What is virtual tour photography and what kind of equipment do you need for it.?

You have probably seen various websites where you can have a panoramic or 360 degree view of a certain location…inside a museum, or a view of a city or a tour of a 'house for sale' etc.
About…"QuickTime VR (virtual reality) is a type of image file format supported by Apple's QuickTime. It allows the creation and viewing of photographically captured panoramas and the exploration of objects through images taken at multiple viewing angles".
And here is an explanation from a webpage I linked….
"VR Panoramas are produced by the rendering of a scene from computer modelling software, or using a montage of photographs taken with either a conventional or a digital camera. It can add an exciting element to your web site, giving visitors the chance to look around where you work or live.
Today, with the advent of inexpensive digital cameras, the most popular way of creating panoramas is using an entirely digital process. A tripod is set level in a central location and a series of about twenty photographs is taken to cover the full panoramic view. If the scene contains live action more photos are used so the pictures can be superimposed and moving objects edited out. The photos are then checked for colour, lighting and quality and imported into the assembly software. Distinguishing points of similarity between neighbouring photos are used as marker points for the software and the series of photos are then seamlessly merged into one another and exported into the QuickTime VR file ready for viewing. Conventional cameras are normally used for high resolution work and some special lenses can be used to capture the scene – some fish eye lenses can capture a scene in just two shots and a parabolic mirror in just one!"

QuickTime Virtual Reality is the technology. Read about it at the first link below.

You need a tripod head such as the Bogen / Manfrotto 303SPH QTVR Spherical Panoramic Head Kit — $545 Cheaper ones are available and results will be less exact and durability will be less.

You need a camera with tripod mount and the option for manual exposure or exposure lock (automatic exposure will result in a difference in brightness at the seems).

You need software to stitch the many photos together into a VR image such as PTMac $59 (Mac OS only) or StitcherPro $349 (Mac or Windows)

You need a computer with Mac OS or Windows XP.