Monday, January 26, 2009

Gigapixel images becoming mainstream on the web

Here is the latest gigapixel image available on the web. As it is related to Barack Obama's inaugural address, it has received all possible attention and reviews. Image credit goes to David Bergman.

While not new, such a large image is very interesting because of how it has been made, and how it is distributed.

The process for image creation involves a robotic arm called Gigapan Imager, that automatizes completely the process of taking an array of pictures. Having such almost perfectly aligned images allows their custom software to stitch the images with a very impressive quality. Device price is about $279 as Beta ($379 otherwise).

The image is then made available on the Web using a Google Maps like interface provided by Gigapan.org.

This makes creating and distributing giant images much easier than it was before.