City360.kz project: virtual tours for capital’s iconic objects

Iconic cultural sites of Kazakhstan have become even more accessible. Internet users are now able to virtually visit the “Astana Opera” Theater and the “Kazakhstan” Central Concert Hall. Anyone interested can “walk” through the buildings, enjoy the views of the interior, look at the stage from any place in the hall, study museum exhibits, and also browse photos and videos of these cultural objects.

This became possible  thanks to the  City360.kz startup – a project with detailed 3D models of objects, based on laser scanning technology. Virtual tours based on such 3D models, make it possible to study the objects using information labels, as well as audio guides and VR glasses.

City360.kz is one of the projects that has passed the selection phase of the “quickstart” acceleration program of the Innovation Cluster of Nazarbayev University “NURIS”.  

The new virtual tour of the “Kazakhstan” Central Concert Hall is a gift from the City360.kz startup to commemorate the 60th anniversary season of the “Kazakhconcert” organization. Now, the “desert flower”, as it was called by the building’s designer – Italian architect Manfredi Nicoletti, is available for virtual visits 24/7 from any device.

During the virtual tour to the Central Concert Hall “Kazakhstan”, Internet users will be able to watch videos and photographs from concerts, listen to audio files, find useful links and QR tags.

As the director of “Kazakhconcert” Zhenis Seydullauly noted, virtual travel is a growing trend that people are enjoying in their free time. People can get useful information and plan future in-person excursions.

“The opportunity to visit one of the unique concert halls of the CIS online is truly exciting. The specialists who created this virtual tour did their best to make it high-tech and include many interesting features. Files and documents available on the virtual tour will be of interest to every single visitor, and they were carefully chosen to inspire our guests’  creativity. They are not only colorful but also informative, as well as publicly available for all segments of the population,” said Zhenis Seydullauly.