The wonders of technology certainly does not cease to amaze me – take Microsoft’s Photosynth technology for example. Basically, Photosynth would enable anyone to merge a number of 2D photographs together, resulting in an impressive looking panoramic image. Of course, it is this very technology that was utilized in order to deliver a new 360 degree look at the city of Seattle, where it was made through the merging of 2,368 separate images of 22-megapixels apiece, resulting in a single 20-gigapixel panorama. Try loading that picture onto your smartphone or tablet! The Gigapixel ArtZoom website depicts this effort by Microsoft Research, where the ‘sweet spot’ happened to be the rooftop of a condominium in downtown Seattle. Pictures for the overall panorama were taken from October 2013 onward, using a Canon digital SLR camera which had a professional 400mm lens. Apart from that, a Gigapan robotic tripod head was also used in this effort.
Other than that, extra photos were also shot from the same location, although these were planned in such a way where they targeted specific subjects, including a number of artists and performers who happen to work in the Seattle area. Should you zoom into a specific location in the panorama website, there might be a pop up message that shows up in the corner that delivers additional information on a specific artist.
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