A virtual tour is an interactive way to showcase a location. It is a panoramic experience that allows viewers to see in all directions as if they were actually standing in the scene.
Virtual tours let the viewer manipulate the camera view any way they wish. Through our state-of-the-art customized navigation, they can move from scene to scene and virtually tour a location — with a mouse and keyboard or a touch screen device — through doorways, around corners, even hundreds of feet in the air. These digital experiences can be used for anything, from touring small spaces like a mini-van or apartment to an 18-hole golf course or NFL stadium.
Users are able to navigate a venue beyond a simple floor plan. They can “walk” from room to room and view a space from any angle. We can add graphics, or “hot spots,” that viewers can click on to get a view from outside, or overhead, or to investigate a special feature in more detail.
Unlike video or still images, a virtual tour puts the viewer in total control of their experience. It creates an environment where they can be completely immersed in the venue and explore the space in their own time and in their own way.
The potential uses for virtual tours are limitless.
Who Can Benefit From a Virtual Tour?
College Sports
Virtual tours are an ideal recruitment tool. They let student-athletes virtually visit your facilities before stepping foot on campus. This lets you showcase the baseball field, gym lockers, training room and more – all in just a few simple clicks.
Stadiums/Arenas
These are much more than a 3D-rendered seating chart. We take the viewer throughout the stadium, so they can check out the entrances, parking lots, concourse, private suites, and any other place you’d like to highlight.
Golf Courses
Visitors can get both a ground-level and an aerial feel for every fairway and green. We can add graphics to give the user a richer experience. Aerial flyovers are nice, but they don’t show the full experience like a ground-level view.
Athletic Facilities
We specialize in virtual tours of all sports facilities. Whether you manage a baseball park, racetrack, tennis facility, or aquatic center, we can give you a superior-quality, high-definition virtual tour tailor-made to meet your needs. Paintball? Disc golf? Go-karts? We’ve got you covered.
How is a Virtual Tour Created?
A virtual tour is a sequence of 360-degree photos that we create with a high-definition camera. We photograph each space using special hardware to capture incredible detail. Our photographers will shoot up to 24 separate HD photos for each singular view, then seamlessly stitch them together using cutting-edge software to build a single 360-degree tour-ready image.
For overhead views, we use FAA-licensed pilots to create stunning aerial panoramas. Our camera-equipped drones can capture spectacular overviews of a campus, a golf course or a sports complex. The user can then zoom in to explore ground-level features, in addition to pointing out local attractions like airports and city centers.
Once each photosphere has been created, our team will custom-code a website to showcase your final tour. Your website will be mobile-responsive, meaning users will experience a perfect viewing experience whether they are using a mobile phone, tablet, desktop computer or even a virtual reality headset.
What is the Difference Between Virtual Tours and Virtual Reality?
They are both created with 360 degree photography. The user is able to tour the environment in either case. The only real difference is that with a virtual reality (VR) experience, the user wears a special headset viewer. This viewer works by covering the entire field of vision, which adds the third dimension—depth—to what the user sees. VR immerses users in your environment with an impressive “you-are-there” sensation.
The beauty of VR is that users can transform your regular virtual tour into the more-immersive VR experience with an inexpensive viewer, such as Google Cardboard. Cardboard is a 3D viewer made to work with most cell phones at a cost of around $15.00. You can even custom-print these in mass quantities with your own branding.
Virtual Tours are a Powerful Marketing Tool
Virtual tours represent the cutting edge of facility marketing. No longer do you need to rely on outdated images and costly video productions to feature your business. Let the viewer take control and truly immerse themselves.
The results speak for themselves.
“The tour is awesome and our sales associates (sponsorship, rentals & tickets sales) have been using it to show out the spaces,” said the marketing director of Salt River Fields, the spring training home of MLB’s Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. “It’s definitely been a great investment and has easily paid for itself with ticket sales and special events.”
Virtual tours generate excitement and add value to any sports facilities’ marketing program. They drive traffic to your site, which translates into increased revenue. Let us create one for you.
