The Woodland Trust

Set in the heart of the Loch Lomond National Park, the Great Trossachs Forest is one of the largest nature reserves in the United Kingdom and subject to one of the most significant woodland generation projects to take place in the UK for a generation.

As part of a multifaceted project to promote the Woodland Trust’s vision for the future of the Great Trossachs Forest, the Trust decided to explore the idea of creating a seasonal virtual tour to show the changes in the landscape across the seasons.

Capturing a National Park through the seasons

Following a successful tender process, Pan 3Sixty worked closely with the Woodland Trust to explore how to create a 360° virtual tour that showcased the landscape, the flora & fauna, and the forestry work in The Great Trossachs National Park. Following a two day recce travelling the length and breadth of the Park, both parties finalised the locations to include in the virtual tour, after which we created a ‘seasonal’ plan to photograph the 12 locations throughout the Park, three times each over the next 12 to 16 months.

Working on short notice, we liaised with local Woodland Trust staff to photograph the landscape when the weather conditions were favourable, and we were able to capture seasonal events such as the bluebells coming into flower or a heavy winter snowfall. As with all landscape projects, the light and weather dictated how successful any individual days photography turned out. Some locations, such as the autumn view over Loch Katrine from Benn A’an required four separate climbs to capture, while others, such as Lendrick Oak Wood, presented us with near perfect conditions at each visit.

Another problem to overcome in the summer months was the infamous Scottish midge! While a midge hood, gloves, decent outdoor clothing and a hefty dose of Deet prevented then from feeding too heavily on the photographer, there seemed to be nothing we could do to deter them from a persistent interest in landing on the lens element. To ensure no panoramas were ruined, the lens was blown clean of any midges between each shot, and just to be doubly sure, we created multiple panoramas of each scene to be on the safe side.

Custom designed user interface

In parallel with the creation of the 360° panoramas, we developed a custom-designed user interface. Using an interactive map of the area you can select which of the 12 locations to view, whilst and seasonal icons on the panoramas themselves enable you to move seamlessly between seasons, exploring the changes in the landscape. Pop-up information points highlight items of interest within each scene, such as seasonal variations in flora and fauna, the work carried out by the Woodland Trust or historical facts about the landscape and its population.

In parallel to the creation of the photography, we designed, developed and created a custom-designed user interface. Using an interactive map of the area with pop-up information points highlighting items of interest, the viewer can explore the Park throughout the year, learning about seasonal changes in the landscape, the wildlife and plans for the regeneration of the woodland.

Visitor centre touch screen

In addition to the online virtual tour, we worked with our friends at Wide Sky Design to incorporate the 360° panoramas into a 55″ touch screen interactive located in the new Glen Finglas visitor centre.

Interactive Social Media

Finally, we delivered a set of the 360° panoramas for both the Woodland Trust and other project stakeholders to use directly in their Facebook timelines, promoting the 360° virtual tour and the Great Trossachs Forest to their followers.