CitySearch to Use Interactive Pictures Technology

Interactive Pictures Corp., a provider of immersive imaging for the Internet, has been selected by Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch to deliver IPIX images for CitySearch’s city guide Web advertising packages.

The 360-degree-by-360-degree IPIX images provide the technology for CitySearch’s “CircleView” ad product for local businesses. Interactive Pictures’ IPIX technology is an immersive photograph, allowing people to step inside an IPIX image looking in any direction, from left to right and floor to ceiling, and feel as if they are actually in the picture.

“Local city guides are a great application of IPIX technology,” said Jim Phillips, chairman and CEO of Interactive Pictures. “IPIX images help local merchants market and sell their products and venues enabling consumers to experience a destination before they arrive, tour a city’s attractions, visit local hotels, pick a restaurant and even shop online.”

Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch has purchased 33 of Interactive Pictures’ digital camera kits based on the new Nikon Coolpix 950 2.1 megapixel digital camera to enable IPIX images to be created in seconds, right in front of the merchant. These solutions enable citysearch.com photographers to capture restaurants, museums, parks, theaters and any other locale, and create interactive images that “teleport” viewers to the destination. Spending was not disclosed.

“This relationship will provide us with a great way to increase the effectiveness of our merchant Web sites by providing consumers with a tool that helps them make informed purchasing decisions,” said Carmen Bal, vice president of product management for Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch. IPIX images were first used by Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch to develop virtual tours of arenas and theaters for the My.Ticketmaster Web site.