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cal history aspects are only part of the German lan-
guage classes, and, on the other hand, to limit the
amount of information for processing by directing it
to certain subtopics. In addition, interactivity, a va-
riety of materials and multimedia play an important
role in creating a virtual tour. Another important as-
pect that we were guided by was also the understand-
ing that when integrating information into a virtual
tour, we should respect copyrights, that is, use only
those sources that are publicly available or those for
which a permit is granted.
First, students were offered the job of processing a
digital map of Kyiv, since the maps provide an under-
standing of the integrity of the territory with objects
located on it and possible connections between them,
form a sense of scale and improve spatial orientation.
Using digital maps, students can easily create virtual
sightseeing tours, combining sightseeing objects with
routes according to certain signs: the chosen topic, the
chronological period, the place of a historical event,
the sequence of location, the logic of movement. In
our study, we used the Google Maps application as
a tool for creating a virtual tour map. One of the
advantages of this tool is the ability to clearly posi-
tion the excursion object on the map using built-in
search tools based on addresses. Coloured markers
were superimposed on automatically identified points
on a digital map to conveniently identify each virtual
tour object (see figure 1).
The main task of students was to develop their
own excursions based on the use of the proposed
map. At the same time, each group selects one of
the characteristics for building the route. As already
noted, the virtual tour was to maximize the achieve-
ment of the main goal, in particular, the deepening
of the study of the German language by acquaintance
with architectural monuments built with the participa-
tion of German architects. In this case, the informa-
tive part about the objects of the virtual excursion had
to combine text, photo and video information into a
single, complementary information case, formed us-
ing AR technologies. Guided by these requirements,
access to the necessary information on mapped ar-
chitectural monuments should be provided through-
out the tour. One of the ways to obtain information,
quickly and conveniently, in various forms is the use
of modern mobile devices that are capable of repro-
ducing multimedia information concentrated on vari-
ous web pages. An important issue remains the search
for the right information and quick access.
Students were asked to solve this problem by cre-
ating a system of QR codes that provide information
support for a virtual tour, providing quick access to
information about a particular object of the tour in
different forms. It is known that a QR code can be
generated for textual information, a URL, an e-mail,
a phone number, etc., it is easily and stably recog-
nized by special scanners and provides quick access
to encoded information.
To this end, students first processed open Inter-
net resources with text, photo and video information
about the objects of the excursion, selected the most
successful of them, and then, using QR-code genera-
tors, formed the corresponding set of codes. An ex-
ample of a set of QR codes for information about one
of such objects of the excursion, the bell tower of the
Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, is shown in figure 2.
The main condition for the preparation of textual
information was that it should be in German. One of
the sources that students used for this purpose was the
open electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia (figure 3).
This approach had a double effect, since students, on
the one hand, processed German sources in the pro-
cess of searching and selecting the necessary infor-
mation, and on the other hand, created the opportunity
to receive extended information in German about ob-
jects during the virtual tour for her ”visitors”, which
were students from other groups.
However, for many people, information in the
form of a graphic image is more informative than text.
In particular, many facts can be presented more fully
and clearly in the photograph than in words. There-
fore, in a virtual tour the use of images is especially
important. In order for the image to be used in a vir-
tual tour, they must be presented in digital form. The
range of such images can be very diverse and range
from simple photographs to interactive maps, man-
aged panoramic images, 3D images and the like. Im-
age types such as satellite images are also well suited
for inclusion in virtual tours. The use of mobile de-
vices in the process of conducting virtual excursions
with access to images about the object has signifi-
cant advantages compared to providing these images
in print, primarily due to the possibility of increas-
ing images, changing their brightness and contrast,
making even small details visible. When preparing
virtual excursions, students sought to provide access
through a QR code not to individual images about the
object, but to a collection of photographs that would
allow them to get the most out of a particular architec-
tural landmark (figure 4). For this purpose, students
used the resources of Google Images, Wikiway and
the like.
The advantages of video resources are that the pre-
sentation of information on the corresponding excur-
sion space is almost realistic and relatively uncompli-
cated. Like photographs, especially panoramic pho-
tographs, films and videos very closely convey the at-
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