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AI Auto Connect (Street View Arrows)

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AI Auto Connect fills in the Street View Arrows add-on automatically. It reads the 360° photos of a tour, works out where each one was taken, places every scene on a generated floor plan facing the direction it was shot, and connects the scenes that are next to each other. It replaces having to place scenes on a Google map or draw a floor plan by hand.

Tutorials:

How to use it:

  1. In the editor, open the Add-ons tab and turn on Street View Arrows. (Or use the guided AI Auto Connect in the Elements tab, which walks through the whole flow step by step — see the section below.)
  2. On the Connections tab, click AI Auto Connect. An introduction explains what it does; click through it and then Start. Once the tour has a generated plan, this button makes way for Re-connect scenes… under the plan, the way to add more scenes (see Editing the result).
  3. Choose whether the tour is on one floor or several. Scenes are only matched within a floor level, so each storey — or each separate zone such as a garden, a detached studio, or a rooftop — should be its own floor level. Floor levels can be added here. One run takes up to 100 scenes, and one floor level can hold all of them.
  4. Each floor level is shown as a column of its scenes. Drag a scene to the floor it was shot on, untick any scene that should not be analyzed, and click a scene to preview it. Then click Start process; with more than 100 scenes ticked, it says to untick some first. A floor level with more than 30 scenes is connected in walking order: its column says which order it follows, and when that is the order of the Scenes list, a note beside Start process suggests arranging them in the Scenes tab first (see What if one floor has more than 30 scenes? below). Floor levels are connected one after another: about five minutes for 30 scenes, and about a quarter of an hour for 100. The tab must stay open, because leaving or reloading ends the run.
  5. A suitability pre-check runs first on a sample of the photos. If it reports that the photos may not suit AI Auto Connect, the run pauses and can be cancelled or continued with Continue anyway.
  6. When it finishes, the result is shown for review: how many scenes were placed, which connections were found, and which scenes could not be placed. See details lists every connection so individual ones can be unticked.
  7. Apply writes the result. The add-on switches to On a Floor Plan mode with one generated plan per floor level, and the normal Save button persists it.

Guided AI Auto Connect (the Elements tab)

The Elements tab has an AI Auto Connect button (sparkles icon), under the sample icons and texts. It opens a guided flow for getting a walkable tour quickly: the same AI Auto Connect, always writing On a Floor Plan mode, in up to seven steps with one save at the end. Nothing in the tour changes until the last step. The floor plan drawing is charged as it is drawn (scenes analysed before are free); the 3D view is charged only at Apply.

  1. Intro — what it does, in four slides: how it works, what you get, the photos it suits best, and the photos it can’t connect well (flat photos, 360° videos, 360° drone photos, spots far apart). Move through them with the arrows, the dots, a swipe or the arrow keys. Below the slides are the two guides (Capture 360° photos and Prepare photos for AI Auto Connect, each in a new tab) and two common questions, How far apart should I take the photos? and Will it work with drone or flat photos?: either closes the flow and asks the PanoCool Assistant, which answers in its chat. Watch quick demo plays the video.
  2. Check scenes — what the run needs: at least two 360° photos (flat photos, 360° videos, 3DGS scenes and scenes hidden from Street View Arrows are left out), at most 100 scenes ticked (Change opens the list to untick some), the tour saved to your account, and the AI edit cost against your balance. When a floor with more than 30 scenes would go by the order of the Scenes list (some of its photos don’t say when they were taken), it suggests putting them in walking order first, with Open Scenes: the flow closes on the Scenes tab, and opened again it picks up where it was. On a phone, where scenes can’t be dragged into order, it says that arranging them on a computer gives the best result. It also warns when the tour already has Street View arrows, because applying replaces them, and it stops for a tour whose connections come from Pano Mapper Desktop.
  3. Floors — One floor or Several floors. With several, name the floors, add or remove them, and pick the floor of each scene; scenes not on a floor yet are listed in a row of their own. To move many at once, select several scenes (Shift-click selects a range) and move them to a floor in one go. A floor takes up to 100 scenes. A floor with more than 30 gets a note about its walking order: when every photo says when it was taken, they are connected in that order and there is nothing to arrange; otherwise, put them in the order you walked in the Scenes tab, on a computer (on a phone, scenes can’t be dragged into order). With One floor, the note also asks whether they were taken on more than one floor, and if so, to choose Several floors. Floors are connected one after another, and a big floor takes longer (about a quarter of an hour for 100 scenes). Start connecting shows the cost; with too few AI edits it offers Get more AI edits (the setup stays as it is) or Connect scenes myself.
  4. Connect — the run, with its progress and Cancel. The dialog can be closed while it runs; the button in the Elements tab then reads AI Auto Connect is running… and opens it again. Leaving or reloading the editor ends the run, and the next time you open AI Auto Connect it says so. A run that stops can be continued without paying twice for what is done.
  5. Result — how many scenes were placed and connected, a preview of the plan with a dot per scene and a line per connection, and the scenes that could not be placed. Preview tour walks it as a visitor would; Edit opens the floor plan editor on the result.
  6. Floor plan & 3D view (optional) — two options, both ticked to start with, each with its price: Floor plan, a drawing of each floor with room names and sizes (see the AI Floor Plan section), and 3D view, made from that drawing (see 3D view below). The room-name language, the scenes to draw and Add a Floor plan button to your tour are set here too. Generate draws each floor in turn: check each drawing and press Use this floor plan. Once the floors are drawn, the 3D view builds by itself (a minute or two; it needs a computer, and on a phone or tablet the 3D option says so). A 3D view takes up to 60 scenes on a floor; a floor with more keeps its flat drawing. Untick 3D view to draw the plan alone; Skip goes on without either. Where the 3D view is not available, the step is Floor plan alone.
  7. Apply — a summary of what will be saved, then Apply and save: the add-on is turned on, the result, any drawing and any 3D view are saved, and the Floor plan button is added if it stayed ticked. A 3D view is paid for right before the save; if it can’t be paid for (not enough AI edits, for example), that floor is saved without it and nothing is charged for it. The done screen gives the tour’s link with Copy link and Open in a new tab, offers Choose a look for your floor plan… for each drawn floor (see Floor plan looks below), and Back to editor closes it.

The steps you see depend on what is available: without the floor plan drawing there is no Floor plan & 3D view step, so the flow has six steps.

  • The cost is the same as the flow in the add-on: 1 AI edit per scene analyzed, plus the drawing’s own cost if a floor plan is drawn, plus the 3D view’s if one is added.
  • Closing the dialog after a result but before Apply keeps the result, and the button reads Finish AI Auto Connect. It is also kept when you leave the editor, reload the page or close the tab: it stays in this browser for 7 days, and opening AI Auto Connect again brings you back to where you were, with your floor plan drawing and 3D view. To throw it away and run again, use Start over… at the top of the dialog.
  • If you are not signed in, the button opens the login modal instead.

Editing the result:

  • The floor plan is the source of truth: drag a scene’s dot to move it, and its arrows move with it.
  • Adjust which way a scene faces with the heading/radar control, and add or remove links by hand, exactly as with a hand-made floor plan.
  • Scenes that could not be placed are named on the result card and parked at the bottom of the plan; drag them into place, or pick them with Re-connect scenes… to fit them into the existing plan.
  • To connect more scenes once a plan exists, use Re-connect scenes… under the floor plan on the Connections tab of Street View Arrows: click the scenes on one floor’s plan in the order you would walk them, up to 100 per run, including one or two that are already placed nearby so the new result lines up with the existing plan. The result is applied at once, with Undo.

Cost and limits:

  • 1 AI edit per scene analyzed, whether or not connections are found for it. The estimate and the current AI edit balance are shown above the Start process button.
  • The suitability pre-check costs 1 AI edit. If the check itself is unavailable, it is not charged and the run can continue.
  • Maximum 100 scenes per run, and up to 100 on one floor level. Floor levels are connected one after another; a floor level with more than 30 scenes takes longer (about a quarter of an hour for 100).
  • A run that is cancelled part-way only charges what was already analyzed; a floor level that never finished is not charged, and the remaining scenes can be run again later.
  • Provider failures are never charged — if a reconstruction fails or expires, no AI edits are taken for it.
  • Running out of AI edits mid-run keeps everything already analyzed; add more AI edits and continue.

When it works best:

  • Indoor spaces shot step by step — apartments, houses, offices, hotels, showrooms — from the same tripod height, about 2 to 4 metres (6 to 13 feet) apart, with each shooting spot visible from the previous one. On a floor with more than 30 scenes this matters most, because those scenes are connected in walking order.
  • Harder cases: wall-size mirrors, glass walls, long featureless corridors, heavy fog, and shots that mix an interior with wide open sky. These give the AI less to recognise, so some scenes may stay unplaced.
  • Not a good fit: 360° drone photos, taken high above the ground and far apart; spots more than about 10 metres (33 feet) from the next one, or out of sight of it; and photos taken less than about 1 metre (3 feet) apart, which look almost the same and get in the way of the arrows around them. Flat photos and 360° videos are left out of a run.

Common questions:

  • How far apart should I take the photos? About 2 to 4 metres (6 to 13 feet) between spots, three to five steps, and up to about 5 metres (16 feet) in a large open room. From each spot you should be able to see the one before it: when you go into another room, take a photo in the doorway with the door open. Not closer than about 1 metre (3 feet), where two photos look almost the same, and not more than about 10 metres (33 feet), where they may not be connected. Keep the same camera height for every photo. See Capture 360° photos for a virtual tour.
  • Will it work with drone or flat photos? No. Flat photos and 360° videos are left out of a run. 360° drone photos are 360° photos, so they can be ticked, but they are taken high above the ground and far apart, with mostly sky and distant ground in view, so AI Auto Connect can’t place them. Connect drone photos on a map instead, with the add-on’s On a Map mode, and link any scene by hand with navigation hotspots, flat photo scenes included. Indoor 360° photos from a 360° camera on a tripod work best.
  • Why were some scenes not placed? Their photos did not give enough recognisable detail (commonly mirrors, glass, or open sky). Place them manually on the plan, or pick them with Re-connect scenes… together with one or two placed scenes nearby.
  • Why are scenes from different floors not connected? Matching happens within one floor level. That is intentional, so unrelated rooms are not compared.
  • What if one floor has more than 30 scenes? One run can put up to 100 scenes on one floor level. A floor with more than 30 scenes is connected in walking order, one scene after the next, so it connects best when each spot is a few steps from the one before. When every photo on the floor says when it was taken, that order is used and there is nothing to arrange. Otherwise the order of the Scenes list is used: arrange the scenes there in the order you walked, on a computer (on a phone, scenes can’t be dragged into order). Such a floor takes longer (about a quarter of an hour for 100 scenes), and the tab must stay open. Keep a storey as one floor level: scenes on different floor levels are never connected to each other. With more than 100 scenes on one floor, connect 100 first, then add the rest with Re-connect scenes….
  • Can the result be changed afterwards? Yes. It is an ordinary floor plan — every dot, heading, and connection can be edited, and the plan can be replaced with your own image.
  • Is anything applied automatically? No. Nothing is written until Apply is clicked, and nothing is published until the project is saved.