A recent discussion in our local community group which we couldn’t pin-point the best answer or solution. Wanting to get thoughts of photo contributors out here.
Almost every large city has some museums, whilst mainly to showcase historical elements and artifacts, many of the museums are key to the local tourism industry, to draw tourists to visit, to help the local economy.
As Local Guides, we have the capacity to take photos of tourist attractions to share in Google Maps. And whilst taking and uploading photos of the exterior and interiors to show what the museum looks like is a good thing and will draw a lot of interest from potential visitors; there is the question of taking and uploading photos of the exhibits themselves. And showcasing some main exhibits in Google Maps photos will be useful to a certain extend.
However, if and when someone starts taking high resolution photos of every exhibit and sharing it in Maps, then, there’s the argument of if everything can be seen online, then at least some will not visit the museum any longer, which then reduces the actual visitors to the museum. Videos and 360 panoramas on top.
Museums usually don’t prohibit taking of photos for personal use though.
This may apply to some other types of exhibits as well.
@StephenAbraham some snaps and panoramas might be uploaded from the outside of the musium but from inside that is totally against the rules of many musium authority.Musium is packed with many valuable and historical things our photos and panoramas from inside of the musium might help thiefs and others and also we can’t loss anyone’s business through our contribution we need to make that place more attractive for visitors not loss and one’s business.
I’m agreeing with you, Museums shouldn’t prohibit people from taking photos. This I’m telling because there’s no use for prohibiting. If one wishes to visit a museum, he will definitely visit. He won’t think that " Hey, this place is pretty well captured in maps, so don’t go " , one won’t think like that. If he have a mind to visit, he will.
So, museums and governments should take action against the prohibition of photographs.
@JustinAlex I said might help,man when you are taking 360 or panoramas inside the musium the thiefs might get their raw material about planning don’t take my words wrongly I’m just making a point that might help them that’s it
According to My point of view,it is not needed to share all the images of a museum. Just sharing few amazing clicks will give people a curiosity to visit the place . If you are sharing a well designed shelf people will always wanted to know what will be inside.Let them go there and enjoy by their eyes.
ayaan is correct some of our museums have many valuable things like old swords, guns, crowns chairs, etc. photos, especially the 360 photos help thieves to steal it easily. The veluthampi dalava’s sword in Trivandrum museum is an example, it’s priceless.
If a thief needs to steal something, he don’t need the 360 or any type of photo. He can just walk into the museum in the day time by giving just 10 Rs.
@JustinAlex You are correct But when catching terrorists and thiefs police found a lot of pictures of the places they are going to stole or attack .If visiting is the better way to stole what is the need of those photos
@JustinAlex then tell me another thing if thier is 360 photo available already Why they will go to visit yes your point is right but a man can’t copy paste From that photo form human body i said detailed planing for that they might use those photos or if any thief visit there he/she needs to be civil engineering or pycaso type artist don’t take this topic too away we are not thifs😂
But if we talk about that 360’s, photos and videos could reduce the visitors of the museum or other historic buildings, I don’t think so…
FOR EXAMPLE we have millions of photos of NIAGRA FALLS but still hundreds of peoples spend thousands of dollars to visit that place to enjoy the real view.
So we should share the photos to help people make better choice .
Where authorities not allowed the photography we shouldn’t take photos to break the law…
Getting Back to the OP’s topic.
Personally i think the discussion about virtual tours for museums are very relevant.
I am talking with a zoo at the moment and together we realized that there are several meaningful points to consider for a zoo.
In general there are already consumer grade spherical images shared from the zoo online of various quality and locations, so there are already a growing body of content which the zoo / museums do not control on the web, local guide stills are part of that content. Talking virtual tours however we came up with these concerns which could be for or against making a tour…
Creating a tour with quality images throughout the zoo means taking “control” of the message by making sure there is quality content.
Could a tour show the zoo well but also leave a potential customer thinking “well I have seen it all” and not visit?
Definitely, will quality images maybe some of them be less exciting and cause people to feel the zoo is not always exciting and not visit?
Anti zoo / animal caging movements using the zoo’s imaging content.
This is a new and often powerful enemy of many zoo’s could use a organized virtual tour as part of a narrative against a zoo.
These points was floated by the zoo PR / marketing team. and are all valid points which is worth thinking about before approaching museums etc. personally I have found museums to be quite open to the idea of virtual tours, two different animal parks / zoo’s on the other hand was a bit nervous about a full fledged tour as they felt it was hard to manage the message in terms of the animals quality of care which they prefer still shots which focus more on “happy animals” so i would guess zoo’s are a less likely candidate than museums.
Nobody have expressed concerns that people can see art pieces in the tours, after all, museums all advertise their art-pieces to bring customers in and see them in person.
note, Im not talking about photographing a virtual tour for free, but about the museum or zoo as a paying virtual tour customer.
** I find the discussion about us as local guides protecting museums by not photographing to be somewhat irrelevant.
Thats to be managed by whatever local museum. the greater issue is “can we help museums with tours and images”
