(Apart From Us…)

Shopping around is important. Whether it’s a new pair of trainers, a new washing machine, or a virtual tour – you’re always going to want to compare and contrast your options. But where could you find a single resource that lists the best virtual tour companies in the UK I hear you ask? Well, you’re looking at it.

As the UK’s 3D virtual tour experts, we’ve made the decision to use our unrivalled industry knowledge to help potential clients be as informed as possible, even if that leads to you working with someone else. With that in mind we’ve put this guide together to give you our own recommendations on who else to approach for a virtual tour if you’re based in the UK. We’re tried to be as unbias as possible and are committed to giving you our honest opinions on which virtual tour companies are currently best in class.

As you read this and digest our thoughts, please remember that many factors go into creating a great virtual tour and the initial capture is only half the equation. The virtual tour company you decide to work with is tasked with not just capturing your space, but making sure you get the most out of your virtual tour. They do this all whilst understanding all the benefits on offer to you.

Whatever the investment you’re making – research is key.

The Best Virtual Tour Companies UK:

 Apollo3D

Founded in June 2017, apollo3D are providing premium 3D tours that create an immersive virtual experience of any location. 

They utilise the power of both the matterport, and the BLK360, to produce great interactive virtual tours.

360imagery

Founded in 2008 by a qualified chartered surveyor, 360imagery has since become one of the leading nationwide providers of bespoke 360 tours in the UK.

Specialising in 360 tours rather than 3D virtual tours (we wrote a whole article on the diffrenece between 360 & 3D tours, click here to read it) 

Scape360

Scape360 are one of the pioneers of 3D technology within the East Midlands, after importing the technology from San Francisco almost 4 years ago and they continue to thrive to this day.

They were finalists in the 2020 Lincolnshire technology innovation awards and have worked with high brow clients across all sectors including education, construction and health and fitness.

Venue View

Based in Tring, Hertfordshire, Venue View specialise in tours for the hospitality sector, by choosing them you will join the industry’s leading names in putting customers at the heart of what they do.

Venue View has worked with some of the larger household names in the hospitality sector to create amazing virtual experiences. 

Virtual Tour Company

The team at Virtual Tour Company have been working in digital marketing and the world of web for over 25 years. Based in Devon they combine excellent photography skills with an expert knowledge of web technologies and online marketing. 

The Virtual Tour Co specialise in bespoke virtual tours that combine drone shots and external photography with internal shots to allow exploration of large spaces both inside and out.

Final Thoughts

There we have it. An overview of who we feel are the very best virtual tour companies in the UK (apart from us). 

However, as with most things in life – it’s a horses for courses-type situation. What might work for you might not for others. 

Many of these companies provide similar services to ourselves, however some might use different equipment and software to produce a very different style of virtual tour. However, all of them are producing outstanding results for their clients. 

So where do you go from here? Well, after checking out all the virtual tour providers listed above, we recommend trying out our handy virtual tour price calculator. This is a great tool for giving you a ballpark figure for your ideal virtual tour. 

Alternitively, if you’d like to speak to one of our virtual tour experts our friendly team are always on hand to answer any questions you may have. You can either request a call back or call our team directly using the buttons below.

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Virtual tours vs video & 360 tours. Picture this – you’ve seen a virtual tour. You think it could work well for your business or property, so you approach a virtual tour specialist about setting up your own. 

Turns out that what you saw is totally different to the virtual tour you have. Now you’ve inadvertently paid for something that doesn’t match up with your expectations. 

Far from ideal, right?

With virtual tours, you’ve got three main choices: a 3D virtual tour, a 360 virtual tour or a video tour. They might look like they mean the same thing, however that’s not the case. Could you confidently say which of the three would be best for you?

As the UK’s 3D virtual tour experts, we want to help you make the right decision when it comes to choosing the right type of tour, even if that means working with a different provider.  

This article aims to give an in-depth look at virtual tours vs video & 360 tours. We’re providing you with a fail-safe guide highlighting the key differences between these innovative and interactive forms of marketing. 

Our goal is to give you an understanding of the pros and cons of each type of tour, so that you can make the right decision, 100% of the time. 

Let’s take a look.

3D Virtual Tours

3D virtual tours, often called ‘Matterport tours’ or a ‘digital twin’, are digital copies of an existing space. They’re made using specialist camera equipment that simultaneously takes 360 panoramic photos and infrared 3D scans of a room. 

These are then seamlessly woven together, creating a flawless 3D model of the property that can be easily explored on any smart device.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, ‘this sounds very technical and very expensive.’ But bear with us. Recently, huge leaps in the technological world have turned this seemingly intimidating property marketing tool into something entirely affordable. 

Here’s an example of a 3D virtual tour we created: 

More and more businesses are turning to 3D virtual tours as they realise they’re more cost-effective than they first thought.

Here’s a clear and concise breakdown of the pros and cons of a 3D virtual tour.

Pros: 

• A more comprehensive view – Visitors to your 3D virtual tour want a closer look at your property or business. Show them exactly how your space connects together using a ‘god’s eye’, or ‘bird’s eye’, view of the space.
• Interactive data-points – Data points, data points, data points. They’re the ultimate feature for highlighting unique details in your space. They can contain different media, including photos, music, videos and more.
• Easy to add to websites & share – Using cloud-based software to create 3D virtual tours makes adding them to your website effortless. It also makes them easily shareable via email, whatsapp and other messenger services. 
• Floor plans & CAD ready outputs – The detail that a 3D virtual tour provides makes collaboration with an architect or interior designer easier than you’d think possible. Accurate, schematic floor plans can be imported directly into CAD software like archiCAD and Revit, saving you valuable time.

Cons:

• Hosting Fees – With great pros, brings some small cons. The cloud-based nature of 3D virtual tours means they must be hosted on a server. This means some additional fees. However, depending on the size of the space, you could be looking at paying just £15 – £35 per year, with many providers including hosting for the first 12 months.
• Size limits – Unfortunately, size does matter with a 3D virtual tour. Because each 3D scan position captures so much data, there’s a limit to the number of scans we can take before a 3D virtual tour can get slightly unwieldy. Luckily, we have plenty of ways to combat this issue, but it’s still worth considering.
• Direct Sunlight – Issues can arise when 3D scanning a space that’s in direct sunlight. The infrared rays in sunlight can result in partial or incomplete scans. Our team is well-used to negating this, however.

360 Tours

From 3D virtual tours, to 360 tours. Similar in name and similar in nature – but with some notable differences. 

360 tours still provide an ‘active’ experience to users. They allow us to freely explore a space, moving from position to position to give viewers an in-depth look at the space. 

So how is it different to a 3D virtual tour? 360 tours are created by carefully photographing a space using a DSLR camera with a wide-angle lens or a specialist 360 camera. These images are then stitched together to create a fully comprehensive and interactive 360 tour.

360 virtual tours can be created using a DSLR or specialist 360 cameras like the one above

Again, here are the pros and cons of a 360 tour in black and white for you to consider.

Pros: 

• Tailored solution – 360 tours are extremely versatile. Because they’re assembled using photos, 360 tours can be easily customised to your exact specifications. You can include things like drone photography, background music and more prominent client branding to really set your 360 tour apart. 
• Image quality – Whilst 3D virtual tours require a lot of specialist equipment and software, a 360 tour just needs a high-quality camera. We use the latest DSLR camera to capture high-resolution images, creating a clean, and accurate, representation of your space.
• No size limits – Remember we said size was an issue with 3D virtual tours? Not the case with 360 tours. 360 tours are the best option for showcasing larger spaces. They’re perfect for spaces like commercial warehouses and airport hangers that might be too large to capture using a 3D virtual tour.

Cons: 

• Varying quality – This can be a big one. Even if you have perfect image quality, using a lower quality software to put the 360 tours together can produce poor results. This means it’s crucial that you shop around to ensure you’re working with a top-tier 360 virtual tour provider.
• A less comprehensive view – By less comprehensive, we mean 360 virtual tours lack detail compared to a 3D virtual tour. Because 360 tours don’t capture spatial data, that means we can’t produce interactive floor plans or dollhouse views of the space.
• Issues with sharing – Embedding a 360 virtual tour on your website means using a plugin, such as JAVA or Flash. The drawback with this is that you won’t be able to share the tour itself – you’ll have to share a link to the entire page on your website. This does limit how shareable the tour itself actually is.

Video Tours

And here we come to our final type of property marketing: the video tour. 

We can all picture what’s meant by a video tour, but what exactly sets it apart from a 3D tour and a 360 virtual tour? 

Well, it’s a lot more traditional and straightforward than the other options. A video tour uses simple videography techniques to film a walkthrough of a space. It’s a solid option for an individual or business dipping their toe into the world of virtual and video tours for the first time.

Here’s an example of a video tour of Paris’s famous Louvre Museum:

Alright, that’s enough background info – pros and cons list number three coming right up.

Pros:

• A tailored view – No one knows your space better than you. Use your knowledge of the space to plan the tour and help a professional videographer capture the best features of the space to create an accurate, yet flattering, final product. 
• Show your personality – Video tours help you to show what you’re all about. Give users a sense of the ‘vibe’ of your business or property by using music, voice over or visual effects, for example. 
• Spread the word quickly and efficiently – Familiar with video hosting platforms like YouTube and Vimeo? Course you are. Uploading your video tour to such platforms is so easy and will give it more exposure to a wider audience. Another Thanks to video hosting platforms like YouTube & Vimeo, uploading your video tour  bonus – no additional hosting fees. Winner.

Cons:

• ‘Passive’ content – Passive, in this context, means that users can’t interact with the content. Unlike 3D and 360 virtual tours, a video tour is exactly that – it’s a piece of video. This means that you won’t be able to add any fancy features to encourage users to engage with the tour. 
• You might get lost in the noise – As ever, with every pro, there’s often a pesky con. The world of video content is enormous. Just think how much content there is on a platform like YouTube. Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Almost hard to believe, right? That figure helps beg the question: ‘how can I make my video tour stand-out from the crowd?’ It’ll be an uphill struggle, that’s for sure. 

Well, I guess that’s everything. Your guide to choosing the right form of tour has come to a close. We hope you’ve learned more about the benefits of the different options: virtual tours vs video & 360 tours 

If you’re learning towards a 3D virtual tour as the best solution for your property or business our experts are on hand to help answer any questions.

Click here to contact us now.

Or to learn more about 3D virtual tour pricing click here.

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