The equipment and software tools your team selects to document construction project progress need to capture the site as thoroughly as possible for a comprehensive view and effective progress monitoring.
Selecting the tools which are compatible with the appropriate photo formats, whether they be 360° or panoramic photos, will allow for the most effective tracking of progress as well as project collaboration across departments.
The challenge is, “360° photo”, “photo sphere”, and “panorama” are terms that are often used inter-changeably, potentially creating a little confusion – but what do they each mean and are there important differences?
Key Differences Between Panoramas, 360° Photos and Photo Spheres
Panoramas
Panoramic photos are basically a photo with a wider view. Think of it as looking straight ahead with your camera, then turning the camera on a horizontal or vertical axis to capture more than one photo would usually capture. They can be 360° panoramas, but only 360° on one axis, leaving some blind spots. In contrast to a full 360° photo, not everything around you is captured on a classical panorama.
There are different types of panoramic photos:
- Horizontal Panoramas: Most common type, capturing a wider angle of e.g. a landscape by moving the camera on a horizontal axis, i.e. left or right.
- Vertical Panoramas: Capturing a wider angle vertically like tall buildings by moving the camera on a vertical axis, i.e. up or down.
- 360° Panoramas: Imaging turning around once and capturing the entire surrounding. However, this often DOES NOT include ground and ceiling/sky.
- Spherical Panoramas: Goes one step further than a 360° panorama by capturing the entire surrounding on both horizontal and vertical axis thus creating a complete immersive 360° photo with no blind spots.
Here’s what a horizontal panorama looks like:
360° Photos and Photo Sphere
“360° photo” and “Photo Sphere” are essentially two terms for the same concept.
When you take a 360° photo or photo sphere with your camera, you capture every angle around you, in every possible viewing direction. The final product can then be projected on the inside of a sphere without leaving any spaces uncaptured.
The most common way to create a 360° photo is with a 360° camera. Most 360° cameras have two opposing lenses which each capture a bit more than 180°. The camera stiches the two photos together automatically, which will give you a full 360° photo.
On a plain screen on your desktop PC, a 360° photo will look like this:
Viewing 360° photos with dedicated software
By using a dedicated 360° viewer, jobsites can be captured in 360°, covering all angles, and viewed remotely as if you were on-site. Complete documentation has several use cases across industries like construction progress tracking, as-built documentation, facility management, and more.
This is how a full 360° can be viewed with the right software:
Bring it all together with FARO Sphere® XG
Using the JobWalk app, connected to an off-the-shelf 360° camera like an Insta360 or RICOH Theta, seamlessly take 360° photos with just a tap. The photos are automatically organized by location and time on the floor plan. After the capturing is done, everything is uploaded to the secure cloud.
Once your photo has been uploaded onto Sphere XG, you’ll be able to collaborate in the 360° environment: measure within the 360° photos, create markups, add PDFs, videos, notes, and more. Track site progress via the handy split screen view that displays two photos of different points in time side-by-side.
The entire 360° representation of your jobsite can be easily shared with teams across departments for effective collaboration. Once the project is completed, it can also be used as a rock solid as-built record for future operations and maintenance projects.
