A few months ago I found myself completely captivated by a Google Street View journey I took through Rome: the Forum, Baths of Diocletian, and the Appian Way.
I had missed the last two on a recent trip to the Eternal City, and found Google’s 3D reality was not a bad substitute to actual wanderings in the real places.
A stealthy startup called 3rd Planet has taken this idea and is turning it into a money making travel planning web site that will, in the words of their brochure, “change the face of tourism forever.”
3rd Planet appears to be a kind of Second Life for vacations planners, allowing them to both step through renderings of cities, ruins, museums, etc. but also interact with “fellow online tourists”.Continue reading