On-line floor planners - which to choose?

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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Is floorplanner clever enough to allow hotspots - ie something in a room that's a clickable link to photos or VT's?
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Greenbarn wrote:Is floorplanner clever enough to allow hotspots - ie something in a room that's a clickable link to photos or VT's?
No, its only a start point.

You need to save the floorplanner image as a jpeg, then use something else to break it into clickable areas and add all the other code.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Okay - understood! I've just been having a play with the demo of floorplanner and it's nice.

Anyone ever had a play with Google Sketchup? Full 3D modelling, probably complete overkill for our needs, but an amusing way to waste an afternoon or more!
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

I tried it but it was beyond me.
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Post by e-richard »

Jimbo wrote:Nobody seems to include dimensions to allow a potential guest to see how large - or small - the rooms are? Obviously, if the plan is linked to room photographs, that's a work around but, if not, I wondered if dimensions are considered important? I ask because we've always included the total footprint of each gite in square metres as a comparison, but have no idea if anybody actually makes use of such dry and dusty facts when choosing a property.
In my opinion, numbers like 23m or even 4'6" are generally meaningless to most guests (i.e. joe public).

I believe that Floorplanner style diagrams with recognisable furniture, drawn "pretty much to scale" convey enough scale info for most people. Additional clickable area photos seal the deal.
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Yes, I'd agree with that Richard - surface area may mean something to anyone who has searched fairly recently for a property to buy, but otherwise not I suspect.
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ccazes
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Post by ccazes »

The french are very familiar with sq metres so stating surface areas would be a good idea maybe for the french market but inserting measures in the plan would look a bit messy.
I would rather give the overall sq metres in the text to give an idea of the overall space.
When I made my floorplan I adjusted the size of the sofas and furniture to reflect their actual size so proportions are correct in the plan.
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

I personally would find dimensions and/or area measurements useful, but then, I grew up in an architect's house and sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone can visualize a room from a floor plan. (Our floor plan was done in Autocad, and I quite like the result, but it's neither inexpensive nor easy to use.)

Measurements are helpful to a part of the population, but an even larger group (that I'd think includes the first group) know how big a typical sofa or bed or sink is, no matter what units they're familiar with. So I agree that including furniture in the floor plan serves the same purpose but is more useful to more people.

GB, I have used Sketchup, but found it frustrating and time-consuming. It also wasn't very useful to me as I couldn't get it to export to CAD format, which is what you need to do anything with a 3D design but look at it on the screen.
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e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Brooke, your acknowledged expertise in Autocad makes you a very atypical viewer of rental home floorplans :shock:

Respect !
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

I'd guess that square metres and dimensions are only really of value if you can relate them to something you already know - like your own property. And probably of more use to a buyer than a renter. Because our gites are converted industrial-type buildings, they are relatively spacious (compared to many gites we viewed when looking to buy), so including the footprint size seemed relevant.

Very helpful thread for me, thanks to all who have contributed information.

Jim
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Post by Martha »

Mine are here, made at floorplanner.com, some custom elements added in Photoshop, then I put them into 2 html pages, one with photos, one with 360 views. People find them very useful I think - it's a good way to get a handle on the layout of a place. I have a new one of the garden to put up soon too.

http://www.chaletlaforet.com/chalet/floorplans.html
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

I did mine with floorplanner. Here's one of them

www . lakedistrictholidaylodges. co. uk /troutbeckview_floorplan.htm
Is floorplanner clever enough to allow hotspots - ie something in a room that's a clickable link to photos or VT's?
See this thread for instructions as to how to link hotspots to photos. (works with any image, not just floorplanner plans.)

viewtopic.php?t=11438

Martha - can I ask what you use to embed your 360 degree tours?
Last edited by Windy on Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Windy wrote:
Is floorplanner clever enough to allow hotspots - ie something in a room that's a clickable link to photos or VT's?
See this thread for instructions as to how to link hotspots to photos. (works with any image, not just floorplanner plans.)

viewtopic.php?t=11438
Thanks Windy - now bookmarked!
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

See this thread for instructions as to how to link hotspots to photos. (works with any image, not just floorplanner plans.)
Thanks from me too, Windy. Missed your thread the first time round.

Jim
Martha
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Post by Martha »

Windy - I used thickbox, as it was the only one that worked with them (odd because there's no reason for others not to work, it's just an html window)
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