Google has tapped The Moinian Group to be among the first real estate companies in the US to use its new virtual reality Tour Creator.
The tool will eventually allow the developer to show off the homes and offices in its 20 million square feet portfolio to anyone who cares to look when the virtual tour is uploaded to Poly, Google’s library of 3D content. The tool is easy for anyone to use without the need for an engineer or tech professional. Agents just drop a 360 camera in the unit and capture the experience on their phone. They can then send the link to a prospective client without hassle.
“This new tool that Google has created will be an extremely valuable resource for those of us who work in the world of real estate,” said Michael Mignosi, Director of Marketing at The Moinian Group.
Selected as one of the first companies to gain access to Tour Creator, The Moinian Group will launch the tool at Sky, its luxury residential project on the Far West Side and the country’s largest rental building.
After that, Moinian plans to introduce Tour Creator at Oskar, the developer’s newest luxury rental building at 572 11th Avenue and, ultimately, across its entire real estate platform, which totals 20 million square feet across the nation. Moinian is currently in the process of shooting every single unit in its portfolio and is exploring further usage of the tool such as embedding in digital advertising and its websites.
“At The Moinian Group, we are constantly looking to stay at the forefront of changing technology to improve our business and enhance the experience of our tenants,” said Mignosi. “Tour Creator has given us the ability to virtually allow an individual to immerse themselves in a space without physically seeing it. They can easily move around in a unit or building, explore the highlights, and then share the experience with their peers.”
Tour Creator is a way for anyone to easily create virtual reality tours, using footage from 360 cameras or picking from the expansive body of existing Street View content. Users are able to annotate the tour to provide useful details and facts. Then, they can quickly publish to Poly, Google’s library of 3D content. They can view tours through a browser on desktop or mobile, or in VR on Android by tapping the VR button and placing the phone in Cardboard (with iOS support coming soon), or embed tours directly in any website.
This comes on the heels of a number of innovative technology partnership announcements from The Moinian Group, including the investment in a variety of real estate tech companies through its technology investment arm, Currency M. Companies the developer has invested in include innovative co-living startup Ollie, flexible office space provider Knotel, and on-demand painting start-up Paintzen.
