UNESCO Beech Forests 360°

What does a forest feel like when it is simply allowed to be a forest? UNESCO Beech Forests 360° brings the five German component parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe” to life in a virtual experience. The interactive 360° Experience takes users to Jasmund National Park, Serrahn in Müritz National Park, the Grumsin Beech Forest in the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, Hainich National Park and Kellerwald-Edersee National Park. Created to mark the 15th anniversary of the German beech forests being added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the project offers a digital journey through some of Germany’s most valuable and beautiful forest landscapes – directly in the web browser, on desktop, tablet and smartphone or as a particularly immersive experience with a VR headset.

The forests themselves take centre stage. High-resolution 360° imagery from the ground and from the air places users right in the middle of ancient beech forests, open woodland landscapes and the diverse habitats of the five World Heritage areas. The large-scale panoramas and 360° drone views can be explored freely. Numerous interactive elements, information points and multimedia content provide insights into the unique characteristics of each area, its biodiversity and the natural processes taking place within the beech forests. The result is much more than a traditional virtual tour: it is an extensive digital learning and discovery environment dedicated to nature conservation and UNESCO World Heritage.

Ancient, near-natural beech forests have become rare. At the same time, they are among Europe’s most fascinating ecosystems. UNESCO Beech Forests 360° explains what makes these forests so special, which animals and plants live there, why natural forest development and biodiversity matter – and why protecting these habitats is so important. Digital environmental education combines information with experience. Instead of simply explaining ecological relationships, users can explore the forests themselves and experience their differences first-hand. And perhaps the virtual journey ultimately does one thing above all: inspire people to see real forests with different eyes.

With this much forest to explore, a little company doesn’t hurt. A ranger and a woodpecker accompany users through the Experience as AI-animated avatars. They share knowledge, provide background information and offer an entertaining way to explore the themes and stories of the individual areas in greater depth. Generative AI is not used for its own sake, but as a tool for digital storytelling and modern knowledge transfer. The two virtual guides make complex topics accessible, personal and engaging – demonstrating how AI and environmental education can work together in a meaningful way.

UNESCO Beech Forests 360° was developed as a browser-based WebXR Experience. The virtual tour works on desktop computers, tablets and smartphones and can be accessed directly online without installing a native app. With a compatible Virtual Reality headset, the Web Experience becomes an immersive VR application: users suddenly find themselves right in the middle of the beech forest and can freely look around the 360° environment. The project combines the accessibility and reach of a website with the immersive power of Virtual Reality.

The Experience does not exist online alone. Across the German World Heritage areas, UNESCO Beech Forests 360° is also used in digital exhibition and 360° modules. Visitors can interactively explore all five beech forests at these installations or immerse themselves in the environments using a VR headset. VR headsets are also available for environmental education activities on site. Rangers can use the virtual world as a mobile educational tool during guided tours and other programmes, providing access to places and perspectives that would otherwise be difficult or impossible for visitors to experience. This transforms a WebXR application into a hybrid environmental education format: freely accessible online, immersive in Virtual Reality and directly integrated into national park centres, visitor information centres and environmental education facilities.

Not every place needs to be physically entered in order to be experienced. Virtual Reality offers new possibilities for environmental education, particularly in sensitive natural environments. People can experience extraordinary habitats up close while the real environment remains protected. 360° technology, WebXR, Virtual Reality and AI are therefore not used in UNESCO Beech Forests 360° simply because they are exciting technologies. They help communicate knowledge about nature in an emotional and engaging way and create a connection to places that many people may never have the opportunity to visit in real life.