Video Tours vs. Interactive 360 Virtual Tours

Video Tours vs. Interactive 360 Virtual Tours

Video Tours vs. Interactive Virtual Tours

Not all “Virtual Tours” are equal. There have been a lot of virtual tour companies/technologies out there that call things like automated “Slide Shows” virtual tours. These are not. They are simply slide shows and should be called as such.

Now a true Virtual Tour is something different. This is a true tour of the property using still photos WITH panoramic scenes as well. In fact some people call the panoramic scene the virtual tour. While it does give you a sense of space in the room or scene, it is still not really a virtual tour, but this is what the industry has come to call a virtual tour.

Thus there is a need for yet another category of tours: the Interactive Virtual Tour. Why the word “Interactive”? Well, simply put the technology my virtual tour company (BakerB Solutions) uses (Real Tour Vision), allows the viewer to navigate from one room to the next by way of “Hot Spots”. These show up as little arrows within the scene (still photo or panoramic scene) and allow you to navigate through the property simply by clicking on the arrows. Why does this matter?

Well, it matters because you put the control of navigating through the property into the hands of the viewer. What’s behind door number 2? Just click on the hot spot and you can see. What is that in the corner? Click on the zoom feature to find out. Want to jump right to your favorite room? Just drop down a list of scenes and you are there instantly. The point is that the Interactive Virtual Tour is the closest thing to turning the property into an interactive video game.

The Video Tour definitely has a place in the market. But it really best serves the smaller audience that wants to just sit back and watch the video go by and they don’t have to do anything. It is for people who just want to watch television on their computer. When you are on the computer or on the Internet, you are probably skilled enough to navigate through an Interactive Virtual Tour and get a much richer self controlled experience. And if you don’t want that, just click on the “Autoplay” option (on by default) and you basically have your video tour right there anyway (oh, and with the option of being interactive if you want).

One final note, if you are worried about download times, fear not. The technology behind our tours, supplied by Real Tour Vision, is superior to most, and delivers tours at the fastest rate currently available. It strongly competes with that of streaming video. If you want to see for yourself, just click on one of the tours in our Interactive Virtual Tour Gallery.

Alex Saenger
BakerB Solutions, LLC

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