Hotspots explained: scene links, info, URL, media

Hotspots are the difference between a slideshow and a tour. They're the clickable markers that take a viewer from the foyer to the kitchen, open a panel describing the renovation history of a fireplace, or fire off an external link to a floor plan. There are four types in Tourly. Most tours only need one of them.

The four types

Scene link

Jump to another scene. The doorway hotspot. 90% of what you'll place.

Info

Open a small panel with a title and a paragraph of text. For features that need explaining.

URL

Open an external link in a new tab. Floor plans, neighborhood guides, listing PDFs.

Media

Embed an image or short video inline (e.g. before/after renovation, drone footage).

Scene link hotspots

These are doorways, hallways, stair openings — anything a viewer would walk through in real life. The whole feel of a tour depends on these being placed cleanly.

Placing a scene link

1. Open the scene in the editor and click Editing.
2. Pan the view so the doorway you want to link is in the middle of the screen, then click on the doorway. A new hotspot appears.
3. In the side panel, set the type to Scene link and pick the target scene from the dropdown.
4. Optionally rename the hotspot (e.g. "Living room") — this becomes the tooltip on hover.

Placement rules that make a tour feel right

• Place hotspots at the floor, not at chest height. Buyers' brains interpret a low marker as "I'd walk there" and a high marker as "I'd look at that". You want the former.
• One hotspot per actual doorway. Don't add a "to the kitchen" marker on the wall next to the kitchen door — confusing and looks lazy.
• Always place a hotspot back to where you came from. The cardinal sin of bad tours: a viewer enters the bedroom and there's no way back to the hallway except the browser back button.
• For the front yard: place a hotspot pointing at the front door that links to the foyer. For the foyer: a hotspot pointing back through the door that links to the front yard.

Info hotspots

An info hotspot opens a small modal with a title and a body paragraph. Use them sparingly — every info hotspot is a thing the viewer has to read, and reading breaks immersion.

Good uses:

• "Vaulted ceiling — restored from original 1920s timber"
• "New roof installed 2024, transferable warranty"
• "Quartz counters, 2023 renovation"
• "Soundproofed home office wall — see disclosures"

Bad uses:

• Anything obvious from the photo ("This is the kitchen")
• Long paragraphs of marketing copy
• More than 3 info hotspots per scene — viewers stop opening them

URL hotspots

URL hotspots open an external link in a new tab. The honest use case is narrow:

• A PDF of the floor plan, hosted on your site or a service like Cubicasa.
• The MLS listing page (so a viewer can save it).
• A Matterport-style 3D model of one specific room, if you happened to scan it.
• A school district info page (placed near a window facing the school).

Media hotspots

Media hotspots embed an image or video inline without leaving the tour. Real estate uses:

• Before/after photos of a renovated kitchen — viewer sees the finished room, clicks the hotspot, sees the before shot in a modal. Powerful.
• Drone clip placed in an exterior scene, showing the property from above.
• Stage-vs-empty for vacant homes — show what the room looks like with furniture in it.
• Time-of-day comparisons — golden-hour photo of the back yard embedded in the daytime scene.

How many hotspots is too many

For a typical tour: each scene should have 1–2 scene links (forward, sometimes back), and at most 2 other hotspots (info or media). Past that, the screen gets cluttered and viewers stop noticing the important ones.

Total hotspot count for a 12-scene tour: roughly 20–30. If you find yourself with 60, you're overworking it.

Copying hotspots between scenes

If every scene needs the same "Contact agent" info hotspot in the same position, select the hotspot, hit ⌘C, navigate to the next scene, and ⌘V. ⌘⇧V pastes to all scenes at once. The pasted copy keeps yaw, pitch, and content but gets a fresh ID — edits to one don't affect the others.

What's next

Hotspots placed, navigation works. Next, the small but important detail of what each scene looks like the moment a viewer first arrives: setting the opening view.