Questions Comparison Updated on
360 or 3D, or both?
The short answer
Both are possible, and we do both.
A 360 tour is photography: fixed viewpoints in high resolution, from the ground and from the air, linked together. In it you zoom in right down to the detail. A 3D scan builds a model of the space: you turn around the building, measure in the space, see a floor plan for each storey and place furniture at true size. We scan your building in 3D ourselves, or we put your existing Matterport scan, as an E57, in our own viewer. The question that usually decides it: will you ever measure or plan anything in this tour? Then 3D. Do you want to show how it looks and how it feels? Then 360. If both count, it can be done in one assignment.
- A 360 tour is photography; Omnitour captures at more than 20,000 pixels wide.
- A 3D scan is a model: measuring, floor plans per storey and furniture at true size.
- We scan in 3D ourselves, or put your Matterport scan as an E57 in our own viewer.
- Both can be done in one assignment.
What a 360 tour gives you
A 360 tour captures fixed viewpoints in high resolution and links them together.
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Omnitour shoots at more than 20,000 pixels wide, and you only notice that when you zoom in: then you can read the label on a bottle on the other side of the room.
Sander photographs everything around you, from the ground and from the air. A terrace, a facade or the building in its surroundings simply belongs in it. And a salon, a shop or a restaurant sells on how it feels: there an image helps more than a measurement.
What a 3D scan gives you
A 3D scan builds a model of the whole space, not just of the spots where the camera stood.
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In our own viewer you turn around the building like a dollhouse, step inside, and see every storey on its own. You measure in the space, read off the area per room and place furniture at true size to see whether it fits.
Emptying a room is possible too: AI does that, and the image says so. And from the measured areas the viewer calculates a first draft of the Dutch rental points valuation. That is not a formal survey; an official report comes from a surveyor.
This is what 360 photography looks like
This is a viewpoint from the park, our 360 tour by the lake, captured at more than 20,000 pixels wide. Here you see it scaled down for the web; open it and zoom in right down to the detail.
The question that usually decides it
Will you ever measure or plan anything in this tour? If so, it is 3D.
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If not, a 360 tour is sharper about exactly what you want to show.
In practice the dividing line is fairly sharp. Real estate, letting, construction and facility management talk about square metres and layout. Retail, hospitality, education, care, recreation and events want it to look good and feel the way it is.
If you already have a Matterport scan
Then you do not have to start again. With the E57 export, which you order once from Matterport, we put your scan in our own 3D viewer.
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There it runs on our hosting, with everything the viewer can do.
The difference with a platform only shows after a year. On a platform your tour runs there and you pay for it per month; stop, and the tour is gone. That is not a reproach, it is the business model, but it is worth knowing up front.
What that is worth you only find out at the moment you want to switch supplier.
Or both
They do not exclude each other. For a building where both the layout and the look count, the scan comes for the measurements and the floor plan, and the 360 tour for the rooms that matter commercially.
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That can be done in one assignment.
In our own village they already stand side by side: the park as a 360 tour, the family home in our 3D viewer.
Sources
A few follow-up questions
Does Omnitour make 3D scans itself?
Yes. We scan your building in 3D, and you walk through it in our own viewer. If you already have a Matterport scan, we put that as an E57 in the same viewer.
Can a 360 tour have a floor plan too?
Yes, but then it is your own floor plan built into the tour as navigation, with the viewpoints marked on it. The difference is that the floor plan has to come from somewhere and does not roll out of the capture automatically, as it does with a scan.
Does a 360 tour also work in VR?
Yes. A 360 panorama is a spherical image by nature, so a VR headset is more a different way of looking than a separate deliverable.
Continue reading
- I already have a Matterport scan. Now what? With the E57 export of your Matterport scan we put it in our own 3D viewer: look around, measure, floor plans per storey and furniture at true size.
- What determines the price of a virtual tour? What determines the price of a 360 tour: viewpoints, shooting days, interaction and hosting. Plus the four questions that make prices from providers comparable.
- How do I get my 360 tour onto Google Maps and Street View? Publishing to Street View goes through Street View Studio and no longer requires certification: Street View Trusted has ended. What has to be right technically and organisationally.