Euromaidan Press: A 360 degree Virtual Reality tour of Maidan is launched on Google Play

On the one year anniversary of the Euromaidan revolution in Kyiv, modern technology offers us a chance to look back and see what people present there at the time experienced. This is made possible by the development of Virtual Reality, which is starting to offer mankind much more than immersive gaming and adult entertainment: it is changing the way that we document and remember history. 

360 degree images of Maidan Square that were captured during the time of unrest, on Feb. 25, 2014, have been compiled and launched on Google Play, allowing anyone to experience the environment of social and political upheaval.

The images are available to be viewed on Virtual Reality devices, or online.

These images have been captured by startup Giraffe 360, a company that specialises in 360 degree imaging. Though typically used for commercial needs (such as hotel previews), the startup felt the need to use their technology to document the historical event that took place in Kyiv last February.

Founder Mikus Opelts traveled to Kyiv himself to capture the images of Euromaidan to document the historical event, based on the technology available to him. He explains his initiative:

“When I heard about the news that 60 people had been shot in the centre of Kyiv, I just had the urge to go and document what was happening. I don’t know why, but the thought that our modern-day technologies can immortalize the events on an entirely different level, so that we can understand them better now and in the future. In the future, history won’t be documented any more by those who wrote the stories.”

The images are part of an ongoing project called “Get to Know World,” where 360 image tours including virtual reality of different cities around the world are available to be explored, including the war-torn Gaza strip, the mountains of Iceland and New York City.

Giraffe 360 intends to offer high-quality content for virtual reality. As  to stray away from the tendency for the industry to be dominated by gaming and adult films, seeing a higher potential for the technology.