About
The 360 Guide, the virtual reality guidebook
The 360 guide project came about As I was getting close to the age of a midlife crisis. I started wondering what I was going to do when I was to retire. Since I have enjoyed photography since an early age, I thought that becoming a photographer was a good Idea, so I started thinking what kind of photography I would be good at. Given my passion for rock climbing one of the first thing that came to my mind was landscaping photography, but at the time I sort of discarded the idea since I thought it would take really long time to build a portfolio. I then started to work in architectural photography and partnered with my wife to build a website about drawing and photography for architectural purposes. Turned out that building a portfolio for this purpose was really difficult since you can imagine that not many people is eager to lend their houses to a bunch of strangers for the purpose of building a portfolio. At that point that I was having difficulties putting together the portfolio, and due to my passion for rock climbing I started imagining what it would be to create a virtual reality guidebook of the climbing areas near my city, and was at this point that I got involved into this idea of creating these photographs. I wanted to show everyone how everything is linked together, what the surroundings really looks like, and by doing that, I hope I will encourage people to care and look after the environment. I once heard an aboriginal person saying: “Money comes and go, but the land just go and never comes back”.
Mainly this is a comprehensive guide of the Shoalhaven area, which is located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. However I also had the opportunity to go to other places and take some photographs that will give you an idea how these places really are.
Hanging out at Pierces Pass. Photo by Jake Noblett
Taking photos at Lasseter's. Photo by John-Paul Little
Taking photos in Margalef. Photo by Jose Alvarez
Taking photos in Hanshallaren. Photo by Juan Medina
Climbing somewhere at Sector Primavera, Siurana. Photo by Alberto Rao
Taking pictures in Babylon. Photo by Jake Noblett
Taking photos at the Gold Mine. Photo by Kazumi Tobita
bogged down in the Monkey Gum Fire Trail
Bogged down on my way to the Gold Mine
Abseiling at the Gold Mine. Photo by Gael Cazes
Taking pictures at Point Perpendicular. Photo by Jake Noblett
Acknowledgements
I need to thanks :
My parents (Juan & Elizabeth) who gave me life, otherwise I would not be here
My Wife Damayra who literally walked with me every step of this journey and coped with my tantrums along the way
My children (Diego and Daniel) for patiently joined me in most of the trips
My aunts (Macklensy & Doritza) who has supported me even from far away
My brother (Juan) who installed the first software in my computer and joined me in Flatanger
Jake Noblett who walked and climbed with me in almost every area featured in this project
Nathan Burling who donated his computer for this project
Alberto Rao, Villan Alayon & Jose Alvarez who made possible the pictures from Spain
Berit Hestnes whose hospitality and support made possible the pictures from Flatanger
Frequently asked questions
Where can I watch these virtual tours?
For the time being the virtual reality guidebooks are only accessible online from desktop and mobile devices
How can I travel between modules without having to close the tour or returning to the database?
This is something that I forgot to include in the “how to” video. Ideally the virtual reality modules should be connected by a link, but at this stage that has not been possible. However if you pay attention to the bottom of the tour window, you will see that there are a line of dots, each dot represent a virtual reality module. So when you click on a dot, that will take you to a virtual reality module.
Why many routes do not have any information about the first ascent?
Our rule is: if the information about the first ascent is not available anywhere and we know the details of the first ascent, then we will publish those details in the tours, otherwise we will not publish any information about the first ascent.
Are virtual tours available in different languages?
Unfortunately the content of the virtual reality guidebooks is only available in English. However they have been designed so they can be easily understood in any language.