A wide image is not automatically a complete 360-degree sphere. It may contain only the view in front of the camera. Making its canvas twice as wide as it is tall, or adding spherical metadata, does not recover the space behind the camera or above and below it. Establish coverage and projection before choosing a viewer.
Identify what your source actually contains
Ask whether the source captures every horizontal direction and the required vertical range. A stitched scenic strip can be an excellent panorama while remaining incomplete for a full sphere. If the source covers only part of the view, describe it as a partial panorama rather than presenting invented surroundings as a faithful location record.
For an intentionally fictional environment, generating missing areas can be a creative choice. That choice changes what the image represents. Keep the distinction visible in the delivery brief, especially when the asset might otherwise be interpreted as a real venue tour.
Check projection separately from aspect ratio
An equirectangular sphere maps directions onto a rectangular image. Google's spherical metadata documentation describes that projection alongside full panorama and cropped-image dimensions. A 2:1 rectangle is a useful shape to recognize for a full equirectangular image, but its dimensions alone do not prove that its pixels encode the correct projection.
Do not stretch a normal perspective photograph until it fits. That changes object proportions without creating the directional mapping a spherical viewer expects. Likewise, a cropped spherical image needs coherent information about its place within the larger panorama rather than an arbitrary canvas expansion.
Worked example: an invented lobby deliverable
This fictional example begins with a attractive horizontal lobby image containing a reception desk and two lamps. The creator promises a 360 tour, then notices that the source contains no rear wall, ceiling or floor beneath the camera.
The first option is to deliver it honestly as a flat banner. The second is to obtain appropriate full-coverage source imagery. A third option is to create an explicitly imagined lobby sphere with a new continuity plan. These options have different evidential value; adding a “360” label to the original strip is not a fourth solution.
Inspect the image inside the intended viewer
Use an external spherical viewer and look in five directions: the starting view, the join between left and right edges, straight up, straight down and behind the starting position. Check repeated objects, abruptly broken lighting and a floor that twists into a spiral. A flat editor can hide these failures because the sphere's boundaries are separated on the canvas.
Inspect the initial viewing direction too. Google's Photo Sphere reference documents orientation-related metadata. Those fields describe how the asset is interpreted; they are not proof that the photographed scene is authentic.
Deliver the sphere and its limits together
State whether the asset is full spherical coverage, a cropped sphere or a flat panorama. Include the exact tested viewer and a note on any fictional reconstruction. Keep the approved export rather than a screenshot of the viewer.
Use Image Prompt to explore a fictional panoramic visual concept, then arrange projection and viewer checks externally. If the request is a dependable tour of an actual location, obtain suitable source coverage first; creative completion should never quietly substitute for missing observational evidence.