Tom Mullaney

Expeditions and Tour Creator – Perfect Together

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Tom Mullaney

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As Google updates its apps to reflect its material design, this new look has arrived in an unexpected place – the Google Expeditions Android app. Check out the new home screen, the Discover tab:

A screen capture of the Google Expeditions home screen.
The new home screen.

The new look is beautiful but more importantly, click the “Library” tab for a special surprise:

A screen capture of the Google Expeditions Library tab. "My Tours" is circled.
You’re seeing that right. “My Tours” is now an option!

Notice “My Tours”? Tap that to see tours created you have created in Google Tour Creator!

A screen capture of My Tours in the Google Expeditions Library tab.
Tour Creator tours available in Google Expeditions!

Now, teachers can lead students on tours they have created in Tour Creator. There is even a message in the Tour Creator editor reminding creators of the ability to view tours in Google Expeditions.

Screen capture of the Tour Creator creation screen. It includes the message, "Using this tour in Google Expeditions? To guide this tour, make sure you're signed in with the same Google account that you use for Google Expeditions."

Here is a video showing how Tour Creator tours appear in the Expeditions library after being published:

Additionally, this Expeditions-Tour Creator integration works in reverse. When viewing a Tour Creator tour on the web, the share button has a Google Expeditions icon. This applies to any publicly published Tour Creator tour. Published tours are available at Google’s Poly Tour page.

A screen capture of a Tour Creator tour that shows Google Expeditions in the Share menu.
Open a tour in Google Expeditions!

Clicking the Expeditions icon will add the tour to your library in the Expeditions app on Android phones and Play Store enabled Chromebooks.

This brings us to an important caveat. As of January 2019, Google’s new material design is only present in the Google Expeditions Android app. The new look and Tour Creator integration are not available in the Apple App Store Google Expeditions app. So this does not apply to Google Expeditions on iPads yet.

UPDATE: Good news! As of March 2019, this also applied to the Google Expeditions iOS app for iPads!

Thank you for reading.  Do you have questions about Google Expeditions and Tour Creator? Please comment below or tweet me, @TomEMullaney. Thanks for reading.

8 responses to “Expeditions and Tour Creator – Perfect Together”

  1. Digital Storytelling Without Word Processing Part 1: Google Apps – Sustainable Teaching Avatar
    Digital Storytelling Without Word Processing Part 1: Google Apps – Sustainable Teaching

    […] tours using Google Street View imagery. Bring your students beyond the walls of your classroom! Tours can be viewed in the Google Expeditions Android app or simply on the web. For example, here is an animated GIF of Frederick Douglass Before Publishing […]

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  2. STEMGal Avatar
    STEMGal

    Thank you so much for this how-to. I was able to facilitate professional development with 18 teachers so they could learn and use in their classrooms.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Tom Mullaney Avatar
      Tom Mullaney

      Thank you for sharing. I am very happy to hear this was useful for you.

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      Reply
  3. Google Tour Creator is Great. Gatsby That Is. – Sustainable Teaching Avatar
    Google Tour Creator is Great. Gatsby That Is. – Sustainable Teaching

    […] teachers can lead and students can view Tour Creator tours in Google Expeditions. A teacher leading the Gatsby tour can pick and choose which scenes to show. Simply click […]

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  4. Let’s Raise Our Google Sites Game – Part 2: Embeds – Sustainable Teaching Avatar
    Let’s Raise Our Google Sites Game – Part 2: Embeds – Sustainable Teaching

    […] Tour Creator is Google’s tool for creating Google Expeditions. Tour Creator tours can be viewed as Google Expeditions or embedded in Google Sites. Use images, sound, and text in points of interest to tell stories. […]

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  5. Congratulations! It’s Your First Day of Google Expeditions! – Sustainable Teaching Avatar
    Congratulations! It’s Your First Day of Google Expeditions! – Sustainable Teaching

    […] to give students a new way to access content. Recently, Google Expeditions became even better when students and teachers gained the ability to create their own Expeditions with Google Tour […]

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  6. Rafael Avatar
    Rafael

    Thanks for your guide. I created a tour on poly. Now I got some issues with students having android devices to get my tour into their Google Expeditions app. It works fine for students having Iphones 6/7 when they hit the share Expedition button. Afterwards they can find it in their Expedition app. However, students having Samsung devices can’t find my tour eventhough they shared it with their Expedition app. Any idea what the problem could be?

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    1. Tom Mullaney Avatar
      Tom Mullaney

      Hi Rafael, please share this issue with the Google Expeditions Help Community. https://support.google.com/edu/expeditions/threads?hl=en You can copy-and-paste what you wrote me and Expeditions experts can assist you.

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