Established in 1914 in Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) exhibits global art, culture, and natural history. It’s one of North America’s leading cultural institutions, and Canada’s largest, most comprehensive museum. It is home to an unparalleled collection of 13 million pieces spanning art, cultural artifacts, and natural history treasures across its 40 galleries and exhibition spaces. ROM is also Canada’s foremost institute for field research.

In 2021 we showcased the fantastic Great Whales Virtual Exhibition in the case study ROM’s Virtual Tours Solve Access Issues. In the wake of this project, and incorporating feedback from users of that virtual tour, ROM’s Coordinator of Digital Content and Experiences Sarah Elliott and her colleagues have created another exemplary virtual museum tour with ThingLink: Sustainable Style. You can explore the entire virtual tour below. Click on the fullscreen icon bottom far right to view it fullscreen!

A truly virtual museum tour

The Sustainable Style virtual tour fulfils three main purposes. Firstly, it was made to create a virtual climate change “gallery” of objects throughout the museum. Simultaneously it preserves and archives in digital format a temporary climate change art installation in the museum – Noelle Hamlyn:Lifers. Thirdly, it also serves as the knowledge base for a number of educational activities that the museum are developing.

Sustainable Style can therefore be considered a truly “virtual exhibition” as it groups together otherwise distinct displays, and both permanent and temporary exhibits.

Addresses diverse learning needs

Sarah and her colleagues have designed the tour format and navigation based on the previous virtual tour user feedback, in particular to address more comprehensively the diverse learning needs of the museum’s audiences. The tour now includes more ways to navigate around the featured areas depending on your preference. They also updated and expanded their “how to use” video which was a very popular feature of their Great Whales tour. This is shown below and is a must-watch for all virtual tour creators!

“We are really confident that this tour addresses more of the diverse learning needs of our audience.”

Sarah Elliott, Coordinator of Digital Content and Experiences, ROM

Thanks to Royal Ontario Museum for allowing us to share this fantastic case study. 

How you can blend physical and digital spaces in a virtual tour or exhibition

Technology has paved the way for blends of digital and traditional museum experiences, in almost limitless variations. Forefront of these innovations is the emergence of the virtual museum concept. As this example from ROM shows, the concept isn’t just an online exhibit that mimics the physical spaces; it’s an enhanced, mixed reality user experience that bridges geographical and physical gaps. And ThingLink is one of the easiest-to-use tools that is transforming the way that museum educators and content producers create and share virtual museum tours.

You can fully customize ThingLink content and format to suit the unique requirements of each virtual museum tour. You can include multimedia elements such as videos, 3D models, forms, quizzes, embeds, links and audio in your tags. Why not provide visitors with videos of artists discussing their creations or 3D models that allow a 360-degree view of sculptures? The blending of various media forms enriches the online museum experience, making it more immersive than ever.

The museum with no walls: share anywhere!

ThingLink content can be embedded seamlessly into web pages using HTML – just click “share” and the link is instantly generated for you. This ensures that museum exhibitions can be easily integrated into any website, blog post, or even shared on social media platforms. That way your content can reach wider audiences faster and more efficiently. You can also share in virtual reality mode easily for sharing to VR headsets.

Enhancing accessibility for all

Virtual gallery and museum tours, by their nature, already bridge some of the accessibility gaps of a physical museum. ThingLink’s functionality is designed with inclusivity in mind, with Microsoft Immersive Reader built in to every text and media tag, and a web view accessibility link available for every ThingLink scene you create.

Explore more examples of Virtual Museum Tours and Experiences in ThingLink

• V&A Dundee virtual exhibitions

• Highland Folk Museum virtual exhibitions

• Explore the Smithsonian’s interactive exhibit

• Petofi Literary Museum Budapest links artefacts from major art museums across the city

• Vermont Art Online showcases artworks from the entire state in their virtual exhibition design

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.

On Demand

Register to receive the on-demand recording link!

Registration

This webinar introduces ThingLink, a game-changing platform that transforms static visuals into interactive and immersive experiences.

Whether you’re new to ThingLink, digital content or looking to elevate your creations, this session will equip you with the skills to engage your audience in compelling new ways. Join us to unlock the future of dynamic content!

Now On-Demand!

You will receive a link to the action replay!

Webinar Objectives:

1. Introduction to ThingLink: Unveil the powerful interface and easy to use tools designed for crafting interactive and immersive digital experiences.
2. Transforming Traditional Content: Learn hands-on techniques to evolve static images, 360 media and videos into dynamic, interactive masterpieces.
3. Maximizing Audience Engagement: Understand key principles to keep your audience immersed, ensuring content not only attracts but also retains viewer interest.

Other Ideas for learning about ThingLink you’ll love!

• Free ThingLink Certified Creator Course
• Previous ThingLink On Demand Webinars
• Search Support Articles or Request Support

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.

Where can I use 360 degree content?

ThingLink provides an interactive platform that allows users to create engaging and immersive virtual tours using 360-degree content. By uploading 360-degree images or videos, users can design comprehensive virtual experiences, seamlessly linking different areas or scenes together. Within these panoramic visuals, interactive tags can be embedded that offer additional information, images, videos, links, or even embedded documents. These tags turn a standard 360-degree view into an interactive exploration, providing context and depth to the viewer’s experience. The use of 360-degree content in ThingLink’s virtual tours fosters a more lifelike, engaging environment that can be applied in various fields like real estate, education, tourism, or training, offering viewers a realistic perspective and interactive journey through a location or concept. The example below shows this in action.

In ThingLink you can also save your 360 scene or tour in virtual reality mode, meaning that you can view it on a VR headset for a fully immersive experience.

What is the difference between photospheres and panoramic images?

Panoramic images typically cover a wide field of view horizontally, often 180 degrees or more, but do not necessarily cover the full 360-degree horizontal and vertical field of view. They are often displayed as a wide, flat image that stretches across the screen. Panoramic photos can be created with photo stitching, piecing together a series of photos taken along a single horizontal plane, or they can be captured with special panoramic cameras.

Photospheres encompass a full 360-degree field of view both horizontally and vertically, forming a complete sphere. They allow the viewer to look up, down, left, right, and all around, as if they were standing in the center of a sphere. Photospheres are typically viewed using special software or online platforms that enable the viewer to navigate the entire sphere. When flattened into a two-dimensional image, they usually appear distorted, especially near the top and bottom. Photospheres can be created by stitching together images taken in all directions, including above and below the camera’s position, or with specialized 360-degree cameras designed to capture a full spherical view.

In summary, panoramic images provide a wide, often linear view across a single plane, while photospheres offer a completely immersive, spherical experience, allowing viewers to explore the entire scene as if they were physically present.

New Pano to 360 by ThingLink: a free tool for creating 360° images

Previously, it was possible to use the Google Street View app to create a photosphere. Many ThingLink creators used this approach to successfully create 360-degree images for virtual tours, such as the Budapest museum education team in this case study. However this app was sadly deprecated in June 2023. At ThingLink, we researched a wide range of 360 camera apps, but none provided the same stitching software that Street View had incorporated to make 360 imaging truly accessible and easy to use. To respond to this need, the ThingLink team developed Pano to 360.

Using AI, the tool blends the panorama together at the zenith and nadir of the photo as well as at the seam between the two ends. You will have the most success if your device’s camera has an ultra wide-angle lens but any device with a panorama image setting will work.

This tool is free for everyone, and you don’t need to be a ThingLink account holder or subscriber. It is compatible with panoramic photos taken on Apple iphones, android phones and in fact all android/ios mobile devices. There is no need for a plugin or for downloading from the app store or Google Play. Simply upload your panorama and in seconds you will have a 360 photosphere ready to download and use as you wish!

The dedicated support page here provides a quick video tutorial on how to use the new tool.

Dedicated 360 degree cameras

On the more accessible end are the immensely popular Ricoh Theta and the newer Ricoh Theta S. These small “fisheye” cameras fit in the palm of your hand and capture VR ready content with the click of a button. Check out a compilation of images and video captured with the Ricoh Theta S in the embed below. Other possible makes of these 360 cameras are the Samsung Gear 360 and the Insta360.

360 video cameras

GoPro Max for 360 Video is designed to take 360 video, and is designed to be as robust as the rest of the GoPro range. Some of the models mentioned above also have 360 video capability.

How do I edit my 360 images?

You can easily edit your raw 360 images using either a platform such as Photoshop, or the popular Canva platform, which is ideal for beginners with both free and pro plans and pricing.  

Where can I learn more?

Join one or more of our friendly social media communities to see user-generated content and great examples! The ThingLink Facebook Education Group and the ThingLink LinkedIn Community would love to welcome you.

Happily, the launch of Pano to 360 by ThingLink makes interactive virtual tour creation quick and easy! With this new tool, panoramic images taken with any mobile phone can be easily converted to 360-degree panoramas, otherwise known as photospheres.

With Pano to 360, you don’t require multiple shots or images to be stitched together. And most importantly, you don’t need any experience with graphic design, photography or image software! Instead, AI does the hard work for you, creating high quality 360 images that can be used to create stunning and immersive virtual tours that can be shared anywhere!

The alternative to Google Street View is here

ThingLink has been helping creators worldwide to produce, edit, and share their interactive content since 2011. Their newest development, Pano to 360, has been launched as an easy-to-use alternative to the Google Street View Camera App. Pano to 360 provides a free solution for transforming panoramic images into 360 photospheres. Compatible with all camera-equipped mobile devices, Pano to 360 is accessible for all users.

The easiest way to capture 360 images

Pano to 360 by ThingLink makes creating 360-degree photospheres easy for everyone. Instead of stitching together multiple images, a single panoramic shot is all you require for Pano to 360 to create a high quality 360 image for you in seconds.

How to create a 360 photosphere – a walkthrough

Follow these simple steps to create a 360 image in minutes!

1. Capture your Panorama: Take a panoramic image with your mobile device. Pano to 360 works with any mobile device that includes a camera, including iphones and all android devices.
2. Upload Image: Upload your photo to the Pano to 360 Converter in ThingLink. Use the Converter or upload directly in to ThingLink Guided Tours.
3. Converted to 360 Photosphere: Your panoramic image will then be converted into an immersive 360 photosphere. You can then download if using the Pano to 360 by ThingLink web page.
4. Edit and Share: Add interactive hotspots to your scenes to create guided tours, virtual trips, escape rooms, breakouts or learning materials. The super simple drag and drop functionality of ThingLink means that it is the fastest way to create professional virtual tours and other interactive media. Add audio, floorplans, 3D models, embeds and more! Then share it across your website, landing page, social media, or even in virtual reality mode for viewing on a VR headset for a fully immersive experience!

Who is the Pano to 360 solution designed for?

Anyone who is interested in VR tour creation as an educational solution, publishing or marketing tool can use the new ThingLink feature. It is particularly useful for real estate agents and other real estate industry business owners who want to provide virtual tours for potential buyers whilst avoiding the prohibitive costs associated with solutions such as Matterport.

The benefits of Pano to 360

• Simplicity: No need for multiple shots or stitching individual images together. A single panoramic photo is all you need.
• Quality: The quality of your original image is retained in the 360 photosphere that is created.
• Interactivity: As with all ThingLink content, you can then add tags to your 360 images to create a truly immersive and interactive experience.
• Free and Accessible: Previously, to create a 360 image, creators required dedicated 360 cameras such as the Insta360 or Ricoh Theta. Pano to 360 is free to use and accessible across any device.

We believe we have created the best virtual tour software for anyone who is looking for ease of use, in a cloud-based virtual tour platform Whether you are an educator, marketer, real estate professional, or are creating 360 images and tours for your own personal use, Pano to 360 is so simple to learn and use and delivers the best solution for creating 360 images with any device, anywhere!

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.

The good news? Your search is over! We’re excited to introduce Pano to 360 by ThingLink: a new free solution that enables you to create stunning 360-degree photospheres from panoramic images taken from any mobile phone. This revolutionary platform fills the gap left by the Google Street View Camera App, providing user-friendly, comprehensive, and high-quality options for virtual tours, field trips, training content and immersive scenes.

Transforming Panoramas into 360 Photospheres

ThingLink’s latest solution is a free platform designed to convert your panoramic images into immersive 360 photospheres, ready to be shared with the world. All you need is your mobile phone – whether that’s an iphone or an android phone. Capture a panorama, and ThingLink will handle the rest. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Take a Panoramic Photo: Start by taking a panoramic photo with your mobile phone’s camera. In fact any mobile device with a camera feature can do this, including apple ios and android devices – ensuring maximum accessibility for all users.
• Upload to ThingLink: Next, upload your panoramic image to ThingLink’s new free platform. The platform is web-based, meaning it is accessible and easy to use, whether you’re on a computer, iPad, other tablet or mobile device.
• Convert to 360 Photosphere: With a single click, ThingLink will transform your panoramic view into an engaging 360 photosphere ready for you to download. No image stitching or complicated editing tools required!
• Customize & Share: If you have a ThingLink account (of any type) you can then upload your new 360 image to your media. You can add interactive tags to your photosphere, customize it to your liking, and then share it with the world. It’s that easy!

Why Choose ThingLink’s Pano to 360 Solution?

This ground-breaking platform stands out for several reasons:

• User-friendly Interface: This free solution is designed with all users in mind, boasting a simple and intuitive interface. You don’t need any technical expertise to create stunning, high quality 360-degree photos.
• High Quality: ThingLink uses cutting-edge technology to ensure the resulting 360 photospheres maintain the high-resolution of your original panoramas.
• Interactive: ThingLink’s solutions are known for their interactivity. Add tags to your photospheres to create engaging, informative, and interactive experiences for viewers. Create virtual tours, exhibitions and field trips with your 360 content. You can then share and embed them anywhere: on your website or landing page, use the social sharing option to share to your favourite social media platform – even share in virtual reality mode for viewing on a VR headset. Whenever you update your ThingLink content, it updates in real-time wherever it’s shared – making it dynamic, engaging and interactive!
• Free and Accessible: Unlike many other 360-degree camera apps, ThingLink’s new converter tool is free and accessible on any device, making it a perfect 360-from-panorama app for both personal and pro use.

Try it today for free!

ThingLink’s new free solution provides an unparalleled platform for converting panoramic pictures into immersive 360 photospheres. It’s the ideal alternative to the now-discontinued Google Street View Mobile App, offering simplicity, high quality, and interactivity. Try it out today and revolutionize your 360-degree image creation. No need to download from the app store – just take pictures in panorama mode and visit our website to try it out!

What will you create with Pano to 360?

Join our active social media communities such as the ThingLink LinkedIn Community or the ThingLink Education Facebook Group and show off your new ThingLink creations!

What else can you create with ThingLink?

• Read our blog about how to create 3d images with your phone
• Creating virtual tours for real estate
• Creating interactive 360-degree videos with ThingLink

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

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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?

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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.

Stephanie Woessner was a teacher for a little over 10 years. She currently works as innovation team leader at a public institution in Southern Germany. She has also worked freelance as a consultant, keynote speaker and teacher trainer for future-oriented learning for about 15 years.  She has been a long-time user of ThingLink – in her words “probably for as long as it exists!”.

In 2020, the Goethe Institut in Kyiv asked Stephanie to facilitate a three day online workshop that would be attended by the 17 PASCH schools in the country. Each school would be represented by one student and one teacher, and after the workshop, the attendees could then present and instruct others in the school community on how to create similar content. The students would present their cities in their own words, in German, using ThingLink and a tool for the creation of Extended Reality content. 

How this interactive map was created

Step 1: The first day was spent researching, deciding which places to present, collating required information online and taking photos, videos and 360° images of the places. In the student-teacher partnerships in each school, the participants then wrote their scripts. The partnership model worked particularly well as the teachers were able to assist the students with the German language aspect, and the students reciprocated by showing their teachers how to use the tools!

Step 2: On the second day the students created the mixed reality content using Merge Cubes in CoSpaces Edu. They also made virtual museums and they added information to 360 degree photos, using CoSpaces Edu and ThingLink.

Step 3: On the third day of the workshop, Stephanie introduced those students and teachers who hadn’t used ThingLink before to the platform. Students from all the schools then worked collaboratively online to create the joint ThingLink map, which you can explore below.

“Using ThingLink collaboratively worked really, really well.”

The students were all part of the same organizational account, which Stephanie managed. They agreed on a colour palette for the tags, and a common format for each of the text boxes within the tags to ensure the content would be consistent.

Intuitive platforms are essential

Stephanie believes that “production rather than consumption” is the key to future-oriented learning, i.e. acquiring the skills and competencies that Generations Z and Alpha will need to shape our future. So finding and using intuitive creator platforms like ThingLink is essential to the success of this approach. For the workshop, Stephanie collated all the information that the students would need to use the various platforms on a Padlet – so that the students and teachers could check if they had completed all the necessary steps and they could access the tutorials when they needed them. However the actual learning of the skills took place when they actually carried out the tasks themselves.

Other examples of the interactive maps with ThingLink

Collaboratively produced interactive maps like this are something that Stephanie has used for a number of years with students.

“I’ve really come to appreciate ThingLink for a lot of reasons: it’s so easy to use. Learners also don’t have a lot of trouble using it because the functionality is similar to so many apps that they use – you have all the same mechanisms in there. Like double click and drag and drop with an image for instance. ThingLink is something that everybody can use.”

Stephanie Woessner

Stephanie has worked closely with various Goethe Institutes for many years. These institutes are a nonprofit worldwide cultural organisation promoting knowledge of the German language abroad and fostering international cultural cooperation.

The first iteration of this type of map design was in fact created by Stephanie’s French students in Germany. Since they couldn’t go to Paris, they made a virtual tour of Paris using Greenscreen videos, which they presented as an interactive map with ThingLink. She then used this idea with students and teachers at the Goethe Institute in Tokyo in an attempt to present the German-speaking athletes who were to come to Tokyo for the Olympics with information on various places in and around Tokyo.  Students and teachers used Google Street View to create 360 images, CoSpaces Edu to create Merge Cubes and virtual museums, Google Tour Creator to create 360° tours and XPanda (a Swiss app) to create augmented reality content in German. The content was then placed on an interactive map of Japan. Unfortunately this map is no longer publicly available but most of the videos created using Greenscreen technology was extracted and placed on a new interactive map of Japan – below.

“ThingLink is one of those tools that are consistent, and work very well. I think it’s gotten better over the years because there’s all these integrated functionalities and the interface has become much more intuitive and functional, for instance the integrated audio recorder. You can use it for a lot of different, very creative things. The fact that it’s browser-based and that you can easily create 360 degree content  makes it much more versatile than many tools – but it also works on any headset that is out there, so that’s a plus at a time when schools start to buy various VR headsets. I stuck with ThingLink because it’s very good value for money compared to a lot of other apps that are out there.”

Stephanie Woessner

Interactive map example recreated with students in India

The Ukraine interactive map example was so successful that Stephanie was asked to use this approach as the template for similar workshops in Pune and Mumbai, India for the Goethe Institutes there. Below is a map view of India made with ThingLink. Use the icons in the bottom right corner to zoom in and view fullscreen if you prefer.

The legacy of the Ukraine interactive map

In the wake of the Ukraine conflict, the interactive map that began as an educational exercise in practicinga foreign language in a creative way by having students present their immediate surroundings with immersive extended reality technologies has taken on a more poignant meaning for Stephanie and for the students and teachers who created it.

“Even though the project at the beginning was just about having teachers change their practices and understanding the potential of extended reality, it turned into a project that is now a kind of cultural memory. I wanted to share the result of their hard work over these three days because I think it’s really worthwhile seeing what has since been destroyed.”

Stephanie Woessner

Thank you to Stephanie for allowing us to share these inspiring examples of interactive maps. You can see more of Stephanie’s projects at steffi-woessner.de and read her Petite Prof education blog here.

Making data visualization easy with interactive maps

Interactive maps and infographics make data visualization easy. Read our blog post below to see some other inspiring interactive custom maps made by our community of ThingLink creators. There are examples from a wide variety of sectors, including cultural heritage, shipping, industry training, higher education and visitor attractions.

From world maps to art trail maps, here are our six favourite examples of user-created interactive maps in ThingLink!

Unlike other interactive map platforms and providers there is no coding or web design experience needed with ThingLink. Simply build your map then share as a direct link, as an embed, on social media or with a QR code. Any changes you make to your ThingLink map will be updated in real-time.