The Ultimate Glossary: Must-Know Virtual Terms and Definitions

At LCPMedia, we use a wide-range of vocabulary that those outside of the virtual and digital industries may not understand. That's why we've created a comprehensive glossary, complete with any and all definitions of must-know terms.

Virtual Tour

An interactive tool created by stitching together 360 photos to make a completely immersive tour of both the interior and exterior of a building. Prospects receive a 360 experience or simulation accessible from any desired screen.

360 Video

An immersive video that uses a specific type of camera to record panoramic footage. These shots are then stitched together to create an entirely 360 view of a development. Interactive videos allow users to navigate various perspectives of a room, but not all 360 videos have the ability to tour, and some only provide a few interactive features.

Video Animation

A video of a completely rendered development that takes prospects through a virtual experience - no interaction needed with this animated tour.

3D Renderings

A photorealistic 3D model that allows prospects to view a community still in the development stage. Can be used for virtual tours and video, VR, virtual staging, site and stacking plans.

Virtual Staging

A type of home staging or modern apartment staging in which a high-quality photograph is designed with three-dimensional interior design elements and 3D graphics to create an image that appears physically staged.

Virtual Reality (VR)

A computer-generated simulation of a 360 or three-dimensional environment that can be viewed with 360 imagery or photorealistic 3D renderings. VR can be accessed and toured using Google cardboard or a VR headset.

Augmented Reality (AR)

An interactive, reality-based experience in which users view and interact with digital elements (display, sound, text and effects) to enhance the user’s real-world experience. Examples of AR in real-world use include Snapchat filters, Wayfair’s AR Shopping App or even the extremely popular Pokemon Go app.

Mixed Reality (MR)

Sometimes called polyplexity (PP), mixed reality is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations.

Stacking Plan

A real-time availability tool that contains multiple levels of a development as well as  floor plans. These can be used for garden style, mid, or high rise buildings. Prospects can filter by type of room, price range, and even square footage.

Site Plan

Either seen as interactive tools or still images, site plans are visualizations of garden style apartments that allow prospects to choose a building from the community map, then navigate different floors and units based on availability.

2D Floor Plan

A 2D floor plan demonstrates a community or unit from a birds eye view. They are completely flat and only illustrate the basic layout of a development by outlining specific rooms and dimensions.

3D Floor Plan

A 3D visualization of a floor plan that is designed using virtual staging to illustrate what an actual unit will look like from a birds eye view.

Panorama

An unbroken 360 view of a space captured with a 360 camera.

Still Image

A basic photo of a non-moving image.

360 Spin

Using a 360 camera, a 360 spin is created by shooting an entire space in a circular direction in order to eventually stitch together and form a panoramic experience. 

Stitch

Stitching takes a group of images and “stitches” them together to create an entirely 360 panorama view of a space.

Head Tracking

This is an application that monitors and identifies a users head position/movements to improve human-computer interaction.

Eye Tracking

Similar to head tracking, eye tracking is an application that traces eye movement to improve human-computer interaction.

Position Tracking

Position tracking technology allows a device to estimate its position relative to the environment around it. Used for virtual reality, this technology makes it possible to track movement with 6 degrees of freedom.

Haptics

Used for computer simulations, haptics are a type of technology that stimulate a feeling of touch and motion, providing an almost completely life-like experience.

Field of View (FOV)

Instead of  a single focus point, field of view is an open and observable area that can be seen by a person or through a lens. 

Latency

This describes the delay between an action and its reaction. When referring to latency in VR, lower latency is required for people to perceive a simulation as real or life-like. Essentially, it’s viewed as a misalignment.

Google Cardboard

A VR experience that was named for its fold-out cardboard viewer. This application includes a head mount for an iPhone, and was created as a budget-friendly introduction to the VR world.

HMD (headsets)

HMD, also known as head-mounted display, is a device worn on the head and used for VR systems. Images appear as three-dimensional thanks to the 2 monitors on the headset.

VR Heat Map

Represented by various colors, a heat map is a graphical representation of data. Each color represents individual values in a given matrix, and are often used to show user behavior in the VR experience.

The VR heat map gives you a sense of where users are spending the most time gazing and looking.

Hotspot

A hotspot for VR or virtual tour is a 360 experience that can redirect to various content with a click of a button. It can either direct a user or display a pop-up of the content.

In some cases, hotspots guide users to different landing pages, such as a different 360 experience or a URL.

Immersion

With a collection of stimuli like images, sound, and haptics, immersion is the perception of feeling physically present in a VR experience.

Presence

Presence is the extent an individual feels a VR experience is actually real. Different from immersion in the sense that presence is cognitive, whereas immersion is technology related.

Room-scale

This is the use of movement as well as tracking to simulate movement within a VR experience in the comfort of a clear play area - often used for gaming.

Yaw

A VR application that delivers motion cues to simulate movement within a virtual experience. It provides 360 degrees of movement vertically, and 50 degrees horizontally.