wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: What is VR going to be called by the General Public.
G. Donald Bain 2005-Jan-22 01:30:00
Thank you, Hans, this is very valuable information.
Hans is an expert on Google (and many other things related to VR,
photography, and the web). We should study these figures.
Some preliminary observations:
Hans is right, people in general have no idea what to call "prostorska
slika" (as we say in Slovenian). There are more than a dozen commonly
used terms, but often people can only describe it - "pictures on the
screen, you can spin them around". This is too bad. It would be a lot
easier if there was one simple word that everybody understood, like
"porn".
So we need to do two things. First and most practically, we have to
figure out which terms currently work best, and use them. Second, we
need to play an active role in creating a widely recognized term.
From Hans' statistics we can see that Apple did well with both "QTVR"
and just the "VR" part of QTVR. When a site uses QTVR (for example the
WWP, panoramas.dk, FullScreenQTVR, Virtual Guidebooks, VirtualParks and
many more) this will certainly be useful. I believe QTVR will remain
the dominant technology for quite a while. But we still need a more
inclusive term.
"VR" in various contexts is good, "panoramas" alone and in context is
also good. So "VR panoramas" is very good. A Google search on "vr
panoramas" brings up Hans first and second, the World Wide Panorama
third and fourth, then EuroVR (another QTVR site), and Kaidan, Ken
Turkowski, Apple QTVRAS, and Mickael Therer's Armistice Day project,
all on the first page.
To me that's a very strong association with "prostorska slika". I'm
just upset my site doesn't rank higher on that search - but I do better
with "virtual reality panoramas" (3 and 4, after Hans 1 and 2) and
"panorama" (7).
So what do we do about this in the long run? I think we should all try
to use the same small group of terms. Hans finds that VR photography is
a dud. But it is useful as an overall term, to cover both panoramas and
objects - as in IVRPA.
My recommendation is we should all use the terms "VR panorama" / "VR
panoramas", if what we are doing is "prostorska slika". No matter that
it is QuickTime, Java, javascript, Flash, or Shockwave. Not whether it
is standalone panoramas or multi-node virtual tours, or panoramas in
elaborate pages with maps and rollovers and sound. We should use
whatever other keywords are appropriate, but always be sure VR
panorama(s) is there too.
If we all do this, the public will gradually come to recognize it. That
"picture on the screen, you can spin it around" - oh yes, that's a VR
panorama. They will Google it, and find what they want.
One other important item. Note how well Hans' panoramas have done by
subject, people looking for Everest and New Year's Eve and Times
Square. I am always surprised how sloppy web sites are about
identifying their subjects and places, frequently not even identifying
the country. A panorama of a real place should always have a complete
and accurate geographic description, and list the key terms in the
meta-data also.
Thanks for listening,
Don
On Jan 21, 2005, at 2:14 PM, Hans Nyberg wrote:
>
> Since I started panoramas.dk I have focusing a lot on search engine
> optimizing and
> can tell you that the expression VR Photography is completely unknown.
> Also Virtual Reality panoramas or VR panoramas
>
> During the last 6 months panoramas.dk has had
> 685.000 unique visitors
>
> About half of them came from Search engines
> 91% from the 3 large ones
> Google 241.660
> Yahoo 46.900
> MSN 15.853
> As I am no 1 or 2 for Mount Everest and New year's eve this has given
> me almost 25% of my visitors.
> My Apollo and Mars panoramas has also been a large success
>
> Different combinations of NEW Years Eve - New Year, Times Square, and
> New York 84.000
> Times Square alone was 6.000
> Mount Everest and other combinations with Everest was No 2 with 67.700
> Moon, First man on the Moon, landing on the moon etc. 15.593
> Apollo 6.851
> Eiffel Tower combinations (tour eiffel Torre eiffel Eiffel tower photos
> etc) 13.978
> Matterhorn 4.991
> Mars 3412
>
> plus thousands of different places and general search words
>
> What about the VR related. First this is my rank in Google / Yahoo
> panoramas - 1
> panorama - 7
> Quicktime VR - 2 after Apple
> QTVR - 2 after Apple
> VR - 9
> VR Software - 3
> VR Panoramas - 1 and 2 with virtualdenmark.dk
> VR Photography - 2
> VR Photographers - 1 VR Photographer - 2
> VR Photos - 6
> VR Panoramic - 1
> panoramiques virtuelle - 2
> panoramafoto - 8
> visit virtuelle - 1
> 360 degrees - 2
> 360 degreee - 1
> virtual reality panoramas - 1
>
> This is what I got the last 6 months.
> 360, 360 view, 360 degrees, 360 panorama etc 6.855
> VR 4.748 most of it in connection as Quicktime VR
> VR software 95
> VR panoramas 29
> VR Photography 22 (note that I am No 2 in Google for this)
> VR Photographers 7
> qtvr alone and in more than 200 combinations 3.458
> quicktime vr alone 1.260
> in connections like Quicktime VR Software- Tutorial - Panorama etc.
> around 4.600
> Panoramic, panoramic view, panoramic images, pictures etc 5469
> Panoramas 6.917 this includes panoramas.dk and 470 different
> combinations panoramas alonE was 1.689
> Panorama 6.000 in more than 1.400 combinations
> Photo and photos 10.200 in more tha 2.000 combinations
> virtual 1.274 this is in 269 different combinations with Quicktime
> Virtual Reality as No 1 with 24 hits.
> Panoramiques virtuelle ZERO
> Virtual reality panoramas 12 (note that I am No 1 in Google)
>
> I believe this says it all. Even if I have been No 2 for VR Photography
> during the 6 last months
> I only got 22 visitors from it
>
> Quicktime VR, QTVR and panoramas is what most people search for.
>
> So what will people who never seen it before remember them as.
> I would say PANORAMAS
>
> HANS
> <http://www.panoramas.dk> Panoramas.dk - Features Fullscreen QTVR
> email: #removed#
>
> On Jan 21, 2005, at 4:57 PM, G.Donald Bain wrote:
>
>> ood question. The way it is now, how do you search for this type of
>> media on Google? Too many possibilities. Most people who have seen it
>> don't know how to ask for more.
>>
>> One of our goals for the World Wide Panorama is to set an example of
>> standard terminology, to get thousands of links on the search engines
>> all with the same terms.
>>
>> The terms we favor are: VR photography, VR panorama, and VR object,
>> along with virtual reality photography.
>>
>> The IQTVRA (International QuickTime VR Association) has changed its
>> name to IVRPA (International VR Photography Association). Hans
>> Nyberg's
>> panoramas.dk site uses the terms VR photography, VR photographers,
>> and
>> virtual reality photography. Scott Highton's site is
>> vrphotography.com,
>> which he spells out Virtual Reality Photography. Erik Goetze's VRLog
>> blog site uses photographic virtual reality.
>>
>> So it seems there is a convergence on these terms. The IVRPA board of
>> directors debated this at length. Some strongly favor terms such as
>> virtual tour and immersive imagery, which is fine, as long as
>> everyone
>> also uses VR photography/VR panorama/VR object etc.
>>
>>
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> ------
> The World-Wide Panorama
>
> For more information:
> -Visit the web site at http://GeoImages.Berkeley.edu/wwp.html
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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