Ready for a Super-Closeup?
A great way to relive President Barack Obama’s inauguration day and feel like you were actually there is to check out this photo, taken by photographer David Bergman. His Canon digital camera was outfitted with a special robotic mount called the GigaPan, which allows for high-resolution panoramic images.
He took 220 snapshots to create the complete view of the ceremony, and the 1.57-gigapixel resolution allows viewers the precision to zoom in on individual faces in the crowd. GigaPan features a simple zooming tool where a user can scroll closer or further away (think Google maps), and has a joystick-like tool in which a user can move up or down, left to right, or around in a panorama within the image.
Carnegie Mellon University uses the GigaPan for its Global Connection Project, a collaboration between NASA, Google and National Geographic that aims to connect communities with spatial browsing software. The project also provides imaging through Google Earth that has helped disaster-relief planning after Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.
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