Interactive Tours, 3D Documentation & Digital Twins…
Digital Twins – What is this witchcraft?
This is my first blog post and it’s been a while since I’ve written long form content so this will be an exercise in avoiding inadvertent death through boredom while hopefully keeping you all engaged enough for you to learn a thing or two.
So, digital twins, 3D scanning and more importantly, your business. With this post, I am looking to provide an overview of what digital twins are and how they can help your business save time and make money. I am going to draw on some case studies using recent contracts as my source and publish links to some examples that will help you form a picture of their scope.
Twinning? I should think so.
What is a digital twin? If you’ve ever used Google Street View to check-out your childhood home or plan a walk through the streets of Paris, you’ve already experienced a kind of digital twin. In simple terms, a digital twin provides an online, virtual representation of a real-world object.
So how exactly does a digital twin or virtual tour help my business? Excellent question. Read on below.
Real Estate, Hospitality & Holiday Rentals
Photography has been the dominant media choice when advertising real estate and hotel rooms for, well, forever and understandably so. I have copies of photographs taken in 1984 by an agent selling my parent’s house in Blackheath. They’re nice shots but they wouldn’t make the cut in today’s market because the advent of full-frame digital cameras made those photos (taken on old 110 or 126 film) look like cave paintings. Things have moved on technologically and it’s important to realise that maintaining a commercial advantage means moving beyond nice pics and some drone shots.
A digital twin or virtual tour is a powerful tool for attracting the right sort of attention to a home. A virtual tour will maximise the visibility of the property and allow prospective buyers the sort of access that even an open house won’t provide. All without the need for an agent to travel to the site. You can still host an open house but you and your clients will be online and while you talk them through the features of the house, they can explore & ask questions. You may actually wind up having more time to address people’s enquiries because you won’t need to answer the same question multiple time for different parties.
You can see a demo of the technology by clicking here.
If you’re selling hotel rooms or marketing your AirBnB, an interactive digital tour is going to show guests not just a room but an entire property. If you want to know more, you can read up on the experiences of the good folks at Vacasa – the vacation rental management platform. Just click the link HERE.
Architecture & construction
By using Matterport scanning technology to create your digital twin, we provide you with “as-built” documentation of your projects. There’s no need for you to travel to a worksite, arranging to meet with the construction manager, a project manager, partners, engineers and inspectors. We go in, scan your space and can share the models with you immediately. You get secure 24/7 access to the job site. There’s no need for in-situ measurement because our Pro3 scanner generates a dimensionally accurate, high-density point cloud which you can be imported directly into you CAD package. You can collaborate “in context” with stakeholders and by allowing us to digitise your QA/QC process, you eliminate miscommunication and identify issues before they translate into costs.
By using our digital twin service, you decrease site survey costs, you decrease in-person site visits, you can improve collaboration, speedup decision making and see genuine time and cost savings.
Why wouldn’t you want that for your business?
Insurance and Restoration
Whether you’re an insurance carrier, a loss adjuster, property owner or insurance agent, a 3d digital twin provides a highly accurate, transparent and impartial record of property damage. Fast, accurate settlements deliver lower costs and reduce disputes with policy holders. Our Matterport 3D digital twins memorialise spaces, avoid scene spoilage and provide accurate, updateable documentation through the insurance cycle.
You can view examples in the video living at this link here.
Questions?
I love questions so if you’ve any that you need answering, please drop me a line and we can work out an answer.
