In a fascinating endurance project from the comfort of his own home, cycling and tech enthusiast Aaron Puzey has developed a ‘game‘ whereby he can cycle the length of Britain, from Land’s End to John o’ Groats using panoramas appropriated from Google Streetview.
Puzey’s journey began on the 15th May 2016. Almost three months later he’s somewhere close to the halfway point of Manchester. What is remarkable to see during the daily video diaries is how Puzey encounters problems such as nausea, missing panoramas, fogged VR lenses, finickity Bluetooth adapters and solves them. – Instead of having to deal with punctures and chains dropping off the maintenance involved in the world of VR cycling is mostly coding.
“I want to become the first person to cycle the length of Britain in virtual reality.”
The cynical and sanctimonious might expect a boring expedition, however Puzey’s excellent video coverage of every mile both on his bike and inside the virtual world can be as informative as he is amusing to watch. We followed his most recent summary as he made it to Lancashire:
Judging by comments on social media, Puzey has tapped into a market ready for development. In the same way Pokemon Go has given outdoor exercise (read: walking) a different spin and therefore more fun, Puzey’s endeavour makes exercising at home more interesting.
“Using a Gear VR, a cadence monitor and my exercise bike I’m cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats. I’m using Google Street View data to generate the 3D world. As you’ll see it has some… problems. But it’s still better than anything else out there”
A journey of such significance wouldn’t be complete without a vernacular dose of sightseeing photographs. Catering to his audience is a section on the blog which also happens to be Phogotraphy‘s favourite part, sharing some of the interesting virtual sights seen along the way.
If you find the project interesting and want to follow Aaron Puzey‘s progress his blog is updated daily.
Phogotraphy 