KAESER Compressors is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and providers of compressed air products and services. They manufacture compressed  air system solutions for customers worldwide, across a number of different industries. 

KAESER’s challenge

When there are space, environmental, or time constraints, KAESER offers air systems in weatherproof enclosures, which are built at KAESER’s main US facility site and then transported to the customer’s location. The enclosures are complete systems which may contain compressors, blower packages, boosters, or vacuum packages. In addition, each enclosure comes equipped with piping, ducting, controllers, ventilation systems, and other features. Because of the scale and customization abilities of KAESER enclosures, they found that customers had a hard time visualising the end product.

Solution: 360 virtual view inside the product

To help their customers more easily visualise the complete set up of an enclosure, KAESER turned to ThingLink. They now create 360 visuals in ThingLink of every unique enclosure that they build, and in total over the last 3 years have created around 30 unique visualisations this way. Further information by way of text, images and videos, as well as links to more detailed information and specifications is contained within the clickable pop-up hotspots or tags. 

KAESER sends or presents these to the customer to give a realistic representation of how the components  within it work together, and to showcase  the quality engineering of the system. The 360s can be shared either directly with customers via a link through email, or shown in more detail by the local sales rep on laptops, tablets or any other mobile device. 

The version above shows a custom instrument air package used in advanced pharmaceutical research.

Multi-purpose virtual visits

In addition to using these as a sales tool, KAESER uses them for two other main purposes:

1. For training sales staff off-site, who haven’t had an opportunity to view enclosure builds at the US headquarters. 
2. For trade show displays and events to demonstrate the customizable solutions KAESER offers. Sales teams report that visitors enjoy engaging with the interactive content.

A powerful social media marketing tool

A selection of the 360s are also embedded in their website and shared on social media. From a marketing perspective, KAESER finds that the ThingLink content they share usually gets higher engagement than a static image post. 

“ThingLink has been a great tool because our products aren’t available for prospects to view in person, outside of trade shows. The content is easy to create, and easy to use.”

KAESER

Kaeser has also recently created 360s of the interior of the compressors themselves. These are used as training tools for sales staff, and to show features of the machines to their customers.

How ThingLink has provided the ideal solution

For a product so large, when there is simply no easy way for the customer to view it in person, 360 tours provide immersive experiences for solutions that most customers have never seen, considered or imagined. The interactivity of the material also makes it a useful tool for engaging potential new customers, via a number of different channels. For a complex product with a number of different possible configurations, ThingLink provides an accessible way to explain key elements efficiently. 

Further reading

You may be interested in these additional case studies which showcase more virtual tour examples where ThingLink provides easy-to-use virtual solutions for companies and organisations whose customers or other users can’t visit a site in-person.

• Carmanah create interactive content for trade shows and website

• Vaisala create virtual walkthroughs of their extraordinary campus

• Create Real Estate virtual tours – without expensive virtual tour software pricing

• How to create a virtual exhibition or art gallery

• Adding floorplans and maps to your virtual tours

• Virtual reality mode for your ThingLink tours

• ThingLink’s solution to the closure of Google Street View Camera app

Need help to create your own tour?

• Go to our YouTube channel for easy-to-follow tutorials and webinar recordings!

Follow us or join our groups and communities on social media

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

For FAQs and advice from our experts, go to our helpful Support pages.

Step aboard to learn more!

Background to the project

Dwitney is an educator who specialises in the creation of escape room games, digital scavenger hunts, murder mystery and team building games. Her company Urban Escapade hosts the experiences for groups of friends and colleagues, but she is also an online educator on the worldwide home education platform Outschool. Dwitney holds a Bachelor of Honours in History and Development Studies, an M.A. in Public History, and an M.A. in Globalization Studies. With this background in history and a love of all things historical, many of her games and experiences feature a historical setting.

Dwitney started teaching via Outschool shortly before the pandemic, when very few people were offering online escape rooms. She saw an example of a ThingLink escape room on Teachers Pay Teachers, themed around on Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, and realised it had everything her team needed.

Dwitney’s OutSchool classes that she then launched using ThingLink were doing so well, that she launched her online game business full time, creating content using ThingLink.

“When we did ThingLink for the first time it just took off! I had done collaborations with colleges and universities and corporate events, creating team building games and murder mystery events and that kind of thing using it. So just grew and grew. Over the course of the pandemic we created 15 to 16 different projects.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

How this escape room was created

Dwitney had an initial concept of an escape room based on the Titanic, having recently watched a documentary about the ship. She realized that the ship would work well as the location of an escape room experience given the different areas that the users could move through – the deck, first, second and third class and so on. She was keen to create a new approach to exploring the ship and the events leading up to the sinking for students who would have seen the Titanic movie, as well as multiple CGI reproductions of the ship.

A history mystery escape room

Creating a “history mystery” seemed like a great way to allow students to explore the content with fresh eyes and in a more interactive and nuanced way. At all times Dwitney and her team have kept as faithful as possible to the design of the period and reflect in each “class” of the ship the realistic items that might have appeared there.

The escape room has weaved together historical fact with a fictional storyline that is engaging and exciting, as Dwitney puts it “a thin line of fact and fiction, which doesn’t go too much outside of the realm of possibility.” Dwitney’s team introduced a fictional “saboteur” character – which avoided the potential difficulty of the students having to assign blame for the tragedy on one of the real individuals involved. It was also very important to Dwitney and her team that they respect the real event and the people that lost their lives.

Teaching analytical skills in ThingLink

The escape room demonstrates to students the importance of assessing evidence in an objective way. Dwitney wanted to show how evidence could be manipulated, and landed on the idea of a faked weather report. Students go through a simulation of one day during the voyage to explore witness statements, transmissions, newspapers and other primary source documents. Every piece of evidence is found by exploring the tags throughout the scenes, which may contain images, text, music or videos. Whilst working through the puzzles, additional help and support is provided by an animated AI assistant who provides additional evidence that he has “discovered”.

Scenario Builder: Perfect tool for creating multi-linear learning

Whilst working on the renders, Dwitney heard about ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder tool. She had been keen to add some sort of timer to her games but this wasn’t possible using the main ThingLink editor. Having explored what Scenario Builder was capable of creating, Dwitney realised that the format would provide the ideal way for students to explore the ship their way, without being told where to go next. They can move between floors in a “choose your own adventure” way, using multi-linear paths and using their reasoning skills to deduct where they should go next. A wrong decision has consequences, such as not being able to reach the lifeboats in time.

“We decided; let’s fictionalise the mystery part of it, but do it in a way where they can still go through the historical accounts. We wanted to do a mix of puzzles as well as trivia questions as well as just exploring stuff. So we added videos and clips and a lot of multimedia – to make it innovative and fun.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

Designing the graphic elements of the escape room

Dwitney works remotely with an architectural designer who creates the 360 renders using Sketchup, although a similar 360 scene could be created easily using Skybox. The AI assistant was created very simply using Canva, with a video on a loop and an audio file added which Dwitney had created using a text-to-speech converter. She also used Canva for creating much of the imagery and pieces of evidence.

How do students use this escape room?

Students work through the escape game tutorials either in groups or individually, with Dwitney on screen to help them if they get stuck at any point! Depending on the age of the students, she sometimes also provides background information, instructions or evidence before the game starts, for students to read up on.

When completing the challenge in a group, one student might write down all the evidence the group finds. They then discuss which floor to visit next and decide as a group the course of action. Dwitney helps them through as a guide when required, and asks them to name their top two suspects. The students then discover if they were correct!

What do students think of the escape room?

Dwitney has received excellent feedback from both students and their parents for this latest escape room. This has led to students and parents requesting more escape room lessons from Dwitney on Outschool.

“This is the most fun we’ve ever had we can’t wait to do more!”

Student feedback

Students respond that they enjoy controlling the direction of the experience and being responsible for their decisions, rather than being told where to go and what to do next. Dwitney has taught students from Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the UK and will often be given requests for the theme of a new escape room.

“The kids will always give me ideas for the next one. They may ask for one themed around their favorite TV shows or they might say that they enjoy fantasy stuff or sci-fi. So I’m always trying to think of new themes and coming up with something different.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

Why do escape rooms make such excellent teaching resources?

Escape rooms work so well from a pedagogy point of view because they teach so much more than the subject material contained within them! Integral to every escape room are problem-solving skills and reasoning, as well as working under pressure if you use a timer. However, use them as virtual team activities, and you add a whole other level of soft skills such as teamwork, co-operation and group decision making.

For a great use of this in action, see our case study on the medical escape room created by Dr Abhi Jones for remote teams of students at the University of Central Lancashire. Whilst team building activities were not in fact the main remit of the challenge, the qualitative feedback from students was that it was an invaluable exercise for improving communication, delegation, operating as a team under stress and looking after other team members.

Benefits of creating a virtual escape room

Unlike a physical escape room, where there are certain limitations to the setting, a virtual breakout room is only limited by your imagination, creativity or graphic design skills and platforms available to you and your team. You can therefore create an epic or fantastical setting, or one steeped in a specific historical era or location. Perhaps a Harry Potter themed escape from Hogwarts for younger students? Or one based on a favourite movie, TV or book series for older students? You can now create limitless fantasy worlds in immersive 360 for your ThingLink escape rooms and other games with our Skybox integration!

Create your own virtual escape room

Escape rooms are so simple to create with ThingLink – and you can choose whether to use Scenario Builder as Dwitney did, or simply to use the ThingLink main editor.

Creating Escape Rooms in the main ThingLink editor

Here is an example below of how you can create one this way. We have used maths riddles in all our rooms, which we have themed to match each room or space. But the questions and content could be on any subject. Simply add a Transit Tag – and turn “Conditional Transition” on. Only by entering the correct answer can the user “escape” to the next room in sequence. They keep moving through rooms, areas or scenes, having to answer questions in the tags each time, until they reach the final room and escape. You can add clues in tags in each room as they go which they need to escape each individual room, as well as for the final challenge in the last room in the sequence.

Creating Escape Rooms in ThingLink’s Scenario Builder

The difference between creating escape rooms in the main ThingLink editor and in Scenario Builder is that instead of one linear path that the user has to take from room to room, you can create multiple paths or consequences in Scenario Builder depending on the choice or response. A choose your own adventure game! You can also add the timer function to the entire game, or to individual sections with Scenario Builder.

“Because I can now use Scenario Builder, this is the first time that I could really go all out without constraint. This is probably the most excited I’ve ever been for a project because I had the Titanic theme on the back burner for a long time. Because until now we didn’t have the tools to do it the way that I actually wanted to do it.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

ThingLink: A responsive platform that adapts to user needs and feedback

“I told ThingLink about the areas that I would have liked to change over the years. They’ve always kept me up to date with any changes and that’s how [my work] has been able to grow. So as ThingLink added different features, I did as well. And so it’s been a great tool and resource for me.”

Dwitney Bethel, Urban Escapade

If there is a feature or development you would like to suggest for ThingLink, please get in touch! Our team are always open to new ideas: in fact many of the new features that we have introduced over the last few years have been a direct result of our customer feedback and suggestions. We also love to see how you have been using ThingLink, so if you would like to be featured in a similar case study, do let us know!

More escape room ideas from our blog

Virtual team building activities and employee training games

Create your own scenario based learning with our new templates

Using ThingLink to develop virtual team building

A guide to creating amazing immersive learning resources

More inspiration this way!

Join our active groups and communities on social media for more inspiration:

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

Vaisala was founded in Finland in 1936 and is now a global leader in the fields of weather, environmental, and industrial measurements. Their 2,200 employees are stationed across 25 offices worldwide and their operations cover an enormous breadth of sectors – from government to energy companies, from pharmaceuticals to space agencies. To give some idea of its reach, “Vaisala operates on two planets and in every country on earth.”

Innovation, Research and Development at Vaisala HQ

29% of all Vaisala employees work in Research and Development (R&D) and this team includes professionals from many different fields – from physics to AI and machine learning. Of this total R&D staff, 67% of them (300 people in total) work at the new R&D and Innovation Center which opened in 2021. It’s sited next to the company HQ and production facilities in Vantaa, Finland.

Vaisala technology is used in the most inhospitable environments on earth – from the Sahara Desert to Antarctica. For this reason, as well as building custom designed testing equipment that mimics real-world conditions, the 7,900m2 R&D Center contains 37 custom-made laboratories. These range from an EMC (electromagnetic compliance) lab, a rain tower that simulates natural rain, a vibration and freefall laboratory, environmental chambers where instruments can be tested under extreme temperatures and humidity, and system testing laboratories.

Virtual Campus Tour attracts top talent and showcases scope of the organisation

This is a world-class and truly one-of-a-kind campus. To give a flavour of the facilities and operations on-site and what it is like to work there, Vaisala designed a virtual intro to their site by which the curious online visitor can take a self-guided tour. The tour was designed jointly by the company’s Communications, Brand and Talent Acquisition teams, accordingly with three main purposes in mind. These were:

• Primarily, to attract new talents from across the globe to join its international team, and subsequently to act as part of the onboarding program for those who start.
• To showcase the full scope of Vaisala’s operations to their customers and partners, either directly or via their sales and marketing teams.
• To give an insight into daily life at HQ for for employees at the regional HQs and many small Vaisala satellite offices worldwide who may never visit the site in person.

The tour below was launched in September 2023. It was shared on social media, was shared with all global employees via intranet internal news, has been added to the Vaisala website careers page and is used by sales teams worldwide at events and industry shows, and shared with regional customers via local offices.

We highly recommend that you activate full screen mode to fully appreciate the extraordinary spaces within the campus. The EMC lab is particularly worth a visit: there you can watch videos about how Vaisala technology is used on Mars.

Navigation around the tour

The public tour starts with a 360 aerial map which gives an overview of the location of each building. They include a brand video which gives a flavour of the company and their vision and values.

As with all ThingLink media, in each scene you can choose what to learn more about, or which area to move to next, via the clickable tags or hotspots.

From the initial aerial view you can choose to visit the factory or the R&D building. Within R&D you can visit the EMC lab, the “clean room” and many other rooms that give a fascinating insight into the unique, high tech and genuinely space-age environments at Vaisala.

Results of the virtual tour

External results: High engagement and visibility

• In its first 2 months the tour has had almost 7000 views. As well as being a marketing success, this is also a far higher number of guest visits than the campus can normally accommodate in a year – roughly 450.
• It was one of the most popular posts this year on LinkedIn for Vaisala, with about +30% views, +50% reactions, as well 10 times more shares compared to a usual LinkedIn post.
• Sales teams have reported back that it is an invaluable tool for industry shows and events, demonstrating the breadth and reach of Vaisala’s expertise to customers who may only be familiar with one specific application or vertical.

Internal results: Increased employee engagement

When it was shared to employees worldwide via company internal news, it got ca. 50% more views compared to a piece of average internal news. Feedback has been extremely positive, summed up by this example below:

“Thanks to the whole team for a great job with the virtual visit! It will be a really good tool in many ways, some of our people here outside the Vantaa Campus have never had the opportunity to see our head office production and R&D facilities, now they can visit virtually!”

Employee feedback

The educational legacy and vision that inspired the tour

This English language version was based on an original tour in Finnish created in collaboration with Otaniemi High School to support STEM education, which has now been expanded to high schools nationally. Vaisala is third-generation owned and has continually striven to support scientific education via engagement, awards, sponsorship and collaboration, so this project was a fitting reflection of their founding values.

The learning content was designed to directly link specific areas of Vaisala’s operations and research to related areas of the curriculum, to help students better understand how their school subjects can be applied in the real world. The content has also been used in ThingLink’s Scenario Builder to create thematic learning journeys and we will explore this educational project in more detail in a separate case study.

Pro tips for virtual tour creators

We break down exactly how Vaisala took this virtual tour to the next level with thoughtful content creation and simple but clever design of the component elements. These are all methods which even a complete beginner to ThingLink could easily replicate!

• Candid short interview clips with Vaisala employees help to paint a picture of the work environment and the work that goes on in all parts of the site – from the factory to the labs and beyond. These personal stories bring the tour alive and give a strong impression of an international workplace, and the passion which the employees have for their work.

• The variation of media types. As well as 360 scenes and static or interview type videos, there are also video walkthroughs of some of the areas within the tags, and tags containing simply text and images.
• Vaisala have used static text labels instead of tags, to highlight what is at each tag before you open it. Read how to do this here.
• Anchor points have been used so that the text labels don’t obscure the important elements. Read more on these here.
• A map in the top right corner assists navigation. This feature allows you to add a floorplan or map to any ThingLink content and helps the users see exactly where they are and/or move to a new location. read more on this feature here.
• The Vaisala virtual tours can also be viewed in VR so can be used with virtual reality headsets for a really immersive experience!
• Finally, for advanced ThingLink creators: notice the structure which they have applied within all the lightbulb tags. A Video ThingLink, embedded in a tag in a 2D image ThingLink, which is in turn embedded in a tag within the main 360 image ThingLink! Click on any lightbulb to see how well this structure works and consider using in your next creation!

Creating your own virtual tour

Whether you manage an international organisation, a small business or anything in between, virtual tours like these are an ideal way to demonstrate the working environment to potential candidates as well as new joiners. ThingLink is the easiest way to create a 360 tour like this, with no need to download virtual tour software. Simply access our cloud-based solution via your browser and share to anyone via a simple link or embed!

You don’t even need a 360 camera to create impressive, high resolution 360 images. The amazing – and completely free – Pano to 360 by ThingLink allows you to convert any panoramic image to a 360 photosphere in seconds.

Further virtual tour examples for you to explore

• How to create a Virtual Lab
• How to create an interactive virtual tour
• Hyria create a virtual recruitment forum
• Carmanah creates interactive content for trade shows and website
• How to create a virtual exhibition or art gallery
• How to create virtual tours for real estate
• Using ThingLink virtual learning environments in healthcare

Need help in creating your own tour?

• Go to our YouTube channel for easy-to-follow tutorials and webinar recordings

Follow us or join our groups and communities on social media

• ThingLink LinkedIn Page | LinkedIn Community
• X / Twitter ThingLink Page | X / Twitter ThingLink Edu Page | X / Twitter Creative Learning Design Community
• ThingLink Education Facebook Group

For FAQs and advice from our experts, go to our helpful Support pages.

Since Google decided to retire the beloved Street View Camera App, finding a worthy alternative has been a quest for many. Enter Pano to 360 by ThingLink – a free solution that enables you to create stunning 360-degree photos from panoramic pictures taken with any mobile phone, whether you’re an android user or an iphone/ ios devotee.

Best of all? No need for multiple shots or image stitching, just one panoramic shot is all you need!

Embrace the Future with Pano to 360 By ThingLink

ThingLink has consistently led the way in creating, editing, and sharing interactive media. Their latest offering, Pano to 360, stands as a top contender in the race for the best alternative to the Google Street View Camera App. The tool offers a high-quality, free solution for transforming your panoramic images into immersive 360 photospheres. The web-based tool ensures accessibility across any device, providing a seamless experience for all users.

Revolutionizing 360 Imagery Creation

ThingLink’s Pano to 360 revolutionizes the creation of 360-degree images. Gone are the days of capturing multiple images and stitching them together. All you need is a single panoramic shot, and Pano to 360 does the rest. The simplified process, without compromising on quality, makes it an unrivaled solution in the market.

Just as Google Cardboard camera viewer did for VR, the Google Street View app was developed to be a free and accessible app that opened up the world of 360 photography to everyone, without the need for expensive 360 cameras like Theta or Insta360. Both are now sadly deprecated and so ThingLink set out to develop a replacement for Street View which allowed creators to take pictures in panorama mode that could be transformed easily into 360s.

Creating Your 360 Photosphere in Four Easy Steps

Creating a 360-degree photosphere with Pano to 360 is straightforward:

1. Shoot a Panorama: Take a panoramic photo with your mobile device. Pano to 360 works with any camera-equipped mobile device with a panorama setting, including ipads and other android devices.
2. Upload your Image: Upload your panoramic image to the Pano to 360 Converter to ThingLink. Use the Converter or simply upload directly in to ThingLink Guided Tours.
3. Transform to 360 Photosphere: Your panoramic image is transformed into an immersive 360 photosphere. You can then download the image if you are using the Pano to 360 by ThingLink web page.
4. Edit and Share: If you upload to your ThingLink account, you can then add interactive tags, personalize your photosphere, create guided tours, virtual trips, escape rooms, breakouts or learning materials. Then share it with the world!

Why Choose Pano to 360?

Aside from being an excellent alternative to the discontinued Google Street View Camera App, Pano to 360 by ThingLink offers numerous benefits:

• Simplicity: Say goodbye to complicated processes. No need for multiple shots, editing tools or stitching images. A single panoramic view is all you need.
• Quality: Despite the simplified process, there’s no compromise on the high-resolution quality of the 360 photospheres created.
• Interactivity: Once you upload your 360 image to ThingLink, you can add tags for an engaging, interactive experience. Link 360 images together to create virtual tours, which you can share or embed anywhere with a simple link, or even shared in virtual reality mode for viewing on VR headsets.
• Free and Accessible: Unlike most 360-degree camera apps and panorama apps, Pano to 360 is free to use and accessible across any device via a browser. No need to download from the apple app store/Google Play etc. Perfect for both personal and pro use.

Summary

Pano to 360 By ThingLink brings simplicity, quality, and accessibility to 360-degree imaging. Ideal for anyone who wants to create immersive virtual tours of real spaces – for education, training, real estate, marketing, publishing and more. As the best alternative to the discontinued Google Street View photo app , it eliminates the need for multiple shots and stitching in the panorama 360 conversion process, offering a user-friendly yet high-quality solution.

Experience the revolution today with Pano to 360 by ThingLink and create extraordinary 360 experiences.

Join the conversation and share the creativity!

We’d love to see what you create with Pano to 360! Share your ThingLinks or be inspired by others at our active communities on all social media platforms: LinkedIn Community, Facebook Group and Creative Learning Design Twitter Community.

• Read our blog about how to create 3d images with your phone
• Creating interactive 360-degree videos with ThingLink
• Learn how to create a virtual tour here.

In the last few years however, more cost effective and simple solutions have emerged that mean that anyone can create virtual real estate tours. In this blog, we show how ThingLink can be used as your virtual tour creator. We also invite you to hear more about a game-changing way to create 360 degree real estate photos using your smartphone!

On-demand webinar

Register to receive the action replay and links!

Registration

ThingLink’s low cost alternative to 3D tour software

Traditionally, the photographic hardware alone needed for capturing imagery for the 3d tours used by many real estate agents cost from $4500 (4100 Euros). ThingLink’s easy-to-use interface and features make it a great alternative for building high-quality photographic tours of a property – without the prohibitively expensive 3D virtual tour software.

Virtual tours that can be shared and published anywhere

ThingLink provides you with simple sharing options, meaning that you can embed your 360-degree tours on any website, share them via social media platforms, or send with a link via email. Read about publishing ThingLink content in this support article.

This example below is entirely created in ThingLink and shows the variety of content that can be embedded!

The equipment needed to create virtual tours

To create the 360 images you’ll require for your virtual tour, until now you have needed a 360 camera. ThingLink have tested and approved the Ricoh Theta and Insta360 brands – details below.

• The Ricoh Theta z1 is a top of the range model priced around $1400, but the Ricoh Theta SC2 can be yours for only $375, providing all the essential features.
• The Insta360 is a user-friendly model which you can buy for around £575.
• Google Pixel phones are the only smartphones currently on the market with the capability of capturing true 360 images.
• Until June 2023 the Google StreetView app (now discontinued) could be used to capture 360 imagery.

ThingLink’s Pano to 360 feature is a game changer!

The panoramic photo setting on android phones and iphones don’t capture true 360 photospheres, which are required for creating dynamic virtual 360 tours

Due to the lack of any real alternatives after the loss of Google Street View, the ThingLink development team have created a fantastic solution to convert any panorama taken on your smartphone into a 360 image. In our launch webinar on 26th July we gave a full run-through and demo. Register below to watch the recording where we walk you through the steps for creating 360 images for virtual tours using any smartphone.

With ThingLink, add interactivity to your scenes

Importantly, ThingLink allows you to annotate your 360 images. Interactive hotspots or tags are added to areas of an image or video. These hotspots can contain text, images, videos, audio, and even external links. Tags are used to give additional information about a room or space, highlight specific features, or link to external resources. Read more about the different types of ThingLink tags here.

Link your 360 images and create a walkthrough tour of your property

Once you have annotated all your images, link them together with the tour tag to create a virtual tour. You can also add a floor plan to your tour which can assist in orientating prospective buyers. Walkthrough the steps in this support article.

Additional ways to create a more immersive experience

• A 360 video tour can bring each room or space alive for your target homebuyers. Read more on how to create interactive 360 video at this blog.
• Why not add aerial photography to your virtual tour? In ThingLink can you create a tour that links regular images with 360 imagery. Drone photography adds an extra dimension to your tour.

We hope that this blog has demonstrated that complex 3D software is not necessary to create multimedia virtual tours for real estate. ThingLink’s alternative solution gives anyone the potential to create engaging tours in just a few hours.

Looking for more inspiration?

Outside the real estate industry, ThingLink is used for creating a wide variety of interactive content. To see more, why not join our friendly communities of creators on social media such as the ThingLink LinkedIn Community?

Registration

ThingLink Launches a Revolutionary Solution for Capturing 360 Images

In light of the discontinuation of the Google Street View Camera app, ThingLink has answered the call for a mobile-friendly alternative with a new and groundbreaking addition to its suite of tools. Our game-changing new conversion solution allows you to effortlessly create virtual tours using 360-degree photosphere images, using nothing but your mobile phone.

No need for a specialist 360 camera or equipment

Until now, capturing 360 degree images was only possible with a 360 camera such as the Ricoh Theta z1 or Insta360, plus a monopod or tripod. Now, panoramic photos taken on an iphone or any android mobile device can easily be converted for use in a virtual tour.

Explore the possibilities with this ThingLink Guided Tour

Get inspired with a walk through of this guided tour of a co-working space in Helsinki. Immerse yourself in the impressive converted 360 photosphere, originally captured with an iPhone 12 Pro Max on the panorama setting and converted into a 360 degree photo in ThingLink. Click through or scroll around the embed below.

Don’t Miss Our Jam-Packed Webinar

Want to learn more about our cutting-edge solution for converting panoramic images into fully immersive 360 photospheres? Join our webinar where we’ll take you through a step-by-step tutorial. Witness the endless possibilities come to life through exciting real-life examples and engage in a live Q&A session with our experts. This webinar is suitable for everyone, from complete beginners to experienced ThingLink creators! We give you a full guide as to how to use the new tool.

What can you use the new 360 solution for?

This new solution is for anyone who is interested in virtual tour creation. You may be an educator who wants to make an interactive, immersive experience for your learners, a provider of elearning solutions, a gallerist or museum curator looking for cost-effective ways to create virtual exhibitions, or a real estate agent looking to avoid the high costs of virtual tour software. Anyone and everyone can become a virtual tour creator with ThingLink’s easy to use solution.

ThingLink allows you to create high quality virtual tours of any environment, annotated with rich media hotspots containing further information and links. They can be shared or embedded anywhere via URL, QR code, or even used with VR headsets in virtual reality mode!

Other posts we think you’ll love

• Check out our up and coming or previous webinars
• Sign up to watch the replay – AI in Immersive Learning
• New ThingLink webinar series: AI-assisted tools for immersive content creation
• Top Six Outstanding Text to Image AI Generation Tools
• The Best AI Content Creation Tools: A Practical Guide
• Add a Floor Plan to your virtual tour: highlight different rooms with our fantastic new feature!

For more ideas, use cases and inspiration on content creation, join our communities on social media! LinkedIn Community, Twitter Creative Learning Design Community and ThingLink Education Facebook Group.

Why have QR codes made a comeback?

QR codes didn’t ever really go away! However, today almost everyone carries a smartphone in their pocket, meaning that the capability to scan QR codes has expanded immensely. In the past, scanning QR codes required you to download a specific QR code reader app from the app store. This meant that they often didn’t live up to their full name of Quick Response Codes!

However, modern smartphones, ipads and other mobile devices now come equipped with built-in QR code scanners in their camera apps. This built-in functionality has significantly increased convenience and ease of use.

The technology behind QR code scanning has also improved significantly. As you’ll see below, it’s now super easy for anyone to generate their own code without having to use a third party app. Scanners in phone cameras today are also faster, more accurate, and capable of deciphering codes even in challenging lighting conditions.

Plus, today there is more wi-fi and enhanced 5G network coverage available across the world. Combine all these factors, and using QR codes is now an all-round faster and more user-friendly experience for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic may have also accelerated the rebirth of the QR code, with a sudden need for contactless interactions and transactions.

How do you scan a QR code with your phone?

In case you’re not familiar with the process – here’s a quick recap!

On an iphone or android phone, simply go open your camera app and point it at the QR code. The URL will then appear for you to click and follow. On most android devices or phones you can also now use Google Lens to scan the QR code. Originally only available on Google Pixel phones, it’s now standard across almost all android phones and devices.

Note: You may have seen types of QR code with images in the centre – don’t worry, these work in exactly the same way!

What can QR Codes be used for?

Businesses and marketers have known for a long time that QR codes work as a powerful marketing tool. The usefulness of QR codes for marketing campaigns lies in the fact that a different code can be generated for each piece of collateral, meaning that marketers can easily trace which campaigns are working best. Here are ten ways in which anyone can make use of the portable technology of the QR code.

Interactive Business Cards

Revamp your traditional business cards by embedding a QR code. This code can link to your portfolio, social media profiles, phone number or a personalized introductory video, providing an interactive experience for recipients.

Scavenger Hunts and Treasure Trails

Organize a fun scavenger hunt or treasure trail using QR codes as clues. Participants can scan the codes to receive hints or find the next location, creating an exciting and immersive adventure.

Interested in creating interactive, immersive virtual escape rooms? Our blog How to Make a Virtual Escape Room with ThingLink shows you how!

Special Offers

Instead of having to reprint your printed collateral each time your offer changes, simply update the webpage or landing page that your QR points to instead!

Art Exhibitions and Museums

Enhance your visitors’ experiences at your exhibition, gallery or museum by placing QR codes next to each exhibit. Scanning the codes can provide detailed information about the artist, the artwork’s inspiration, or even an audio guide, bringing the exhibits to life.

For more inspiration on how you can use ThingLink in museums, galleries and cultural institutions, take a look at our dedicated page here. Or why not visit the Museums and Libraries section of our blog?

PLUS: Exciting news for museums and galleries!

ThingLink will shortly be rolling out the new AR App – for more information on how this will look, watch the short video below!

Product Packaging

This is of course where traditional barcodes started out – the precursor to the modern QR code! With a custom QR code on your product or packaging, you can offer customers instant access to additional product information, user manuals, instructional videos, exclusive discounts, pricing, offers, how-to videos…the list is endless! For example, why not add to a clothes label in your clothing store, linking to a landing page or ThingLink showing how you can style this item, what it looks like dressed up or down etc?

For more information on how you can use ThingLink for interactive product marketing, take a look at this helpful case study from Canadian brand Carmanah!

Restaurant Menus

Incorporate QR codes into your menus to allow customers to access digital versions, view nutritional information, or even place orders directly from their smartphones. To reduce clutter you could even print the code onto your tablecloth, or stencil onto the wall next to each table!

Fundraising

For any type of fundraiser, why not print your QR codes onto stickers that you can stick to your phone, print on t-shirts or bags – so that you can share info wherever and whenever and raise awareness and funds on a very small budget!

Travel Guides and Visitor Information

Create a digital guide to your visitor attraction by placing QR codes at various popular spots. Scanning the codes can provide historical facts, local insights, or even audio tours, allowing visitors to explore destinations at their own pace and in a range of formats.

Read how you can create a virtual tour easily and quickly with ThingLink – and share with a QR code! Here’s a great example from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Networking Events

Say goodbye to traditional paper resumes and business cards and create QR codes that link to your professional portfolio, LinkedIn profile, or personal website. Attendees can easily scan the code to access your contact information and connect with you digitally. Again these can be printed onto stickers or labels and attached to anything!

Virtual Real Estate Tours

For real estate agents and property owners, QR codes can offer virtual property tours. Place codes on “For Sale” signs or property brochures to give potential buyers a 360-degree virtual tour, showcasing the property’s features and amenities. Read this blog post to see how this can be done in ThingLink.

How do you create a QR code?

Previously, third party apps were required to generate a QR code, but the process has become much simpler in recent years. Any URL can instantly be converted into a QR code!

Create a QR code with Google Chrome

On your smartphone or mobile device, you’ll find a free QR generator built into Chrome (both the mobile app on the Android operating system and Apple iOS.) It’s also available on every desktop version of Chrome. It’s on the right hand side of the address bar and looks like a window with 4 small square panes. Click on it and a code is generated; click Download to save it to your device or drive.

Use ThingLink’s built-in QR code generator to share your interactive content

Did you know that you can generate QR codes straight from the ThingLink Editor? This means you can easily share your Virtual Tour, Learning Scenario or in fact any piece of interactive ThingLink content – instantly. Simply click “Share” and then “Share link” or “Get Direct Link”, and in addition to the URL, you have your own custom QR code ready to go!

The beauty of sharing your ThingLink content with a QR code is that your ThingLink content is updated in real-time – regardless of where it’s shared. So whenever and wherever you share your QR code, you can be sure that people will always be sent to the current version of your content!

Squaring is Sharing

Hopefully this has given you an insight into the huge potential of the humble little monochrome square, the QR code. Why not get started creating and sharing your interactive content today with a free ThingLink trial? Follow the link below!

Why do you need a communication strategy?

A solid marketing communication plan helps you effectively communicate your brand message, brand awareness, build strong relationships with your target audience, and ultimately drive business growth.

1. Set clear objectives

The first step in developing a successful strategic communications plan is to establish clear objectives. What do you hope to achieve through your marketing efforts? Your communication objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, you might aim to increase brand awareness of a new product by 20% within the next six months, or generate 500 signups through a particular campaign or initiative.

2. Understand your target market

To effectively communicate with your target audience, you need to understand them in detail. Develop detailed buyer personas that encapsulate the demographics and preferences of your target audience. To do this effectively you can conduct market research, analyze customer data, and gather feedback to gain insights into their needs, desires, and pain points. This information will enable you to tailor your messages to resonate with your audience, potential customers and stakeholders on a deeper level.

At this stage it also pays to understand your competitors too. If you havent already done so as part of your business plan, carry out a simple SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of your main competition and their marketing activities.

3. Perfect your key messages

Once you have a clear understanding of your target audience, it’s time to develop key messages that align with their interests and motivations. Your key messages should convey your brand’s unique value proposition and differentiate you from competitors. Keep them concise, compelling, and consistent across all communication channels. These messages will serve as the foundation for your content creation and marketing campaigns.

4. Choose the right communication channels

There are numerous communication and marketing channels available, from traditional mediums like print to digital marketing channels such as social media, email, websites, blog posts, videos, infographics and podcasts. They can range from the completely free (such as social media) to those which require investment such as sponsorships, billboards and smaller scale printed collateral. Determine which channels are most effective in reaching your target audience based on their preferences and behavior. Whilst it may be tempting to take a multichannel approach, your initial efforts should be focussed on the channels where your audience is most active – in order to maximize your impact. If you decide to create an integrated marketing communications strategy across a number of diverse channels, ensure that the ones you choose will give you the best return on investment by enabling you to reach your core target audience. Some formats may be unfamiliar to you and require some practice to perfect – such as press releases or informational articles. The good news is that there is plenty of guidance available online as well as AI-assisted tools to help you craft any type of written or visual content.

5. Develop engaging content

High quality content is the foundation of your marketing communications. Create a content marketing plan that aligns with your key messages and the preferences of your target audience. Ensure that your content is valuable, informative, and engaging, providing solutions to your audience’s pain points while maintaining a consistent brand voice and tone.

To optimise your content creation, make use of apps and platforms that help you save time and money by automating processes and maximising reach. SEO (search engine optimization) and list management tools are just two examples. Read our blog How to Optimize Your Productivity with AI Content Creation Tools for more guidance.

6. Apply a consistent brand identity throughout your marketing

Develop brand values and guidelines that encompass visual elements and formats such as logos, color palettes, and typography, as well as tone of voice, tagline and style guidelines. Apply these guidelines consistently across all your communication channels to reinforce your brand’s personality and USP (unique selling proposition) and to enhance recognition and trust among your target audience. You need to keep your brand and brand values in mind whenever it’s time for decision-making about any part of your communications

Recap of the six steps: Your template for success

These six steps are summarised in this handy ThingLink visual below.

Want to create interactive infographics like this? It’s easy! See this blog for details and a free Canva templates.

Finally…Don’t forget to monitor your strategy

Finally, regularly monitor and measure the effectiveness of your marketing communications efforts. Utilize tools like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and email marketing metrics to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, engagement, conversion rates, and customer feedback. Use these insights to refine your strategy and marketing messages, optimize your tactics, and make data-driven decisions to achieve better results.

We also share news of a very recent and innovative development from ThingLink which allows you to create 360 images using your smartphone and ThingLink’s free-to-use Pano to 360 image converter!

A low cost alternative to expensive 3D tour software

The start up costs virtual tour can be prohibitive. For example, the photographic hardware required to capture the images required for some of the 3d tours used by many real estate agents cost upwards of $4500 (4100 Euros). ThingLink offers a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features that make it an excellent choice for creating high-quality and engaging virtual tours without the need for complex and expensive 3D virtual tour software.

Share and publish your virtual tour anywhere

ThingLink provides easy sharing options, allowing you to embed the tour on your website, share it on social media platforms, or distribute it via email.

What equipment will you need to create a virtual tour?

To create the 360 images you’ll require for your virtual tour, you will need a 360 camera. We recommend both the Ricoh Theta and Insta360 brands which have reasonably priced starter models that are incredibly simple to use.

• The top of the range Ricoh Theta z1 comes in at $1420, but the Ricoh Theta SC2 starts at only $375 and has all the features you will need.
• The Insta360 is also a great user-friendly device which retails at around £575.
• Google Pixel phones also feature 360 image capture and are a great alternative*.

How to shoot in 360 for the best results

Each 360 camera will work a little differently but there are a few key points to keep in mind.

1. Even when mounted on a tripod/monopod, you may find that the camera point of view is too low to capture a room at its best. Consider a longer tripod, or mounting the tripod/monopod higher.
2. You and anyone else need to be out of shot! Ensure that anyone on site is briefed so that you don’t need to go back for any post-shoot editing or retakes.
3. Virtual staging: As with any type of real estate photography, ensure that each room is well-presented from all angles. 360 cameras often pick up details that aren’t immediately obvious at first glance!

NEW! Creating 360 images with your phone

The panoramic photo setting on your android or iphone won’t take a true 360 photosphere. However, ThingLink has developed and launched an innovative solution!

The easy way to create 360 images: Pano to 360

Creating virtual tours, exhibitions, escape rooms and other immersive content just got even easier! ThingLink has now launched Pano to 360 by ThingLink: an easy way to create a 360 photosphere from a panoramic image using any smartphone. For more information, including step-by-step instructions see this helpful support article. 

How to make a virtual tour in 5 easy steps

The ThingLink workflow is super easy and intuitive and requires no coding or design experience. Here’s a quick tutorial, with links to our support pages for further help.

1. Take your 360 images and save to your drive or device

First you’ll need to take your 360 images – which we covered in the section above.

2. Upload your 360 image to ThingLink

If you don’t already have a ThingLink account, you can create one here. Once you’re logged in to your ThingLink account, you can start creating your 360-degree tour. In the main ThingLink editor, upload your 360 images that you took in Step 1.

Bear in mind that with ThingLink you can also include normal images as the scene background in your new tour. Video, 360 video and 3d models can also be used as the base media for an individual scene. Whatever the type of base media, it uses exactly the same easy drag and drop functionality within the editor. Read more here.

3. Add tags to your scenes

Next, use ThingLink’s intuitive editor to annotate your 360 images. Interactive hotspots or tags can be added to specific areas of an image or video. These hotspots can contain text, images, videos, audio, and even external links. You can use the tags to provide additional information about a room or space, highlight specific features, or link to external resources such as property listings or contact details. Read more about the different types of ThingLink tags here.

4: Link your scenes and create a walkthrough tours like these:

Once you have annotated all your images, it’s time to link them together to create a seamless virtual tour. Use the tour tag in the ThingLink editor to create transitions from one scene to another.

You can also add floor plans to your virtual tour to help orientate your visitors. This is incredibly easy to do: we walk you through the steps in this support article.

5. Share your tour

You can share your ThingLink tour in a number of different ways. You can simply share via url, add as an embed to your website or landing page, share in social media, or generate a QR code. Read more about publishing your content in our support article here.

Additional ways to create a more immersive experience

• Why not create a 360 video tour? This is a great way to bring each room or space to life. You can read more about how to create interactive 360 video in our blog here.
• Why not share your tour in virtual reality mode? It’s easy to create a VR tour in one step with ThingLink. Simply choose the “View in VR” option when you click “share” and it will generate a full code or short URL that you can use to view the tour with a VR headset. Learn more about using VR mode with ThingLink here.

We hope that this blog has shown that creating enticing and detailed multimedia virtual tours for real estate doesn’t necessarily require complex 3D software. ThingLink offers a user-friendly alternative that enables you to create interactive and engaging tours that can be made in a matter of hours. Embrace the power of virtual tours to provide potential buyers with immersive and interactive experiences that bring your real estate listings to life.

Further reading

For Unity creators: How to Create a 3D virtual tour to share easily: The ThingLink Unity Plugin

Looking for more inspiration on creating interactive content?

As well as real estate virtual tours, ThingLink can be used to create a huge range of interactive, multimedia content. To see more examples in action, join our active communities of creators on social media such as the ThingLink LinkedIn Community.

Notes
*Until recently it was also possible to use the Google StreetView app to capture 360 imagery however this is in the process of being discontinued.

What do we mean by digital storytelling?

Digital storytelling incorporates a wide range of creative and narrative formats that all build on the traditional forms of storytelling, by using digital platforms, technologies and tools – to convey narratives, stories or messages. Blogs and online journals, podcasts, vlogs, social media stories, even video games – these are all considered forms of 21st century digital storytelling!

Storytelling using digital media can be used for so many different purposes too. For personal expression, educational purposes, marketing and advertising, advocacy, entertainment – in fact any form of narrative communication. It usually incorporates multimedia elements – text, images, videos, audio, and interactive features combine to create engaging and immersive experiences for an audience.

The power of digital storytelling

Digital tools and platforms have lowered the barriers to entry for storytelling. With the widespread availability of smartphones, computers, and internet access, more people than ever before have the means to create and share their stories digitally. This has helped to democratize the process, allowing individuals from diverse backgrounds to participate and have their own stories heard.

StoryCenter, formerly known as the Center for Digital Storytelling, is an organization based in Berkelely, CA, that promotes the use of storytelling for personal, community, and social transformation. According to StoryCenter, telling stories using digital media can: aid personal transformation and community building, amplify marginalized voices, improve dialogue and empathy, and act as a tool for advocacy and social change.

Digital storytelling tools

Reliable and easy-to-use web-based platforms and apps now allow anyone to create professional looking digital storytelling content. Graphic design and video editing platforms such as Canva, Vimeo and WeVideo have made the digital storytelling process straightforward and intuitive for creators, providing free tutorials and templates for beginners.

ThingLink is another in this group of easy-to-learn platforms that allows creators to produce high quality, professional-look content with no experience or coding knowledge. Watch this short video below to see just how easy it is to create a ThingLink from scratch.

In these three examples below, creators have used the platform for digital storytelling in very different ways. We hope they inspire you!

Digital storytelling using branching scenarios

One of our favourite ThingLink examples that showcases the educational uses of digital storytelling is The Schoolchildren’s Blizzard, a scenario created by Stuhr Museum in Nebraska. The scenario recreates the personal stories of three school teachers, with the learners living the experience of a terrible blizzard that took place in 1888 from the point of view of the teachers.

“Storytelling is something that we’re really trying to emphasise across the museum, since our mission is to share the collective human experience of community building along the Platte River Valley. Our motto is “Your story is our history” and we use storytelling as a vehicle to connect with that empathy in people.“

Carly Harroun, Creative Director, Stuhr Museum

The personal experiences are made very real through the use of second person narrative and by the learner being asked to make the same choices at key decision points – just like the teachers did over a century ago. The scenario is used for history and language arts teaching with school classes.

The material was created with ThingLink’s Scenario Builder, the only branching solution that lets you combine various media types including videos, audio, 360° media, 3D and images into an immersive learning experience.

This approach could be used for teaching learners at all grade levels; high school students could even create their own scenario as part of a collaborative project.

More ways to share stories from the past

Academics at the University of Calgary Library created this clever ThingLink to tell the story of the only Canadian to have met Beethoven in an interactive and visual way. The design is in fact deceptively simple, and uses ThingLink’s tour tag to create the transitions between the chapters of the story which are simply variations on the same background. There is music included in some of the chapters, but you could just as easily add a voiceover instead – which can be uploaded or recorded directly in your ThingLink. You can read the Calgary University Library case study here to learn how it was done and see some more fantastic ThingLink examples from Calgary University Library.

Award-winning digital storytelling

Another powerful way that ThingLink is being used for storytelling is in the context of journalism. Belgian news platform L’Echo won a national award for their long-form article on the development of the Brussels canal which featured map-based ThingLinks as embeds (clip below). This is just one example of many articles and features that L’Echo have created using ThingLink to tell stories to great effect.

You can read the full L’Echo article and explore its ThingLink interactive maps here.

Read the full case study: “Echo Creates Award-Winning Multimedia Journalism with ThingLInk”.

Tell your story!

We hope you’ve enjoyed these three examples and have been inspired to start telling your own stories with ThingLink.