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Virtual reality tours

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Now students can create their own VR tours

May 09, 2018

[[read-time]] min read

Editor’s note: For Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting a few ways Google is supporting teachers—including Tour Creator, which we launched today to help schools create their own VR tours. Follow along on Twitter throughout the week to see more on how we’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week.

Since 2015, Google Expeditions has brought more than 3 million students to places like the Burj Khalifa, Antarctica, and Machu Picchu with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Both teachers and students have told us that they’d love to have a way to also share their own experiences in VR. As Jen Zurawski, an educator with Wisconsin’s West De Pere School District, put it: “With Expeditions, our students had access to a wide range of tours outside our geographical area, but we wanted to create tours here in our own community."  

That’s why we’re introducing Tour Creator , which enables students, teachers, and anyone with a story to tell, to make a VR tour using imagery from Google Street View or their own 360 photos. The tool is designed to let you produce professional-level VR content without a steep learning curve. “The technology gets out of the way and enables students to focus on crafting fantastic visual stories,” explains Charlie Reisinger, a school Technology Director in Pennsylvania.

Once you’ve created your tour, you can publish it to Poly , Google’s library of 3D content. From Poly, it’s  easy to view. All you need to do is open the link in your browser or view in Google Cardboard . You can also embed it on your school's website for more people to enjoy. Plus, later this year, we’ll add the ability to import these tours into the Expeditions application.

Here’s how a school in Lancaster, PA is using Tour Creator to show why they love where they live.

"Being able to work with Tour Creator has been an awesome experience,” said Jennifer Newton, a school media coordinator in Georgia. “It has allowed our students from a small town in Georgia to tell our story to the world.”

To build your first tour, visit g.co/tourcreator. Get started by showing us what makes your community special and why you #LoveWhereYouLive!

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Guide to Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours

Comprehensive guide to shooting, editing, stitching, and uploading for producing google 360 virtual tours.

There is no question that the process of marketing your business revolves around high-quality content and imagery. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody reading this, however, there’s a new player in the game in the form of 360 Virtual Tours . In this video I will take you step-by-step through the process of shooting the photos, editing them, stitching, and uploading the final product to Google Maps. Here is our comprehensive guide to Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours .

Now, if you follow our blog, you may remember that I did a brief (and somewhat uninteresting) summary about 2 months ago on the same topic. The purpose of this edition is to go a little bit further in-depth to give you more detail and guidance. I know the video is longer than you might care to watch, however, I try to cover every aspect of the process so that you can get a full understanding of Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours.

360 Tour Equipment

You’ll first need to start with a sturdy tripod. In the video I make mention of possibly using a mic stand when shooting in tight spaces, however my camera is pretty heavy and the mic stand probably isn’t the best option, as it requires absolute precision and steady hands. We use the Vanguard Alta Pro 263 AB , which at $180 is a steal for the type of quality tripod it is. Really any tripod will do, as long as its level and not too flimsy.

The tripod head that we use is an Acratech Spherical Panoramic head specifically designed for shooting 360 photos. I say this because it comes equipped with a lens ring support which holds the camera in a portrait mode (vertical) instead of the standard landscape (horizontal). There are all types of different heads that can be used. One of the biggest providers of such is a company called Nodal Ninja , which specializes in 360 panoramic photography equipment.

The lens we use is the Sigma 8mm EX DG Fisheye , with an EF mount that is compatible with most Canon and Nikon cameras. Once again, this lens is affordable but also very sharp. Some people choose to go with the Canon 8-15 mm fisheye lens, however I’ve found that they both produce high quality imagery, with the Canon lens coming in at double the price of the Sigma (gotta pay for that brand name).

I’m shooting with the Canon 5D Mark IV… an absolute beast of a camera!

Camera Settings for Virtual Tours

In order to have a wide depth of field, I like to keep my aperture at f/8 or f/7.1 at the least. This will ensure that everything is in focus when shooting large areas. These tours are not the time to get creative, we just want sharp, clear images. This is essential for producing Google 360 Virtual Tours.

Obviously, the ideal setting for ISO is 100, to limit noise in dark areas, however, you can increase this to 400 if shooting in a dimly lit area. I wouldn’t go much past 400, especially if you shooting on an older camera (newer cameras do a better job of maintaining clear images even in high ISO settings).

From there, you’ll just want to adjust your shutter speed as you see fit. Shooting indoors with a high aperture most of the time means your image will be very dark, so that means you have to slow down the shutter to allow more light to enter the sensor. I normally find that a ½ second shutter works best at f/8 and 400 ISO. Just remember, shutter speed is the variable that you should adjust last after setting the first two. Since the camera is on a tripod, you don’t have to worry about camera shake.

Most cameras have an option to select bracketed images or High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities, so I would strongly suggest using this function. If they do not, and you would still like to manually take bracketed photos, you will need to adjust your exposure by 2 stops in between each pictures. So that means taking photos at -2 Ev, 0, and +2 Ev. That’s a pain in the butt though so I hope it doesn’t come to that.

One more important tip to set your camera to a 2-second delay. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally move it when pressing the shutter button.

Before You Start

Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours is a process in itself, but it’s not overly complicated. Since these photos are going to be uploaded to Google Maps, it is a good idea to get a general sense of the space online before you go. I simply pull up Google Maps and either print a copy of the surroundings to take with me, or take a mental note of how the building is laid out. This may include where entrances lie, nearby roads, and also any other companies that are in the same building. 

You’ll need to make sure you shoot in straight lines. This means no walking through walls, furniture, or cutting corners. Unfortunately, sometimes this leads to panoramas that are very close to each other, especially in residential real estate. Always go through the space and mentally map out your shots before you start shooting!

Once you have everything in order, this is the easy part! Simply pick your first location, set your camera according to my guidelines above, and start shooting.

You’ll want to be very careful not to bump or move your tripod while shooting, as this will shift the nodal point and cause MAJOR problems later in post production. If some sort of disruption does occur, it’s a good idea to start that set of photos all over again. Move from spot to spot and try your very best to move in straight lines.

Editing the Fisheyes

So once you’ve finished shooting each location (for this tutorial I shot from 6 locations in the main lobby) you’ll want to make sure the numbers add up. What I mean by this is that if you find any discrepancies in how many photos you shot versus what the numbers should add up to, you’ll realize you may have missed one. For example, I know each time I take a photo on HDR mode, my camera is going to give me four images (three RAW files and one JPG). Since we take photos in four directions, that means you should have 16 photos per location. I shot six locations, so that means I should have a grand total of 96 images. Now if I look and see that I only have 92, it tells me I accidentally missed one set of images. Hopefully this never happens to you, but it’s always a good idea to check before you get too far and realize you screwed up.

So once you have the numbers right, you’ll want to import the JPGs into Adobe Lightroom or some other sort of photo editing software. From here, you can make simple adjustments to exposure, white balance, highlights, shadows, etc. Now is not the time to get creative with tone curves and things of that nature. Just make sure the photos are well lit and there aren’t any areas (such as looking outside on a sunny day) that are way over exposed.

You can edit one photo, highlight it, go to the last one and Shift click on it to select all the photos. Simply hit Sync and the color correction will be applied to each picture. You may need to go back through and make sure this makes sense though, especially if shooting in multiple rooms with different lighting.

Once the coloring is adjusted to your liking, highlight all and go to File> Export. From here it is a good idea to create a separate folder titled “Ready for PTGui” or something like that, so that your photos are easy to find for the next step. You’ll also want to make sure you choose “Custom Name – Sequence” in the export window.

The software program we use is called PTGui . It is specifically designed to auto-stitch fisheye photos and create panoramas, without much stress on the user. Once you open the program it should give you the option to “Load Images.” Click that button and select the first four fisheyes from the folder you just exported them to. Once they load, select the Crop Tab and adjust the dashed circle so that it is positioned right along the border of the photo. It is a good idea to look at the values on the right hand side, so that you can input these into the next set of photos and keep the size uniform throughout.  

Once you have cropped the images, simply click Align Images. If you were very careful while taking the initial photos, the software should seamlessly stitch the fisheyes into a panorama. If at any point, there was a shift in perspective and the stitching is not perfect, you’ll need to add Control Points… manually adding Control Points is extremely tedious and frustrating, so I’m not going to get into that right now.

To see if you have a successful stitch, you can go to Project> Optimize. This will bring up the Optimize Results window which gives you several values to determine whether or not you need to go back in and adjust any Control Points. For the average control point distance, a value between 0 – 1.8 is very good. You want to keep the maximum control point distance below 10. The Results should say “very good” if you performed the shoot correctly.

Once you achieve a “very good” result, select Create Panorama on the Project Assistant page. From here you can click on “set optimum size” and set the quality to 100%. You’ll want to create a new folder titled “Ready for GoThru” and select that as your output location. After you choose the output settings, go ahead and click Create Panorama and watch the magic happen.

Repeat these steps for each set of four fisheyes.

Connecting and Uploading

For this next step, you’ll need to create a Google account if you don’t already have one.

The software we use for laying out and uploading the Virtual Tours is called GoThru.co . Once on the site you’ll be prompted to sign into your Google account. On the Dashboard there are plenty of tutorials and added features that should give you a good idea of how to use the program. Under the Constellations tab you can begin to create your tour.

Click on Create New Tour at the top of the page. This will take to a page where you can enter a location or use a CID number. If the business does not have a Google My Business page, they will not show up here and therefore you cannot upload a tour. In this day and age, most businesses do have a GMB page. Pick a location, and click Create New Tour at the bottom of the page.

Once the page has loaded, select Upload Panoramas then click and drag the files from the folder “Ready for GoThru”. After you’ve finished the upload, you’re ready to start laying them out.

Next go to Moderate. This is where mapping out the location before you shoot comes into play. If you took the time to look at the business on Google Maps before hand, and you were conscious of that while shooting, you should have an idea of how the panoramas should be laid out. Select the first panorama and drag it into the Main window. Take the second pano and drag it into the Overlay window. Make sure geographically it makes sense how they are positioned in the top left window, which mimics Google Maps.

You can adjust the arrows by clicking on the small + sign by the pano in the Maps window, and dragging it to the point where it points in the correct direction. Simply click the arrow on the Main Viewer window to connect the two panos. Repeat this process for each location until each pano is connected accordingly. (Note: its is much easier to watch the video to understand this part)

You can click the little eyeball in the top right corner to preview your tour. If you’re happy, save your work and exit the Moderate window. Once you have finished Moderating, you’re ready to upload. Simply click the red Google button on the top right of the Tools page. This will take you to the Publish page where you can just click Upload to Google and you’re all done!!

It will take anywhere from 24-48 hours for your tour to show up on Google Maps, but after that, it’s there forever! It’s imperative to follow those directions above when Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours.

Thanks for learning more about Producing Google 360 Virtual Tours. There are certainly more intricacies to the process than this general overview, however, I have laid down the groundwork from start to finish on how these immersive Virtual Tours are created. Here at Momentum , we know these tours are the future of marketing and advertising and we are proud to be at the forefront of this technology.

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Create FREE virtual tours with Google TourCreator! (See a sample; and see which camera to get)

At Google I/O 2018, Google announced the launch of a new free tool for creating virtual tours, called TourCreator!  You can build a tour using your own 360 cameras, or the 360 photos on Street View.

The tours can include points of interest and image overlays, and will be easily shareable.  The key is that TourCreator is simple enough for anyone to use and doesn’t require coding.

Virtual tours will be hosted on Google Poly .   In the future, virtual tours can be exported to Google Expeditions, Google’s VR teaching tool.  I’m not sure if Google will eventually allow tours to be posted on Street View.

If you’d like to shoot your own 360 photos but don’t have a 360 camera, check out the most affordable good quality 360 camera, the Samsung Gear 360 , which takes 30mp photos but is now under $70.  The Gear 360 was designed to work with high-end Samsung phones (Samsung S6 and above) but you can actually use it to take 360 photos with any phone, whether Android or iOS!

The trick is to use the Google Streetview app (available on iOS or Android).  From the Streetview app, you can take a photo with the Gear 360.

And if you’d like to learn more about virtual tours, please join my Virtual Tour Network on Facebook !

Thanks to Youtube channel 360tips&tricks for bringing this to my attention!

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Ok. I was so excited about this I was up till 1am getting a tour I had done back in 2000 up onto this simple tours website. A few notes; 1) It is absolutely the easiest tour maker I have ever used. 2) You must do this on desktop or laptop, trying to create a tour on mobile directs you to try again on desktop or laptop. 3) I did mine on in the Chrome browser, however looks like you can do it on IE or Edge as long as you login with your Google ID. However….. 4) looks like finished tour panos do not work in IE or Edge, just loads the about and title, however the panos themselves are just black areas. Works like a champ on Chrome. Even works on iOS with the Safari browser, although the Google cardboard mode is not available in Safari. (I don’t know if Chrome on iOS would support the cardboard mode…) 5) Even though my panos are 2000×1000 pixels, exactly 2:1 aspect ratio, there is obvious pinching at the top and bottom nadir. Seems this is just me.. not sure. Maybe it’s the low resolution of my panos. 6) The order you load each pano is the order they are presented in the finished tour, however you can shift the order around during editing. 7) There does not seem to be any pano to pano linking, or top-down mini-map ability. The panos are run in a sequence, you design and the order can be revised any time and then the tour re-published, but skipping from living room directly to the back laundry room is not possible, you have to go through the hall, then the kitchen, then the back laundry room. 8) Hotspots support a single static image per hotspot and supporting text. No audio or video hotspot support so far. Speaking of text… 9) There are limits to number of words you can use in the descriptions; 500 words for the main panos 300 words for each of the hotspots Hyperlinks are supported in all text boxes. The tour description on the landing page appears to have no limit, least not as I have found yet. Jon

Forgot to add the link for the tour https://poly.google.com/view/aHcouu–3_6 Jon

We get this message everytime on our Gsuite/Google Work account, cannot access tours:

“We are sorry, but you do not have access to this service. Please log in to your Admin Console to enable this service. Learn more”

Cannot find where the service is enabled or disabled …. any tips?

Mic, thanks for sharing this post. My tour of the Grand Hyatt Kauai is currently on the front page! https://poly.google.com/view/5vrFdk2_Vmf

Google 360 Tour Guide to Virtual Walkthroughs for Businesses

Have you heard about a Google 360 Tour?  Whether you’re an SEO enthusiast or simply a digitally savvy small business looking for ways to bring in more customers, you already know the importance of optimizing for local search.

Through the technology of Google Streetview , a Google 360 Tour is a virtual representation of your business. These tours will help boost your local search rankings, expand your audience, build trust among your customers, and is a downright essential tactic for getting found online.

As a retailer, we can agree that having an online presence is excellent, but it isn’t the same as visiting a storefront in person.

For all the local customers ready to buy what you’re offering, without seeing the actual business, it can be hard for them to get a good sense of what you’re like to help them make a good decision.

And the truth is, that can lead your ideal customers to keep on looking elsewhere for what you’re selling.

That is until Google 360 Virtual Tours .

A Google Maps Virtual Tour will let you showcase what it’s like being at your brick-and-mortar store in person. And it’s a powerful way to bring more of your perfect customers right through your front door.

This guide takes you through everything you need to know about Google 360 Virtual Tours, including what they are, how they can help, what they cost, and much, much more.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

What Is a Google 360 Virtual Tour?

What are the benefits of a google 360 tour, statistics on google virtual tours, what type of camera does a virtual tour require, how long does it take to create a tour, where can i publish my 360 virtual tour, google 360 tour examples, how much does a google 360 virtual tour cost, what do professional services include, what’s the process like from start to finish, how do i order a google virtual tour.

A Google 360 Virtual Tour is a series of panoramic images that take users through your business’s physical storefront.

Multiple panoramic photos together (stitched) create a full 360-degrees “walkthrough” of your business, just like Google Street View.

Visitors can move forwards or backward, go into rooms, and enjoy an entire field of view, just like if they were there in person.

The images for Google 360 Virtual Tours are taken either by a Trusted Google Photographer or a Google Trusted Agency using special equipment called 360-degree cameras (or omnidirectional cameras).

These virtual tours can also be connected to and listed on (among other places) your Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly known as Google My Business —an essential part of any local SEO strategy .

You can also place them onto your website and social media outlets using a simple snippet of code.

Need help managing your Google Business Profile?  

Learn more here.

Don’t have a Google Business Profile yet?

Learn how to set one up here.

Google 360 Virtual Tours are more than just a simple glance around your business.

There are plenty of ways this innovative marketing tactic can help your business grow and thrive.

Below are some of the most impactful benefits a Google 360 Virtual Tour can have on your business.

Better Promotes Your Business

First and foremost, a Google 360 Tour brings more clients and customers to your door (isn’t that the point of anything you do?).

There are a few ways a virtual tour accomplishes this.

Leads To Better Google Map Rankings

A better and more complete Google Business Profile is more likely to rank higher on Google Maps and other local searches.

Adding a virtual tour to your page is another great tactic to add to your profile and boost your keywords rankings. And this means more customers :)

Expands Your Brand’s Reach

Google 360 virtual tours are a fantastic way to ramp up your business’s digital presence. As of the 4th quarter of 2021, there are 37,000 local searches a second (or 1.17 trillion each year).

Your ideal customers are looking for businesses online. And adding a virtual tour to your digital marketing efforts is just one more way you can bring more ready-to-buy searchers like these into your store.

Causes More Engagement

The average session duration across industries is about 4 minutes and 25 seconds . But the longer your customers spend researching your business, the more likely they’ll be to buy your product or give you a call.

A virtual tour keeps your users engaged with your website’s content and increases session duration, giving you more time to win them over.

Builds Trust With New Customers

As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. But you don’t have to do the math to know that a virtual tour is far and away more effective at showcasing your business than a word-by-word description. And it’s more effective at building trust.

Think of it like this. Say you were looking for an accounting service equipped to handle businesses with 150+ employees.

After a bit of research, you finally land on one. But when you head to the address, you find that the service is just a single accountant renting out a one-room suite.  It doesn’t seem like a match now.  Not that there is anything wrong with a single-staffed company.

Instead, a Google 360 Virtual Tour gives your customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business to help them feel more comfortable.

But when your potential customers digitally walk through your store, they’re not just getting a feel for your business. They’re also getting closer to trusting you as a possible, reliable provider.

And the more they trust you, the more likely they’ll be to buy from you.

Is Very Cost-Effective

One of the best things about Google 360 Virtual Tours is that they can be an incredibly cost-effective way of promoting (and running) your business.

Despite an initial upfront investment in the proper hardware, there aren’t any additional expenses.

There’s minimal software needed for editing and stitching images together, they’re not too hard to post to Google Business Profile, and they’re a valuable piece of marketing collateral you can use across plenty of platforms.

The biggest financial hurdles are the equipment and the time investment, so many businesses decide to leave it to the professionals .

Keeps You Visible (Open 24/7)

Like other digital marketing assets, a virtual tour lets you keep your business’s doors open 24/7—digitally, at least.

A 2020 report found that the peak hours for buying products online were from 8 pm to 9 pm. But this doesn’t just apply to online stores. People are researching businesses after closing time, too.

A well-made website will, of course, help educate your potential customers about your products and your business.

But a Google 360 Virtual Tour will help them see what it’s like inside your doors.

And for those who can’t make it during your open hours, this glimpse inside could be what they precisely need to pull the trigger the next day.

Available Across All Devices

The age of desktop-only searches is long gone. Today, mobile searches are averaging 60%.

Tablets, smartphones, and even hot spot-connected laptops make up the bulk of how people are finding your business online.

And if you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you’re dealing your revenue numbers a severe blow.

Plus, experts predict mobile traffic will continue to grow.

Luckily, Google has made virtual tours especially optimized for mobile.

Some virtual tours even allow searchers to “look around” your business by changing the position of the smart device.

When you create your Google 360 Virtual Tour, you’re capitalizing on this growing trend by adding one more layer of mobile optimization to your business.

Now that we’ve outlined some of the most significant benefits of Google 360 Virtual Tours, let’s get into some statistics.

Take a look at the stats below from Google and Visual Objects to get a better perspective on just what Google 360 Virtual Tours can do for you.

• Listings with photos and virtual tours are 2X as likely to generate interest.
• Complete listings (e.g., ones that feature virtual tours) inspire trust and are 78% more likely to be viewed as well-established.
• Listings with photos and tours motivate customers to purchase 29% of the time.
• More than 3 out of 4 consumers look for a company’s online presence before visiting a business in person.
• On average, 41% of business searches on Google Maps result in an onsite visit. That number tends to be even higher for businesses that feature a virtual tour on their Google Business Profile listing.
• A whopping 62% of visitors prefer listings with views of business interiors through images or virtual tours.

People research businesses online before visiting them in person. And it’s also clear that a complete Google Business Profile, virtual tours, and a robust online presence, in general, all help bring in more ready-to-buy customers.

Virtual tours require a 360-degree camera, also known as an omnidirectional camera.

Most cameras typically only cover, at most, a 180-degree field of view in a single shot.

On the other hand, an omnidirectional camera covers about 360-degrees—sometimes it’s a bit less and is compensated for by the equipment.

With that said, not all omnidirectional cameras are of the same quality.

And while shooting with a budget 360-degree camera can get you the type of images you want, they certainly won’t have the quality to make your business look great along the way.

That’s why we recommend using cameras with, at minimum, the following specs:

• 23MP (6720×3360, 7K) still image shooting
• Lenses that reduce ghosting, flare, and purple fringe
• Aperture offers F2.1, F2.5, and F5.6 for great depth of field, even in low light conditions
• 4K (3840×1920, 29.97fps) quality spherical video
• a 1.0″ in back-illuminated CMOS image sensor for superior noise reduction performance
• Dual format simultaneous saving (RAW DNG and JPEG)
• 4-channel microphone to independently record sound from 4 different directions when shooting video

The answer here is this—probably less time than you’d imagine. A basic tour takes a few days, start to finish.

The total cost, and time, are dependent on the number of viewpoints (number of steps in the tour).

In most cases, recording a single 360-degree viewpoint will take 1-2 minutes.  The crew could essentially be in and out of your business in just a few hours.

For larger shoots (e.g., 40 viewpoints), allow for around a half-day of shooting alone.

On average, from consultation to publishing, expect one to two weeks for a professional to create a beautiful end product.

That’s the beauty of it—you can publish your Google 360 Virtual Tour almost anywhere online.

The most important place you’ll want to publish first is on your Google Business Profile listing.

Your listing is how Google learns about your business, understands what you have to offer, and directs customers to you on platforms like Google Maps.

Few things are more impactful for small businesses than having an accurate and content-rich GBP listing. And adding a virtual tour to yours is a fantastic way to rank higher and increase traffic coming your way.

Beyond GBP, you can also publish your virtual tour on:

• Social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram
• Your website
• Video hosting platforms like YouTube

The best agencies will be able to handle integrating your new Google 360 Virtual Tour throughout all of these platforms.

Use the menu to quickly browse.

The cost of your Google 360 Virtual Tour comes down to which agency you choose. Some will base their rate on the number of rooms. And others will use the number of viewpoints.

Some agencies will also charge you based on the types of services you use. For instance, they may charge a premium for editing and stitching.

Or they may upcharge you for posting your video to your website or Google.

In the end, many business owners find an all-inclusive fee of not more than $35 per viewpoint to be fair.

They should include onsite shooting, editing, stitching, and uploading your video to your marketing platforms, including GBP, of course.

Here again, it depends on which agency you hire. Some may provide just a few of the services below in their package. Adding on any others may require additional charges.

However, the best agency packages should include:

• Free consultation via a phone call
• An onsite walkthrough (walk through each viewpoint to tally project scope)
• Travel time to and from your business to our office
• Viewpoint recordings “a-la-carte” as needed
• Individual viewpoints (still photos) shot
• Finalized 360° Virtual Tour of your business
• Google Street View integration
• Google Maps integration
• QR Code to 360° Virtual Tour
• Enhanced Google Search Results
• Free snippet to display 360° Virtual Tour on your website
• No recurring fees – one-time fee

Since most business owners will choose to work with a professional virtual tour company instead of handling it themselves (typically cheaper), let’s go through what you can expect from that process.

Every agency will handle the process differently. But for most, the process will look something like this:

• Consultation – This is when you’ll learn more about what to expect from your virtual tour and the process.
• Site Walkthrough – Many agencies will conduct an onsite walkthrough to explore the details of your location, what viewpoints should be covered, and more.
• Estimate – After adding up the number of viewpoints that’s right for your location, assessing the editing involved, and factoring in other price considerations, you’ll receive a custom estimate for the process.
• Approval & Scheduling – After you’ve accepted the terms, you’ll work together to figure out a proper time and date to schedule your Google 360 Virtual Tour.
• Onsite Recordings – On the shoot, the photography team will move from viewpoint to viewpoint capturing 360-degree images of your business.
• Edit, Stitch & Complete – Once shooting is over, your team will head back to their space to edit the photos together and send the tour through quality assurance for the best outcome.
• Delivery – Last but not least, your team will deliver the custom code for the tour so you can use it right on your website. Some agencies will even post it to your Google Business Profile listing for you as a part of the process.

A lot of work goes into creating a Google 360 Virtual Tour. But when done correctly, it can bring a massive boon of new customers to your door.

And though some SEO management agencies provide the service, not all will be able to create an end product that does your business justice.

If you’re looking to capture the benefits of a Google Virtual Tour for your St. Louis area business, look no further than Studio C5.

At Studio C5, we proudly put our clients’ businesses on the map (no pun intended).

Here’s what makes our service stand out.

• Equipment – We’ve invested in some of the best motion-capturing technology in the industry. Our equipment reduces lens flare, allows for great depth of field in most lighting conditions, and provides superior noise reduction. Translation—we have the tech to create gorgeous, true-to-life images your customers will love.
• Expertise – We know you’re busy. And we know when you invest in your business, you expect results. That’s why we follow a proven seven-step process to make creating your virtual tour as seamless and as successful as possible. Don’t worry; you’re in good hands.
• Experience – We’ve proudly been helping businesses like yours grow their online presence since 2009. Whether you’re a retailer, service provider, manufacturer, or any other type of business, we draw from a wealth of experience to produce the best results possible.

What Do Customers Say about Studio C5?

Watch what the owner of STL Windows and Doors  has to say about our partnership and how we’ve been able to grow his family business.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

A Google 360 Virtual Tour can be a serious game-changer for your business. And when you partner with Studio C5 or have some preliminary questions, you can rest easy knowing you’re working with the best.

Are you interested in seeing what we can do for your business?

Request a free consultation today .

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In Spring 2018 Google launched their VR Tour Creator. This free tools lets anyone create their own virtual tour that can be viewed on a computer, tablet, or phone web browser, or using Google Cardboard. When creating a tour, one has the option on utilizing any of the street-view images on Google Maps, or uploading their own images using a 360° camera or iOS apps like "Google Street View" or "Google Cardboard". Creator also allows you to add points of interest as well as audio to your tour locations.

View my first use of Tour Creator using only Google Maps images.

Google Tour Creator has the ability to have a huge impact in teaching and learning. Teachers can create tours that allow students to get a stronger sense of "Setting" when reading a novel or learning about a historical event. Students can create tours showing what they have learned about a place. Google Tour Creator also has templates available so that users do not have to necessarily start from scratch.

Some of the educational uses of this tool may include:

• Virtual Setting Tour of a Novel- Imagine creating a tour following Chris McCandless in "Into the Wild"
• Paul Revere's Ride
• Travels of Marco Polo
• Tour of Paris, Rome, New York City, etc.
• Our Solar System (template)

Watch some of these videos that will show you not only how to create tours, but how they can be used in a classroom.

Google virtual tour

In 2016, Google created this 360° tour of Rooms 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 and Central Hall.

Immerse yourself in Renaissance masterpieces from Northern Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, including works by Titian , Veronese , and Holbein .

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• Help Center

How to Add Virtual Tour to Google My Business [Guide]

Table of Contents

Wouldn’t it be lovely to take a stroll down the busy business district without worrying about traffic, other people, and unfortunate weather conditions? If you could tour virtually instead of in person, think of how much easier it would be to make decisions! Luckily, Google My Business offers virtual tours so that your customers can get an interactive experience on your listing.

A virtual tour of your business lets potential customers explore it as if they were really there- something photos and videos cannot always provide. In this guide, I’ll go over how to add a virtual tour to Google My Business so you can see if it is the right choice for you.

What is a Virtual Tour?

According to Google , “360 tours let customers peek inside before they arrive, and boost your visibility online.”

A virtual tour is an interactive, three-dimensional experience that allows customers to explore your business through their Google My Business profile.

Customers use Google to find businesses, but they go through a process of elimination when doing so. They look at things like photos, location, reviews, and ratings to compare the top-ranking businesses and decide which one they want to choose. 

When customers see that a business has a virtual tour on their Google My Business profile though, it changes everything. Instead of relying on photos and reviews alone, potential customers can take an entire “virtual walk” through your business before even stepping foot in it!

If you’re a business owner, chances are you understand by now that having a Google My Business profile is important. But what you may not realize is that the majority of profiles don’t have virtual tours!

Fortunately, Google reports that listings with photos and virtual tours are twice as likely to generate interest. So if you want your listing to stand out, be sure to add a virtual tour.

How to Add a Virtual Tour to Google My Business

If you’ve decided to add a virtual tour to your Google My Business profile, there are extra steps you’ll need to take. Unlike other changes you can make to your GMB profile, adding a virtual tour requires planning and specific equipment.

Google My Business offers two options for setting up a virtual tour:

• Hire a Street View-Trusted Photographer

Create Your Own 360 Tour

Creating your own 360 tours using GMB professional gear is simple, effective, and easy to implement.

Get Professional Help

You can use Google’s professional search function to find a virtual tour guide. This tool lets you type in your city and state to see a list of guides that have been approved by Google. 

What’s great about this feature is that it provides the agency name, contact email address, and phone number all together! So instead of having to fill out a form, you can directly reach out to them.

You’ll need special equipment to create your own 360 tour, which you can find at Google’s 360 shop. Prices for the equipment vary depending on quality and budget–the INSTA360 PRO2 costs $4999 while the INSTA360 ONE only costs 164 dollars.

While it’s probable that you can find equipment corresponding to your budget, the quality of your virtual tour will differ based on whatever item you end up purchasing. Also, I highly recommend investigating best practices for creating virtual tours so that you generate a tour that most accurately reflects your business. This is one significant advantage of working with a professional–you’ll be confident knowing that they will get your virtual tour done correctly and ensure optimal representation of your company.

Google’s Virtual Tour Guidelines

If you’re looking to create your own virtual tour, there are some Google guidelines you’ll want to keep in mind. In particular, blurry images and the following content is not allowed:

• Intellectual Property Violations
• Sexually Explicit Content
• Illegal, Dangerous, or Violent Content
• Harassment and Threats
• Hate Speech
• Terrorist Content
• Child Endangerment
• Personally Identifiable Information

Following these guidelines will help you create a virtual tour that is more likely to be published by Google. Remember, even if you don’t break any rules, your tour may still not be published if it doesn’t meet Google’s standards. Though this system isn’t fool-proof, as demonstrated by the unintentionally funny scenes captured on Google Maps Street View, it’s still in your best interest to comply with Google’s policies so that you don’t run into any trouble with your business.

If you’re interested in SEO or if you want ways to increase foot traffic for your small business, then optimizing for local search is essential. Google 360 Tours are one way to do this.

Google Street View

Google Streetview creates 360 virtual tours of your business that not only improve local search rankings but also expand your audience and build customer trust–all while being an essential part of getting found online. Of course, it’s fantastic to have an e-presence as a retailer, but it will never replace the in-person experience of visiting a brick-and-mortar store.

It’s tough for customers who haven’t physically seen your business to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy from you. And if they can’t get a good sense of what your business is like, they’ll probably keep looking until they find something that suits them better. Google 360 Virtual Tours can help with that.

Google Maps Virtual Tours are designed to give potential customers a firsthand look at your business, and entice them to visit in person. If you’re looking for more perfect customers, then this guide is for you. You’ll learn everything there is to know about Google 360 Virtual Tours including what they are, how much they cost, and their many benefits. So let’s get started!

What Is a Google 360 Virtual Tour?

A Google 360 Virtual Tour is a series of panoramic images that give users an immersive experience of exploring your business’s physical storefront as if they were there in person. The Trusted Google Photographer or a Google Trusted Agency use special equipment called 360-degree cameras (or omnidirectional cameras) to capture the multiple images needed for the tour.

Not only can you list virtual tours on your Google Business Profile (GBP), but you can also embed them onto your website or social media with a short piece of code.

Benefits of a Google 360 Tour

Google 360 Virtual Tours provide an immersive experience that helps customers feel like they are actually in your business. By providing this valuable service, you can help your business grow in several ways. Some of the most impactful benefits include: 

-allowing customers to get a realistic sense of what your business looks and feels like 

-giving potential customers a virtual tour before they come into your physical location 

– improving online searchability so that people can easily find and learn about your businesses

Promotes Your Business

Most importantly, a Google 360 Tour will help increase foot traffic to your business.

Better Google Map Rankings

By having a more complete Google Business Profile, you increase the chance of ranking higher on Google Maps and other local searches. Furthermore, by adding a virtual tour to your page, you can fine-tune your profile and selected keywords to attract even more customers than before.

Expanded Brand Reach

By the end of 2021, it is predicted that there will be 1.17 trillion local searches each year- that’s a lot of people looking for businesses like yours! Google 360 virtual tours are one great way to make sure your business comes up in these search results. By having a virtual tour on your website or online listings, you can show customers what makes your business special and differentiate yourself from the competitors. Not to mention, potential customers who can see inside your store before they visit are more likely than others to become actual paying customers.

More Engagement

The average session duration across industries is a measly 4 minutes and 25 seconds, but the longer your customers spend researching your business, obviously, the more likely they’ll be to buy from you or give you a call. A virtual tour will keep users engaged with content on your website increase session duration significantly, giving you plenty of time to convert them into leads.

Establish Trust With New Customers

It is often said that a picture is worth 1,000 words. To put it more contextually, a virtual tour of your business will speak much louder than any amount of text could ever hope to. Furthermore, this type of tour builds trust with potential customers in a way thattext cannot replicate.

Let me explain with an analogy. Say you were looking for an accounting service that could handle businesses employing 150 or more people. After some investigation, you finally find one. But when you go to the address, you see that it’s just a single accountant renting out a small room. Not exactly what you’re looking for now, is it? Although there’s nothing wrong with companies run by a sole staff member.

By providing potential customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business, you are fostering an environment of trust and comfort. In turn, this boosting the chances that customers will buy from you. With a Google 360 Virtual Tour, your clients can explore your store from their own device without even having to step inside. Not only does this give them peace of mind knowing what kinds of products or services you offer, but it also lets them get to know your company before committing to doing business with you.

Extremely Cost-Effective

Google 360 Virtual Tours are excellent for businesses because they need little investment and have many long-term benefits.

The only significant expense is the initial hardware, but otherwise, there aren’t any continuous costs. The software needed to edit and stitch images together is minimal, Google Business Profile makes it easy to post tours, and virtual tours can be used cross-platform as valuable marketing tools.

Many businesses choose to outsource equipment and time-intensive projects because they don’t have the resources necessary to complete them in-house.

Keeps You Visible 24/7Having a virtual tour of your business is like having it open 24/7—people can access it at any time, from anywhere in the world. According to a 2020 report, the peak hours for buying products online are between 8 pm and 9 pm. But this doesn’t just apply to online stores—people are researching businesses after closing time too. Having a well-made website will help educate your potential customers about your products and business even when you’re not there in person.

A Google 360 Virtual Tour will give them a chance to see what it’s like inside your establishment, even when they can’t come during open hours. This could be exactly what they need to make a purchase the following day.

Available Across All Devices

Since the majority of people today use their mobile devices to search online (averaging 60%), it’s important that your business is visible on all platforms. People are increasingly using tablets, smartphones, and laptops to find information about local businesses. If you don’t optimize for mobile traffic, you’re essentially losing out on a lot of potential customers and revenue. Moreover, studies show that mobile traffic will only continue to grow in the coming years.

Google has been quick to adapt their products for the mobile user, and 360 Virtual Tours are no different. In fact, some virtual tours let users explore your business by moving their smart device around. By creating a Google 360 Virtual Tour, you’re getting ahead of the curve by adding an additional layer of mobile optimization to your business.

Statistics On Google Virtual Tours

The Google 360 Virtual Tours provides plenty of advantages, as you can see from the statistics below.

• Listings that include photos and virtual tours are twice as likely to generate interest.
• Did you know that homes with complete listings, including virtual tours, are 78% more likely to be viewed as well-established?
• Photo and video listings inspire potential customers to purchase nearly one-third of the time.
• The majority of consumers (3 out of 4) search for a business online before they visit the physical storefront.
• Did you know that, on average, 41% of businesses searched for on Google Maps receive an onsite visit? And if your business features a virtual tour in its listing, even more customers are likely to come see what you have to offer!
• A massive 62% of customers prefer to see business interiors through images or virtual tours.

People use the internet to look up businesses before going to them in person. A complete Google Business Profile, virtual tours, and other online features will bring people who are ready to buy what you’re selling.

What Type of Camera is Needed for a Virtual Tour?

A 360-degree camera also called an omnidirectional camera, is needed for virtual tours. Most regular cameras only cover a 180-degree field of view in one shot. An omnidirectional camera covers approximately 360 degrees—sometimes it’s slightly less and this is okay because the equipment makes up for it.

Keep in mind that not every omnidirectional camera is created equal. You can get the images you want with a budget 360-degree camera, but they won’t have the high quality that will make your business look its best.

We recommend the following specs:

• 23MP (6720×3360, 7K) still image shooting
• Lenses that reduce ghosting, flare, and purple fringe
• Aperture offers F2.1, F2.5, and F5.6 for great depth of field, even in low light conditions
• 4K (3840×1920, 29.97fps) quality spherical video
• a 1.0″ in back-illuminated CMOS image sensor for superior noise reduction
• RAW DNG and JPEG support for Dual format simultaneous saving
• 4-channel microphone to independently record sound from 4 different directions

How Long Does It Take to Create a Tour?

The answer is less time than one might think. A regular tour takes only a few days from beginning to end. The total cost and duration depend on how many tourist attractions there are (number of steps in the tour).

On average, it will take a professional one to two weeks to create a beautiful 360-degree video of your business from start to finish. However, if you only need a single viewpoint recorded, that will only take 1-2 minutes and the crew could be in and out of your business in just a few hours. For larger shoots (e.g., 40 viewpoints), expect around half a day of shooting alone.

Where Can I Publish My 360 Virtual Tour?

The best part is that you can post your Google 360 Virtual Tour almost anywhere online. The most crucial site to publish it on first though is your Google Business Profile listing. Your listing helps Google get to know about your business, and what services/products you offer, and shows customers where they can find you using things such as Google Maps.

There are few things more critical for small businesses than having an up-to-date and content rich Google Business Profile (GBP) listing. And adding a virtual tour is a fantastic way to not only rank higher but also increase traffic coming your way.

Beyond GBP, you can also publish your virtual tour on the following platforms:

• Social media – Facebook or Instagram
• Your website
• Video platforms like YouTube

The ideal agencies will be able to manage to incorporate your new Google 360 Virtual Tour onto every single one of these platforms.

Google 360 Virtual Tour Cost

Depending on which agency you choose, the cost of your Google 360 Virtual Tour will differ. Some price their tours according to the number of rooms while others use the number of viewpoints. In addition, some agencies charge based on the type of service users such as editing and stitching. Lastly, other companies may upcharge for posting your video onto your website or Google.

In general, business owners don’t want to spend more than $35 from each customer’s perspective. This fee should include on-site shooting, editing, and stitching together the footage, as well as uploading it onto your marketing platforms like GBP.

What Do Professional Services Include?

The type of agency you hire will ultimately determine the kind and number of services available to you. Some agencies include only a few basic services in their standard package, while others might charge extra for certain amenities.

The best agency packages will always include:

• Free initial phone consultation
• A walkthrough of each area to document the project’s scope.
• Commute time from your business to the office
• Viewpoint recordings
• Individual viewpoints (still photos) shot
• Finalized 360° Virtual Tour of your business
• Google Street View integration
• Google Maps integration
• QR Code to 360° Virtual Tour
• Enhanced Google Search Results
• Free snippet to display 360° Virtual Tour on your website
• There are no recurring fees; you only have to pay once.

Need Outside Help? Here’s How the Agency Process Goes

Most business owners would rather work with a professional virtual tour company than attempt to do it themselves and risk not doing a good job. Here’s what you can expect from the process, though note that every agency will have its own procedures. For the most part, however, the process looks something like this:

• Consultation – During this phase, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the virtual tour process and what to expect from it.
• Site Walkthrough – A common practice agencies use to gain insight for your project is an onsite walkthrough. Here, they’ll explore the details of your location and what viewpoints should be covered.
• Estimate – Agencies take into account the number of viewpoints at your desired location, the level of editing required, and other price considerations to give you a personalized estimate.
• Approval & Scheduling – After you’ve agreed to the terms, you can work together with the agency to schedule your Google 360 Virtual Tour at a mutually convenient time and date.
• Onsite Recordings – The photography team will move throughout your business taking 360-degree photos from different angles.
• Edit, Stitch & Complete – Once the photoshoot is completed, your team will return to their editing station to retouch the photos and send the tour off for quality assurance assessment.
• Delivery – Lastly, your team will deliver the custom code for the tour to be placed on your website. Some agencies will post it on your Google Business Profile as well.

These details give you a better idea regarding Google My Business virtual tours. It is up to you to choose whether to go for an agency to design a virtual tour or a DIY approach.

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Did you know.....

Google commissioned an independent survey into internet habits back in early 2016. In particular, it looked at how people used virtual tours. Since then, Facebook launched 360 as well as 3D photos, and Virtual Reality has become mainstream keyword. These were the three main findings back then, so expect these figures to outgrow themselves since.

Engage Your Customers With Google Street View Virtual Tours.

Engage with customers on the most used search engine and mapping technology in the world –

Google Street View Virtual Tours attracts new customers to your business using the exact same technology used by Google Maps

Street View is a complete 360° tour of your business using the most popular search engine in the world.

Allows your customers who find you via Google, Google Maps & Street View to enter and see inside of your business and ‘walk around’.

Gives your business a very unique & exciting marketing experience that your customers will view, enjoy, share & interact with.

Available across all devices; desktop, tablet and even mobile

Your 360° tour of your business can even be integrated directly onto your website and Facebook pages Stand out from the crowd – this is the trend happening now helping business owners be visible to customers via Google, Google+, Google Maps & Street View

360° Virtual Tour of your business across Google

Invite customers to see inside your business with a virtual tour on Google Search and Google Maps.

The Power of Virtual Reality.

All our Virtual Tours are VR-ready!! Using a virtual reality headset, view our creations in a truly immersive way just as if you were right in that space. Transport your clients into your space from anywhere in the world and view their excitement.

10 YEARS EXPERIENCE.

Our quality standards apply also in terms of service, technical expertise and advice.

Google Search and Maps

By capturing 360º content, we ensure this is displayed on your Google Business Listing, enabling people to view your “connected experience” directly from Google Search and Maps.

Website and Facebook Embed

Virtual Tours are extremely easy to embed into your website and they are eye catching, engaging and interactive which increases conversions and drives sales. Drive further social engagement and increase Likes by linking to your business Facebook page also*

Venue Hire & Corporate Space

Virtual Tours dramatically increase group and venue hire bookings by enabling customers to discover and actually see inside your venue to feel the space just as they were there! Our Google tours inspire the air of confidence with new prospective customers to book directly over the phone or add you to the top of their shortlist to visit in person!

As an officially approved Google product, Virtual Tours greatly enhance your search results and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) through their integration across Google and into your website.

Increased Walk-Ins

360 Virtual Tours are fully mobile compatible and we integrate them into the official Google Maps App for apple iOS and Android enabling people to discover your restaurant/bar/venue/business from any device whilst they are out and about!

Table Bookings

New customers considering visiting a new restaurant/bar/hotel will naturally want to know what it’s like inside… Our awesome 360 virtual tours will answer this by showcasing your character and look, resulting in increased bookings for you!

Let's Work Together.

Whether you are a local business or a multi site brand…we are here to assist. Get in contact to discuss your 360 requirements.

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Benefits of Google 360 Virtual Tour

Do you want to give your customers or clients a more in-depth view of what your business or organization is all about? Are you looking for a way to show off your location, products, or services? If so, you should consider using Google 360 virtual tour software.

360° tours offer a unique and engaging way to see everything a business has to offer, and they can be used to attract new customers. So what are the benefits of using Google 360 virtual tour? Let's take a look.

What is Google 360 Virtual Tour, and how does it work?

A Google 360 Virtual Tour is a dynamic online experience that enables prospective customers or clients to virtually explore your business or establishment. This immersive tour is fashioned through a sequence of high-resolution panoramic images, meticulously woven together to form a seamless 360-degree view.

At its core, a Google 360 Virtual Tour offers a captivating method to acquaint individuals with your business or space, all while circumventing the necessity for a physical visit. This tool is particularly valuable for showcasing a diverse range of environments, including accommodations, office complexes, retail outlets, event venues, and beyond.

The creation of Google 360 Virtual Tours leverages Google's innovative Street View technology, a renowned mapping service. Through this technology, the process unfolds as follows:

• Image Capture: To initiate the virtual tour creation, a series of high-quality panoramic images are captured. These images are taken from multiple angles, covering all facets of the space you wish to exhibit.
• Stitching and Integration: Once the images are captured, they are skillfully stitched together to forge a cohesive 360-degree view. This seamless integration ensures that viewers can fluidly navigate from one vantage point to another, mirroring an authentic exploration experience.
• Virtual Navigation: The resultant virtual tour is designed to emulate real-world movement. Viewers can interactively explore the space by clicking and dragging their cursor or swiping on touch-enabled devices. This interactive navigation enables users to move in any direction, giving them a comprehensive understanding of the environment.
• Google Maps Integration: A distinctive advantage of Google 360 Virtual Tours is their integration with Google Maps. This means that users can access and explore your virtual tour directly from Google Maps. This integration greatly extends the reach of your tour and makes it accessible to a wider audience.
• Website Embedding: Furthermore, these virtual tours can be effortlessly embedded on your website. By integrating the tour into your site, you provide visitors with a captivating visual engagement that fosters an intimate connection with your business, ultimately augmenting their interest and engagement.

Benefits of using Google 360 Virtual Tour for businesses

There are many benefits of Google 360 Virtual Tours for your business. As a business owner, you are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition and bring in new customers. One way to do this is by using Google 360 Virtual Tour.

Google 360 Virtual Tour is a tool that allows businesses to create an immersive, 360-degree experience of their business that potential customers can explore online. They provide potential customers with a realistic view of your business, which can help to increase bookings or sales.

Using Google 360 Virtual Tour, businesses can give potential customers a realistic view of what they can expect when they visit in person. This can help increase bookings or sales, as customers will know what to expect when they visit your business.

Google 360 Virtual Tours are also a great marketing tool. They can help to increase footfall to your premises, as well as online traffic to your website. They can be embedded on your website or shared on social media, which can help to increase your online visibility and reach.

How to Create a Google 360 Virtual Tour

Creating a Google 360 Virtual Tour for your business is a straightforward process that involves several simple steps:

• Capture 360º Photos: Use a 360º camera or a mobile app like CloudPano to capture high-quality photos of the areas you want to showcase in your virtual tour. Ensure that the images cover all angles and provide a comprehensive view of your business.
• Upload Photos: After capturing the photos, upload them using a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface provided by the chosen platform. This step involves transferring the images from your device to the virtual tour creation tool.
• Set Initial Views: Once the photos are uploaded, you can easily set an initial view for each scene. This is the angle from which viewers will start their virtual tour. Make sure to choose the most engaging and representative view for each location.
• Add Hotspots: Enhance the interactive nature of your virtual tour by adding hotspots. Hotspots are clickable points within the tour that allow viewers to navigate from one scene to another. This helps guide viewers through your business space.
• Enhance Navigation: Utilize hotspots to create a logical and smooth flow between different areas. This will help viewers feel like they're physically moving through your business, enhancing their immersive experience.
• Review and Adjust: Before finalizing your virtual tour, take the time to review it thoroughly. Ensure that the navigation is intuitive, hotspots are correctly placed, and all scenes provide an accurate representation of your business.
• Publish and Share: Once you're satisfied with your virtual tour, it's time to publish it. This makes it accessible to anyone who visits your chosen platform or website. Share the tour link with potential customers through your website, social media, emails, or any other relevant channels.
• Engage Customers: A Google 360 Virtual Tour provides potential customers with an immersive and realistic view of your business. Use this tool to your advantage by showcasing the best features of your space, which can lead to increased bookings, sales, and customer engagement.

As a business owner, you are always looking for ways to bring in new customers and stay ahead of the competition. Google 360 Virtual Tour is a great way to do this. A 360º virtual tour on CloudPano is a marketing and sales tool to view and share a space in an immersive 360º environment. With a smartphone, the CloudPano viewer responds to your movement. This creates a responsive and immersive view of the property or interior space. If you're looking for an easy way to create virtual tours that are both informative and engaging, look no further than CloudPano's software platform . It requires no coding knowledge, allows you to keep your website domain name, and even offers a live video chat with clients so they can get a real-time feel for the space they're considering buying. So what are you waiting for? Try it now.

Visit CloudPano.com and embark on your journey towards creating captivating virtual tours that leave a lasting impression.

360 Virtual Tours With CloudPano.com. Get Started Today.

Try it free. No credit card required. Instant set-up.

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Google Data Center 360° Tour

Greg wilson.

Director, Developer Advocacy

We’re excited to share the Google Data Center 360° Tour — a YouTube 360° video that gives you an unprecedented and immersive look inside one of our data centers.

There are several ways to view this video:

• On desktop using Google Chrome — use your mouse or trackpad to change your view while the video plays
• YouTube app on mobile — move your device around to look at all angles while the video plays
• And the most immersive way to view — using Google Cardboard (currently supported by the Android YouTube app only, iOS support is coming soon!) Load the video in the YouTube app and tap on the Cardboard icon when the video starts to play. Insert your phone in Cardboard and look around.

A little background . . . Several months ago, those of us on the Google Cloud Developer Advocacy Team had a rare opportunity to tour the Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon. Many of us had seen other non-Google data centers in our careers, but this experience was beyond anything we ever imagined. We were blown away by the scale, the incredible attention to security and privacy, and the amazing efforts to make the data center extremely efficient and green. Additionally, we were proud to meet some of the brilliant people that design, build and maintain these data centers.

If you are a Google Cloud Platform customer, then this is your data center as much as it is our data center, so we want you to experience what we experienced.

We hope you enjoy it!

• Infrastructure
• Inside Google Cloud

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The Most Advanced 3D Interactive & Google Tours

For excellent exposure, mib 360° is a leading creator of google 360° virtual tours and 3d interactive virtual tours. , over 4,000 happy customers these are just a few....

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"Thanks to your wonderful 3D virtual tour we were able to show the school to many new families and students. The virtual tour looks very professional and shows our school at its best. The photographer did an excellent job by choosing the right angles and helping us decide on what to show and what's important to emphasize. And most important of all - unlike many other private schools during these difficult times, we had a fantastic enrollment this year, and it's all thanks to MIB360. Thank you so much for your great service - from the smooth booking to the dedicated customer service and the wonderful results - it was a pleasure! "

Steve Taylor BA, MBA Business and Marketing WillowWood School  Toronto, Ontario

Over 4,000 happy customers! 

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With over 4,000 tours published all around the world, MIB360 is the leading creator of 3D virtual tours and Google ‘See inside’ photography agency for 360° Virtual Tours. We've been producing stunning photography including cutting edge 360° content, interior & product shots since 1991. We were selected by Google to undergo the specialist training required to produce the ‘See inside’ 360° virtual tours and became a Google Trusted Photography Agency in 2015. We have professional photographers all over the world that are busy capturing high quality photographs, showcasing the best features of different businesses, all uploaded to Google. The Google virtual tour is a ready-made marketing tool with a professional edge. We are committed to meeting the most advanced standards in photography quality and bringing your business to life with Virtual Tours and photos. Our consultants are here to answer any questions you may have! Click here to meet our team

Our Award Winning

Our team is your team. When your mission is to be better, faster and smarter, you need the best people driving your vision forward. You need people who can create interesting games that align with business goals, who can infuse their creativity into groundbreaking games, and who can analyze data to optimize every tactic along the way. You need 360 MIB for Virtual Tours. Get to know u s here .

We started as interior & product photographers

We added web design & development departments

We started to work with high-end customers such as Louis Vuitton & Christian Dior

We were selected by Google to undergo the specialist training required to produce the ‘See inside’ virtual tours and became a Google Trusted Photography Agency. Since then, we created over 4,000 virtual tours all over the world. 

We created an interactive platform for virtual tours which allows customers to get a whole new immersive experience!  

Get a free quote, get a free quote.

Email us here Telephone Number: +1-437-774-6360  Click to meet our team

USA 138 West 25th Street New York, N.Y. 10001 USA Canada 592 Sheppard Ave. West Toronto, M3H 6A7 Canada

© Copyright 2022 MIB 360. All Rights Reserved.

How to buy your next home using virtual reality

T raveling virtually to other countries and vacation spots is taking off in virtual reality. In fact, 74 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in virtual tourism—far more than those who are interested in games, according to a survey by Greenlight VR.

The real estate industry is picking up on this trend quickly, building virtual open houses and property tours via 360-degree videos, standalone apps, and dedicated platforms.

360-degree photos and videos

The easiest way for a real estate firm to create an open house in VR is by shooting 360-degree photos or videos, then sharing them on YouTube and Facebook. Potential customers with VR headsets are virtually transported to the locations, while everyone else can still look around by using a mouse, or their finger, to get a view of a home.

Regular photographs and videos only show some of what's in a space. Customers never know if there might be, say, a giant hole in the wall just out of sight. With a 360-degree view, they can be assured they're getting the full picture.

For example, check out this 360-degree tour of a house in Dumas, Texas, created by Ad Rem Land Co. LLC.

The agency took several 360-degree photographs, including exterior and interior views, and stitched them together into a single video.

Dedicated platforms

YouTube might have a big user base, but the virtual tours on its site are limited to passive videos. Viewers can't move freely around a property, nor at their own pace. Dedicated platforms, however, offer additional functionality specifically for virtual reality property tours.

The 500-pound gorilla in this space is Google Street View . Companies hire trusted Google photographers to take pictures of their business, which will then show up on Google Maps, like this Rancho Del Oro Apartments property in Oceanside, California, created by Michigan-based real estate marketing company RTV Inc.

Customers can look around while also switching between internal and external views—with and without virtual reality headsets. However, Google limits the amount of sales and marketing information that can be included in these tours.

That's not the case for Matterport , a dedicated platform for real estate marketing. The company is currently converting a quarter of a million 3D tours to virtual reality format and is the most popular dedicated platform for real estate tours.

In addition to offering interactive virtual reality property tours, Matterport also offers three-dimensional dollhouse-style floor plans and other useful functionality. Real estate agents can upload their own photos, or they can hire professional photographers to do the work for them.

Companies can then embed these tours on their websites, as with this Sotheby's International Realty listing for a home in Princeton, New Jersey.

YouVisit is the third big name in this space, a fairly new startup that offers virtual tours of travel destinations, hotels, restaurants, and college campuses—and real estate locations, as well.

Other platforms to check out include Transported VR , Vieweet , and Roundme .

Create your own app.

Many large real estate companies are eager to add virtual reality functionality to their mobile apps and websites. For example, Australia's Realestate.com.au just launched a virtual tour app for the new Google Daydream virtual reality platform.

They built the app on top of the Matterport platform, but there are also smaller technology companies, such as Cubicle Ninjas , Arch Virtual , ReallyThere , Start VR , Case 3D , and Viewport , that will create custom apps for individual properties or agencies.

Do It Yourself

Some real estate agents are even going Hollywood, shooting and editing virtual reality films on their own,. You don't need any special equipment to take your own 360-degree photos other than a smartphone and the Cardboard Camera app for Android and iPhones. You can invest in a 360-degree camera like 360fly and then stitch the photographs together into a 360-degree video with video editing software.

You can also skip the video editing step and just use the 360-degree camera as a video camera. Place the camera in the first room. Film for ten seconds or so, then pause, move the camera to a different room, and film for another ten seconds, and so on until you've got the whole property covered. Use the remote function to hit the record and pause buttons while you're outside the room so that you're not in the video.

The 360fly (2nd Gen) , for example, comes with a smartphone app that allows you to be in a separate room from the camera itself. The 360fly also allows you to upload your finished video straight to YouTube with a click. Or you could import it into a video editing program to add text and transition effects.

Just don't move the camera while filming—the motion could make your customers nauseous. And that will never help sales.

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