Ever wanted to go to some new winter mountain resort and know exactly where all the cool stuff was, or at least not wander around like a total newbie?

VTour, a multimedia web technology company based in Truckee, could be your solution. The immersive multi-media platform allows users to tour a location – the Resort at Squaw Creek, for instance, or such North Lake Tahoe-area restaurants and lodges as Pianeta, Wolfdales, Christy Hill and Granlibakken – via "panoramic photos, video, Google Earth, integrated social networking, live cam integration and e-commerce functionality," says VTour president Greg Murtha.

"It has game-like interactivity," Murtha said. "You can go where you want to go, and see what you want to see. ... Visitors have multiple choices as to the direction of travel (on the chosen site). They can seek out information that is useful to them. ... We constantly present view options to where the viewer wants to go and what they want to see."

Not only are the aforementioned Tahoe-area attractions available to viewers who log on to experienceVTour.com. Mammoth Mountain is in the mix as well as such diverse businesses and institutions as Hornblower Cruises in San Francisco, the Peppermill casino in Reno, the Carson Valley Inn, Kaiser Permanente, UC Davis Children's Hospital, the Folsom Zoo and Sierra Nevada College.

VTour, which won the Advertising Age's 2011 Media Vanguard Award ("They called our work groundbreaking," Murtha said), is also fully mobile, with apps available for iPhones, iPads and Android systems.