As probably the geekiest builder in this part of the country, I love finding new ways to incorporate technology into the building process, as well as in marketing to new home buyers. We put a great deal of effort and resources towards our web site, which is the most effective and efficient way to communicate to prospective clients, and showcase our service and product. From providing detailed information on homes and communities, to a several-thousand-and-counting photo gallery, our web site is every bit as important as a good furnished model home, as it hosts over 3,000 unique visitors on a slow month. That's considerably more traffic than a model home ever receives.
Many in the real estate industry recognize the power of the web, and as a result, there are hundreds, if not thousands of "virtual real estate tour" sites. However, most of these virtual tours are poorly implemented and thus not very useful for many reasons. One technology that has actually been around for several years is panoramic virtual tours, which are actually several photographs that are "stitched" together to simulate a 3D space. I've seen hundreds of examples of these tours, but few have ever provided quality imagery with an affordable method of creating them, nor have they typically used technologies that were widely compatible with the average web-surfer's browser and related software. Additionally, few offer an easy-to-use interface.
That is, until Mike Windham introduced me to the services of his company, Newspin 360.
As described by Mike, New Spin 360 uses the latest in technology available to capture seamless 360-degree high-resolution panoramic images. These images can be used for print or interactive virtual tour presentations that can be delivered in any of the popular media player formats: QuickTime(QTVR), Shockwave, Flash, or Java.
Mike and his team recently did a virtual shoot of our furnished model home in Silverhawk, and I was amazed at how realistic the virtual tour "feels" on-screen. It has a superb interface that works from within the browser window, and in the case of our tour for the model, you don't have to leave the page you're viewing...it loads as an overlay of the model's info page at our site.
The room-selection interface. From within a tour, you just click a room to view it.
The detail is impeccable (see the panorama of the master suite and note how you can clearly read the volume level of the room's audio keypad by the door), and the color and lighting captured in the images is dead-on.
Newspin 360's tours aren't just for selling real estate. Their tours are useful for corporate office tours, restaurants, classrooms and campuses, stores...nearly any physical space that would benefit through providing a virtual experience to those who can't, or haven't yet but might want to visit that space in person. You can view some of Newspin 360's other tours, including some of Oklahoma's landmark locations including the Ford Center, the Bricktown Canal, and Micky Mantle's Steakhouse. A few others I'd recommend checking out are Thorn Crown Chapel, and the Rouge Manor Castle.
Our experience with Mike has been superb, and you can plan on seeing more of Newspin 360's work at JeffClickHomes.com in the future. If you have a need for providing a virtual experience that is second-to-none, give Newspin 360 a call at 405-816-3635 or contact them at their site.
© 2007, Jeff Click Homes, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. Syndicated From The Jeff Click Homes Blog.
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