The individual elements of the interactive panoramic tour on this web site are rendered on your screen using the PTViewer java applet - and thus require nothing more specialised than a java-enabled web browser in order to use them.
Each panorama consists of a series of photographs (taken from the same point - looking in all directions) which are then seamlessly stitched together and rotated automatically by your web browser. The PTViewer applet allows you to pause the rotation, and zoom into or out of the scene for a closer or wider view. The software also displays "hot spots" - red dots on the image which represent physical locations from which other panoramic images have been created. By clicking on one hot spot after another you will be able to navigate your way around the whole island. There are currently in the region of 70 such panoramas and many more are planned for the future. Large high quality version of the best panoramas can also be accessed from the Friends of Walney download area.
The full potential of the Panoramic Tour is however still restricted by non-broadband download times. And for that reason, only relatively small low-quality versions of the panoramas are available for viewing in real time.
A small map of the island appears alonside each parorama to indicate exactly where the view was taken from.
