Podcast
Podcast

Podcast

Tom Sparks | www.WeGetAroundNetwork.com | www.WGAN-TV.com

Overview
Episodes

Details

WGAN-TV Forum Podcast covers Matterport (and related) digital twin creators and providers shaping the future of real estate today. Join us: www.WeGetAroundNetwork.com We help you connect the dots to succeed faster.(Nearly) every Thursday at 5 pm ET, WGAN-TV Podcast (video) airs live (www.WGAN-TV.com) and by the following Wednesday, the the WGAN-TV Podcast and WGAN Forum Podcast are available free on popular podcast apps and YouTube.We Get Around Network (www.WeGetAroundNetwork.com) Founder and Managing Editor Dan Smigrod interviews industry thought-leaders and content creators to provide insights and training. 200+ one hour, live interview podcasts since August 2016) on the WGAN-TV Podcast.Unlike the WGAN-TV Podcast (video), the WGAN Forum Podcast (audio only) includes text-to-speech media releases from Matterport and related companies.The We Get Around Network Forum (www.WGANForum.com) knowledge base includes 99,000 Matterport and related posts among 17,500 topics, as of December 2024. The WGAN Forum is read monthly by 14,000+ unique visitors and has 8,900 registered members in 147 countries. We help you connect the dots to succeed faster.Join the WGAN community and get connected to what matters. It is free to join the WGAN Forum (www.JoinWGAN.com) and instantly receive 50+ WGAN Membership benefits. Info for potential WGAN-TV Podcast guests: www.WGAN.INFO/guest | [email protected]

Recent Episodes

iGUIDE Site Plans & Branded Property Overviews Explained
APR 16, 2026
iGUIDE Site Plans & Branded Property Overviews Explained
iGUIDE just launched two new deliverables that let photographersoffer a complete property experience, inside and out, from asingle capture.Tom Sparks sits down with Natasha, Director of Marketing, andBrad, Director of Customer Experience at iGUIDE, to walk throughSite Plans and Branded Property Overviews. Site Plans extend theiGUIDE virtual tour beyond the front door, using on-site panoramicscans and third-party aerial data to create an immersive, schematicview of the full property — lot, grounds, outdoor spaces, and howeverything connects to the building. Branded Property Overviewsturn existing iGUIDE floor plans into polished, agent-brandedone-pager PDFs — ready to email, upload to the MLS, or hand out atopen houses — at no additional cost.Brad and Natasha cover the capture workflow (spoiler: if you'realready grabbing a few exterior scans, you're almost there),pricing guidance from the field ($100–$300 depending on market,with ~$150 emerging as a starting point), how photographer andagent branding templates work across multiple clients, and wherethis all goes on the product roadmap. Tom also shares his ownhands-on experience capturing both features for Sparks Media Groupclients and the agent reactions he's gotten so far.🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES- Learn more + book a demo: https://www.iguide.to- Site Plans overview: https://www.iguide.to/site-plans- iGUIDE Help Desk (Site Plan capture guide): https://help.iguide.to- Sparks Media Group iGUIDE capture workflow video: https://youtu.be/91sNOKvcUng- More at WGAN: http://wgan.info/iguide📢 ABOUT WE GET AROUND NETWORKWe Get Around Network is the go-to community for 3D/360° imagingprofessionals — 3D Capture specialists real estatephotographers, and property marketing specialists in 150+countries. New content weekly.0:00 Introduction1:36 Meet Natasha and Brad From iGUIDE2:10 Why iGUIDE Built These Features3:44 Site Plans Live Demo7:00 Schematic vs. Survey: Setting Expectations10:00 Capture Workflow and Time on Site12:00 Camera Compatibility and Field Best Practices14:17 Current Scope and Roadmap (Single Family, Multifamily, AEC)17:20 Using Third-Party Satellite Data21:38 Branded Property Overviews Demo24:43 Who Controls the Branding27:00 How to Price Site Plans31:11 Upsell Conversation With Agents35:00 QC Process and Editor Review36:00 Training Resources and Marketing Materials38:15 MLS Integration and Where This Is Heading39:44 What's Next on the iGUIDE Roadmap40:46 Final Thoughts and Where to Learn More#iGUIDE #SitePlans #BrandedPropertyOverviews #RealEstatePhotography#VirtualTours #RealEstateTech #PropertyMarketing #3DTours#WeGetAroundNetwork #WGAN
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43 MIN
Giraffe360 in the Field: A 10-Year Pro’s Honest Take
APR 10, 2026
Giraffe360 in the Field: A 10-Year Pro’s Honest Take
Jon Lee has been shooting real estate full-time for a decade — and he doesn't sugarcoat anything. In this WGAN-TV interview, the Giraffe360 brand ambassador and PPA real estate photography educator pulls back the curtain on what actually builds a sustainable real estate media business.Tom Sparks talks with Jon about how he went from Navy veteran and wedding photographer to running a six-figure solo real estate media operation in Jacksonville, Florida — shooting up to 25–30 homes a week at peak. Jon covers his full service mix (photos, aerial, video, virtual tours, and floor plans), how he built a loyal client base that waits for him when he's on vacation, and why he deliberately caps his client roster rather than scaling with staff.On the Giraffe360 side, Jon shares what it was like to get the Pro camera with zero handholding — and why it won him over. He walks through where Giraffe360 fits in his workflow vs. Zillow 3D Home Tours, the ROI case for virtual tours as the highest-margin service in his business, and his honest feature requests (yes, including the hide-pano button). He also breaks down why he recommends Giraffe360 to brand-new photographers just starting out, not just seasoned pros.0:00 Introduction0:29 Jon's Background & Getting into Photography1:39 Going Full-Time in Real Estate Photography2:47 How PPA and Giraffe360 Connected4:28 Becoming a Giraffe360 Brand Ambassador5:24 Tom's Origin Story (Film Camera + Zodiac Killer)8:37 Running a Solo Operation — No Staff9:08 Building Loyal Agent Relationships12:40 Current Shoot Volume & Throttling Back15:32 Service Mix: Photos, Aerial, Tours, Video16:08 The Zillow 3D Home Tour Play18:19 Real Estate Market Conditions in Florida21:08 Pricing, Niche Positioning, and No-Shows22:28 Switching to Giraffe360 — First Impressions23:01 Why Matterport and iGUIDE Didn't Fit24:04 Where Giraffe360 Fits in the Workflow27:49 Time on Site and ROI30:31 Shooting Photos with Giraffe360 vs. Mirrorless33:57 Teaching New Photographers at Miami Class35:40 Brand Ambassador Day-to-Day Role43:18 Feature Requests: Hide Pano, Room Naming48:05 Jon's Role as PPA Real Estate Educator52:02 Biggest Mindset Shift for New RE Photographers53:41 AI, the DJI Ban, and the Future of the Industry54:49 Ethics in Real Estate Photography1:01:40 Advice for WGAN Members Considering Giraffe3601:03:51 Virtual Tours as the Highest-Margin Service1:04:28 Where to Find Jon Lee🔗 LINKS & RESOURCESJon Lee – JWL Media: https://jwleemedia.com/Giraffe360 – WGAN Exclusive Deal (10% off 12 months + 60-day money-back guarantee): http://wgan.info/giraffe360We Get Around Network: https://wegetaroundnetwork.com(Offer details can change — always check the page for current terms.)📢 ABOUT WE GET AROUND NETWORKWe Get Around Network is the go-to community for 3D/360° imaging professionals — Matterport service providers, real estate photographers, and property marketing specialists. New content weekly.#Giraffe360 #RealEstatePhotography #VirtualTours #3DTours#RealEstateTech #WeGetAroundNetwork #WGAN #PropertyMarketing#RealEstateMedia #PPA #360Photography #PropTech
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65 MIN
Roomio: iPhone Floor Plans for Real Estate Photographers
MAR 30, 2026
Roomio: iPhone Floor Plans for Real Estate Photographers
What if you could scan a property in 5 minutes with your iPhone and have a professional floor plan delivered within 24 hours, starting at $11? That's exactly what Roomio does. Tom Sparks sits down with Steven, co-founder of Phoria, the team behind Captur3d. For the first look at Roomio, their new smartphone floor plan tool built for real estate photographers, agents, and anyone who needs a professional floor plan fast. Steven walks through everything: how the LiDAR-based capture works, the step-by-step scanning process, accuracy benchmarks, pricing, delivery pipeline, ANSI compliance progress, and what's coming next including non-LiDAR and Android support. Tom puts it through its paces with real questions from a working photographer's perspective, branded templates, multi-user accounts, scan pausing, SVG delivery, commercial property support, and a feature request for a fake camera rig to fool skeptical agents. Steven also reveals that WGAN members get two free floor plans to test drive the platform via wgan.info/Roomio. For real estate photographers looking to add floor plans as a high-margin add-on service without expensive hardware, this conversation covers everything you need to know.🔗 LINKS & RESOURCESTry Roomio — 2 free floor plans for WGAN members: https://wgan.info/RoomioWe Get Around Network: https://www.wegetaround.comChapters0:00 Introduction & Roomio Elevator Pitch1:00 LiDAR vs. Non-LiDAR Capture1:48 The Aha Moment — How Roomio Was Built3:13 Floor Plans, Site Plans & 3D Floor Plans3:55 Scanning Outside for Site Plans4:17 Tom's First-Hand Experience With Roomio4:58 Floor Plan Amendment Tool — Coming Soon5:48 SVG Delivery & Format Options5:54 Step-by-Step Scanning a 3-Bedroom Home8:02 Scanning Speed & Technique9:36 Camera Angle & the Painting Method10:40 The Property Report Feature10:56 Pricing: 24-Hour vs. 10-Hour Turnaround11:18 AI + Human Delivery Pipeline12:27 Future Turnaround Time Goals13:59 ANSI Z765 Compliance15:36 Accuracy Benchmarks17:18 Delivery Formats17:43 Branded Templates & Logo Upload19:04 Platform Demo — Templates & Delivery20:27 Multi-User Account Management21:03 Property Report Deep Dive22:06 Roomio vs. Hardware Platforms23:25 Pricing Breakdown & Market Rates26:15 Pay-Per-Use Model & Volume Pricing31:28 Commercial Property & Size Limits33:53 Pausing & Resuming Scans35:27 Privacy & What Gets Captured36:46 Integrations & API Roadmap37:16 Floor Plan Template Gallery Walkthrough39:51 2 Free Floor Plans for WGAN Members40:21 What's Coming Next for Roomio41:12 Wrap-Up#Roomio #FloorPlan #RealEstateTech #RealEstatePhotography #WGAN #WeGetAroundNetwork #iPhoneFloorPlan #PropTech #PropertyMarketing #Phoria #Captur3d #VirtualTours #MSP #3DFloorPlan #SitePlan
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41 MIN
424.WGAN-TV | Urbanimmersive + Sûreté du Québec Police Service for 3D Crime Scene Documentation
JAN 9, 2026
424.WGAN-TV | Urbanimmersive + Sûreté du Québec Police Service for 3D Crime Scene Documentation
► https://www.Urbanimmersive.com --- How a major Canadian police service uses forensic-grade 3D digital twins to document crime scenes In this episode of WGAN-TV Live at 5 (aired on Wednesday, 7 January 2026), we take a deep dive into how Urbanimmersive partnered with the Sûreté du Québec Police Service, Canada’s largest provincial police force, to modernize crime scene documentation using forensic-grade 3D digital twin technology. Joining the conversation is François-Hugues Liberge (Executive Vice President, Urbanimmersive), along with WGAN-TV Podcast Co-Host Tom Sparks. Together, we explore how a platform best known to real estate photographers was adapted to meet the strict technical, security, privacy, and courtroom-defensibility requirements of law enforcement. The discussion begins with context. The Sûreté du Québec covers more than 1,000 municipalities, employs over 8,600 people, and investigates everything from local incidents to major provincial crimes. Their legacy crime scene documentation system was expensive, difficult to operate, slow to deploy, and limited to only a few regions of the province. Investigators were still relying heavily on static photography and manual sketches, often discovering years later in court that crucial context had been missed. That challenge triggered a detailed public Request for Proposal (RFP). Among the non-negotiable requirements were offline processing, local data control, rapid capture, HDR imaging, accurate measurements, and a solution that could be deployed broadly without extensive technical training. Urbanimmersive ultimately became the only company to respond to the RFP, largely because it was able to deliver something unique in the market: a fully immersive 3D walkthrough experience that can be captured, processed, hosted, and viewed entirely offline. During the episode, François explains how Urbanimmersive’s platform—originally designed for real estate—was already capable of offline workflows due to earlier work in sensitive environments such as nuclear plants, tunnels, and other critical infrastructure. That legacy allowed Urbanimmersive to meet police requirements without fundamentally changing the platform itself. We walk through a live demo showing how investigators can: ✓ Capture an entire crime scene using inexpensive, off-the-shelf 360 cameras ✓ Navigate the space virtually using immersive walkthroughs, dollhouse views, and floor plans ✓ Annotate evidence directly inside the 3D environment ✓ Take measurements after the fact ✓ Embed photos, videos, and other forensic assets ✓ Maintain a complete audit trail showing when and how any modification is made Equally important, the episode details what does not happen. Crime scene data never touches the cloud. Processing occurs on police-controlled hardware. Files remain local. Nothing is publicly hosted. Nothing is accessible to Urbanimmersive after delivery. For law enforcement, that distinction is critical. From an operational standpoint, the solution dramatically reduces friction. Capture times drop to seconds per scan. Equipment costs fall under $1,000 per camera. Training time is measured in hours or days rather than weeks. As a result, the Sûreté du Québec can deploy multiple capture kits across the province instead of concentrating expensive equipment in only major cities. Beyond policing, the conversation broadens to other high-security and institutional use cases where traditional cloud-hosted digital twins are not viable. These include fire departments, transportation accidents, power utilities, water treatment plants, hospitals, government facilities, manufacturing sites, and any environment where privacy, security, or long-term hosting costs are a concern. --- Continued in the We Get Around Network Forum https://www.wegetaroundnetwork.com/topic/21416/page/1/transcript-wgan-tv--urbanimmersive-for-3d-crime-scene-documentation/
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62 MIN
423. WGAN-TV | We Get Around Network Acquired by Tom Sparks from Founder Dan Smigrod
JAN 1, 2026
423. WGAN-TV | We Get Around Network Acquired by Tom Sparks from Founder Dan Smigrod
► We Get Around Network Forum (https://www.WGANForum.com) --- We Get Around Network Acquired by Tom Sparks from Founder Dan Smigrod  After more than a decade as founder, managing editor, and publisher of the We Get Around Network, Dan Smigrod announces the next chapter in WGAN’s history. Effective January 1, 2026, ownership of We Get Around Network has transitioned to long-time WGAN member and contributor Tom Sparks, Principal of Sparks Media Group, through WGAN Holdings Inc. Tom is now the owner, managing editor, and publisher of We Get Around Network—and the new host of the WGAN-TV Podcast. This is a change in leadership, not a change in DNA. Everything the community relies on remains in place: ► The WGAN Forum and its 100,000+ posts ► WGAN-TV Podcast and WGAN-TV Training U ► WGAN MarketPlace and Marketing Partner programs ► Find a Service Provider Map ► Existing memberships, subscriptions, logins, and content WGAN continues to be the trusted, cross-platform knowledge base for digital twins, 3D/360 cameras, real estate media, and the tools and services professionals use every day. Why Tom Sparks Tom is a working real estate photographer and media business owner who actively uses Matterport, iGUIDE, Giraffe360, InnoDraw, SIMLAB, InsideMaps, and related platforms in the field. He brings hands-on experience, editorial credibility, and operational leadership—combined with a clear vision to expand education, deepen technical coverage, and grow vendor partnerships. What’s Next Under Tom’s leadership, WGAN will: ► Expand practical, field-tested content ► Strengthen marketing partner programs ► Go deeper into digital twins and AI-driven workflows ► Continue delivering trusted insights that help members succeed faster Dan Smigrod’s Next Chapter Dan transitions into an advisor role to support a smooth handoff and knowledge transfer. While stepping back from daily publishing, he will continue to appear for select projects, special episodes, and deep dives—while finally reclaiming time for travel, creativity, and exploration in AI and robotics. Join the Conversation Please welcome Tom Sparks as the new publisher of We Get Around Network. Introduce yourself in the WGAN Forum. Share what topics, tools, and technologies you want covered next. The mission remains the same: Give help. Get help. Build the future of digital twins and real estate media—together. Happy New Year, Dan Smigrod Founder and Advisor We Get Around Network Atlanta
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10 MIN