3D Virtual Forbidden City

What did I do over the long weekend? Touring in the Forbidden City, literally. IBM launched the first Chinese 3D virtual tourism platform – Beyond Space and Time (The Virtual Forbidden City).

The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420, consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. It is also the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The Virtual Forbidden City enables visitors to interact with others and with a growing knowledge base of the historical site. Learning materials are being generated by tourists, volunteers, staff and data collecting scripts.

As they explore the Virtual Forbidden City, visitors can choose to simply observe the buzz of activity, participate in activities that provide insights into important aspects of the Chinese history, or even take guided tours that uncover new insights into the stories of the Forbidden City.

It’s a combination of 3D Simulation and Machinima experience in my opinion. There are also a few mini-games embedded in the exotic gardens and amazing architectures to keep the audiences entertained.

Beijing tours, visiting Forbidden City…