November 22, 2013

Google creates an interactive tour of Middle Earth for the upcoming Hobbit movie

by Shayne Rana

Tolkien’s the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are just about the most intense works of fiction and fantasy to ever be written. After the movies, the stories have brought so much more details to what we imagined in our readings of the tales. The locales and vast spaces of Middle Earth – Trollshaw, Dol Durdul, Rivendell and other places in Tolkien’s fantasy realm were reimaged on screen and gave us a perspective unlike we’ve seen before. Google, in all its goodness, has sought to make the stories even more entice and, keeping with today’s technology traditions, have made it more interactive as well with their – Journey Through Middle Earth page.

The browser based mapping system lets you access locations in the realm and get details on the sites there. Also included are character bios and a few snapshots from the movies. It’s well fabricated to give fans a look into the movies and the trivia of the Tolkien’s work. Although this is more of a movie based set up to give you a glimpse of what to expect in the next Hobbit film – The Desolation of Smaug, the overall look and feel of the 3D mapping structure is brilliant and quite immersive. The deeper you go the more interactive it becomes and also acts as a game that a lets you play with the surroundings like dodging trolls, with a unique scoring style provided after you’re done. Even the audio score playing in the background is entertaining. It’s a bit of a heavy set up so the best experience will be gained if you have a speedy internet connection. Nevertheless the set up works well on Chrome via your PC or Android device.

[Via – The-Hobbit]