Have you ever dreamed of piloting around the world in a hot air balloon? To stand at the brink of space, looking down to Earth below, wondering where to fly next? With Into the Scaniverse, the WebXR app for Meta Quest 3/3S, you can travel the world and explore real places in immersive 3D, using a new technology called Gaussian splatting.
Here are five spectacular map locations to fuel your curiosity and light a fire under your hot air balloon.
Stop 1: Beomeosa Temple, Busan, South Korea
The first place to visit is the Three Story Stone Pagoda in the Beomeosa Temple in Geumjeong-gu, Busan, South Korea. Nestled on the slope of Geumjongsan Mountain, this Buddhist temple was built more than 1,400 years ago and has served as a martial arts training center for an order of fighting monks for hundreds of years.
Stop 2: Banksy Tunnel, London, UK
Next, trade this serene mountain retreat for the urban core. Climb back into the basket, pull down your steampunk goggles, and ride the wind around the world to South London. Take a look inside the Leake Street tunnel, better known as Banksy Tunnel, after the anonymous street artist who began using the underpass as a public gallery for graffiti art in 2008. The art changes all the time as new graffiti artists come to leave their mark.
Stop 3: Jameos del Agua, Canary Islands, Spain
From the UK it’s a short flight in the balloon down to the Canary Islands in Spain. Lanzarote, the easternmost of the islands, offers one of the closest earthly approximations for taking a vacation to Mars. Its landscape is full of volcanoes, lava tubes, and black sand beaches. Jameos del Agua is a tourist attraction in Lanzarote built by Spanish artist César Manrique to give human visitors a chance to marvel at this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Stop 4: Piazza Mincio, Rome, Italy
Cross North Africa and the Mediterranean to Rome to enjoy the spectacular Piazza Mincio in 360 degrees. The plaza is in the Quartiere Coppedè, a complex of villas and palaces built by architect Gino Coppedè in the early 20th century. This tucked-away district is a kind of architectural fantasyland mishmash, with references to Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Baroque and ancient Greek styles. In the center of the plaza is the Fontana delle Rane, or Fountain of Frogs.
Stop 5: High Line, New York City, USA
The last balloon stop is in New York City, to visit the High Line. Instead of seeing the world from above, take a moment to feel very small: walk around beneath the newly installed 16-foot-tall sculpture of a pigeon, titled “Dinosaur,” by Colombian-French artist Iván Argote.
Where to next?
These destinations are only the beginning. Scaniverse has the world’s largest collection of 3D Gaussian splats, and people are adding new locations every day—join them by putting up your own 3D scans, and keep exploring.