Chris Nuttall reports on the virtual Dome

A virtual version of the Millennium Dome at Greenwich in London is being launched on its Website.

The New Millennium Experience Company has worked with the chipmaker Intel and the 3-D specialists Superscape to create an exact replica of the dome from the original blueprints.

Visitors can choose to walk around the perimeter, sail past it on the Thames or even fly over it by helicopter. The site will eventually offer online ticket and merchandise sales.

Net part of Dome Spectacular

The Internet is playing an increasing role in the promotion of the Dome. This month, British Telecom staged a spectacular slides and lights show inside the Dome to launch FutureTalk, its contribution to the exhibition zones.

FutureTalk will feature videoconferencing around the world and exhibitions on the evolution of communications and a vision of their future.

Dome as in Domesday

In September, SchoolNet 2000 was launched, billed as the biggest ever schools educational Website.

Children at schools throughout the UK and 340 Internet centres in Tesco stores are doing research on their local communities. They will produce web pages amounting to what is being described as a Domesday Book on the Web of Britain as it enters the new millennium. The site will be showcased in the Dome's Learning Zone.