About · Founded 2014, Adelaide
Turning places into things you can open
Lateral Vision is an Adelaide spatial technology company founded in 2014 by siblings Alex and Laura Tolson, and the maker of CloudTour and Swyvl.
Our story
We started with virtual tours because a photo couldn’t do a place justice. We ended up in underground mines, on the reef and along rail corridors, because the same was true of harder places, and the people who needed to see them mostly couldn’t go.
The capture technology kept getting better; the delivery didn’t. So we built Swyvl to deliver and keep the record, and now we use AI to reason over it.
Founders
Alex Tolson
Co-founder · product and engineering
Alex builds the tools: CloudTour, Swyvl and the custom projects, including the AI-assisted analysis work.
Laura Tolson
Co-founder · operations, design and customers
Laura runs the company. If you’ve worked with Lateral Vision or Swyvl, you’ve almost certainly worked with Laura.
For drone, lidar and scanning work, we bring in specialist contractors chosen for each job.
Timeline
- 2014
Lateral Vision starts in Adelaide.
- 2015–2019
Virtual tours for venues, hotels, universities and events.
- 2019–2023
Harder places: underground mines, the reef, rail corridors, remote operations.
- 2024
Swyvl launches.
- 2026
AI-assisted spatial analysis.
Questions people ask
What does Lateral Vision do?
We turn spatial data from satellite, drone and ground capture into tools people open in a browser: virtual tours through CloudTour, site data delivery through Swyvl, and custom tools and AI-assisted analysis.
What’s the difference between CloudTour and Swyvl?
CloudTour is a virtual tour we build for you. Swyvl is a platform you use yourself to deliver site data as one link.
Are CloudTour and Swyvl separate companies?
No. Both are products of Lateral Vision Pty Ltd, each with its own site: cloudtour.com.au and swyvl.io.
How big is the team?
Two founders and specialist partners for drone, lidar and scanning. Senior people on every project, and no account managers between you and the work.
Where are you based?
30 Pirie Street, Adelaide. We work across Australia and overseas.
Tell us about your site
A sentence or two is enough to start. We reply within two working days.
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