Transparency is a big part of what we do here at NorthWest Auto Salon, and we’re not just talking about paint protection film. We love to be as open as possible about our detail & reconditioning processes, the products we apply, materials we utilize, and the vehicles we work on, but not everything at the shop is as “open-source” as some of our fans would like. For safety’s sake, we’ve kept the shop floor closed to the general public for the last few years since our move from Magnolia. As clean as it looks from the outside, it’s still a workspace at its core; floors will be slippery, vehicles need to be moved at a moment’s notice, and it can get a little dangerous during the busy hours. We love our clients & cars far too much, so the risks tend to outweigh the rewards when it comes to walk-in tours without time to prep.

NWAS-Virtual-Tour-live-google-map-listing

For the first time ever, visitors can now tour the shop straight from their mobile device! Currently, you can find our virtual tour on our Google+ listing or simply by looking up our address via Google Maps. We’re still awaiting connection to street view, but soon you’ll be able to go from the road right into the wash bay with just a few clicks of the mouse! Additionally, we built out a custom page to house our Google virtual tour that’s accessible by clicking the small garage logo & link located in the utility bar at the top of the page, or via the homepage panorama slider. Once the weather cools down, we’re going to be organizing a proper re-shoot & potentially even introducing a non-Google centric tour with more visual stimuli like vehicle interior panoramas & creative camerawork.

For the first time ever, visitors can now tour the shop straight from their mobile device! Currently, you can find our virtual tour on our Google+ listing or simply by looking up our address via Google Maps. We’re still awaiting connection to street view, but soon you’ll be able to go from the road right into the wash bay with just a few clicks of the mouse! Additionally, we built out a custom page to house our Google virtual tour that’s accessible by clicking the small garage logo & link located in the utility bar at the top of the page, or via the homepage panorama slider. Once the weather cools down, we’re going to be organizing a proper re-shoot & potentially even introducing a non-Google centric tour with more visual stimuli like vehicle interior panoramas & creative camerawork.

NWAS-Virtual-Tour-live-fish-owl-360-panorama-inside-1

Speaking of tour interactivity, there is one pretty cool highlight that our current tour captures pretty well. It just so happened that on the same day we had scheduled to shoot the tour panoramas, Cats Exotics McLaren 650S was hiding out in the cyclorama.

NWAS-Virtual-Tour-live-fish-owl-360-panorama-inside-2

Inside the tour, users can view the McLaren 650S hard parked in all its high-performance glory, and even slip through the open door to enjoy a nice, full panorama of the cockpit. Have a look for yourself!

Speaking of tour interactivity, there is one pretty cool highlight that our current tour captures pretty well. It just so happened that on the same day we had scheduled to shoot the tour panoramas, Cats Exotics McLaren 650S was hiding out in the cyclorama.

Inside the tour, users can view the McLaren 650S hard parked in all its high-performance glory, and even slip through the open door to enjoy a nice, full panorama of the cockpit. Have a look for yourself!

NWAS-Virtual-Tour-live-fish-owl-360-panorama

We had a lot of second thoughts about shooting a tour of the shop, but after a handful of conversations with Derek of Fish Owl 360, we knew it would be beneficial for our business listing online while providing a unique insight as to what the shop looks like behind closed doors. Derek’s background in automotive & the work he produced for a rather well known AAA racing game franchise really resonated with us; our experience working with Fish Owl 360 was enjoyable, efficient, and very professional. If you’re on the fence about a Google virtual tour of your own, they’re worth checking out.

We had a lot of second thoughts about shooting a tour of the shop, but after a handful of conversations with Derek of Fish Owl 360, we knew it would be beneficial for our business listing online while providing a unique insight as to what the shop looks like behind closed doors. Derek’s background in automotive & the work he produced for a rather well known AAA racing game franchise really resonated with us; our experience working with Fish Owl 360 was enjoyable, efficient, and very professional. If you’re on the fence about a Google virtual tour of your own, they’re worth checking out.

Enjoy the tour? Want to see more? Sound off in the comments below & let us know what ought to set up for our next virtual tour update. Who knows, if it really catches on, maybe our next door neighbors at Cats Exotics will want to show us all a tour of their massive showroom & stock space!

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One thought on “Panorama Palooza: NWAS Google Virtual Tour Goes Live”

  1. Jakency says:

    Thisis really nice.
    Good Job

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