Virtual Tour Glossary
This glossary brings together the terms that come up during virtual tour shoots and quote conversations. Each definition reflects how we use the term in the field, based on 1,457 projects.
Jump to a term
Core concepts
Virtual tour
A space made explorable through linked 360° panoramas. Visitors can walk through the interior without being there, look in any direction and move from one area to the next. Full guide →
360° panorama
A full spherical image, captured from a single point, that covers every direction. It is the building block of a virtual tour: the visitor stands inside the image and turns around freely. Full guide →
Scene
Each spot where the tripod is set up and a 360° image is captured. A virtual tour is priced by the number of scenes, not by square meters. Full guide →
Hotspot
A clickable point inside the tour. It can take the visitor to another scene, open an info box, play a video or link out to an external page. Full guide →
Shooting and post-processing
Stitching
The process of merging photos taken at different angles into a single spherical panorama. Poor stitching leaves visible seams, broken lines and warped surfaces in the image.
Stitching seam
A visual flaw that appears wherever a panorama was stitched incorrectly. It shows up as straight lines that break, surfaces that bend or patterns that repeat.
Fisheye lens
A lens with an extremely wide field of view. In 360° photography it lets you cover the entire space in just a few frames.
HDR
High dynamic range. By blending frames shot at different exposures, it keeps both bright windows and dark corners clearly visible in the same image.
Nadir
The very bottom of the panorama — the spot where the tripod stands. After the shoot, this area is retouched so the tripod does not show.
Zenith
The very top of the panorama: the ceiling or the sky. It is what visitors see when they look straight up.
Horizon line
The horizontal axis of the panorama at eye level, also called the equator. It has to stay consistent from scene to scene so the transitions between them look natural.
On the Google side
Google Street View
Google's system of 360° imagery for streets and indoor spaces. Once a business's tour is integrated into it, the tour can be viewed on Google Maps. Full guide →
Street View Trusted
The authorization Google grants to the photographers it certifies. A tour shot without this certification cannot be linked to a Google Business Profile. Full guide →
See inside
The feature on Google Maps and the Business Profile that opens the virtual tour. Users can step inside the venue straight from the business listing in the search results. Full guide →
Google Business Profile
A business's official listing on Google Search and Google Maps. The virtual tour is linked to this profile, which also holds the address, opening hours and reviews. Full guide →
Place ID
The unique identifier Google assigns to every business. This ID is how the virtual tour gets connected to the right business.
Publishing and use
Embedding
Showing the virtual tour inside a frame on a web page. You paste a single line of code into your site, and no separate hosting is needed. Full guide →
Lazy loading
Loading content only when the user reaches that part of the page, not when the page first opens. It is used when embedding a virtual tour to keep the page fast. Full guide →
Info card
A box with text or images that opens when a hotspot is clicked. It shares what the space can't say for itself: capacity, technical details, service notes. Full guide →
Advanced technologies
VR (virtual reality)
Exploring a virtual tour with a VR headset. Visitors can look around as if they were standing inside the space.
Digital twin
A data-driven digital copy of a physical asset. Unlike a virtual tour, its purpose is not to show a space but to measure and manage it. Full guide →
Photogrammetry
A method of building a 3D model from a large number of photos. The result can be measured, but it breaks down on reflective surfaces. Full guide →
Gaussian Splatting
A new 3D visualization method that represents a scene with millions of semi-transparent points instead of surfaces. It looks highly realistic, but the files are heavy and cannot be published on Google Maps. Full guide →
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