Virtual Guidebooks

Help Using The Virtual Guidebooks

You must install QuickTime to view the VR panoramas on this site.

QuickTime is available free from Apple Computer. It runs on both Macintosh and Windows, and provides an amazing number of features. In addition to VR panoramas, it supports the highest quality movies, live streaming video, and many sound formats..

It is rather a large download, but definitely worth it. Just click the icon above to go to the Apple download site.

Problems with Windows

If you are using various versions of Windows you may have trouble with these pages. Microsoft has changed the way it deals with competing technologies (such as QuickTime and Java) over and over. We try to keep abreast of current practice.

Navigating in a Panorama

If you have QuickTime correctly installed, and haven't been thwarted by Microsoft's software, you should see a slowly revolving panorama of Morro Bay to the left.

To navigate, simply put the cursor over the image, hold the mouse button down, and drag in the direction you want to look. The panorama will scroll continuously until you release the mouse button.

The further you move the cursor from its starting point the faster the image will scroll. To stop, move the cursor back to its starting point, or release the mouse button. It is possible to give the panorama a push to make it spin continuously (this takes a little practice).

To zoom in, press the Shift key; to zoom out, press the Control key. Or click the buttons on the navigation bar below the panorama.

How The Virtual Guidebooks Site Is Organized

There are 23 state/province regions (California counts as three), shown on the map on the Table of Contents page. These regions are in turn divided into Guidebooks.

There are currently 74 Virtual Guidebooks, each covering an easily recognized area, such as you might choose for a vacation destination — the Olympic Peninsula, the island of Maui, the Grand Canyon, etc. Many of the guidebooks now have both standard and fullscreen versions.

Each Guidebook lists localities — this is where the panoramas are. A locality contains up to ten VR panoramas, either of the same place, or geographically grouped together.

Wherever you are in the Virtual Guidebooks hierarchy, you can move up by clicking the navigation buttons at the top right. To move down in the hierarchy, select from the list in the main part of the window.

If you would like to see a comprehensive list of all the guidebooks and localities, just click the

Geographic Lists button on one of the main pages. This lists the states and guidebooks. Another, much longer, list breaks it down all the way to localities.

Most panorama pages have a suggestion for similar panoramas. These are the Thematic Lists, listing panoramas on a similar theme: lighthouses, waterfalls, etc. Just click the Thematic Lists button on one of the main pages.

Try using the Next and Previous links. They will cycle you through all the localities or panoramas in a single guidebook.

At all levels items tend to be organized from northwest to southeast (top left to bottom right on a map).

All pages have buttons to get you to the most appropriate Books page, a page listing Art Prints and Posters of that area, the Search page, and the Table of Contents page (the Home button).

Contact Me

dbain@virtualguidebooks.com





Help Using The Virtual Guidebooks

You must install QuickTime to view the VR panoramas on this site. QuickTime is available free from Apple Computer. It runs on both Macintosh and Windows, and provides an amazing number of features. In addition to VR panoramas, it supports the highest quality movies, live streaming video, and many sound formats.. It is rather a large download, but definitely worth it. Just click the icon above to go to the Apple download site.

Problems with Windows If you are using various versions of Windows you may have trouble with these pages. Microsoft has changed the way it deals with competing technologies (such as QuickTime and Java) over and over. We try to keep abreast of current practice.

Navigating in a Panorama
		If you have QuickTime correctly installed, and haven't been thwarted by Microsoft's software, you should see a slowly revolving panorama of Morro Bay to the left. To navigate, simply put the cursor over the image, hold the mouse button down, and drag in the direction you want to look. The panorama will scroll continuously until you release the mouse button.
The further you move the cursor from its starting point the faster the image will scroll. To stop, move the cursor back to its starting point, or release the mouse button. It is possible to give the panorama a push to make it spin continuously (this takes a little practice). To zoom in, press the Shift key; to zoom out, press the Control key. Or click the buttons on the navigation bar below the panorama.

How The Virtual Guidebooks Site Is Organized

There are 23 state/province regions (California counts as three), shown on the map on the Table of Contents page. These regions are in turn divided into Guidebooks. There are currently 74 Virtual Guidebooks, each covering an easily recognized area, such as you might choose for a vacation destination — the Olympic Peninsula, the island of Maui, the Grand Canyon, etc. Many of the guidebooks now have both standard and fullscreen versions. Each Guidebook lists localities — this is where the panoramas are. A locality contains up to ten VR panoramas, either of the same place, or geographically grouped together.

Wherever you are in the Virtual Guidebooks hierarchy, you can move up by clicking the navigation buttons at the top right. To move down in the hierarchy, select from the list in the main part of the window.

If you would like to see a comprehensive list of all the guidebooks and localities, just click the Geographic Lists button on one of the main pages. This lists the states and guidebooks. Another, much longer, list breaks it down all the way to localities.
Most panorama pages have a suggestion for similar panoramas. These are the Thematic Lists, listing panoramas on a similar theme: lighthouses, waterfalls, etc. Just click the Thematic Lists button on one of the main pages.

Try using the Next and Previous links. They will cycle you through all the localities or panoramas in a single guidebook.
At all levels items tend to be organized from northwest to southeast (top left to bottom right on a map).

All pages have buttons to get you to the most appropriate Books page, a page listing Art Prints and Posters of that area, the Search page, and the Table of Contents page (the Home button).
Contact Me dbain@virtualguidebooks.com