One of the first web projects I ever worked on (in early 1996) was for LeisurePlanet, a now defunct "visual travel search engine". The aim was to create the world’s biggest library of in-room hotel photos so that you can see what you’re in for before you book.

Part of its demise was the tremendous cost of aquiring large volumes of unique content.

10 years on and technology has developed to give us substantially more involving experiences.  Supertour is a compelling example (I know, plenty of room for improvement, but bear with me.)

More importantly, so has the convention of gathering and deploying consumer-generated content. Imagine if our vacation pics could be aggregated and reconstructed into a 3D environment using MS Photosynth.

Now, if we could only develop a technology to keep tabs on my lost luggage.

Yikes, they’ve got that too.

Quentin George