The Floor Plans tab: plans, pins and the radar

The Floor Plans tab is where you give a tour its floor plans: upload a picture of each floor, click on it to pin every scene where it was shot, and turn the radar so the cone on the map points the way the camera faces. Visitors see the plans as the corner map and in the floor plan window. This page lists each control; the whole job, step by step, is in Add a floor plan and a minimap to a tour, and the look of the map is in Floorplan minimap settings.

Who can use it. The owner, and collaborators whose role includes the Floor Plans tab (Editors and Admins by default). Calibrate Radar saves through the panorama, so it also needs the Panoramas tab. No plan is needed.

Basic and Advanced. The tab is in the Advanced view only. Click Advanced in the Basic / Advanced switch first if the tab is not in the row.

When visitors get a change. Nothing on this tab makes the tour's stored page again: not uploading, renaming or deleting a plan, and not placing or moving a pin. Set Position does, and so does Save & Render on the Design tab, unless the tour uses Draft Workflows; then Publish changes sends it (My changes do not show for visitors).

Plans

Upload Floor Plan

Adds a picture of a floor to the tour.

Where: The top of the list on the left. With a keyboard, Tab to it and press Enter or Space to open the file chooser. What it does: Choose a PNG or JPEG file of up to 5 MB. While it uploads the page reads Uploading map.... The plan joins the list as Floor Plan 1, then Floor Plan 2, and so on, with a count such as 0 pins. A smaller copy is made for the player. If the file is refused, red text says why, for example The image field must be a file of type: jpeg, png, jpg. or The image field must not be greater than 5120 kilobytes. A tour made from the free trial can have only a few plans; the message says so and offers a free account. What visitors see: Nothing until the plan has pins and the tour is published again.

Search maps

Narrows the list of plans.

Where: Under Upload Floor Plan, the box that says Search maps.... What it does: Keeps the plans whose name contains your text. If none match it says No map found matching and your text. With no plans at all it says No floor plans uploaded yet.

Floor plan row

One row for each plan.

Where: The list on the left. What it does: Click the name to choose the plan; it opens on the right. The row shows how many pins the plan has. Until you choose one, the right side reads No Floor Plan Selected and Choose a floor plan on the left to add pins, or upload one.

Rename Floor Plan

Changes a plan's name.

Where: The pencil on a plan's row; its tooltip is Rename Floor Plan. What it does: Type the new name and press Enter or click away. With extra languages, the box holds the name in the language chosen in Editing. What visitors see: The name in the player when the tour has several plans.

Delete Floor Plan

Moves a plan to the Trash.

Where: The trash icon on a plan's row; its tooltip is Delete Floor Plan. What it does: Asks Delete this floor plan? and says It goes to the Trash for 30 days and can be restored from the Assets tab. The button is Delete floor plan. Its pins go with it. Related: Delete tours and panoramas, and get them back.

Unmapped Panoramas

The scenes that have no pin yet.

Where: Under the list of plans. What it does: Lists the tour's scenes that are on none of its plans. When every scene has a pin it says All panoramas have been pinned to a map.

Pins

Add a pin by clicking

Click the plan where a scene was shot.

Where: On the plan. What it does: A round pin appears and a list reads -- Select Panorama -- above Choose the panorama this pin opens. Until a pin is selected, the page reads Click the plan to add a pin, or use Add pin. Each click on an empty part of the plan adds a pin, so click a pin to select it. A plan holds up to 500 pins.

Add pin

Puts a pin in the middle of the plan.

Where: Above the plan, at the right. What it does: Adds a pin in the middle and focuses it, so the arrow keys can move it. It is the way to add a pin without a mouse.

Panorama for this pin

Chooses the scene a pin opens.

Where: Above the plan, once a pin is selected; its name for screen readers is Panorama this pin opens. Default: -- Select Panorama -- What it does: Choose a scene. Scenes already pinned sit under Already Used, marked (Used), and cannot be chosen again unless Allow use of each panorama more than once is ticked. What visitors see: A pin opens its scene when they click it. A pin with no scene is not shown to them.

Allow use of each panorama more than once

Lets one scene have several pins.

Where: Under the list of scenes, once a pin is selected. Default: Off. What it does: Makes the scenes under Already Used choosable.

Move

Moves the selected pin with a click.

Where: Beside the list of scenes, once a pin is selected. What it does: Click Move, then click the plan where the pin goes; the page reads Click the plan where this pin goes. Escape cancels. Move again or Escape cancels. You can also drag a pin with a mouse, a pen or a finger, or Tab to it and press the arrow keys: 1% of the plan a press, 10% with Shift. Each pin is named after its scene for screen readers, such as Pin 3: Kitchen.

Delete Pin

Takes the selected pin off the plan.

Where: The trash icon beside Move; its tooltip is Delete Pin. Delete on the keyboard does the same. What it does: Removes the pin at once. Undo brings it back.

Undo and Redo

Take back or repeat changes to the pins.

Where: The top left of the plan; Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z (⌘Z and ⌘⇧Z on a Mac) do the same. What it does: Each change is one step, for the plan on screen. Every change is saved within half a second, and there is no Save button. Changes are sent one at a time, in order, and one still waiting goes at once when you open another plan or leave the page.

The radar

Calibrate Radar

Opens the window that sets which way a scene faces on the plan.

Where: Above the plan, at the right. Select the scene's pin first. What it does: Opens Calibrate Radar Offset: the plan with a teal cone on the left and the scene's picture on the right. It reads Spin the 2D map radar to face a landmark, then spin the 3D camera to face that same landmark. Choose the plan in the list above the plan and the scene in Select a Panorama... above the picture (only scenes that have a pin are offered). Pick a landmark you can find on the plan and in the picture, drag the cone until it points at it, and drag the picture until the same landmark is in its middle. With a keyboard, Tab to the cone and turn it with the arrow keys (1° a press, 10° with Shift, Home points it straight up the plan). The footer shows the cone's and the camera's directions in degrees. Needs: A pin with a scene on it.

Set Position

Saves the radar direction for the scene.

Where: Over the picture in Calibrate Radar Offset. What it does: Reads Position Saved when it has worked. It saves the heading on the panorama itself, so another tour that uses it gets the heading too, and it makes this tour's starting direction for the scene the direction the camera faces, removing the saved tilt and zoom. Each scene is calibrated on its own. What visitors see: The cone on the map pin of the scene they are in points the way you set. Google Street View is sent the panorama's heading. Related: Set the starting view of a scene.

Troubleshooting

The upload is refused. The file must be a PNG or JPEG of up to 5 MB. A plan in another format has to be saved as one of those first.

A pin does nothing when a visitor clicks it. Its scene is not in the published tour: a scene beyond the limit on published scenes says Not published on the Tour tab. See Why can't I publish my tour?.

I cannot choose a scene for a pin. It is under Already Used: tick Allow use of each panorama more than once, or delete the other pin.

The cone points the wrong way. Calibrate that scene again and wait for Position Saved.

The map does not show on the tour. The tab only holds the plans. The map's switch and corner are on the Design tab (Floorplan minimap settings), and the tour has to be published again.