iGuide vs Matterport

Well folks,

I have a new Matterport competitor in town. As I am also just getting started (one month in business) I have actually assisted him with the leg work I have done introducing 360 tours etc.

What can the successful iGuide folks in here offer as suggestions to help me address this new competition.

Some of my clients prefer the way Matterport introduces the home with a full address and prefer the operation of the tour? I would really appreciate some suggestions to address these comments

Cheers

George

Hi George,

I started long after Matterport had shown up in my area. I was a floor plan creator already, and that is why I like iGuide so much.

I think the iGuide delivers a complete package and Matterport does not. If my competitors added a floor plan and photos to their Matterport fee, their price would be much higher than my own. Floor plans are becoming the norm and realtors need them. This gives us a huge leg up. Also, for me, I much prefer the iGuide 3D tour. I like iGuide better because I can always see which room I’m in and how it relates to the rest of the floor. With the Matterport I feel disoriented and am never quite sure what the whole floor looks like.

Mike

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iGuide and Matterport solve two different problems and hence deliver different solutions.

Matterport tried to take real environment and how you interact with it (walk) and replicate that experience in the computer, creating virtual reality.

iGuide tried to empower users and give them more than what is available in real environment creating an efficient way to understand unknown spaces. iGuide augments virtual reality with additional data - floor plans that help you understand the environment and navigate through it in ways not possible in real life. You always know where you are in the space and can teleport anywhere you want on the floor plan instantaneously.

If you need to get from NY to LA, Matterport gives you shoes and iGuide gives you a jet. As for the dollhouse view, its novelty wears off very quickly and users lose interest very fast, that is the feedback we are getting all the time at trade shows. Another aspect agents do not realize without first hand experience is that with Matterport they have to babysit a photographer for 3 hours onsite and only one hour with iGuide.

And then the whole measurements and reporting aspect of iGuide, especially in Alberta where you are. For agents getting defensible square footage from Matterport data may be very problematic.

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The most common comment I receive is that users tend to get lost in a matterport model. The interface makes sense for a lot of people, but not all people. Those who don’t “get it” get lost and give up. They don’t come back.
iGuide makes sense for all people. It’s always obvious where you are and how to get to the next space you want to explore. People don’t get lost. People come back.
Add the high degree of accuracy, measurements, reports, photo gallery, video options, etc and iGuide delivers a complete package.

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Thank you Alex,

Fantastic reply and I will use your NY to LA scenerio in conversation with my clients. Great way to cover the differences in product.

Cheers

George

Thanks Michael

I agree with you specifically regarding the fees. My new competition is making a lot of promises he won’t be able to keep long term. I want to address his business as professionally as I can.

cheers

George

I believe the biggest selling points of the iGuide system over Matterport is a full package at a lower price, less time on site, quicker turnaround time (in Toronto at least from the feedback we have had) and the load time on mobile devices is faster and simpler to use.

Some agents want the latest flashy experience because they think it adds value to their brand and helps to win a listing but Matterport lacks many key features as mentioned in this and previous posts.

We have many Matterport dealers in my area. Here is how I win when I’m involved in competing with them:

-Quality - iGuide provides much better quality.
-Time on site - Takes approximately 1 hour for ever 1,000SqFt a Matterport scans. You do the math.
-Navigation - When people first see the, “dollhouse,” view, they think it’s great. Then they start to use it and come to hate it.
-Floor Plans - Every iGuide customer gets one.
-Support - I looked long and hard at Matterport before buying an iGuide. The Planitar people BLOW AWAY the Matterport people with support. The Matterport people are arrogant and couldn’t care less about the dealer. This shows in the quality of the experience with the dealer.

When people see the difference in quality they’re already sold. When you tell them how long the Matterport takes, they’re REALLY sold. The only reason I ever lose a deal to Matterport (if I do) is because the dealers here give away the Matterport–have had one woman doing them for $99.

100 % behind you regarding support… well done iGuide support team!

Thanks for the feedback

Cheers

George

I prefer iGUIDE hands-down. It’s more pieces of the puzzle, where Matterport is just 1 or 2 pieces of the puzzle. Matterport charges more for features. I know they just introduced compatibility with small-format 360 cameras, like the Ricoh Theta and the like.

Then only comparison I find misleading is that “Occlusion” is a problem with iGUIDE tours. Matterport tours do not permit transporting through walls where iGUIDE tours do. While this may be an asset on the Floor Plan side, with the ability to select a target and go, on the 3D Visual side it can be confusing to click somewhere in the kitchen or from outside only to arrive in the master bathroom or a walk-in closet.

Several solutions can be considered, although it’s likely that none will. one solution could be the ablility to link specific views with specific targets (i.e. An outside shot connected to other outside shots and the Foyer entry, or garage entry, or back door entry, etc.) or alternatively disabling specific targets from access from specific targets; another could be to make the interface work only with visible targets, meaning we would have to include small hallways to connect rooms, and have to back-track to see other areas of the space. A third solution would be ideal, to have occlusion added as a Portal Feature Option in the general settings to add a checkbox for “Occlusion Rules” - that would give stronger flexibility in both directions and of course mean that any iGUIDE you would want to work with occlusion would have to show some scans that may not add value to the experience.

I read somewhere that the cap on Matterport scans is up to 10,000SqFt per project.

One website says this about the two (obviously written by a Matterport fan):

(https://www.designblendz.com/blog/guide-to-matterport)

  • Matterport vs. iGuide

iGuide, from the company Planitar, is similar to Matterport in that it comes with a camera rather than using an off-the-shelf one. The cost is also similar.

iGuide can capture tour data more quickly than Matterport can, but uses less data to upload. Unlike Matterport, you can scan as many times per project as you need to. However, a few of the features Matterport offers are missing from Planitar’s product, including the ability to add information tags and create hotspots.

iGuide also does not have occlusion, which prevents viewers from walking through walls and similar obstacles, making for a more realistic experience. It’s not compatible with virtual-reality devices, but it does offer photo gallery capabilities and a schematic floor plan at no extra charge.

Information Tags and HotSpots (with pop-up photos/ info) would add tremendous value to our commercial market, and a good deal of value to the real estate market.

Love the NY to LA example. I am going to reference that to my clients for sure!

We are considering an iGuide for our real estate business. But it seemed that when adding up the per-property cost at $42 + per-sq-ft, it would add up to a lot more money after only a couple projects than the subscription monthly fee of Matterport. Am I misunderstanding what the processing fee is providing? We would be wanting floor plans.

The floor plan drafting fee from iGUIDE data is CA$0.028/sf with a minimum charge of CA$42, which you would pay for a 1500sf property. An average sized 2400sf home would then be CA$67.20. This page has a convenient calculator.

iGUIDE technology is designed to be the most cost effective way for capturing floor plan and 3D tour data at the same time. The total production cost involves time spent capturing data onsite multiplied by camera operator hourly rate (iGUIDE is 2x-3x faster than Matterport), any at home post-processing of data before it is uploaded to the cloud (~10-15 min with iGUIDE; cannot speak about Matterport), floor plan drafting cost (CA$0.028/sf with min CA$42 for iGUIDE and CA$20 for Matterport) and hosting cost (1st year hosting included in drafting fee with iGUIDE; varies with plan for Matterport with a limit on the number of active models).

Then there is a whole question of floor plan and square footage accuracy, with iGUIDE meeting and exceeding industry standards with lots of headroom and Matterport being right at the threshold, if that, with no extra headroom.

If you are running a real estate photography business and are shooting a lot of homes a month, you can calculate the savings that can be realized with iGUIDE. If you are a real estate professional and are selling homes, then you probably look at costs differently and instead of buying a camera may benefit from engaging a professional photographer who will, in addition to iGUIDE, provide you with professionally taken photos, drone video and other real estate marketing deliverables you may need. Here is a map of iGUIDE operators for reference: https://goiguide.com/operator.

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Honestly there’s just no comparison.

I owned a Matterport and sold it for the iGuide system. Never looked back and have never regretted the decision. Planitar as a company is incredibly responsive and their software has continued to be upgraded at a phenomenal rate.

No monthly fees and iGuide has incredible marketing abilities that matterport just can’t match.

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That is excellent to hear. It is the model we are leaning towards and the feedback is very helpful!

Agreed. I’ve dealt with a LOT of vendors over the years in the various industries that I’ve worked in – both good and bad. I can tell you that I’m a big fan of the ways that Planitar is customer-centric and responsive. I wish all the vendors I work with were like that.

Can the Canon DSLR be used as a normal camera? Can the lenses be interchanged like with a personal Canon Rebel? Not for the 3D use you understand… just to be useful as a general SLR camera.

The lens and Canon DSLR are permanently attached to the rest of the system and are calibrated together as part of the measurement set up. Canon DSLR is not user-serviceable or replaceable and cannot be used separately either.

While it is possible to easily compose and extract still images from fisheye shots taken with iGUIDE’s Canon DSLR during post-processing, their resolution is limited to about 2MP.

Most photographers carry a 2nd DSLR dedicated to taking high resolution still images for print and photo gallery in the iGUIDE.

The best vantage point to shoot a pano is in the middle of a room or at least away from the walls, while the best locations for shooting a still image are usually when backed into a corner.