Today we will tell you what a virtual tour is. Enjoy
Spherical panorama
To best explain to you what a virtual tour is, we need to start with what a spherical panorama is. Because it is the combination of multiple spherical panoramas that creates a "virtual tour", otherwise known as a "virtual walk" or a "360 tour".
In traditional interior or architectural photography, but also in other fields, one of the fundamental elements that determine the attractiveness of a photo is the framing. The photographer sets the direction in which they will take the photo, the angle, height, and distance of the camera relative to the photographed place or object. In traditional photography, how large a slice of the image the camera captures depends on the framing. In other words, the photographer has a specific range within which they can take a photo. Thus, when using a lens with a long focal length, e.g., 200mm, the field of view will be significantly smaller than with a lens, for example, with a focal length of 15mm.
The situation is different with spherical panoramas.
Here, we are not limited by any framing, because a single spherical panorama consists of several photos taken from every angle around the camera's axis, and then stitched together in the editing process.
Currently, you can buy consumer-grade cameras on the market that have two or more lenses, allowing the photographer to capture a spherical panorama. The image from the lenses is stitched automatically. The biggest drawback of these devices is the image quality. While it is not the worst nowadays, it still falls short of what we can achieve by taking a photo with, for example, a full-frame DSLR. Spherical panoramas taken with a DSLR are stitched using computer software and edited just like traditional photos. This allows us to achieve the highest image quality. I will talk about how we create spherical panoramas in the next video.
This is what a finished spherical panorama looks like in its unfolded version, opened with, for example, an image viewer. For a spherical panorama to be interactive, it needs to be uploaded to a platform that can wrap it. Currently, there are many websites that allow you to upload spherical panoramas. There are also programs that create files which, when uploaded to your own server, can display spherical panoramas and even virtual tours, independently of external services. I will cover this topic in the next video. The most popular service that allows us to wrap a spherical panorama is Facebook. Today, however, we will focus on the Google Maps platform, as this service additionally allows us to combine multiple spherical panoramas into a virtual tour.
Virtual Tour
If you already know what a spherical panorama is, you will immediately understand what a virtual tour is all about.
A virtual tour is nothing more than a collection of multiple spherical panoramas connected in such a way that the viewer can intuitively move between them. Depending on the platform hosting the virtual tour, the navigation options vary, but on Google Maps, this is done by clicking on the overlaid arrows. In the mobile version, the virtual tour arrows on Google Maps look slightly different. Speaking of the mobile version, let's say a few words about what devices we can run a virtual tour on.
Currently, virtually any internet-enabled device that can open the Google Maps app or the Google Maps website is capable of running a virtual tour. So there is no need to worry that your client won't be able to view your interior in 360 mode. A 360 tour is perfect for situations when:
-Your business is located in a hard-to-reach location.
-You want to showcase your products in a modern way.
-You want to clearly show where the customer's desired location is.
-You want to stand out from the competition.
Here is what a virtual tour embedded on a website looks like:
A Virtual Tour as part of your Google Business Profile only involves a fee for its creation. Google does not charge any fees for uploading or hosting a virtual tour on its servers. For our client, this is a one-time investment. If you are interested in creating a virtual tour, feel free to contact us.
