Viewing tours offline on mobile devices

Q&A about the latest versions
Fotopano
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:10 pm

Hello,

I am wondering around the forum to find ways how virtual tours can be put on mobile devices (in this case iOS) for offline viewing. So far I have seen and tested only Goodreader App, which is great app for myself for its low price and functionality. The good things about it are that it is working and fairly easy to set-up, but I am not so satisfied with User Interface and User Experience. I was thinking about putting tour on our clients iPad via GoodReader App, but abstained from doing so because it just don't look professional. Ok, there is another way - to create a native iOS application for the tour, but almost all of my clients are not willing to pay for that (in my area there are only few professional iOS developers and they charge a LOT).

Am I the only one who is not satisfied with only these two options being out there for browsing tours offline and giving to clients - GoodReader and native iOS app. Are you familiar with other apps/techniques/hacks/ways for iOS that allow viewing tours offline and might be something between GoodReader and native app? Does your clients ask about offline viewing of tours on their mobile devices?

Cheers
Fotopano
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:10 pm

Thanks, Tong!

That is a great app for Android! However, it looks almost like GoodReader. Although, I bet both of these apps are working just fine, the interface and navigation to open the tours, is not so great. While I can cope with that, I am not so confident in presenting this as a ready solution for offline browsing to my clients. And that is the main reason why I am seeking whether there is something that looks nicer. Perhaps even with a possibility to add icon to homescreen or something in that manner. Something more aesthetic than browsing through folders to find html file...
MacHeld
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:26 am

You can't because apple does not allow this (passing a file:// URL to safari) :)

How much would you pay for this app (displaying some archived panoramas) ?
(although not very complicated, you need some good file organization so that arbitrary URLs can be loaded into a UIWebView and displayed properly)
Grüsse,
Clemens
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Hopki
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Hi, Have a look at HTML Books.
Very simple to use, just zip up the output folder from pano2VR, rename the html page to index and away you go.
Regards,
Hopki
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Fotopano
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:10 pm

Thanks, Hopki and MacHeld!

Tested out HTML Books! UI is far better than GoodReader, but it lacks some great functionality of GoodReader. For example, you cannot hide the top menu - lock-in the viewer. There are a couple of other things that I personally would like to have, but those are also not on the GoodReader. In fact, those things might be something over the top of the average VT creator.

I am starting to think that the only such App that would suite me would be App created or ordered by me.. :D But then again, it takes a lot of time and money. However, I wonder if I am the only one of the VT creators that lacks such a specific App. What do you guys think, should there be a Great App for viewing tours offline on an iPad and other devices? So to say, if there is Demand, then there will be Supply that meets that Demand.. :roll:

If I understand you correctly, MacHeld, you are on the same page as me - you also would like to have this App. Regarding price for such an App, I would say that creating it custom just for my own usage would be too expensive.

Cheers
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edgar_ali
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Hopki:

I was trying to look for these HTML Books, but could not find that app of software....where do i look for that?... I would like to see my tours offline and in my mobile device (i.e.iphone)
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Tony
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Hi,

There are a couple of different ways to get the tours onto iOS devices depending upon your access to those devices and the workflow/publishing access you have available to you. You say in your original post;
I was thinking about putting tour on our clients iPad via GoodReader App

Does 'putting' mean you have access to their devices in order to load the tour or do you intend to post a tour on server or other remote location that they would then download to their devices?
but abstained from doing so because it just don't look professional.
When you say it doesn't look professional are you talking about the GoodReader document structure where all of the files contained within the folder are visible or the actual GoodReader interface that is displayed when a tour has loaded?

There is an alternative application called Document 5 by Readdle that is similar to GoodReader but a bit of a simpler interface, the following illustration shows the main document screen, individual folder, normal screen, single tap to hide UI screen. As you can see it's a much cleaner screen. Documents can be downloaded as zip files from iCloud, the Web, or sideloaded from iTunes.

Image

You can find Document 5 on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/documen ... 01807?mt=8

Alternatively you could go to the next stage and build an app that can be given to your clients to load onto their devices using PhoneGap. This requires a little bit more application support such as an Apple Developer Account, but provides you the option to create branded apps. You can find more information on PhoneGap at http://phonegap.com/. If you are a paid user of Creative Cloud you can have up to 25 free apps at any given time.

Here is an quick Pano2VR project that I just used to create a PhoneGap app. Took about 5 minutes.

Image

The nice thing about PhoneGap it's an actual app and it just opens straight into your tour. If you don't want to go the whole publishing route you can distribute it to devices that are registered on your developer account. Great for small marketing teams etc.

Tony
Tony Redhead | Panoramic Photographer | mobile: +61438501002 | website: https://tonyredhead.com - https://redsquare.com | Pano2VR Tutorials: https://tonyredhead.com/pano2vr | instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyredhead/
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edgar_ali
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Tony:

I am a paid user of creative cloud, what do you mean you can have 25 free apps at any given time, is it tht they develop it for you?

Im new to creating apps...


Or is it that you get some space to store your apps for free?
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edgar_ali
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Just try the documents application and looks fine to me, but definitively an app would be better...
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Tony
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edgar_ali wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 1:25 am I am a paid user of creative cloud, what do you mean you can have 25 free apps at any given time, is it tht they develop it for you?
It means you can build up to 25 apps at any given time. When you build your app using PhoneGap you add it to your dashboard, when you have 25 apps built and residing in the dashboard you cannot build anymore unless you pay an additional amount. Here's a shot of the dashboard..so I can build 23 more apps.

Image

So let's say you build an app for a specific time period, once the app is no longer needed you delete it and it means you can build a new one.

Tony
Tony Redhead | Panoramic Photographer | mobile: +61438501002 | website: https://tonyredhead.com - https://redsquare.com | Pano2VR Tutorials: https://tonyredhead.com/pano2vr | instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyredhead/
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Tony
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edgar_ali wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 3:46 am Just try the documents application and looks fine to me, but definitively an app would be better...
Documents is pretty good. But better to build using PhoneGap and then put it on iTunes and PlayStore. Here's one I built...

iOS: https://rebrand.ly/UTAS-VR
Android: https://rebrand.ly/UTASVRAndroid

Tony
Tony Redhead | Panoramic Photographer | mobile: +61438501002 | website: https://tonyredhead.com - https://redsquare.com | Pano2VR Tutorials: https://tonyredhead.com/pano2vr | instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyredhead/
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edgar_ali
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Thanks Tony:

I need to look into that
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edgar_ali
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The app from the university of Tasmania looks really good
bkiter
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 1:36 pm

Hello Tony, does PhoneGap allows building Apps for the GearVR?

Im not a programmer, is it difficult to use the program?

I will start searching Google / Youtube to see if I find additional info

Thanks
Tony wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 7:39 am
edgar_ali wrote: Fri May 05, 2017 3:46 am Just try the documents application and looks fine to me, but definitively an app would be better...
Documents is pretty good. But better to build using PhoneGap and then put it on iTunes and PlayStore. Here's one I built...

iOS: https://rebrand.ly/UTAS-VR
Android: https://rebrand.ly/UTASVRAndroid

Tony
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