Actual Education Interactive Guided Tours

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-A bit about us-_
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The history of Edinburgh is something I find fascinating. I love the idea of walking where famous, important and history-changing people walked. That's what our Interactive Guided Tours are designed to do, take you by the hand through the streets of some of Britain's most historic places - York, Edinburgh, Chester and more.

Our love of virtual tours had its origins back in 1985 when Robert Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic. I was hooked on the history of that ship and I quickly raided my father's books to see what he had on the famous ocean liner. Other kids collected football stickers, I imagined walking around the decks of the Titanic...each to their own I suppose!

Let's skip forward to 1997, although the interest in the ship was still there life had moved on. I was now a primary school teacher and my favourite subject to learn about, as well as to teach, was history. Two things came along which rekindled my interest in the ship. The James Cameron film and a little known computer game called 'Titanic - An Adventure Out of Time'. The pupils in my class suddenly became fascinated in the ship and I used the software in my class. They loved it.

'Titanic - An Adventure Out of Time' had a 'virtual tour' section which allowed the pupils to explore many of the most famous rooms onboard. Suddenly archive deck plans were being used in class with real understanding, photographs of the ship were compared to the ones in the software and there and then I became convinced that virtual tours were a powerful learning tool...both for children and adults.

In late 2000 I came across a piece of software that was a virtual tour of Edinburgh Castle. This software was based on panoramic photographs. No 'virtual tour' can compare to actually visiting the site for real but it did offer many excellent alternatives.

Skip forward four years and I come across an article in a photography magazine about virtual tours...Actual Education Ltd was born three months later.

We've actually been working on a few or our titles - Greyfriars Kirkyard, the Flodden Wall and Edinburgh's Old Town, since 2004. Since then we've upgraded equipment and software at least three times and it was only then that we were happy enough with our work to share it with others...and we haven't stopped trying to continually improve our forthcoming tours so that they are just as enjoyable!

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-Feature videos-
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Video clips have been included to compliment the panoramic photographs. These photos can be viewed in full screen and the movement and sound captured in the video clips give you a really immersive exploration of the Water of Leith.

Video clips have been included to compliment the panoramic photographs. These photos can be viewed in full screen and the movement and sound captured in the video clips give you a really immersive exploration of the Water of Leith.

Video clips have been included to compliment the panoramic photographs. These photos can be viewed in full screen and the movement and sound captured in the video clips give you a really immersive exploration of the Water of Leith.