Google launches incredible virtual tours of London's Natural History Museum

Google has teamed up with the London and Berlin Natural History Museums to create a unique online exhibition featuring a staggering 300,000 specimens.

Using the firm's Street View, interactive interior shots of the famous museums enable people to wander its halls from the comfort of their own home.

The nine virtual exhibitions included the experience include the first T-Rex fossil ever found, extinct mammoths and a skull from a narwhal or 'sea unicorn'.

Google has teamed up with the London and Berlin Natural History Museums to create a unique online exhibition featuring a staggering 300,000 specimens. Pictured is the Jurassic giant Giraffatitan at the Berlin Natural History Museum

Virtual visitors to the exhibition can use Google's budget Cardboard VR headset to view 360-degree YouTube videos.

Museum bosses hope the digital showcase will encourage people to reconsider the way that they look at the natural world.

'We want to challenge as many people as possible to think differently about the natural world, because now more than ever, understanding our past and present can help us all shape the future,' said Sir Michael Dixon, Director of the Natural History Museum.

'Working with Google Arts and Culture helps us to inspire the next generation of scientists and also to uncover new scientific insights from the collection using digital technology. 

One of the VR experiences is the museum's Fossil Marine Reptile hall, where viewers can watch a marine dinosaur - Rhomaleosaurus (pictured) come back to life and swim the corridors of the museum

SOME OF THE EXHIBITS 

Using gigapixel technology to capture incredibly high resolution images, the project has captured some of the institutions' most famous halls including Kensington's Hintze Hall.

Hintze boasts a ceiling adorned with 162 intricate panels displaying plants from around the world.

Another shows the biodiversity wall in the Berlin museum. 

In this installation 3,000 mounted species are on display, which is a fraction of currently living species known.

About 1.8 million animal and plant species have so far been scientifically described, recorded and named, and new species are constantly discovered and documented.

Another of the VR experiences is the museum's Fossil Marine Reptile hall, where viewers can watch a marine reptile - Rhomaleosaurus - come back to life and swim the corridors of the museum. 

A marine reptile which lived 180 million years ago, users can watch as it roams the gallery.

'This is the first step in a great new journey of discovery.'

One of the VR experiences is the museum's Fossil Marine Reptile hall, where viewers can watch a marine reptile - Rhomaleosaurus - come back to life and swim the corridors of the museum.

A marine reptile which lived 180 million years ago, users can watch as it roams the gallery.

They see its muscles, movement and the texture of its skin, and learn all about how it lived.

The sea monster was diligently recreated with the help of the museum's scientists.

Using gigapixel technology to capture incredibly high resolution images, the project has captured some of the institutions' most famous halls including Kensington's Hintze Hall.

Hintze boasts a ceiling adorned with 162 intricate panels displaying plants from around the world.

Another shows the biodiversity wall in the Berlin museum. 

In this installation 3,000 mounted species are on display, which is a fraction of currently living species known.

About 1.8 million animal and plant species have so far been scientifically described, recorded and named, and new species are constantly discovered and documented.

The 360 video above shows the Berlin's biodiversity wall at the Berlin museum.  In this installation 3,000 mounted species are on display, which is a fraction of currently living species known

'Technology can be used not only to make museum's treasures accessible to people around the world, but also to create new experiences for museum-goers, said Amit Sood, Director of the Google Cultural Institute.

'Starting in 2011, the Google Cultural Institute has helped more than 1,000 cultural institutions open up their collections for any citizen of the world with access to the web, a computer, or a mobile phone.'

Virtual visitors to the exhibition can use Google's budget Cardboard VR headset (pictured) to view 360-degree YouTube videos. dailymail

GOOGLE'S LOW-TECH VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET 

Google last year revealed a bizarre low-tech toy - a virtual reality headset made of cardboard.

The gadget was given out to attendees at the firm's annual developer conference, and can also be created at home.

It uses a mobile phones as the display, with a special app to show 3D images and video. 

The 'cardboard' gadget was passed to attendees when they left the firm's keynote, which revealed new version of android for phones, TVs, cars and watches.

'With your phone and a piece of Cardboard you can see some pretty amazing stuff,' the firm said.

'We want everyone to experience virtual reality in a simple, fun, and inexpensive way.'

'Virtual reality has made exciting progress over the past several years,' it continued.

'However, developing for VR still requires expensive, specialized hardware,' Google said on the project's page. dailymail

Read more:

• Natural History - Google Arts & Culture
• Rhomaleosaurus: Back to Life in Virtual Reality #PreviouslyOnEarth - YouTube