360 Tour
360 Tour Software - Real Estate 360 Tour
I am truly amazed at how many people end up on our website and have never seen a 360 Tour before. Many of them on our first phone call will ask me what makes our 360 Tour Software better than the others out there for a Real Estate 360 Tour. My answer to these people is always the same. I always ask them which company they are comparing us to since there are very few companies in the industry that actually adhere to some kind of 360 Tour standards. This is not plumbing and it is not like electrical work where 240 always mean 240. The 360 tour industry is still young enough that many of the virtual tour companies out there are trying hard to make their definition industry standard. The text below will give you the facts on 360 tours as defined by RTV and many of the other leading virtual tour players.
So, just what is a 360 tour? Well, that really depends on who you ask, what company they work for, and the kind of product they are trying to sell you. www.realtourvision.com has been building the world’s largest most powerful network of 360 tour photographers now for over 8 years and we like to think that our definition is among the most accurate out there. We define a 360 tour as a set of images both panoramic and still that give the user a sense of direction, spatial relationship, and depth. Most all 360 tours are released inside of an eye appealing template capable of displaying addition information relevant to the location being toured such as brochures, floor plans, video clips, and quite often audio voice-overs. 360 tours are also very portable and can be saved to the desktop, emailed, and dispersed across the masses for maximum visibility.
We strongly believe that panoramic virtual reality tours should use a combination of imaging formats to adequately do justice to the tour. At the end of the day we are all in this industry because we want the end user or "Tour Taker" to get what they are looking for and pass those feelings along to the person who initially purchased the 360 tour thus promoting further interest in use of the technology.
Most importantly it is very important that the client ordering the 360 tour knows what they are actually getting when they place their order. Am I getting a virtual panoramic tour that I can interact with by moving and zooming? Am I getting a series of snapshots only here which is coined in the industry as a "Slide Show"?
Finally some companies only offer a streaming video solution with no printable images, no interaction or control, but still call it a 360 tour. At the end of the day what we end up with here folks is a lot companies offering way too many technologies that should be going under different names other than a 360 tour but don’t. Why the lies, deception, or lack of being forthright with clients? The answer is simple here. Right now lots of people are searching for and asking for 360 tours. Companies want to get their business and will do whatever it takes to do so even if that means misrepresenting technology and keeping people uninformed as long as possible.
Here is a great example for you. Many of our prospects calling in to order tours from our 360 tour dealers look at our panoramic 360 tours and really believe they are looking at a video. This is because the images are moving just like they do in a video. We feel that it is our obligation as a business owners and industry leaders to take a moment to educate them on the underlying technology and let them know what they are actually seeing. Both RTV and our vast dealer network take this approach with our prospects and feel that the higher road is the best to take for the industry in the long run.
We have seen far too often over the years several companies take advantage of common misconceptions in the industry. People are being sold Video tours under the name 360 tours. They are being pitched hardware free 360 tour systems that only produce second rate panos and slide shows at best. Slide shows for the longest time were called and sold to people who wanted to order 360 tours. Finally, to really top things off, the general public is now being sold “Video” tours but they are actually getting slide shows that move from one image to the next! Most of these 360 tour companies simply let the end users and clients think what they want and don’t correct the people who misunderstand the kind of technology being delivered. In the end this will only leave the general public confused as to what a 360 tour really is and harder for people selling real 360 tours to define their products.
At RTV you WILL get the straight talk from us and each and every one of our dealers. Letting you know exactly how things work inside and out is our promise to you the client. Every call that we take resulting in a sale or no sale we feel good knowing one more 360 tour shopper out there is better informed about the industry that we love so much. Happy shopping and we hope we can keep you better informed. Our doors are always open to you for your 360 tour technology and industry questions.
The RTV virtual tour software system is truly a no-hassle solution for anyone serious about saving money on virtual tours or making substantial profits by creating the world's finest virtual tours. For information on becoming a Full Service Dealer or or our agent & broker kits, click the link that applies to you.
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360 panorama software for Agents and Brokers
The term ‘360 Tour' has been left open to interpretation to the point that the term is open to just about anyone's understanding or definition. Two definitions found on Google using the exact same search phrase (define: 360 tour) directly contradict each other. One states that a 360 tour is any graphical representation of a property while the very next definition states that there should be a feeling of actually walking through the property.
There are a lot of misconceptions about 360 tours. There are many people that even think that still pictures that fade in and out constitute a ‘360 tour'. I do not and neither should you.
As technology evolves, the term 360 tour should only be used when the experience is near equal to that of having actually physically visited the property.
With slide tours, you cannot get that type of tour. You are limited to the photographer's angle and you have no idea what the photographer may be hiding. With a true 360 tour, you are allowed to see the entire property. Video tours are useful, but most 360 tour providers either don't provide them or are ineffective at filming the entire property due to lighting differences.
Do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions are rarely, if ever, truly 360 in nature and most of the time cannot even be considered a ‘360 tour’ of any kind. Most DIY 360 tour solutions allow the end user to upload a set number of images and then use these images to display a moving (or sometimes even non-moving) graphical display of still images. Imagine being promised a 360 tour of New York City only to find that the provider simply gave you five pictures that move left to right. I don’t see how you can classify five pictures as a ‘tour’. In reality it is nothing more than a slideshow. There is clearly nothing ‘360’ about a slideshow.
What’s even worse is that many DIY solution providers and some larger full service companies have even been so bold and misleading to the customer as to name the resulting graphical slide show presentation a ‘Video Tour’. These companies are not misleading and preying on unsuspecting real estate agents who then go out and scream to the world ‘I am now using the latest in technology’ while in reality there is nothing new at all about the slideshows that they are using. This damages the credibility of the 360 tour industry overall. If they want to call it a video tour at least they could describe the underlying technology that is being used for the customer’s sake.
Then there’s the ‘one-shot’ solutions out there. I have used this so called ‘360 tour technology’ before. While the end result is a 360-degree panorama, the quality is horrible. The resulting images distort the property and make counter tops and walls look rounded. You cannot use the cameras flash to brighten particular portions of the room like you can with photo stitching software. You are unable to do 180 degree panoramas and must do an entire full 360 of every room. You’re left with blown out windows and white balance problems. Finally the resulting images from this dreaded technology are not printable for your client to use outside of the 360 tour. A lot of low-quality providers use these solutions to present real estate and the result is a complete misrepresentation of the property.
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360 panorama software for Agents and Brokers
Why would you purposely misrepresent a property by using a low quality 360 tour? Why would you not want yourself and your properties to look the very best? Would you show up for to a listing presentation wearing sweat pants? It's pointless to throw money away like that. Seeing is believing and people do believe what they see. You may have had an interested buyer from across the country close your tour off their screen because they simply didn't prefer to buy a house with ‘rounded walls' and thought it looked too ‘futuristic'. Meanwhile, it could have been the perfect house. But, you will never know and they will never call. www.realtourvision.com technology utilizes optical correction on all of the images within the 360 tour making sure every wall appears perfectly square and just as it would if you were there in person.
You have to keep in mind that 360 tours are very effective marketing tools. If you have any doubts, go check out the 2006 NAR REALTOR Technology Survey and the 2006 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. It is no secret that both home buyers and home sellers are now using the internet extensively and are much more technologically inclined than they were just 10 short years ago. It is definitely no secret that Buyers and Sellers demand more technology from real estate agents today than ever before.
One of the most important points to having a 360 tour is that they should not be used solely to market a listing. They should be used to market YOU. One of the most important things you should have included in a listing package is a CD of one or more of your full-featured 360 tours. Show prospective buyers HOW you are going to market their property before saying a word. Handing a prospective seller a package that includes brochures, marketing materials, DVDs and CDs says much more to a seller than any words you could ever speak. Handing them a full-featured INTERACTIVE 360 tour puts you ahead of competition that has yet to figure out that their homemade ‘video tour’ is nothing more than a slide show.
For more information on our 360 tour and our virtual tour software programs visit www.realtourvision.com
Start your own Virtual Tour Business
360 panorama software for Agents and Brokers
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What's New In 360 Tour
- New Tour Window!
- New! RTV Audio Wrapper!
- Default Speed of Auto Play on Virtual Tours Increased!
- RTV Releases new Tour Track system
360 Tour Testimonials
Shirlee Smith
"I am so pleased with RTV Virtual Tour Software. I've found your support team to be great and exceptionally prompt on answering my questions." More...
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