For many years photos have been used to describe a space. But it's like making sense of a room by looking through a rolled-up magazine. Photos are vignettes from here and there with little relationship to one another. And are notoriously deceptive in showing the size and scope of the location.
Videos describe the flow from one place to another and can tell more truth of the size. But you are a prisoner to the videographer's pace and choice of detail. You only see what he wants to show.
The 360° virtual tour offers a completely individualized interactive experience. Each viewer can move around the space at their own pace. They can zoom to explore architectural details or pass swiftly to another room of interest. It only takes a click or a swipe to change to a scene of choice. The tour can be guided, yet the viewer has the control to explore at will. A full range of tools to tell a story is also available, including audio and video. It puts the viewer into the scene to find and discover an entrance, exhibit, activity location or destination. Anticipating every prospect's needs is exhausting, so why not give the visitors everything and let them focus on their own concerns.
A virtual tour typically is one or more, normally several, panoramas photographed from a desired point of view. Stitched together, the panorama covers the scene from floor to ceiling and 360° around.
The panorama is a series of photos stitched into a spherically mapped image. This image is viewed with software designed to present the complete scene. You scroll around the scene, zooming in and out of interesting places and interact with the area that caught your attention. Each scene in the virtual tour requires at least one panorama. A scene is an identified hotspot located somewhere in view. Clicking that hotspot displays more detail or information. In a building, for example, each room would be one or more panoramas to show its features.
The scenes can have additional features like still photographs, text, videos, audio and links to other pages of the site.
A virtual tour of Island Walk at West Villages.
15 panoramas and many scenes are
a guide through the main Comunity Center and its amenities.
A virtual tour of Sea Grape Gallery.
in Punta Gorda, FL. 8 panoramas and many scenes to interact.
A virtual tour of Sleeping Turtle Preserve in Venice FL
A demo stroll through three paths at the preserve.
Virtually touring a picnic spot in Jelks Preserve, Venice FL
The Canopy Walk at Mayakka State Park
IslandWalk at sunrise. A look around.