Billion pixels image

wind2000 · Sep 28, 2007

Digital camera application zooms in on the world
Updated Fri. Sep. 28 2007 10:01 AM ET

Canada AM

A new application that can be added to a regular digital camera could literally change the way you view the world.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have created a device that can be attached to a digital camera making it possible to take panoramic pictures made up of billions of pixels. The device significantly boosts the capabilities of what a normal digital camera can usually achieve.

"You can zoom in and see things in great detail but then you just see a little tiny part of the world," Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor in the School of Computer Science's Robotics Institute told CTV's Canada AM. "If you do that a whole lot of times then you capture all of the world in great detail."

The device, called GigaPan, makes it possible for a digital camera to take hundreds of thousands of overlapping images of buildings, landscapes or outdoor views.

It takes between five minutes and half an hour to take all of the photographs. Users can then access free software to stitch all the photos together. Researchers are using the website www.gigapan.org to make photos taken with the device available for browsing.

"We've tried to design this so it's really low cost and any digital camera fits on it," Nourbakhsh said. "In fact any small digital camera...will screw right in and it will be able to push down the shutter and take the pictures for you."

Nourbakhsh developed the idea with Randy Sargent, senior systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon West in California. Sargent conceived of the idea for GigaPan when he worked at NASA's Ames Research Center, developing software to view images from the Mars Exploration Rovers. Sargent decided the technology could be applied to the planet Earth.

The GigaPan technology has been added as a feature to Google Earth. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Board of Tourism is now using GigaPan to enable people to explore Civil War sites virtually.

Researchers are also using GigaPan for a UNESCO project that will link the cultures of schoolchildren around the world.

"We've tried to create a website that's all about intercultural learning," Nourbakhsh said. "The idea is that if you have pictures that have that much resolution maybe people can really start to humanize each other and understand how living situations vary across the world and culture varies."

Nourbakhsh also believes that GigaPan has practical applications for industries such as civil engineering, architecture and tourism.

Three hundred of the robotic devices are being manufactured for distribution as part of a beta project. According to Nourbakhsh, the device will retail for approximately US$270. But the creators of the product will not be seeking a patent for the GigaPan technology.

"We're pretty careful not to patent things because we want things to spread as far and wide as possible," Nourbakhsh said.
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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...gopan_technology_070928/20070928?hub=Specials

Dan · Sep 28, 2007

shiet.. whos really gonna use all this... a regular photo only needs 3 mp... and a poster 4-5 mp...

asiangang · Sep 28, 2007

whoa....crazy detail...lol

dim8sum · Sep 28, 2007

that sounds pretty cool to me, although i could never wait 30mins for a picture...

Billion pixels image

wind2000 Self Schemata

Dan 8-D

asiangang Well-Known Member

dim8sum ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪....