Breathe life into the ordinary with ThingLink’s brand new Augmented Reality Solution! Easily create an overlay of hotspots containing multimedia information on your images of real-world objects, then share as AR experiences to view via any mobile device. 

What is the ThingLink AR Solution?

ThingLink has always offered the easiest and fastest way to create interactive and immersive experiences for viewing on screens or in Virtual Reality. Now you can add Augmented Reality viewing to the list of easy-to-create interactive media.

The ThingLink AR Solution consists of the new AR Mode in the ThingLink suite (for creating), and the ThingLink AR Viewer App (for viewing).

How does the ThingLink AR Solution work?

Creation:

Using advanced AR technology, ThingLink allows you to upload any image of a real-life object, and then add hotspots to it via the super-simple and intuitive ThingLink interface. The interactive hotspots can contain any combination of multimedia content: images, videos, gifs, text, links, 3d models and much more! Add your hotspots, then add the content you would like to share with your viewers. After creating your AR resource or ‘Collection’ ThingLink generates a share code for you, which you can also convert to a QR code for sharing if you wish.

Viewing:

Your viewer then:

1. Downloads the AR Viewer App from the AppStore and opens it.
2. Enters the share code/scans the QR code.
3. Points their phone camera at the object. 
4. Interacts with the hotspots that appear on their screen!

Both the ThingLink creator interface and the AR Viewer App are very easy to navigate. Our intuitive interface ensures that everyone can enjoy a simple and seamless user experience, without any specific technical expertise.

You can read full instructions, account limitations and details at our Support Article here.

Video above shows the AR solution being used at Savonia University of Applied Sciences’ WaterLAB – a dedicated space for development and testing.

What are the benefits of ThingLink’s AR Solution?

For learning and training

More impactful training with Mixed Reality 

Instantly engage learners with your training by adding augmented reality experiences. From educational institutions to corporate training, the app provides an opportunity for experiential learning. Make complex topics, physical processes or even machinery easier to understand and more engaging through interactive, hands-on experiences that guide learners through processes step-by-step.

Increased accessibility

Providing accessible content is essential. ThingLink is designed to break down barriers and open up new opportunities for exploration for everyone. We’ve built an AR training solution that’s not just easy to use but also makes learning fun and inclusive. No matter their age, training needs or tech skill level, your viewers can dive right into augmented reality training on demand with the ThingLink Viewer App, on a device that’s familiar to them. 

Keep training costs down

Create interactive employee training experiences that don’t rely on expensive AR headsets or training software and can be instantly updated at no additional cost. Create a variety of different overlays for different event simulations and training scenarios. Reduce the training process from two steps (theory, then practical) to one, saving time and money.

For cultural venues:

Clear and accessible information for visitors

No more dealing with cluttered information signs or panels on each object. With the ThingLink AR Viewer App your viewers simply point their device at the image, tap on the hotspot, and access information seamlessly. A whole catalog of objects or artefacts can be accessed with one short code. Retain the original aesthetic integrity of your location, no need for ‘out of context’ information panels that disrupt the experience. Providing information via your visitors’ own devices rather than providing audio guides to visitors keeps your exhibition costs down.

Drive engagement 

Engagement is the key to a memorable experience, and the ThingLink AR Viewer App excels in this area. By adding interactivity to your exhibition or display, you’re not just looking at artefacts – you’re truly experiencing them. Dive deep into historical contexts, gain artistic insights, or even share personal stories attached to objects – the possibilities are endless.

For business:

Increase safety and efficiency and lower costs with optimized troubleshooting 

With the ThingLink AR Solution, you can be sure that whatever the problem, your operators and agents can deal with it swiftly, safely and efficiently. You can reduce potentially costly and hazardous errors with interactive AR product guides that demonstrate correct processes. 

How can you use the ThingLink AR Solution?

The AR Solution has multiple applications in learning, training, industry, marketing, retail, art and culture, tourism and more. In fact its applications are almost limitless!

Add multimedia tags to paintings, structures, products, machinery and technical equipment, production lines or in fact any workplace object, unlocking layers of information and insights in an instant. Here are some key use cases by sector.

1. Galleries and Exhibitions

Augmented reality can transform the traditional gallery and exhibition experience into a truly immersive one. This application can add an extra layer of interpretive content to artworks, bringing them to life with interactive, animations, audio descriptions, artist interviews, 3d objects or historical contexts. Visitors, equipped with the AR app on their smartphones or tablets, can point their devices at an artwork and watch as the static display evolves into an interactive multimedia experience. This not only boosts visitor engagement but also offers an exciting new way to delve deeper into the stories and ideas behind each piece.

In the example below, you can watch how the solution was used to create AR guides for an exhibition in Columbus, Ohio. You can read the full case study blog here.

2. Onboarding and Impactful Training

The use of augmented reality in onboarding and training programs can revolutionize the way companies educate their new hires or existing employees. By incorporating AR features into their training, companies can make complicated training materials interactive and engaging. For example, employees could scan a machine with their phone to see a step-by-step AR guide on how to operate it, minimizing risks and facilitating a faster learning curve. This hands-on learning approach helps improve the understanding and retention of information, making training more effective.

3. Troubleshooting, Maintenance and Product Guidance 

Provide detailed visual guides to instruments, machines and appliances for your field operators, agents and customers. Reduce costly errors and the time taken to resolve issues by providing clear and sequenced instructions in multimedia format, including videos to show processes and functionality in action. Increase accuracy and confidence, avoid potentially dangerous and/or expensive mistakes from incorrect use and procedures and reduce hazards to employees and customers. Step-by-step walkthroughs with videos, images and even 3D models can guide them independently through the correct actions when products and machinery display a fault. These AR applications work across a wide spectrum of industries – from those as diverse as manufacturing, utilities, healthcare and hospitality.

ThingLink’s AR solution is one of the best AR apps for use in environments where information or guidance needs to be regularly updated. Any changes that you make to your content in ThingLink are updated in real-time, meaning that whenever the viewer opens the app, their material will automatically be the most up-to-date version. In the example below, the AR solution is used to troubleshoot complex instruments in a water network.

4. Escape Rooms and Treasure Hunts

Augmented reality can bring an innovative twist to traditional escape rooms and breakout sessions. With AR technology, you can design thrilling scavenger hunts or gamified experiences in any location or space. For instance, clues or puzzles could be placed in real-world environments, but only visible through the AR app, making the challenge more immersive and engaging. You can also incorporate educational content in these AR games, turning any location or learning experience into an interactive adventure. This can be especially impactful in settings like museums, educational institutions, or corporate team-building exercises. Popular experiences such as Pokemon Go have made the concept of an AR treasure hunt familiar to everyone, and now with ThingLink AR solution, it’s incredibly easy to make your own! In the video below, educator Christoffer Dithmer has used the AR solution to add additional layers of information to a history book for his students.

5. Information Panels and Directions for City Guides and Trails

Augmented reality applications can provide interactive information or direction panels in a variety of spaces, from public parks to buildings and tourist attractions. Users can simply point their AR-enabled device at a location or object to view a layer of digital information – this could include historical facts, architectural details, or even directions to nearby points of interest. This provides an innovative way for visitors to interact with their surroundings, making navigation easier and experiences richer.

6. Historical Education and Tourism

Historical sites and museums can adopt augmented reality to provide immersive tours and educational experiences. Users can view re-enactments of historical events, see how historical figures looked, or visualize how ruins and buildings looked in their prime, all by downloading the augmented reality app. This application of AR makes history more accessible and engaging, and helps users develop a deeper appreciation for cultural heritage. 

Device and Platform Compatibility

ThingLink’s AR Viewer App is available as a mobile app for iOS (for iphone/ipad/other Apple devices) and for Android devices/operating systems.

Experience the ThingLink AR Solution 🌐💼: Transforming everyday tasks into seamless and efficient experiences!

We’ve been wowed by the engagement statistics and wanted to share our news with you all. Click the image to view our Interactive Infographic on ThingLink! 

ICYMI – The Fantastic New Features Launched in 2022

Along with these statistics we had a number of updates that, judging by the scrolling, viewing figures and social media interactions, were really helpful! Over the holidays we shared a round up of the year’s most important of these new features, partnerships and developments. Here’s a recap over the following two ThingLinks in case you missed any!

How do you make interactive infographics like these?

It’s easy to create infographics with interactive elements like the ones here, created in Canva – the online graphic design and publishing platform. We have even created this as an infographic template which you can edit and share! Swap in the fonts, colors and text to make it your own. Top tip: The Canva editor contains loads of helpful tutorials to help you on your design journey.

Use your final design as a simple eye-catching static infographic, or take it to the next level and launch the super-powerful functionality of Canva+ThingLink together! Embed clickable pop-up hotspots within the visual elements of the interactive graphic.  

Why create interactive infographics?

Infographics are a great method of data visualization; in short: “a picture tells a thousand words.” They can be used to easily explain concepts for learners, for snappy content marketing or to demonstrate a process. All types of infographics can be made interactive with ThingLink – add text, images, 3D objects to your tags, or embed links, polls, quizzes, games and more.

Take a look at these great interactive infographic examples

Some of our best interactive infographics are featured in the blogs below – take a look for some inspiration and start creating interactive content today! ThingLink makes any visual content more engaging – from interactive maps, videos or animations to pie charts and graphs.

• Check out 3 impressive user-generated examples where creators have used interactive infographics to engage their target audience  

• Six fantastic examples of interactive maps in ThingLink from these creative interactive infographic makers! 

• We show you how to create an interactive timeline  – whether for learners, stakeholders or as part of your marketing strategy 

In this blog we provide the best interactive infographic examples that we have seen created in ThingLink and even some infographic templates which you can edit and adapt depending on your own content strategy

Infographics in eLearning and workplace training

Infographics are, in short, the ideal method of data visualization using visual communication. They can be used for:

• Showing the structure or operation algorithm of a complex mechanism.
• Demonstrations of a business project.
• Displaying the ratio of objects or facts in time and space. demonstrations of development trends.
• To focus and motivate people to study a specific topic.
• Infographic helps to demonstrate the relationship between parts and different objects.
• Showing the structure of the company.
• Infographics allows you to establish a hierarchy of subordination amongst complex information.

This graph is used for internal communications to provide an overview of the product updates.

Infographics in Сlassroom learning

Recently, infographics have found application in education. The visualization of complex educational information, the ability to present information clearly, informatively, aesthetically attractive, is becoming a requirement of the modern educational process.

Information visualization for schoolchildren and students is one of the most important components in modern education. As we wrote at the beginning of the article, people perceive visually about 90% of all information.

The huge flow of information that falls on the student leads to perception problems. All this leads to the need to create conditions for a more complete and comfortable perception of new knowledge.

Infographics in this case are ideally suited to make information easier and more accessible. In addition, students will be able to better remember dates, events, interconnections and facts. Interactive content in the classroom instantly engages students and keeps their attention. in addition, the interactive elements aid in active learning, which is well documented as a means to aid in knowledge retention.

The image shows different stages of carbon cycle, while the hotspots provide additional information for each stage.

The introduction of infographics in the educational process brings:

• For teacher — the presentation of material in a new, interesting, informative form.
• For student — there is interest in a new form of learning material, the most understandable and easily digestible material, involvement in the learning process and the development of the creative component.

Infographics in classroom learning help increase the efficiency of perception of information. Infographics in the educational process makes it possible to organize interesting work in the classroom, as well as to increase the level of training of specialists not only at schools, but also at the universities.

Types of Infographics in Marketing and Editorial

Infographics are a great tool for marketing to customers, employees, and investors. With the help of infographics, you can convey any business information to the desired audience. In this case, infographics plays the role of advertising, ensuring the availability of information.

At the same time infographics begin to turn into a PR tool: companies increasingly began to apply and send out not just press releases, but fully-fledged infographics to journalists.

Infographics can be considered another marketing technique in the submission of information in order to attract customers and in the promotion of products. Animated infographics could be used, but animations can often create a distraction. An interactive infographic on the other hand, allows your customer or audience to choose the specific product, service or feature that most interests them.

This infographic shows different data for the player – while also prompting the viewer to buy a shirt.

What can you use infographics for?

• Preparation of materials for the press. The key purpose of the press release is to attract the attention of journalists who receive large amounts of such messages. Having equipped printed or electronic materials with infographics, they can be presented in the form of accessible and understandable analytics or visual stories highlighting your key points.
• Development of commercial offers. During the presentations, the speakers’ time is limited, and much needs to be said to potential investors, partners or clients. For the transmission of basic information in a concise, presentable and easy-to-read form, infographics are used.
• Advertising and marketing strategy. Of course, marketing technology and infographics are closely related. When only 20-30 seconds of air is allocated for a commercial, and you need to show and say the maximum, the most advanced methods are used. Infographics in an accessible, understandable and eye-catching form allows you to talk about all the advantages of the advertised product.
• Interaction with customers and target audience. Suppose a sales specialist needs to tell a potential customer about the types of services, the advantages of offers, compare this data with information from competitors, etc. Infographics provide an opportunity to illustrate all the points, make them simple and understandable even to an uninformed audience. This works equally well either in person at a trade show, or on a landing page.
• Creating presentations. Today more and more business presentations, business projects are done in this format. Text presentations or presentations in pictures and photographs, as was done before, are outdated. And infographic became more and more popular.

For more infographic design inspiration, join one of our groups or communities on social media like Facebook Education group or the ThingLink LinkedIn Community.

There are also two other blogs in this interactive infographics series. How to Create Interactive Infographics looks at how to use the super easy Canva graphic design platform to create your own. And for a basic introduction, Interactive infographics covers the theory behind them and where they can be used.

Want to read more about creating different types of interactive content? Try our blog on interactive maps!

Join our thriving communities on social media such as the Facebook ThingLink Education Group and the LinkedIn Community

This blog is based on the article Infographics: What are they and how to use them at work and in everyday life by Alexey Solomatin, Head of Product at ThingLink

Thousands of companies and schools are investing in building virtual replicas of physical environments, products, company facilities, even cities. 3D virtual models are used in planning and monitoring processes and infrastructure as well as training students and employees. 

Real-time 3D environments and digital twins can accurately simulate reality with live streaming data connection. During development and design review however, large virtual models are slow to share. With many iterations, a developer may end up spending tens of hours just compressing and sharing files.

New use cases for virtual models and 3D environments

Some time ago we teamed up with our friends at 3D Talo and developed a Unity plugin for easily documenting and sharing Unity-based environments. The request came directly from our customers who wanted to include 360 degree snapshots of Unity projects to interactive virtual tours and learning scenarios. 

Three stand-out use cases:

1. Documentation of Unity-based projects
2. Employee/student onboarding and orientation
3. Customer training and maintenance manuals

1. Documentation of Unity-based projects

Developers of Unity environments often need to document and share updates of their work on a weekly or even daily basis.  The ThingLink Unity plugin is a great tool for this purpose.  With one click, 360 degree snapshots of the project are automatically saved in ThingLink, where you can add additional information, comments, questions, and share them with colleagues or customers.

2. Employee/student onboarding and orientation

A 3D simulation helps learners  in various fields acquire new operational skills. For example, with a forklift simulator a trainee can practice operating the forklift, and learn how to recognize dangerous situations in the warehouse. The ThingLink Unity plugin expands use cases for one simulation to other types of training situations, such as familiarizing oneself with the technical environment, associated equipment and learning the operating principles. 

360 degree snapshots taken from the Unity environment can be augmented with close-ups of the devices, text and instructional videos. The quality of the training  can be ensured by collecting feedback from the employee at different stages of the virtual orientation, and by including questions to test knowledge from different areas.

3. Customer training and maintenance manuals

Several companies in the manufacturing industry train customers at their own facilities. This is often logistically challenging and expensive. With the ThingLink Unity plugin, companies can easily incorporate scenes of the Unity-based environment into customer training material. For example, maintenance manuals can include interactive visuals that operators can access both online and offline. 

Easy collaboration and sharing with non-developers

Whether it is about sharing an update with customers or colleagues in a design review or building a virtual safety training of a work environment, the ThingLink Unity plugin makes collaboration easier and faster. It saves 360 scenes from a Unity environment to ThingLink with one click, and in a shared file on ThingLink, anyone can add comments or questions to these scenes. ThingLink Unity plugin makes Unity environments accessible and shareable to non-developers.

Read more about the ThingLink Unity plugin and download it for free.

What else is new on ThingLink?

• Elevate Learning: Unlock Skybox’s 360° Features on ThingLink
• ThingLink’s new, free Pano to 360 app
• How to Use ThingLink’s Fantastic Five New Artificial Intelligence Applications

Asiakastarve: 3D mallien helppo jakaminen 

Yhä useammat teolliset ja palvelualan yritykset investoivat digitaalisiin mallinnuksiin, joiden avulla käyttäjä voi liikkua olemassa olevassa tai suunnitteilla olevassa tilassa virtuaalisesti. Näiden pohjalta tuotettuja digitaalisia kaksosia voidaan käyttää mm. prosessien ohjauksessa, suunnittelussa, sekä työntekijöiden perehdytykseen tarkoitetuissa simulaatioissa.

Digitaalisten kaksosten ja simulaattoreiden etuna on niiden kyky simuloida todellisia tuotteita ja tiloja tarkasti eri käyttäjäryhmien tarpeiden mukaisesti. Niiden haittapuolena on tiedostojen suuri koko ja hankala jaettavuus. Esimerkiksi viisi näyttöä vaativa simulaattori on käytettävissä ainoastaan yhdessä tilassa, yksi henkilö kerrallaan.

ThingLinkin ja 3D Talon kehittämällä uudella Unity-työkalulla simulaattorista, digitaalisesta kaksosesta tai muusta Unity-pohjaisesta toteutuksesta voi taltioida 2D tai 360-asteisia näkymiä yhdellä klikkauksella. Näkymiä voi käyttää osana selaimen yli katsottavia virtuaalisia kierroksia sekä työntekijöiden perehdytykseen suunniteltuja oppimisskenaarioita.

Kolme käyttökohdetta

1. Unity-pohjaisen mallinnustyön dokumentointi 
2. Työntekijöiden ja oppilaiden perehdytykset
3. Asiakkaiden koulutukset ja huolto-ohjeet

1. Unity-pohjaisen mallinnustyön dokumentointi

3D-mallien ja Unity-ympäristöjen kehittäjillä on tarve dokumentoida työn etenemistä asiakkaille ja keskustella mallinnukseen liittyvistä yksityiskohdista projektin aikana. ThingLinkin Unity-plugin on mainio työkalu kaikkien Unity-kehittäjien käyttöön. Sen avulla projektin näkymät tallentuvat ThingLinkiin, jossa kuviin voi lisätä kommentteja ja ne voi jakaa kollegoille tai asiakkaalle muutamalla klikkauksella. Aikaa säästyy yhden projektin aikana jopa kymmeniä tunteja, kun tiedostoja ei tarvitse erikseen pakata ja jakaa jokaista katselmointia ja keskustelua varten.

1. Työntekijöiden ja oppilaiden perehdytykset

3D-mallinnettu simulaatio harjoittaa oppijaa omaksumaan uusia operatiivisia taitoja. Esimerkiksi trukki-simulaattorilla työntekijät pääsevät harjoittelemaan trukin käyttöä sekä erilaisten vaaratilanteiden tunnistamista varastotiloissa. 

Tämän lisäksi työntekijän perehdytykseen kuuluu teknisen ympäristön ja siihen kuuluvien laitteiden läpikäynti ja toimintaperiaatteiden opettelu. 360-asteiset kuvat 3D-mallinnetuista simulaatioista ja ympräristöistä palvelevat suoraan teknistä perehdytystä. Simulaattorista otettuihin kuviin voi upottaa lähikuvia laitteista, tekstiä ja ohjevideoita, joiden avulla työntekijä voi perehtyä työympäristöön omassa tahdissa. Perehdytyksen toimivuus voidaan varmistaa keräämällä palautetta työntekijältä perehdytyksen eri vaiheissa ja sisällyttämällä kysymyksiä eri osa-alueista. 

1. Asiakkaiden koulutukset ja tuotteiden huolto-ohjeet

Useat valmistavan teollisuuden yritykset kouluttavat asiakkaita omissa tiloissaan. Koulutusten järjestäminen paikan päällä on kuitenkin logistisesti haastavaa ja kallista. ThingLinkin Unity-työkalun avulla yritys voi helposti sisällyttää 3D-mallin näkymiä asiakkaille suunnattuun koulutusmateriaaliin. Myös esimerkiksi huolto-ohjeet voi toimittaa interaktiivisina kuvina, johon käyttäjä voi palata paikan päällä. 

Lataa plugin itsellesi alla olevasta linkistä

ThingLink Unity Plugin on ladattavissa ThingLinkin sivuilta ja Unity Asset Storesta. Plugin on ilmainen ja sitä voi käyttää suoraan Unityn editorin sisällä tai sen voi lisätä valmiisiin projekteihin. Interaktiivisten kuvien jakaminen vaatii ThingLink-lisenssin.

Lue lisää ja lataa ThingLink Unity-lisenssi täältä.

Studeo – supporting learning

Studeo is a Finnish publisher of e-learning materials, founded in 2013. The company publishes learning materials across almost all subjects from primary school to upper secondary school. Studeo’s learning materials are used by over 80,000 students in over 90% of Finnish upper secondary schools. Around 200 teachers and textbook authors are involved in creating the materials. 

Studeo’s Publishing Director Sanna Sillankorva and Publishing Manager Jessica Salminen-Saari are responsible for content development and lead the content production team. Both are qualified teachers – Sanna in literature and Finnish, Jessica in maths, physics and psychology.

They both appreciate that the digitalisation of schools has been a challenge for many teachers. Studeo aims to ease this transition by making digital materials as accessible and user-friendly as possible. Their approach is to design solutions with pedagogy and their users (teachers and students) constantly in mind. Studeo resources are created from the ground up, focussing on pedagogical solutions that combine the best of technology and quality teaching materials to create new ways of using and accessing content.

Building interactive content with ThingLink

Studeo’s learning materials make use of a variety of digital applications and platforms that enrich the learning materials. They have used ThingLink to create interactive images, escape games, and other resources.

Interactive images provide a solution when teachers need to create images that are clear and easy to read, but still contain enough information. The Finnish Literature timeline in the Studeo Literature teaching resources is a great example of such a successful solution. The picture itself is clear, visually appealing and provides the student with an overview of the subject. The ThingLink tags allow the student to explore the timeline in more detail and find background information and examples. It is clear to students that they can find additional information directly in the image, in the correct context. Sanna and Jessica say that students have given positive feedback on the timeline.

The Finnish Literature Timeline is an interactive image that provides the user with additional information by clicking on the tags (Learning material: Finnish Literature Timeline, Native Language and Literature 9).

Studeo has also made use of ThingLink transitions to create a whole world around the skills students have learned. In Jessica’s upper secondary school Advanced Maths escape game, students get to test their skills with an engaging game. In the story, a zombie virus has invaded Finland and the main character, Samina, goes on the run. The story unfolds by solving mathematical problems. For example, the harbour gate shown in the picture below opens when the user has calculated the equations correctly. Jessica says that the game is primarily designed to motivate students to review what they have learned and to combine and apply their knowledge through a challenge.

In the upper secondary school advanced math Escape Game, students progress by solving challenges while reviewing what they have learned (Study material: MAA5 Functions and Equations 2, multiplication tables)

The escape game is built using ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder, which allows content creators to create branching stories that unfold based on player choices. Jessica says that creating the game was very straightforward and that the new visual interface makes the content creator’s job much easier. A webinar for teachers at Studeo on the use of the escape game as a teaching tool has been held and the game has been very well received. The game is already being used in a few secondary schools and will be rolled out more widely in the autumn.

The interactive images can also be accompanied by sound, which has been useful for creating a vocabulary for learning Swedish, for example. The student can listen to the Swedish pronunciation instructions in the vocabulary, where image, text and audio work together to support learning. You can listen to the pronunciation as many times as you like and seeing the picture and spelling while listening supports your memory. The students have really enjoyed these challenges.

You can listen to the words in the picture vocabulary, which supports learning. (Learning material: picture vocabulary, Sweden 7: Tillsammans mot framtiden)

At Studeo, ThingLink has also been used in interactive maps, for example, where students can explore US cities in more detail by clicking on tags. 

Students will learn more about cities by studying the tags. (Learning material: interactive map (English 7: Sparks). 

Positive feedback and further opportunities 

Sanna and Jessica report that ThingLink has been a well liked interactive addition to the learning materials. Textbook authors have appreciated the ability to use tags to add additional information directly to the images. Teachers and students have also given positive feedback, as the interactive images activate and engage the learner. They can reflect and recall what they have learned and then use the clues hidden in the tags to check whether they have remembered the correct pronunciation of words, for example. Multichannel learning is also supported by the ability to combine images, text, audio and video.

“ThingLink images are a great way to present information. The image can hide something: the student can first reflect on the image itself and then look for more information.”

Sanna Sillankorva and Jessica Salminen-Saari, Studeo

Jessica also notes that ThingLink’s interface has become clearer over the years and that it is easy to create different worlds with the scenario builder. The ability to create content seamlessly has therefore inspired the Studeo employees to think of new ways ThingLink could be used in the future. 

Using the conditional transitions tool, map images could serve as a gateway to entire virtual worlds: for example, clicking on the city of San Francisco could take you to visit the city, see the sights, listen to local guides introducing the city, or even practice ordering at a local café. The scenario builder could be used to create more game-like stories that unfold based on the choices made by the learner. For example, the user could decide what the main character in the story would say next in a café conversation, then see how this would affect the reply.  

Combining ThingLink into Studeo’s educational resources creates a huge range of pedagogical possibilities, across different subjects. We look forward to seeing Studeo’s future learning materials, which will allow students to explore the content in a really immersive way!

Haasteena matkustus

Fingrid Oyj on suomalainen kantaverkkoyhtiö, joka vastaa sähkön siirrosta Suomen kantaverkossa. Yhtiö turvaa yhteiskunnalle ja asiakkaille häiriöttömän sähkönsaannin. Yhtiö ylläpitää maanlaajuista kantaverkkoa, johon sähköntuottajat, sähköä paljon kuluttavat tehtaat ja sähkön jakeluverkot ovat liittyneet. 

Fingridin kunnonhallintapäällikkö Veijo Siiankoski on toiminut Fingridillä jo 25 vuotta ja vastaa paikalliskäyttötiimin vetämisestä sekä valmiusasioista verkon kunnonhallintayksikössä. Uusien työntekijöiden turvallisuusperehdytykset ovat keskeinen osa paikalliskäyttötiimin toimintaa. Veijo kertoo, että perinteisesti Fingridin turvallisuusperehdytykset on hoidettu kasvokkain paikan päällä 30:llä eri puolella Suomea sijaitsevalla sähköasemalla, mikä on vaatinut paljon matkustamista. Perehdyttäjä ja uusi työntekijä ovat matkustaneet kymmeniä tai satojakin kilometrejä sähköasemalle läpikäymään perehdytysmateriaaleja, tiloissa liikkumista ja tilojen turvallisuutta. Kahdenkeskisistä tapaamisista on kertynyt työtunteja, ajokilometrejä ja sitä kautta myös kustannuksia.

Miksi ThingLink?

Ajan ja ympäristön säästämiseksi Fingridillä lähdettiinkin selvittämään mahdollisuuksia virtuaalisiin perehdytyksiin. Alkuvaiheessa luotiin lyhyt pilotti, jota varten sähköasemilla tehtiin kuvauksia yrityksen sisäisesti. Tämän jälkeen tehtiin kilpailutus, jonka ThingLink voitti. 

Veijo toteaa, että ThingLink valittiin alustaksi, koska järjestelmän käytettävyys ja yritysturvallisuus nähtiin ensiarvoisen tärkeinä. ThingLinkin avulla selkeän, monimediaisen perehdytysmateriaalin luominen onnistuu yrityksen omilta työntekijöiltä myös ilman aikaisempaa kokemusta sisällöntuotannosta. Yrityksen tietoturvan kannalta puolestaan on välttämätöntä, että perehdytysmateriaalit voidaan jakaa turvallisesti oikeille kohderyhmille yrityksen sisäisesti. ThingLinkin käyttö yrityksen omilla servereillä lisää tietoturvaa. ThingLinkin integrointi yrityksen henkilöhallintajärjestelmän kanssa puolestaan säästää aikaa, kun suoritusmerkintöjä ei tarvitse kirjata erikseen. ThingLinkin toimivuus alustaksi varmistettiin myös ulkopuolisella auditoinnilla.

Virtuaaliperehdytykset säästävät aikaa

Virtuaaliopastukset ovat selvästi kustannustehokkaampia kuin paikan päällä tapahtuvat opastukset. Veijo toteaa, että aikaa ja rahaa säästyy vuosien kuluessa huomattavasti, kun perehdyttäjän ja perehdytettävän ei tarvitse enää matkustaa sähköasemille kahdenkeskisiin tapaamisiin. Kun kohderyhmänä on noin 300 työntekijää ja perehdytykset voidaan hoitaa virtuaalisesti 30 sähköasemalla, ajan säästö on pitkällä tähtäimellä merkittävä. Veijo korostaa, että ratkaisu pienentää myös hiilijalanjälkeä, mikä on tärkeä osa Fingridin yritysvastuuta.

Virtuaaliopastukset myös helpottavat uusien työntekijöiden arkea: nyt työntekijä voi tutustua itseopiskelumateriaaleihin hänelle sopivana ajankohtana ja vaikka kotoa käsin, mikä sujuvoittaa työtä pandemiaoloissa ja mahdollistaa perehtymisen myös esimerkiksi karanteenin aikana. Myös kertaus on nyt mahdollista: työntekijät voivat tarvittaessa palata materiaaleihin, mikä on erityisen tärkeää, jos edellisestä käynnistä sähköasemalla on jo vierähtänyt vuosia. 

Aikaa säästyy myös käyttöasiantuntijoilta, joiden ei tarvitse enää kirjata opastuksia suoritetuiksi HR-järjestelmään. ThingLinkin integraation ansiosta perehdytykset rekisteröidään automaattisesti, kun käyttäjä on suorittanut opastuksen ThingLinkissä.

ThingLink-toteutus pystyttiin luomaan eri kohderyhmiä palvelevaksi siten, että virtuaalitoteutuksesta hyötyvät niin Fingridin oma henkilökunta, palvelutoimittajat kuin kunnossapitäjätkin. Toteutus myös mahdollisti eri materiaalien näyttämisen eri kohderyhmille.

Selkeä perehdytyspaketti

ThingLinkin asiantuntija kuvasi 30 sähköasemaa eri puolilla Suomea ulkoa ja sisältä ja toimitti käsitellyt 360-kuvat Fingridin tiimille, joka loi interaktiiviset opetussisällöt. Tiimin tavoitteena oli luoda uusille työntekijöille mahdollisimman autenttinen kokemus 360-kuvien avulla ja esittää oleellinen informaatio oikeassa kontekstissa infotägien avulla. Lisätiedon äärelle on helppo ohjata linkkejä hyödyntäen. Kontekstuaalisuus tukee oppimista, muistia ja helpottaa myös ohjeistusten kertausta vaikka paikan päällä. Virtuaalimaailmassa uusi työntekijä voi harjoitella liikkumista sähköasemalla turvallisesti ja varmistaa, että hän tietää, mitä mistäkin löytyy. 

Virtuaalitoteutuksessa pääsee liikkumaan loogisesti sähköaseman eri tiloihin samoin kuin varsinaisissa työtehtävissä. Kaikissa kierroksen vaiheissa käyttäjä pääsee myös palaamaan helposti ilmakuvaan, mikä helpottaa suunnistamista ja tilan hahmottamista. 

Veijo toteaa, että ensin selkeiden ja laadukkaiden materiaalien luominen vei toki aikaa, kun tiimi pohti eri ratkaisumahdollisuuksia. Työ kuitenkin nopeutui, kun samalla sapluunalla voitiin luoda materiaalit kaikille sähköasemille ja esimerkiksi infotägien tekstejä voitiin kopioida. Virtuaalikierrosten luominen kannattaakin pitkällä aikavälillä, kun jopa 300 työntekijää voi perehtyä tiloihin itsenäisesti. 

Lopputulos on todella toimiva ja käyttäjäystävällinen kokonaisuus, jossa on helppo liikkua tiloissa nopeasti, palata alun karttanäkymään, vaihtaa sieltä toisiin tiloihin ja edelleen lisätiedon äärelle.

Positiivista palautetta

Virtuaalimateriaali on ollut virallisesti käytössä nyt pari viikkoa ja sitä ennen sitä on testattu ja demottu yrityksen sisäisesti. Palaute on ollut todella positiivista: ThingLink on koettu hyvänä järjestelmänä ja käyttäjät ovat arvostaneet mahdollisuutta liikkua virtuaalisesti sähköasemilla ja selvittää asioita ilman fyysistä käyntiä paikan päällä. 

“ThingLink on koettu erittäin hyvänä työkaluna – nykypäivän sovelluksena, joka parantaa turvallisuutta ja selkeyttää huomattavasti sähköasemilla liikkumista.”

Veijo Siiankoski, Fingrid

Jatkomahdollisuuksia

Fingridillä keskitytään seuraavaksi materiaalien viimeistelyyn vielä muutaman sähköaseman osalta ja sitten laajamittaiseen perehdytysmateriaalien käyttöön. Veijo on avoin myös uusille käyttömahdollisuuksille tulevaisuudessa. ThingLinkin avulla voidaan tarvittaessa toteuttaa muitakin toiminnallisuuksia. 

Eräänä yritysten hyödyntämänä mahdollisuutena ovat skenaarioihin perustuvat oppimispolut. Tällöin käyttäjälle luodaan skenaario, jossa hänelle esitetään esimerkiksi turvallisuuteen liittyvä haaste. Käyttäjä pääsee harjoittelemaan haasteen ratkaisua turvallisesti virtuaalisessa ympäristössä. Polutuksen avulla käyttäjä voi valita eri ratkaisuvaihtoehdoista mielestään toimivimman ja saada palautetta ratkaisuistaan. Skenaarion tarina kehittyy vaihe vaiheelta käyttäjän tekemien valintojen pohjalta.

Lopuksi Veijo painottaa, että ThingLink-toteutus tukee Fingridin bisnesmallia, sillä se tehostaa toimintaa säästämällä pitkällä tähtäimellä aikaa ja rahaa, pienentää hiilijalanjälkeä ja lisää turvallisuutta sähköasemilla mahdollistaen työntekijöille myös helpon materiaalien kertauksen. 

Jäämme innolla odottamaan lisää palautetta Fingridin työntekijöiltä ja toivomme, että virtuaalinen perehdytysmateriaali helpottaa heidän arkeaan.

Oletko kiinnostunut ThingLinkin suunnittelu- ja sisällöntuotantopalveluista?

Tarvitsetko yhteistyökumppania interaktiivisten 360-ympäristöjen suunnitteluun, kuvaamiseen ja rakentamiseen? Kaipaatko tukea tukea koulun tai yrityksen tilojen esittelyssä, perehdytyksissä, koulutuksissa tai verkkokoulutusmateriaalien tuottamisessa? ThingLinkin suunnittelu- ja sisällöntuotantopalvelut räätälöidään tarpeidesi mukaan ja ne voivat sisältää esimerkiksi:

• kierroksen tai esittelyn suunnittelun ja toteutuksen interaktiivisten sisältöjen suunnitteluun ja kuvaamiseen erikoistuneen ammattilaisen kanssa
• kuvaukset ja editoinnin: normaalit kuvat, videot, 360-kuvat, 360-videot, drone-kuvat
• verkkokurssin tai -valmennuksen suunnittelun, toteutuksen ja ThingLinkin käyttökoulutuksen yhteistyössä asiakkaan kanssa

Lue lisää ja ota yhteyttä:

Aleksi Komu

Sales & Partnerships Director 

aleksi@thinglink.com

+358 50 379 3818

Kysymyksiä?

Voit aina ottaa meihin suoraan yhteyttä, jos sinulla on kysyttävää. Liity myös yhteisöihimme – erityisesti ThingLink Opetuksessa -ryhmään. Olemme todella ylpeitä ryhmistämme ja siitä, miten niissä otetaan vastaan uudet ideat ja jaetaan niitä. Ryhmät toivottavat sinut ilolla tervetulleeksi.

Facebook ThingLink Education | Finland | Italia | Espana | Israel | India 

Twitter ThingLink | ThingLink Education 

Älä epäröi ottaa yhteyttä meihin osoitteessa  education@thinglink.com 

Uuden sukupolven immersiivinen oppimisympäristö soveltuu monenlaiseen käyttöön. Se vastaa samalla myös pandemian myötä muuttuneen työelämän ja toimitilojen hybridityöskentelyn tarpeisiin. Tähän mennessä kyselyjä ja kiinnostusta on tullut sekä museoilta, oppilaitoksilta että yrityksiltä. 

Tyylikäs puinen rakenne voi toimia sekä perinteisenä kokoustilana, etäoppimistilana että yhteisöllisenä virtuaalisena kokemustilana. Opetus- ja koulutussisältöjen lisäksi OiOi tarjoaa laajan valikoiman hyvinvointia edistäviä elämyksellisiä media-arkkitehtuuriratkaisuja. Esimerkiksi virtuaaliluontosisällöt vuorovaikutteisilta puupinnoilta aistittuna tarjoavat moniaistillisen rentouttavan ja palauttavan levähdyspaikan keskellä vilkasta ympäristöä.

Kosmos-tilaa myyvät OiOi ja ThingLink täyden palvelun ratkaisuna. Palveluun sisältyvät käyttökokemuksen ja tilan suunnittelu kohteeseen sopivaksi, interaktiivisen sisältötyökalun käyttökoulutus sekä toimitus ja asennukset paikan päällä. Oppilaitokset ja museot, jotka ovat  luoneet virtuaalisiä näyttelyitä tai kierroksia ThingLinkin avulla, voivat esittää niitä nyt myös jaetussa oppimistilassa, Kosmos-kuutiossa.

“Organisaatiot kaipaavat uusia immersiivisiä ratkaisuja oppimiseen ja taitojen kehittämiseen, mutta kaikki eivät halua investoida VR-laseihin. Olemme jo pitkään miettineet immersiivisen, jaetun oppimistilan tekemistä ja nyt siihen löytyi täydelliset kumppanit, joista kukin on huippu omalla alallaan,” sanoo ThingLinkin perustaja ja toimitusjohtaja Ulla-Maaria Koivula.

“Puu on meille tärkeä materiaali älyseinien ja tilakokemuksien luomisessa. Puun aistilliset ominaisuudet kuten tuoksu, haptisuus ja akustiikka ovat keskeisiä ominaisuuksia kokemuksessa. Lisäksi puun antibakteeriset ja ylläpidolliset vahvuudet täydentävät kokonaisuuden. Odotamme ThingLink-yhteistyöltä paljon ja se onkin sujunut jo nyt erinomaisessa ja innostavassa uuden luomisen hengessä”, kommentoi OiOin toinen perustaja Sami Kämppi.

Opetus- ja koulutustoiminnan lisäksi Kosmos-tilan käyttökohteina ovat museot, kirjastot, sairaalat ja hyvinvointiala, lentokentät sekä muut julkiset tilat sekä yritysten showroomit. Uusia käyttökohteita löytyy jatkuvasti. OiOi ja ThingLink suuntaavat yhdessä kansainvälisille markkinoille. Suomessa neuvotteluja käydään jo useamman oppilaitoksen kanssa. 

Lisätietoa yrityksistä:

OiOi

OiOi on 2013 vuonna perustettu yritys joka tekee ​​merkityksellisiä, immersiivisiä ja  vuorovaikutteisia installaatioita fyysiseen tilaan hyödyntäen viimeisintä digitaalista teknologiaa. Käyttäjät pystyvät ohjaamaan tilassa näkyvää sisältöä esimerkiksi omilla liikkeillä, eleillä, kosketuksella tai omalla älypuhelimella. Tila voi myös reagoida ääneen ja musiikkiin tai hyödyntää avointa dataa. Näillä eri elementeillä saadaan tilasta luotua visuaalisesti kiinnostava ja hyvin elämyksellinen. Asiakastöinä mm. Finavia ja Helsinki-Vantaan kansainvälisen terminaalin odotusaula, tiedekeskukset, museot, aktiviteettipuistot ja korkeakoulut ja yritysten showroomit.  

ThingLink

ThingLink on 2010 perustettu interaktiivista kuvateknologiaa kehittävä suomalainen yritys, jonka avulla käyttäjä voi helposti rikastaa kuvia, videoita, 360 mediaa ja 3D-malleja ja rakentaa interaktiivisia oppimiskokemuksia. ThingLink on erinomainen työväline yrityksille ja oppilaitoksille niin oppimiseen kuin markkinointiin. Suomalaisia asiakkaita ovat mm. Helsingin, Jyväskylän, Turun, ja Itä-Suomen yliopistot, kunnat ja kaupungit sekä kymmeniä eturivin yrityksiä. ThingLinkillä on yli 8 miljoonaa rekisteröitynyttä käyttäjää 190 maassa.

Lisätiedot ja haastattelupyynnöt:

Sami Kämppi, OiOi

Aleksi Komu, ThingLink

Heritage brand

Hidden Highland Retreats are a small team who manage a portfolio of luxury heritage properties on one of the most well-known estates in the Scottish Highlands, Rothiemurchus. The ancient estate encompasses forest, mountains, rivers and lochs (lakes), working farmland and a number of outdoor activities including clay shooting, horse riding, tennis, archery, fishing and a high ropes course. There is a cafe and farm shop on site which stocks meat from the farm and much more. In 2016 the first self-catered property, Loch an Eilein Cottage, was renovated and was an instant success. Hidden Highland Retreats have restored one property a year since – each a luxury refurbishment of a heritage building with a rich history.

Improving the website experience with virtual tours

The website features professional photography of each property, as well as detailed descriptions and floor plans. But the team found that some potential guests still found it difficult to visualise layouts, so they created immersive virtual 360 tours of each property to give them a feel of staying there. Rich media tags in the ThingLinks contain lists of what is provided at each property.

The team have also added inspiring videos promoting the estate and the Cairngorms National Park to visitors from all over the world, including drone footage of the 14th century castle which sits on its own island in the middle of the lake – which can only otherwise be accessed by swimming or canoe! These are linked as embeds in hotspots or tags within the virtual tours.

Adding cross selling opportunities with ThingLink

The team also wanted to be able to use the tours to cross-sell the activities on the estate,  and items featured in the properties that are available to buy from the Farm Shop. So the bathroom scenes for example contain text and media tags detailing the bath and shower products with a link to the Farm Shop web page. There are also tags which link to the activity booking page where guests can directly book a fly fishing lesson or pony trekking for their children, without having to leave the ThingLink or the properties website.

The team wanted to be able to provide guests with an easy way to navigate their way between properties, so they simply designed a “front page” to their ThingLink in Canva, which serves a double purpose in a very straightforward way. Firstly it provides a map of the estate, with each property and each of the main activities on site. Secondly, it provides clear and concise instructions in one sentence on how to navigate the ThingLink, in case a user is unfamiliar with the interface.

Creating additional resources for staff and guests with clever cloning 

The team realized that they could provide even more detailed content in two additional versions of the tour, by cloning the original scenes. One tour is used for staff training and another for guests who have booked. 

Staff: Smooth learning processes with virtual staging

The original ThingLinks of each property show each room laid out ready for a guest’s arrival. So the team cloned each ThingLink and adapted it to contain tags with information for cleaning and maintenance staff, with how-to’s included. For example, the fire is shown as it should always be laid ready for arrival, and reminders are provided in text and media tags to refill consumables, including optimal quantities, such as tea, coffee, sugar and bathroom products.

“As our portfolio grows, we are taking on more housekeeping staff, each of whom needs to learn quickly how we expect the house to be prepared for our guests, to a very high standard. Using ThingLink to provide an introduction and overview of the property before their first visit has saved us so much time. It has also cut down on errors and items being missed as housekeeping staff can check the 360s of the rooms.”

Hidden Highland Retreats

Guests: Better service experience at arrival

Guests appreciate knowing where to find things and how to operate them as soon as they arrive. To provide a stress-free arrival process for guests and to save time, the ops team have now created a third private ThingLink tour (accessed with a password) which contains useful information such as log-ins and instructions for all appliances. Previously, the team found that many guests were not reading the information folders (provided in hard copy in each property) before phoning for assistance – which was time-consuming and frustrating for all concerned. 

Providing a “virtual key box” for imminent arrivals means that guests can familiarise themselves with the locations and operation of various aspects of the houses, giving them more time to enjoy their holiday from the get-go, and an overall more relaxing and positive experience.

Example of virtual key box for guests (password is loch)

““Having trialled the “virtual key box” for a number of guests in some of our properties, we’ve received really positive feedback. Guests tell us they liked being able to double check things before packing their bags and setting off.

The stats also show that guests are opening the tags that contain all the information they will need and which answer some of the most common questions we receive. They know that we are at the end of the phone if they need us, It’s just an additional way of making our guests feel more comfortable and well-prepared for their holiday. A comfortable guest is a happy one – and more likely to make a repeat booking!”

Hidden Highland Retreats

ThingLink: The easiest way for anyone to create virtual property tours

User-friendly platforms like ThingLink have revolutionized the real estate business, removing the need for expensive or complex virtual tour software such as Matterport. Now anyone can achieve high-quality immersive tour creation, which can be shared with potential buyers or guests via link, embed, or even viewed in virtual reality via VR headsets.

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

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

Due to the lack of any real alternatives after the loss of Google Street View, the ThingLink development team have created a fantastic and free virtual tour tool to convert any panoramic image taken on your smartphone or any mobile device into a 360 image. It means you can now create tours like these without the need for a 360-degree camera such as Insta360 or Ricoh Theta. Try Pano to 360 for yourself – no ThingLink account or registration required! Simply upload a panoramic photo (jpg or png file) and it will instantly be converted to a 360-degree image using AI. You can then download and use in your 360-degree tour or as s standalone image!

Using ThingLink in marketing and real estate

• ThingLink’s new smart solution for 360 real estate photography
• How to create a virtual exhibition
• A virtual tour of an underground facility in Helsinki
• How to create a virtual tour: a tutorial for virtual tour creators

Want to create content like this?

As well as realtors and other property professionals, 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?

Facebook ThingLink Education | Finland | Italia | Espana | Israel | India 

Twitter ThingLink | ThingLink Education 

Want to keep a copy? A PDF Version of this Case Study can be found here. 

ThingLink has become a favorite tool amongst these teams because it is incredibly versatile, easy to learn, and produces professional in-house results quickly. In a matter of days, admissions teams can take projects from simple concepts to captivating virtual experiences that can be easily embedded into their websites. This greatly cuts down on time, expense, and the need to request development resources or outsource the production to agencies. 

And with our seamless Canva integration, creating beautiful maps, infographics, charts and timelines to use in your thinglink is now easier than ever! 

In this blog post we will go over several best in class, live projects from fellow ThingLink creators, ranging from K12 schools to higher education institutions of all sizes across the world. The goal is to give you actionable ideas on how to plan, structure and create your school’s virtual tour for increasing new admissions. These ideas will range in complexity from simple to in-depth tours.    

Project Idea One – Aerial campus map or floor plan 

This is one of the simplest and quickest methods to begin your virtual tour project because it only requires designing one base asset, in this case a map or floor plan. You can use the ThingLink tags to include facts, key reasons to attend, and introduce faculty and video content about the campus. 

Pro tip: blend in commentary from current faculty and students into the hotspots to add a personal touch.  For example, have a current student give an interview on why they fell in love with the new science lab. 

Click the icons on the map below to see photos and videos of this spacious green campus and state-of-the-art facilities. Make sure to turn the sound on to hear all about what makes AOSR such a special place!

Project Idea Two – Showcase your diverse study body with a regional map 

This is another efficient project to get up and running with little resources and time. Create a map of your surrounding region, or the world if you are an international school. Use ThingLink to annotate labels on where students are attending from so new students feel comfortable knowing fellow students from their area also attend your school. 

Pro tip: use custom icons to blend in your school logo into the creative.  You can also customize the color styling of the tags and incorporate animations to capture the viewers attention. 

Loyola High School of Los Angeles (click the link to view live website) – Hover over the hotspots to learn where Loyola students are coming from throughout various Los Angeles communities. 

Project Idea Three – Guided virtual campus tours with 360° images & audio

The most impactful method for increasing new admissions through your website is to build a virtual campus tour that dives into each key aspect of the school.  While it requires more planning, structuring and resources, these virtual tours are a really impactful way for students to visit your campus digitally.  

Pro tips: 

1) Use any 360° camera – or the new ThingLink Pano to 360 converter!
In this article we recommend several affordable, low set up cameras that are built to be used by non-professional photographers.  These cameras will allow you to quickly capture high-quality 360° images of your campus and seamlessly upload them to ThingLink with no advanced skills required.  You can capture all of your images/spaces within a single day.

NEW! 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. 

2) Plan and structure
Consider how viewers will navigate through your tour. Make it as simple and clear as possible to ensure an engaging experience for your audience. Many of the best virtual tours begin with a regular image or map (see Project Idea One) and use the hotspots to link to each 360° scene. This acts as a visual table of contents that gives the viewer a frame of reference when navigating the tour, allowing them to return to the map to visit a different section of the campus.  

3)Clear instructions – try adding audio!
Include a sentence or two introducing your tour detailing best practices for navigating. Adding audio is a great way to add instructions into the start of the tour, or within an anchored, recurring hotspot. Explore the examples below to see effective and creative methods for incorporating clear instructions for your viewers. 

4) Design consistency
Applying a consistent design theme through your graphics allows the viewer to interact with the tour more comfortably. For example, if using videos in your hotspots, always use a video icon, or a camera icon when you want them to view a set of pictures. The best example of design consistency within a tour using ThingLink has been created by the University of Rochester Medical Center. The team creates an experience that makes navigating a complex facility effortless. Read the full case study here.

Meet Christian, your tour guide!  Christian appears throughout the tour, offering video recaps, key facts and a consistent voice throughout the viewer journey.  The team designed these illustrations into their images. 

Each key scene features an image with the same six actions: 

1. Click the microphone button to view pictures, read key facts and listen to Christian narrate 
2. Click the doctor button below the microphone to watch a video clip with Christian in each space
3. Click the book button to retrieve additional text facts about the space you are viewing
4. Click the map button to view where you are in the tour in relation to the campus 
5. Click the 360° View button to visit a 360° of the featured space 
6. Click either of the arrows to visit the previous or next space within the tour 

At any point, viewers can go back to the original aerial map view and navigate to a specific building in the campus by clicking the home button on the top left corner. Click the slideshow view on the bottom right corner to see every scene within the tour, and search for specific spaces or topics. 

Below you will find 7 additional digital marketing & communications experiences! 

Loyola High School of Los Angeles – Why do we love this example?

1. Three clear ways to experience the tour, including campus map, list of locations, and thumbnail views
2. Use of ambient audio sound throughout the tour further immerses the viewer into the space 
3. Blending text labels and directional instructions into the 360° image file prior to uploading to ThingLink (view the football field scene)

International School of Budapest – Why do we love this example? 

1. Clear help prompts on every scene.  Clicking the green question mark icon on any scene will take viewers to a special instructional view
2. Interactive video!  Click to Start Your Journey and it will take you to an exciting interactive video.  In some cases video can be a more impactful way to connect with your audience over images, but it can also increase production time over regular images. 
3. Clean and clear design theme makes navigating the tour very clear. 

If you love this ‘virtual tour front door’, here’s a Canva template for you to use and make your own!

Keele University – Why do we love this example? Read the full case study here

1. Immediately after starting this tour, you are greeted with a warm audio welcome with instructions and goals for the tour
2. 360° video! All of the cameras we recommended earlier also allow you to capture 360° videos. Once you are in the map view of this tour, click the play buttons to visit a 360° video featuring various key places at the campus. Adding tags to a 360 video is as straightforward as adding to an image.

Keene State College – features campus map view, self-guided tour and guided tour options! 

Father Ryan High School – video campus tour captured with drone footage

Anglo American School of Moscow – proctor virtual open houses for students, parents and stakeholders: 

Communicate strategic updates and vision with timelines:

If you have specific questions about the creating similar experiences, or want to start using ThingLink on your school’s admission team, please email contact us below or via support@thinglink.com. 

Watch this instructional video for further information on using 360 images and virtual tours with ThingLink.