How do I do a virtual tour for a client then submit that to google so that it shows up.

[JohnTurner]

I have taken many photo spheres and they're on google maps, street view, earth etc.  I am a trusted google photographer.  Let's say a client comes to me and says "here is money, can you do a virtual tour of my business?"  I am able to take the spheres and connect them, but how do I get it to Google?  What is the procedure for submitting the virtual tour or "look inside" to google.  I appreciate any help with this. 

[JohnTurner]

I have been taking photo spheres for a while and I am familiar with that process.  My question now is; how do I submit a virtual tour or "see inside" for a client.  Is there a simple procedure for this?  Let's say a client comes to me and says "here is money, now make a virtual tour". I could go in and take 10000 spheres, like them together... then what?  I have been searching for this info for weeks.  Any help is appreciated. 

[LucioV]

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@Crneeds wrote:

I have been taking photo spheres for a while and I am familiar with that process.  My question now is; how do I submit a virtual tour or "see inside" for a client.  Is there a simple procedure for this?  Let's say a client comes to me and says "here is money, now make a virtual tour". I could go in and take 10000 spheres, like them together... then what?  I have been searching for this info for weeks.  Any help is appreciated. 

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Hi @JohnTurner I will share my workflow, the latest steps are what you need.

1) Take DSLR shoots: i use a Nikon D300 with a Sigma 8mm fisheye, mounted on a Nodal Ninja R10 panoramic head (mounted on a Manfrotto ball head just for leveling)
2) I shoot at least 4 shoots, each at 90° (for HDR, in previous SV|T program we were required to take 12 shoots, +2, 0, -2 each position
3) I shoot in Raw
4) I use Adobe Lightroom to get the best from my shoots (opening shadows, reduce highlights, increase sharpness)
5) I use PTGUI to stitch the photos and obtain an equirectangular panoramic photo (i use standard parameters for PTGUI, only increase sharpness and, sometimes, adjust the exposure controls); sometimes, depending on the structure of the business, i need to add some control points to stitch
6) I use PTGUI to extract the six faces (left, right, rear, bottom, up, front) and i use Photoshop to edit nadir on bottom face (remove tripod, eventually add logo)
7) I use PTGUI to project the bottom face to the panorama equirectangular projection, the same size of the original pano
😎 I use Photoshop to add the projected bottom to the uncorrected equirectangular, i merge levels, the pano is ready
9) I repeat for all the panos of the business
10) I load all the panos to Street View editor in prestitched mode, as i'm an old SV|T photographer, otherwise i load the prestitched photos to Google Photos, in a new folder i call PANO|_prestitched
11) I wait for the panos to be loaded
12) I open the SV app, i choose the yellow button on the right bottom corner, and i choose the Import sphericals photos option, then i choose the Google Photos source and i search for the uploaded photos
13) I open each single pano, and i long click on it to add blur for privacy reasons (faces, plates, personal details)
14) I choose a Google Map location for each pano (you can easily add the location to all the loaded panos), then i choose Publish to maps
15) After the images have been published, you can long click on a single image to add a link to another image

You are done 🙂

[JoeCullity]

Google has a tool called street view that allows you to upload the images from your Android phone and then link them together into a tour. There are also third-party tools that can run on a PC or a Mac that allow you to do the same basic functions on a larger screen. You will find that shooting the tour is easy, linking them together into a virtual tour is the more interesting or harder part. Some of the third-party tools have extra features which help with this linking. Street view and some of the third-party tools are free. Some of the fancier third-party tools have a question valved with using them.

[LucioV]

Sorry, just an add.

To add the VT to a place, simply, link all the panos to that place using "choose a place on map" on each or all selected panoramic photos.

[JohnTurner]

Great input, I really appreciate it.  I have been using the SV app and my phone to create and submit the spheres to google and that has been working well.  My question is how do I make it to where the tour is exclusive to a specific place? I can go inside of a business and take the images in a "tour" style then link them together with the arrows etc... just how do I differentiate between me just submitting that to google and the place actually being recognized as having a virtual tour?

[LucioV]

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@Crneeds wrote:

Great input, I really appreciate it.  I have been using the SV app and my phone to create and submit the spheres to google and that has been working well.  My question is how do I make it to where the tour is exclusive to a specific place? I can go inside of a business and take the images in a "tour" style then link them together with the arrows etc... just how do I differentiate between me just submitting that to google and the place actually being recognized as having a virtual tour?

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It's what i wrote in the last parts of my workflow.

You can do everything inside SV App 😉

Just choose the correct place on maps, after selecting the panoramic photos, and you are done!

[LucioV]

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@Crneeds wrote:

I have taken many photo spheres and they're on google maps, street view, earth etc.  I am a trusted google photographer.  Let's say a client comes to me and says "here is money, can you do a virtual tour of my business?"  I am able to take the spheres and connect them, but how do I get it to Google?  What is the procedure for submitting the virtual tour or "look inside" to google.  I appreciate any help with this. 

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Hi @JohnTurner seems that we already replied in another board, correct?

I want to add something here, to be sure: the "see inside" feature, is not available anymore, your 360 and virtual tours will be shown along with other photos or, eventually, with a thumbnail in the place description 😉