New Expeditions: ThingLink’s Stunning 360 Image Library

Kyla Ball February 9, 2021

ThingLink’s 360 Image Library is a curated collection of professional 360 images from culturally relevant natural and historic sites. You can use the images to create virtual tours and immersive learning experiences that let your learners travel virtually across the world, into hard-to-access contexts for employee and vocational training, into historical environments or literary settings and even into far-off galaxies or fantastical realms.

How can you access the 360 Image Library?

You now have access to the 360 Image Library in all account types in ThingLink. You will find a link to the library within the information icon on the left navigation sidebar. Simply browse through the images and choose one that you could like to clone. In addition, you can choose images from the 360° Image Library during the image creation flow. Simply choose “Create”, then choose “360 image”, then choose “360 Library”. Have a browse, pick an image, and choose “Continue”. The image is automatically cloned into your content.

We first launched ThingLink’s 360 Image Library in 2017, which allowed teachers and students to build virtual expeditions and field trips. Using ThingLink’s ‘Clone’ feature, users could create their own interactive versions of the library images. For instance, they could add notes and narration, or connect several scenes into a virtual tour. It was so popular that subsequently we made the 360 Image Library available to all users – not just those in education.

Create virtual tours that users can access anywhere

We know educators would like to create their own virtual tours using 360 imagery, but may not have access to a 360-degree camera. The library features a vast range of 360 photos taken in places such as Antarctica, California State Parks and Desert Habitats. You can also find a stunning series of shots from selected destinations such as CERN, The Palace of Versailles and Taj Mahal. Now anyone can use ThingLink’s 360 Image Library to explore historical landmarks, visit international capitals and Unesco World Heritage Sites from wherever they are.

From 2024 you will now also find a wide range of images created using AI. These include historical, mythical, fantasy and literary settings such as Hogwarts and Middle Earth. They also include a range of work settings such as factories, workshops and warehouses, ideal for safety training and other employee guidance.

Teachers and instructors can guide the tours from their home, by recording a voice narration in the background of the images. This means that students and trainees are not required to wear headsets, or be online at the same time. They can view the guided VR tours at their own pace from an iphone, android phone or any mobile device.

You can also share your tours with your learners via direct link, LMS, Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams. Additionally you cam embed your virtual tour in a website or landing page, share via social media or with a QR code.

How do you create a virtual tour?

Watch this short video and become a virtual tour creator!

Taking your own 360-degree images – ThingLink make it easy!

If you want to create your own virtual tours from scratch you can use a camera or phone that takes 360 jpgs as photospheres. Models to look at include the Insta360, Ricoh Theta V or Ricoh Theta z1 cameras or the Google Pixl phone range.

Creating virtual tours, exhibitions, escape rooms and other immersive content just got even easier! ThingLink has now launched Pano to 360 by ThingLink: an easy way to create a 360 photosphere from a panoramic image using any smartphone. For more information, including step-by-step instructions see this helpful support article.

What can you use Virtual Tours for?

Using ThingLink’s “Conditional Transition” functionality, it’s now easy to build tests and learning games that include a question for the viewer before transitioning to the next scene. This can be a fun project for students working in small groups, and they can share their games with each other! One of the most popular learning experiences to create with 360 images are Escape Rooms. read how at our blog How to Make a Virtual Escape Room.

Further reading on creating virtual tours with ThingLink

Virtual Tours in ThingLink are being used across a huge range of sectors, from real estate to safety and security training. Realtors can create virtual staging tours that provide a walkthrough of a site for potential buyers who can’t attend in person. Our new floor plan feature adds extra navigation for the viewer.

ThingLink is the simplest and easiest to learn virtual tour software for Higher Education users, who use it to create high quality 360-degree tours at low cost that are instant and easy to update.

• Read how universities worldwide are using ThingLink to create virtual campus tours.
• Read how an academic at Queens University Belfast created virtual field trips
• Read how Southampton University created virtual field trips for marine biology students
• Virtual Tours in ThingLink can also be used with a VR headset: Read our round up of the latest research into using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in workplace training