Avatars at the Flying Palace Stereographic panoramas of Angkor Cambodia

EN) The paper documents the creation in 2004 of real-world stereographic panoramas at the UNESCO world heritage listed site Angkor, in Cambodia. The project builds upon the history of the panorama as a medium of virtual travel that has existed from the eighteenth century. The significance of the current project is the way in which real-world (as opposed to computer generated) stereographic panoramic scenes may be used in conjunction with augmented narratives and interactive device to enhance attributes of presence in virtual heritage applications. The Virtual Room at the Melbourne Museum provides a unique delivery platform for the material, and can distribute the Angkor panoramas at a real-world scale in stereographic and immersive setting. The paper gives an introduction to the potential to expand upon these images and embed additional contextual information and sound scapes to this environment—with powerful effect.