Atlas Obscura is exploring Virtual Reality technology to bring users to places in the world which they wouldn’t normally have access to.

The Atlas Obscura catalogs the most unusual, surprising, and amazing places around the world, thanks to the discoveries shared by its community. They add images, videos, and stories of places that probably are too far out for most travel guides.

So far, the Atlas has 11,000 entries all over the world. And now you can visit some of them in the virtual reality.

With these free VR videos and apps, you can explore Winchester House of Mystery (see above), Temples of Damanhur in northern Italy and the Salt Mines of Salina Turda, Transylvania (see below). However, there are also other locations which are available in pictures and audio.

You can download the experience here.

Oculus is behind Atlas’ leap into VR as they approached the company to produce the videos. They are set up for Samsung’s Galaxy Gear VR and the Oculus Rift. If you already own the headset, it’s possible to easily discover and enjoy the environment unaided.

“We want to be able to tell these stories about places and instill people with this sense of wonder and awe in the world around them in a lot of different mediums. That always when we feel like we’ve succeeded most,” said Dylan Thuras, the site’s co-founder and host of the VR videos.

Atlas Obscura’s Leap into VR Technology

The company’s aim is to encourage people to go out and see the world for themselves. However, they realized the technology can be useful when it comes to restricted locations.

This option is also more accessible and a lot cheaper than exploring exotic places in real life. However, Thuras still believes the technology is too foreign and confusing for most people. In fact, he compares today’s VR technology to initial bulky cell phones.

Thuras also believes that Atlas Obscura could benefit from augmented reality, which they experimented with back in 2013.

“Our reason for existence is to help people find experiences of wonder in their environments, to show them there are incredible stories and places down the block from them. Being able to do that in a way that interacts smoothly with the real environment would be hugely amazing. Atlas Obscura could be the voice in your ear,” explains Thuras.

Source: Nieman Lab