PanoPhoto 360° Virtual Tours Information
What is a virtual tour?
A virtual tour is a platform for showing your space in a unique way using multiple interconnected 360° scenes where viewers can look in all directions (up, down, left, right) and get a feel for the space and layout that is not possible with normal 'flat' photographs. Viewers can 'tour' from scene to scene via a menu system or via signpost indicators (where available) and can view Info points within each scene giving them further information such as images, text, videos, audio files, URL links, CTA buttons etc. This gives viewers a strong sense of 'being there' and can increase the engagement, dwell and conversion rates of your viewers and potential purchasers.
What is an Info Point?
Info points are interactive elements within a scene that gives information about that scene, allowing you to draw attention to a particular feature or to further explain. They are presented on screen as an i information button and offer text and rich media such as images, videos (locally hosted or YouTube embeds), forms, HTML, URLs to further information, call to action buttons, download links for brochures, map embeds etc.. You can add multiple Info points to a scene if you wish. Info points can also be used to give a more structured, guided tour by a video presenter or an audio voice-over.
How much is a virtual tour?
Costs depend on a number of factors, including the total number of scenes you require in your tour, its geographic location and other factors. There are no ongoing fees or subscriptions if you host the tour yourself or our yearly support packages are reasonably priced if you prefer us to host for you. We do not charge any extra for an Info point in each scene of your tour if you provide us with the text and media. Nor do we charge extra for aerial drone overviews if your tour has more than 25 scenes. We do not charge VAT on our prices, so the price agreed is the price paid. Schools that also use our sister business school-photos.co.uk for their pupil portraits receive a substantial discount on their virtual tour.
What is the ordering process?
Contact us with a brief description of your space, your geographic location, how many scenes you would like included and the type of media that you would like in your Info points. We shall then return your query with our quote and, should we be successful, consult on the next stage including a calendar 'window'. Each 360° scene can take up to ten minutes to photograph on site. Images are post-processed and the tour created using dedicated software. We provide you with a link to preview your tour and we discuss and make any amendments necessary until we are both happy. Once satisfied and final payment made, we provide you with all the necessary files for you to self host the tour on your server or alternatively we can host the tour for you on a fast CDN with ongoing support for a small annual charge.
Can we host the tour ourselves?
Yes, you can self-host. Tours are provided to all clients as complete, fully self contained, fully responsive, HTML5 compliant website files. Thus, if you want to host the tours yourself on your own server, you are very welcome to. Alternatively, we are happy to host for you if you purchase our yearly support package that not only includes hosting on our CDN servers, but also free updates to your tour code (e.g. amending Info points), security updates, reduced costs for new scenes to be added and any and all email advice and support from us to help you get the most out of your tour.
How do we integrate it?
Integration is straightforward. The virtual tour is either hosted by us on a CDN or you can self host and upload the self contained folder to an area on your web server. Once online and you have the direct URL link to the tour, you can simply link to it and it will open and fill the entire area of the browser window (on mobile and desktop). Alternatively, if you want to embed the tour as an iframe within another page, then this can be as simple as cutting and pasting a single line of code into the HTML files on your web server. There are no third party external dependencies required and linking is usually just a 'cut and paste' of our embed codes into your sites HTML code.
Are aerial scenes possible?
Yes. Aerial scenes photographed by a drone camera are a fantastic means of showing the locality in which you are based, and can serve as an excellent introductory 'index' page to your tour. Aerial views at up to 400 feet / 120 metres high are attention grabbing showing a perspective not normally seen and is far better than a high elevation Google maps view. For scenes that have restricted airspace, we can photograph up to 8 metres high from a pole.
Can we include people's faces in the scenes?
Yes you can, if you have the permission of the people in the scene. For example, at a hotel we can use staff members for the photographs or a school will have already asked parents for permission to use pupil's faces in their marketing materials and website. It is also possible to have no people in your shots if that is what you prefer. Having full faces in the shots, perhaps showing people enjoying themselves and having fun, adds a great deal to the impact of the tour and is a major advantage of our type of private tours over others, such as Google hosted street-view, which automatically blur all faces.
How long until we receive our tour?
This depends on the complexity of the tour and the number of scenes / info points that you require. Fairly simple tours may only take a few days to turn around, and others might take a few weeks. We can also work to your tight deadlines if necessary.
Can I link directly to a particular scene?
Yes, this is possible. Tours can begin at a particular scene within the wider virtual tour, e.g. if you have a school website which has a page for swimming facilities and wish to incorporate only the swimming pool 360° scene from your wider tour. This is a very useful feature as you do not need to host the tour more than once, while still giving a dedicated appearance where needed.
Can you edit tour images?
We can edit images while they are being processed, including removing wall marks, floor scrapes, blurring security features (such as alarm systems) etc. We will need to be informed of any editing requests in advance. Complicated editing might require a fee to be agreed in advance.
Will it fit our corporate branding?
All tours are created and custom built to your design requirements. This can include your on-screen logos, fonts, colour palette or call to action buttons (e.g. 'check availability' or 'book now') such that all tours look like part of your site, rather than tacked on.
How long does each scene take?
We typically take about five to ten minutes at each scene, so multiply this by the number of scenes you want in your tour, not forgetting an allowance for travelling time between each scene. We can work around your calendar as best as possible, such as if you only have a limited time between departing and arriving guests. Please note we do not 'dress' scenes and areas will need to be presented to us as you wish them to appear in your tour.
Are tours weather dependant?
Good weather is important to make your tour look as bright and welcoming as possible - especially important for holiday purposes. We will arrange together a window of date opportunities where we can hopefully have at least some fine weather. Aerial photographs also bring with them some special weather restrictions such as wind. Purely internal tours, or tours that do not requires bright conditions, can be taken in any weather of course.
What areas do you cover?
We cover the whole of South Wales, where we are based, but we are very happy to cover destinations further afield. Please get in touch, wherever you are.
Can I put a 360° scene on Facebook?
Facebook does allow for single equirectangular .jpg images (the flat distorted image before it is then viewed in 360°) to be uploaded to your page so that viewers can interact with your preferred scene. We can help with that. It can be a very good lure to link into your main tour and attract attention, especially for a promotion or sale e.g. 'would you like to sleep in this room tonight?' You can also upload 360° scenes to your Google Business page for its SEO benefits.
Can you take stills?
We are happy to take a small number of illustrative stills at the same time as your your tour if you do not have suitable material readily available, perhaps to illustrate your Info points better. We can discuss this at the consultation stage beforehand.
Is the source code included?
All source code is provided. We can also work with your web developer if needed. All code is open source, lean, un-minified, well commented and you are free to make further changes if you understand the HTML, PHP and JS code. This is in your interests as you know your investment is safe, available long term and completely under your control - unlike tours such as matterport which rely on costly continuing subscriptions or they disappear.
Please contact panophoto.co.uk if you have any questions not answered above.