Mountain Jiri (image courtesy of Wikimedia commons)
SEOUL, March 13 (Korea Bizwire) – You can now enjoy breathtaking scenery from national parks in South Korea, such as Cheonwangbong Peak in Jirisan National Park, from home without the hassle of hours of travelling and hiking, thanks to a new virtual reality (VR) service.
The Korea National Park Service (KNPS) has recently added 16 more 360-degree VR video clips depicting various landscapes ranging from mountaintops and waterfalls to temples, selected from four national parks including Jirisan, Hallyeohaesang, Sobaeksan, and Byeonsan-bando.
The service began 2015 with VR video content showing beautiful scenery of Seoraksan and Ulsanbawi Rock.
PC users can go to www.knps.or.kr for the newly-updated virtual experience. Mobile users can find the new virtual reality video app on the official Android app store by searching for “National park virtual reality”.
An iPhone app for the same service is scheduled to be released sometime in the first half of this year.
Makers say the VR experience can be greatly enhanced with the help of Head Mounted Display (HMD) VR headsets.
“The VR service from the KNPS is a product of the combination of our beautiful natural environment and the breakthrough computer technology that is VR,” said Choi Seung-Un, public relations manager at the KNPS.
The virtual reality industry is growing at an unprecedented rate, and industry experts predict it to be the next big thing to look out for. Earlier this month, VR gadgets swept across the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world’s largest annual event in the mobile industry.
M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
