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# University Virtual Tours: A Practical Guide for Admissions Teams
- URL: https://gothru.co/blog/exploring-virtual-college-tours/
- Published: 2023-06-26T04:54:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-05T15:33:39.000Z
- Description: Learn how to plan a university virtual tour around prospective students' questions, choose useful campus scenes and turn the finished experience into a working admissions resource.
- Author: 360 Virtual Tour Admin
- Tags: 360 Virtual Tour, Virtual Tour Software

A university virtual tour is an interactive online experience made from connected 360 panoramas, menus, maps and supporting media. It lets prospective students choose where to go, look around campus spaces and move at their own pace. For admissions teams, the most useful tours answer real questions about studying, living and getting support, then offer a sensible next step.

The best virtual tours for universities complement an in-person visit instead of pretending to replace one. A tour can help a student prepare for an open day, revisit spaces afterward or explore remotely when travel is not practical. A long sequence of unnamed panoramas is still hard to use, even when every image is sharp.

## How a university virtual tour fits the admissions journey

Prospective students do not explore a campus as a facilities manager would. They are trying to picture a future routine: where they will learn, how they will get around, what support is available and whether the campus feels right for them.

Plan the tour around those questions.

| A prospective student's question | Useful tour content                                                     | Relevant next step                         |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Where would I arrive?            | Main entrance, reception, transport points and a campus map             | Visit or open-day information              |
| Where would I study?             | Representative teaching rooms, lecture spaces and specialist facilities | Course or department page                  |
| What resources could I use?      | Library, studios, laboratories, workshops and study areas               | Facilities information                     |
| Where could I live?              | Representative accommodation and nearby shared spaces                   | Accommodation page                         |
| What support is available?       | Student services, accessibility services, health or wellbeing locations | Student-support information                |
| What happens outside class?      | Student union, dining areas, clubs, arts, sports and social spaces      | Student-life page                          |
| What should I do next?           | Admissions office or a closing scene with clear options                 | Book a visit, request information or apply |

If a student finishes a campus virtual tour with no route back to the admissions journey, the experience becomes an isolated gallery. Match each call to action to the scene. A residence-hall view might link to accommodation details, while a specialist studio might link to the relevant program.

## Plan a university campus virtual tour around decisions, not buildings

A campus may contain hundreds of rooms. Photographing all of them usually makes the tour harder to navigate and more expensive to maintain. A better plan starts with a small number of representative routes.

### Decide who the tour is for

An undergraduate applicant, an international student, a postgraduate researcher and a parent may want different information. Choose a primary audience for the first release. Other routes or languages can follow once the core experience is clear.

Write down one practical goal. For example:

- help international applicants understand the campus before they travel.
- let open-day visitors revisit specialist facilities.
- explain the route from arrival to a department.
- give applicants a clearer view of accommodation and student support.

These are project goals, not guaranteed admissions outcomes. Any claim about applications or enrollment would need measurement from the university's own funnel.

### Build short routes through related spaces

Group scenes in a way that matches how a visitor thinks. A top-level menu might use labels such as Campus map, Teaching spaces, Student life, Accommodation and Support. Department-level tours can go deeper without forcing every visitor through every room.

Give each scene a descriptive name. "Engineering fabrication lab" is more useful than "Room 204." If several rooms look alike, choose the one that best explains the experience and add concise context rather than repeating near-identical views.

### Add information only where it helps

A 360 scene can carry more than navigation. Text, images, audio or video can explain equipment, introduce a department, show student work or point to an official webpage. GoThru Tour Creator supports side menus, grouped submenus, maps, multiple languages and information layers that can include text, image, audio and video.\[2\]\[3\]

Avoid filling every scene with hotspots. Each interactive element should answer a question or move the visitor toward a useful destination.

## Two education virtual tours already linked by GoThru

The GoThru marketing website currently links to two public education-tour examples.\[3\]

### AUB 360°: a detailed university facilities tour

[AUB 360°](https://tourmkr.com/F1mmpNeyo0?ref=gothru.co) is a public tour for Arts University Bournemouth. AUB's launch announcement says the virtual campus experience was designed by the university's in-house digital designer and photographer.\[12\] Its menu begins with a campus map, then organizes a large set of creative facilities into understandable groups. Visitors can open areas for animation, architecture, film, photography, textiles, performance, modelmaking and other disciplines. The tour also includes campus services and spaces beyond teaching rooms.\[4\]

A prospective student interested in film does not have to click through unrelated workshops to find editing suites and production spaces. The grouped menu shortens that path.

The tour also provides English and Mandarin interfaces and connects visitors to official AUB information. Arts University Bournemouth's own website presents open days, campus tours, courses, applications and student life as separate parts of the prospect journey.\[6\] The virtual tour can support that journey because it gives facilities a visual, explorable layer.

### Birkenhead School: one tour for several age groups

[Birkenhead School's virtual tour](https://tourmkr.com/F1VsuDtUVl?ref=gothru.co) is a school example rather than a university example, and that distinction is worth keeping clear. It shows how one education tour can organize content for several audiences without turning the main menu into a building list.\[5\]

Visitors can choose aerial views and common facilities, then move into areas for Early Years, Prep, Seniors and Sixth Form. Sports spaces and departmental videos have their own groups. Birkenhead School describes itself as an independent day school for pupils from age two through Sixth Form, which explains why this audience-led structure fits the institution.\[7\]

For a university, the equivalent might be Undergraduate, Postgraduate, International students and Research facilities. The labels should follow the institution's actual audience and content, not this example mechanically.

These tours are design references, not admissions-outcome studies. Their public pages do not establish how many people viewed them or whether they changed applications or enrollment.

## What to look for in campus tour software

A platform should support the tour your content plan requires. Start with project questions rather than a feature count.

| Project question                                 | Capability to check                                        |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| Can visitors reach a department quickly?         | Menus, submenus and clear scene navigation                 |
| Can we explain what a room is used for?          | Text, image, audio or video information points             |
| Can international audiences use the same tour?   | Multiple-language support and a translation workflow       |
| Can visitors understand the campus layout?       | A map and meaningful location groups                       |
| Does the experience work on common screen sizes? | Responsive desktop and mobile presentation                 |
| Can we learn what people choose to open?         | Interaction statistics for menus, navigation and hotspots  |
| Can the institution control long-term delivery?  | Clear hosting, download, ownership and account terms       |
| Can public map imagery be part of the project?   | A separate, clearly scoped Street View publishing workflow |

GoThru Tour Creator supports responsive tours, menus, language options, maps, media layers and interaction statistics.\[2\]\[3\] Its product page also explains how to download a custom tour for separate hosting. Confirm the current plan and delivery terms before including that option in a university proposal.

### Hosted campus tour and Google Street View are different outputs

An enhanced campus tour can have branded navigation, detailed menus, program links and supporting media. It can live on or be linked from the university's website.

Google Street View is a separate publishing destination for eligible 360 imagery. Google's current contribution page explains how organizations can upload and manage 360 imagery through Street View Studio.\[9\] Publishing suitable campus imagery there does not automatically reproduce the menus, hotspots or admissions calls to action in an enhanced tour.

Decide whether the project needs one output or both. Record who will control the source panoramas, the hosted tour, the website embed and any imagery published to a third-party platform.

## Divide the project work before photography begins

University virtual tours touch several teams. Agreeing on responsibilities early keeps the finished photography from waiting for copy or approvals.

### The university team should own

- the primary audience and admissions goal.
- the approved locations and access schedule.
- current names and descriptions for each space.
- program, accommodation, support and visit links.
- consent, privacy, safeguarding and brand review.
- the person responsible for future updates.

### The photographer or production partner should own

- the capture plan and proposed panorama positions.
- camera, stitching and image-quality workflow.
- a route that avoids confusing jumps between scenes.
- agreed editing, privacy and revision work.
- delivery of the source and finished assets defined in the contract.

### The facilities or campus operations team should own

- current building and room names.
- planned closures, moves and renovations.
- arrival routes and accessible entrances.
- restrictions that affect capture or public display.
- a scheduled check for outdated spaces and directions.

### The web or digital team should own

- placement on the admissions website.
- embed behavior on desktop and mobile.
- page analytics and tagged outbound links.
- accessibility review.
- final checks after launch.

GoThru is the software layer for building, hosting and managing the interactive experience. It is not a university location-shooting service. An institution can use an internal capture team or an independent 360 photographer, then use GoThru for the tour workflow.

## Treat accessibility as a content requirement

Remote availability does not make a virtual tour accessible by itself. Some visitors cannot comfortably use drag-based 360 navigation, process spatial movement or access information presented only inside images.

Keep essential admissions information on normal web pages as well as in the tour. Use descriptive scene names, text alternatives for meaningful visual content, captions for informative video, readable contrast and keyboard-operable controls where the implementation supports them. Test the completed experience with the institution's accessibility team and against its chosen standard.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines cover web pages and web applications and organize accessibility around four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.\[8\] A campus tour should be part of that review, not treated as an exception because it is visual.

Privacy review belongs in the same project plan. Set rules for faces, vehicle plates, computer screens, student work, access-controlled areas and personal information before capture. Follow institutional consent and safeguarding policies, and remove or blur material that should not appear in a public tour.

## Launch the tour where students already make decisions

Do not hide the finished tour on a single generic page. Place or link relevant parts of it where prospective students already need visual context:

- the main visit or open-day page.
- course and department pages.
- accommodation information.
- international admissions pages.
- student-support and accessibility information.
- follow-up email after an event or inquiry.
- presentations used by counselors or recruitment teams.

Where the tour setup supports direct scene links, send visitors to the location that matches the message rather than always opening at the front gate. GoThru's embed workflow lets the creator choose the opening panorama and viewing angle for a website embed.\[11\]

## Measure whether the tour is being used

Choose the action you want to observe before launch. That may be opening a department menu, viewing accommodation, following a course link, booking a visit or starting an application.

GoThru's statistics dashboard can report interaction with navigation, menus and hotspots.\[2\] Pair those signals with the university website's analytics for the page containing the tour and for the next-step destination. Keep the two evidence sets separate: opening a hotspot is engagement, while submitting an application is an admissions outcome.

A simple review can ask:

1. Which pages send visitors into the tour?
2. Which sections and scenes receive interaction?
3. Where do visitors move next?
4. Do important spaces receive little attention because they are difficult to find?
5. Which links or room descriptions are now out of date?
6. What should be reshot or rewritten before the next recruitment cycle?

Establish a baseline, review the first complete 28 days and check again after a full admissions campaign. Do not treat a ranking, visit or application increase as the tour's effect unless the measurement design supports that conclusion.

## University virtual tour project brief

A photographer, admissions lead and web team should be able to work from the same brief. Include:

- institution, campus and project owner.
- primary audience.
- main visitor question the tour should answer.
- priority routes and spaces.
- locations that must not be shown.
- filming and photography access windows.
- consent, privacy and safeguarding rules.
- scene names and approved descriptions.
- required languages.
- maps, media and destination links.
- website embed location.
- optional Street View scope.
- source-file, account and hosting ownership.
- review and approval process.
- launch date and update owner.
- measurement plan.

This brief is more useful than starting with a target number of panoramas. The scene count should follow the student journey and approved scope.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do you create a virtual campus tour?

Define the audience and the question the tour must answer. Choose representative routes, plan the panorama positions, capture and edit the images, connect the scenes, then add only the labels, maps, media and links visitors need. Review privacy, accessibility and mobile behavior before launch, and assign someone to keep the tour current.

### Can a virtual campus tour replace an in-person visit?

It should not be framed as a complete replacement. It can help students prepare for a visit, revisit facilities afterward or explore when travel is not practical. In-person events still provide conversations and experiences that a self-guided tour cannot reproduce.

### Which campus spaces should be included?

Start with arrival points, representative teaching spaces, specialist facilities, the library, student support, social areas and accommodation where appropriate. Add only locations that answer a prospective student's question or explain a meaningful part of campus life.

### How are virtual college tours different from campus videos?

A video controls the order and pace. Virtual college tours let the visitor choose where to look and which route to follow. Many projects use both: the interactive tour for self-directed exploration and short videos for introductions or stories.

### Can a university virtual tour support more than one language?

Yes, when the tour platform and content workflow support it. GoThru Tour Creator includes a multi-language workflow, and the public AUB 360° example provides English and Mandarin interfaces.\[2\]\[4\]

### How often should a campus tour be updated?

Review it before major recruitment cycles and whenever a featured space, program name, link or access route changes. Keep a scene inventory so the owner can identify what needs revision.

### Can campus imagery also be published to Google Street View?

Eligible imagery can be prepared for a separate Street View publishing workflow.\[9\] The public mapping version and the enhanced admissions tour serve different jobs, so scope, privacy review, account control and maintenance should be agreed separately.

### How much does a university virtual tour cost?

Cost depends on the number of campuses and scenes, travel, access windows, capture method, image editing, privacy work, maps, media, languages, hosting, accessibility testing and future updates. Send the same project brief to each provider so you can compare scope rather than headline price. Check [GoThru's current plans](https://gothru.co/pricing.html?ref=gothru.co) separately from photography and production fees.

### Who creates the photography?

A university can use its own trained team or hire an independent 360 photographer. The capture brief should specify access, image standards, editing, privacy work, source files, delivery and revisions. GoThru provides software for assembling and managing the virtual tour; it is not presented here as a campus photography service.

## Build a campus tour with GoThru

The strongest university virtual tours make it easy for prospective students to find the spaces and information that matter to them. Start with a visitor question, build a short route, add context where it earns attention and connect the experience to a real admissions next step.

Explore [GoThru Tour Creator](https://gothru.co/virtual-tour-creator.html?ref=gothru.co) to see the menu, language, media, map and statistics options available for an enhanced 360 tour. When the content plan and panoramas are ready, use [Create Tour](https://gothru.co/create-tour.html?ref=gothru.co) to begin the build. University teams evaluating a larger or repeat workflow can [request a GoThru demo](https://gothru.co/sales.html?ref=gothru.co).

## Sources

\[2\] https://gothru.co/virtual-tour-creator.html — GoThru Virtual Tour Creator \[3\] https://gothru.co — GoThru \[4\] https://tourmkr.com/F1mmpNeyo0 — AUB 360° \[5\] https://tourmkr.com/F1VsuDtUVl — Birkenhead School virtual tour \[6\] https://aub.ac.uk — Arts University Bournemouth \[7\] https://www.birkenheadschool.co.uk — Birkenhead School \[8\] https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag — W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines \[9\] https://www.google.com/streetview/contribute — Google Street View: Create and publish imagery \[11\] https://gothru.co/docs/how-to-embed-an-overlay-virtual-tour-2 — How to Embed a Virtual Tour \[12\] https://aub.ac.uk/latest/arts-university-bournemouth-has-launched-a-disruptive-prospectus-designed-and-hosted-entirely-over-social-media-platform-instagram — Arts University Bournemouth launches AUB:360