Generate more engagement by embedding videos, images, audio, and more with Multimedia Mattertag Posts

By Matt Bell
Co-Founder, Matterport

We evolved to experience the world in 3D — to see it, move through it, interact with objects and other people, and build rich maps in our mind as we do so. We learn fastest in situations where we are fully immersed and directly experiencing the topic we’re learning about.Embed multimedia and immerse yourself into a 3D space.

Interestingly, we spend much of our time with other less immersive forms of content, whether it’s documents, tables, illustrations, photos, maps, or videos. The online world is built on this content and can manipulate it in amazing ways. It allows us to search through millions of products or listings, share a stream of photos with friends around the world, and publish our thoughts for broad audiences to read. As we spend increasing portions of our time experiencing the world through the internet, this content has become core to our lives.

However, the format of almost every online experience is 2D. Websites don’t take advantage of our ability to learn best through immersive experiences. We started Matterport in part to bring the richness of the real world into the digital world. This began with us making 3D capture easy  – so the spaces that people care about could be experienced online. It’s been tremendously successful so far, and we’re very close to hitting the landmark of half a million properties captured with the Matterport 3D camera.

Ideally, everyone should have the best of both worlds — the immersive experience of visiting a 3D Space, but with the incorporation of the multimedia formats that make up the modern web.

As a result, we set out to build Multimedia Mattertag Posts, enabling you to build a wide variety of content inside a Matterport model, including images, audio, videos, documents, Google Maps / Street View, slide presentations, polls, other Matterport model, and even embedded product pages from sites such as Amazon. In fact, any of the over 400 content providers supported by Embedly can now be embedded in a Matterport model.

We’re creating a new paradigm for navigating the web by embedding this rich content in a 3D model of a physical space instead of in a 2D layout on a website. This takes all the dreamed-of use cases for augmented reality and brings them to digital 3D spaces in an easy-to-use way.

Here are some specific use cases that we think are going to be exciting, embed multimedia

Residential real estate:

You can now showcase far more about a home, giving potential homebuyers even more reasons to be excited by the virtual tour:

  • Enable buyers to learn more about the kitchen appliances by linking to product reviews.

  • Give users the freedom to explore the neighborhood by embedding Street View on the front door or the driveway.

  • Got a drone video?  Let users fly off the back porch and see what lies beyond!

  • Draw buyers’ attention to the special features of each room with an audio narration.

  • Is there a separate guest house?  Embed that model directly in the Matterport model so they can take a quick look around and then return to the main model.

Embed multimedia  and show off  hospitality:

Enable customers to visualize the amazing vacation they can take:

  • Highlight important amenities of a hotel room or vacation rental house with images, videos, and audio.

  • Take customers on a virtual tour of the hotel grounds with embedded videos, other 3D models, or Street View.

  • Learn the history and traditions of a hotel with images and videos embedded in a 3D tour of the lobby.

Construction and facilities management:

The 3D model of the space becomes the central organizing point for any important information about the space:

  • Embed any close-up photos of issues in the right spot so they can be found and dealt with easily.

  • Leave voice notes about problems or concerns directly tagged to the areas of concern.

  • Simplify maintenance by attaching operation manuals and training videos to equipment on the site.

  • Streamline facilities management with embedded PDFs, videos, pictures, etc.

Retail, Restaurants, and Event Venues:

Multimedia integrations enable business owners to entice customers to visit in person with an engaging online experience.

  • For event spaces, excite virtual visitors with images and videos of past events hosted in the space.

  • For spas, salons, clubs, doctors’ offices, and other service-oriented businesses, welcome customers to the space and enable them to learn more about the services offered in a space with embedded videos and images.

  • For retail spaces, merge the immersion and visual excitement of the physical store layout with the convenience of online shopping by showing detailed product images and promotional videos as well as linking to the store’s online inventory for purchase.

  • For restaurants, build customer interest and enhance restaurant reputation by embedding videos of chef interviews, kitchen tours, and food preparation.

Embed multimedia through news and entertainment:

Tell rich, interactive stories with Spaces, embed multimedia

  • For any news story about a site, embed a series of photos, videos, articles, or audio narrations that help readers learn more about the site.

  • Enrich the experience of visiting a movie set with clips and interviews

  • For entertainment properties, integrate marketing and promotion activities directly into the model.

Culture and Education:

Bring museums and landmarks to life by exposing their full library of rich assets.

  • Take the museum’s library of videos and make them instantly available in the appropriate areas of the space.

  • For any exhibit or item, add detailed descriptions, photos, videos, and interviews with  artists or historical figures.

  • Seamlessly integrate the history of the space with old photos and videos of events that happened there, embedded in the precise spot where they happened.

  • Enable virtual visitors to tour the gift shop and buy mementos online.

We’ve been wanting to release this feature for a long time, and we’re excited to see the interactive worlds you build with it!
Thanks,
Matt