Every city has something unique/special to offer. It can be a historic landmark, a tourist attraction, or a renowned chef. For many reasons, people want to know what it’s like to live in your city and see what it has to offer. Let’s explore how council virtual tours help show off your city, promote facilities, inform local communities, connect with their community on a new level, and more.

Council Virtual Tours: The Best Way To Show Off Your City!

What is a City Council / Local Government

A city council/areas go by various names such as the municipal council, local government, municipality, district, province, region and more. In simple terms, it is a local government of an area that maintains the administration and services of the area for its constituents. When most people think of local government, they think of garbage collection, maintaining trees/footpaths, maintaining local roads/street signs, and various community services such as meals on wheels. But did you know that local councils also manage multiple facilities such as community centres, libraries, and more?

Why should a local government have virtual tours

Virtual tours are a great way for local governments to promote their city. Council Virtual Tours go beyond showing tourists your city; they also help residents see your facilities, learn more about the city’s history, and connect with the community in a new way. A virtual tour is perfect for showing off landmarks or tourist attractions in your town! This is perfect for highlighting features that might otherwise be missed when using traditional photography and video.

Promoting your city with a council virtual tour

If you are a city, town, or other civic jurisdiction, you should consider using a council virtual tour to promote your city. With an easily accessible web address, anyone can visit your website and experience what it’s like to live in your city. Some ways that people might be interested in viewing your city are through school trips, tourism efforts, or even if they are considering moving to the area.

A council virtual tour is also beneficial because it helps show off facilities that are typically under-utilised or not always accessible to the public. For example, if you have any historic landmarks, museums, libraries, or schools that don’t get as much attention as they deserve due to their location or hours of operation, then a council virtual tour would be perfect for showcasing these places and making them more visible. If someone has never been to your city before and they’re looking at pictures of it on the internet, then they’ll see all of this amazing content without ever having to leave home!

In addition, local governments often host events. Did you know that events can also work alongside a virtual tour as a way to host the event but also keep people socially distant? Great examples are the opening of the M8 Motorway and TAFE NSW Virtual Open Day. Both events bring in large crowds, and this allowed people to come and visit virtually. This allowed greater accessibility for people interested in the event while also keeping people safe and socially distant.

Promoting Facilities and Services

Council virtual tours allow you to promote the facilities and services that your city has to offer. These can range from public parks to public transportation to public safety buildings. People want to know what it’s like to live in your city and see what it has to offer. VR tours are a great way for people in other countries or even other states/regions in your own country to get a feel for what living there would be like.

Council Virtual Tours help show off your city, promote facilities, inform local communities, connect with their community on a new level, and more. Did you know that a council looks after many services such as:

• Child Care Facilities
• Preschools
• Maternal And Child Health Facilities
• Libraries
• Family Day Care
• Playgroups
• Kindergartens
• School Bus Programs
• Neighbourhood And Community Houses
• School Holiday Programs
• Cemeteries

All these services can be created into virtual tours so the local community can be informed and see the spaces first-hand.

Case Study: Council Library

Working directly with Wentworth Point Community Centre & Library, we created a custom branded high-end virtual tour. This tour focuses on this brand new facility with all its services, facilities and function spaces. Used can explore the library and even make enquiries directly with the Wentworth Point Community Centre & Library directly for any venue enquires. In addition, this tour is also VR headset compatible, meaning that anymore can put on a VR headset and explore the space first-hand from the comfort and safety of their home. In addition, a virtual tour can be designed with the set-up in mind to showcase what a venue space looks like for people interested in hiring the space.

A great example is the Pink Caviar Events virtual tour (a corporate events company located in Sydney, Australia); they utilise their various event set-ups to showcase to prospective clients.

Double click in the virtual tour to make it go fullscreen, or click here

Case Study: Community Centre / Venue Hire

Councils have many venue spaces open to the local community to hire. These community centres/venue spaces vary in shape, size and features. The City Of Parramatta has multiple community centres for hire and utilise virtual tours to promote their spaces on their website. They also utilised Simply 360 to create floor plans so people have a better understanding of the space.

Double-click in the virtual tour to make it go fullscreen, or click here

Connecting with the Community

In many cases, city council members are looking for ways to communicate with the community in a more personal way. Council virtual tours are an excellent way to connect with your local community. It’s important for residents to experience what it’s like to live in different parts of the city, and council virtual tours make it possible. There are many purposes for council virtual tours, but one of the most important is connecting with your local community. In order for people to feel connected to their town, they have to be aware of what it has to offer.

A virtual council tour would allow you to highlight facilities in your area and create a connection between your city and the community it serves. You may also use a virtual tour to promote events or programs that will be coming up in the near future. This is a great way for people to get excited about what’s happening in your city!

Virtual tours are not just limited to council facilities. Councils want to support local businesses and a virtual tour can bring their community to the forefront. Using a council virtual tour, local businesses such as restaurants can show their space and menu items, shops/retail spaces can showcase their wares, entertainment complexes can show fun areas in the local area and more. Local tourism attractions can highlight fun, interesting and historical places that the local community can visit alongside inbound tourism.

Virtual tours have a wide reach too! They can be distributed and used in multiple digital channels such as EDM’s and on social media, which will allow people living outside of your town the chance to know all about it. Council virtual tours will help you expand your reach and attract a larger audience that might not have otherwise been interested in your city.

Onboarding and  Training for Council Employees using VR

Imagine being able to train someone first-hand without them leaving their home as an onboarding tool. Virtual tours can be used for induction and training for council employees as a training experience. The training can be interactive and self-guided or a guided experience. The new staff member can do the training in their own home or in conduction with a member of staff. This can also be used in conjunction with high-end 360 video for a truly immersive experience that can be viewed in a VR headset.

Conclusion

Local government virtual tours are an exciting new way to promote your city. They are a great way to tell your city’s story and share your history, culture, and community. The best part? It’s all accessible from the comfort of your own home and makes it easier than ever for your community to engage and stay informed than ever before.

Are you a city council / local government looking to create a virtual tour? Contact us on 02 9674 9090, schedule a consultation or fill out the form on this page to start a conversation for your large sale virtual tour project. Happy to discuss how we can create a standardised council virtual tour experience across all your facilities/services that are customised for each type of facility, service or event.

Do you think we left anything out regarding council virtual tours? What type of virtual tours have you seen a council / local government promoting? Does your local government/council use virtual tours to showcase their various services and facilities? Join the discussion down below, let us know your thoughts and leave a comment :)

Dimitri Cassimatis( Founder )

Dimitri is the founder of Simply 360, which specialises in creating immersive, interactive and engaging 360 / VR virtual tours, AR integration and marketing consultancy. He has worked in the digital marketing industry for over 15 years and has a passion for creating virtual tours with a key focus in strategic implementation.