What other technologies do you think we will see go mainstream in hotel industry this year?

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A few days back, Google rolled out the update to its YouTube app and added more features for the Google Cardboard users. While YouTube featured 360 degree videos since March, it announced VR videos only recently with this new update. The difference is that while the 360 degree videos were flat, the videos being termed as VR are stereoscopic with an illusion of depth in them. With this addition, they have also added a new playlist of VR videos.

Until now, the uses of Google Cardboard have been limited by the number of apps and VR videos but with YouTube giving it a push, we might see more people adopting Google Cardboard. They have introduced the option of watching conventional YouTube videos in Cardboard to give a feel of virtual movie theatre. It will offer an experience similar to Oculus VR Cinema, only with an easier transition.

Virtual reality has got wide range of applications in travel industry. Brands offering activities can use VR to drive inspiration, hotels can offer virtual tours of their property, destinations can showcase the tourist attractions and this will be just the start. With the technology available to everyone at low cost, more brands can experiment with VR and reach more audience.

(Image: By othree (Google Cardboard) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

With the new additions, especially the stereoscopic 360 videos. VR content creators will have a good platform to share their work. Anyone with a cardboard and an Android device can start watching the videos. Earlier Google introduced the Jump project to ease the process of developing VR content for creators. It offers stitching capabilities on cloud taking some of the pain out of processing these videos. In a recent conversation with the co-founder of Ascape, an app that offers VR travel content, we learned that stitching these videos take lot of effort and with Google easing the process, we will see the creators offering even better experiences as they will focus more on the creative aspect of the VR videos. This could be just the push VR needed to reach every traveller.

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Virtual reality is a great way to explore beautiful destinations before actually visiting. For travel brands it is a great tool to drive inspiration and give the customers a good idea of what to expect so that they have more confidence to book. But then this industry is still growing and there are many speedbumps. Generating VR content is costly because of high equipment cost, skills required and limited processing tools available to content creators. On the other hand, content creators often don’t get the right platform to showcase.

Ascape offers the enthusiasts a great way to explore amazing travel VR content while offering the creators a great platform with right audience. The app interface is very simple and you can start watching immersive 360 degree videos in no time. The videos can be watched with or without Google Cardboard viewer.

The Ascape team consists of four members. Daniel Moroz, Valeriy Kondruk, Blake Montgomery and Blaine Hodge. Daniel was doing web/app design for a few different projects before Ascape, Valeriy is a partner of a venture fund with a management experience, Blake is a video editor with an experience in VR and Blaine is their lead developer – he’s been in games for over a decade, working on major positions at EA and Rockstar games. We had a chat with Daniel about Ascape and the future of VR. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

What was the inspiration behind Ascape?

Every member of our team shares a passion for virtual reality and travel. The moment I have tried VR for the first time, I quickly realised that the potential is far bigger than gaming. Cinematic VR is so immersive nowadays that you can literally travel places without moving. We want to inspire people to travel and explore our beautiful world with a help of VR.

What are the challenges with VR content at this moment?

The challenge with VR content is that there simply isn’t enough of it There is no high-quality user generated content, so only people with a right equipment, software and skills can make good VR content. And it is expensive. But we expect it the price to come down, making capture/post-production technology accessible to everyone and the quality to increase.

How much will projects like Google Jump help?

Google Jump is a stitching software in a cloud. We haven’t had a chance to try it but if it really works like Google claims than it will definitely help a lot! Every content producer dreams of eliminating stitching stage and concentrate more on a creative editing.

Will YouTube or Facebook 360 videos be a speedbump in your journey?

We focus on being a curated platform. That means hand-picking videos and making sure they are delivered in a highest quality possible. Plus we are focused on travel/exploration. We want to be #1 destination for travel content, so that when people think “VR” and “Travel” they think of Ascape. In that way we are not really competing with YouTube or Facebook.

What brands do you see as competition?

Discovery Channel has a similar vision for VR and there was one VR video from National Geographic too. There are a few more but I’d say that those are the biggest guys on a street.

One year down the line, where do you see Ascape?

As I said previously we really want Ascape to be a place where you can discover great VR travel content. We’ll try to be on as many platforms as we can make (currently Android only, iOS and Gear VR coming soon) and keep it as accessible as possible

We have been exploring the Ascape app with Google Cardboard for over a month now and would highly recommend it. It offers great VR experience for absolutely free. Even if you don’t have a cardboard viewer, you can watch the 360 degree videos on your phone. You can download the Ascape app for Android here. iOS version will be coming out soon.

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