Can't go to London for the Olympics this summer? The Guardian has an interactive map of Olympic Park with 360º panoramic photos of the inside of major venues. The overall map, shown above, shows the explorable venues in orange, which includes the key Olympic Stadium for track and field events and the North Greenwich Arena for gymnastics and basketball. Once you've clicked a venue, a panoramic photo pops up that you can click and drag to explore the inside. In the Lord's Cricket Stadium, for example, you get a view of the black and blue design on the seats. For those of us who didn't score tickets or aren't one of the tens of thousands of accredited members of the media, it's a neat way to feel as if we're inside the game location.

Each venue's panorama also includes a fact box with details like the cost to build and its planned usage after the games are over. It's good context: Countries invest a huge amount of money into building facilities special for the event, and it's not always useful after the glory of being host is over. Beijing's 2008 Bird's Nest alone cost the country some $500 million and now largely acts as a waning tourist attraction. London invested £486 million (or about $759 million US) into its Olympic Stadium, with four organizations currently bidding for use after the games, according to the interactive.

Find out for yourself if it's worth the cost at The Guardian's website. 

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Serena Dai