Gigapixel 360 Panorama from Gale Crater on Mars

The Curiosity Rover on Mars has been busy taking pictures. About 405 of them with the two cameras on the vehicle's mast. These have been combined to produce a spherical panorama measuring 90000x45000 pixels (or 4 billion pixels). The result is a stunning spherical, gigapixel image of the Gale Crater

For those who want the technical details, this was taken betwen Martian solar days 136-149
using both the 100mm Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), and 34mm Medium Angle Camera (MAC). Though not the largest Gigapixel image ever produced, it is probably the most amazing in terms of technical achievement. 

Though you may not be able to produce an image of this kind, you can get yourself a bit of the Mars mission. Ok, so it would be in Lego, but someone has put together plans for how to build your own Lego Curiosity Rover and landing stage

360 Panorama of London from The Shard

London has a new viewing platform, on level 72 of The Shard, the second highest building in the EU. To celebrate this The Shard has produced an interactive 360 virtual tour panorama showing the view over London. Taken from 245m above ground level, the panorama is peppered with hotspots giving information about various landmarks and places of interest. 

Also within the image are links to various sounds recorded around the city as part of the London Sound Survey Project. There is the famous peal of bells from St Paul's Cathedral, monkeys from London Zoo and MP's (sounding much like the monkeys) from within Parliament.

The Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom. It is fully 309.6m (1,016 ft) tall with 95 floors topped out with a spire. You can find out more about it on Wikipedia.

This is not the biggest panorama of London. That honour goes to the massive 320 +Gigapixel image taken from BT Tower, which was the largest ever created in the world. However, I prefer this one for the interactivity and clarity of landscape.

So what is your favourite part of this image?

Largest Gigapixel 306 Panorama Ever Shows London from BT Tower

BT now own the largest 360 panorama in the world. Taken from the top of the BT tower during the London Olympics in 2012, it shows of the heart of the city. To mark the event BT have hidden 3 images of their Buzby mascot within the image. The lucky finders will receive prizes. It beats the 80 gigapixel image of London released in 2010 by quite some distance.

This 320 gigapixel image was created by stitching together some 48,640 individual frames taken with  four Canon EOS 7D cameras. It is hosted by 360 Cities. The image is most impressive in the mid-distance range as the day on which it was taken is quite hazy resulting in loss of clarity at long range. As with all images of this kind, there are increasing stitching errors as one gets closer to the tower, and the office buildings nearby are suffering some a degree of 'flexability'.

All the landmarks are clearly visible, and by the looks of the scarring on the lower end of Regents Park, it would appear that an exhibition event has just left the park. 

A collection of over 300 panoramas taken around the city, linked to Google Maps, can be found on this London virtual tour map.

Visiting Tagaytay and Taal Volcano in Philippines

360 Panorama View of Taal Volcano © Peter Watts

The City of Tagaytay is of the most popular places to visit in the Philippines. It is perched on the ridge or the Taal Volcano caldera, making the small city is much less humid and a little cooler than the surrounding lowlands. Nearby are the Tagaytay Highlands, which has some of the most expensive housing to be found and a large, popular park.

On one side, the city has views over the lowlands and Manila. On the other are dramatic views over Taal Volcano and the caldera lake surrounding it. It is this volcano that is the main tourist attraction in the area. That and the casino. On the ridge is the beautiful, 5-star Taal Vista Hotel. Aptly named as it offering some of the best views available over the lake and volcano from its luxurious grounds.

Panorama of City of Tagaytay supplied by Panoramic Earth

And then there the Taal Volcano itself, the main tourist attraction in the area. Visiting the volcano takes at least half a day, starting with a windy, thirty minute drive down the steep caldera cliff to resorts that line the lake edge. This is followed by an outrigger-canoe ride over Taal Volcano Lake and then either a walk or donkey ride up to the edge of the crater.

This volcano is active, and has erupted in recent times causing fatalities in the surrounding villages. The crater lake is boiling in some sections and steam vents can be found on the rim and hillside. On clear days there are great views over the massive caldera, itself formed when the father of Taal Volcano blew up around 100,000 years ago. Those not concerned with polluting the area can pay to drive a golf ball into the lake below.

As with anything in Asia, it is always worth bargaining for better prices, and travelling as a group will get the best deals. Visiting Tagaytay and Taal Volcano make for a very memorable trip.

Ricoh Displays Single Shot 360 Spherical Panorama Camera

Ricoh have been working on a very small, portable device that takes a spherical 360 panorama in one shot and sends it automatically to a smartphone or tablet. It uses two 180-dgree lenses, combining the image internally before sending the result for viewing.



At this point there was no information about image size and resolution. Currently it only takes stills, but the company is considering trying to also capture video. At this point there. As the Ricoh demonstrator explains: 

 "It has two fish-eye lenses, each of which covers 180 degrees. The camera combines the two pictures, and sends them via Wi-Fi to a tablet or smartphone for viewing. The idea is, the pictures you take arrive automatically. When viewing it like a regular panoramic image, you can also see up and down. When you pull out from the image, it finally becomes a circle, and you can also look at it as a sphere." 

"This camera represents a step beyond SLRs and compact cameras. The project began with the idea that, if taking spherical panoramic photos was easy, the results might be fun. Currently, the camera takes still photos. But we'd like to enable it to handle video, too. We're still just presenting this technology, so the specs haven't been decided yet. Right now, we're at the stage of seeing how people react. If people think this camera is fun, we'd like to commercialize it, and make it a bit smaller. We want to keep developing it, so we can offer a version for consumers." 

 "This is a project we're discussing with staff at art colleges. We think this technology could also be presented as a "panorama ball," where the pictures are stuck onto a sphere."

Supporting Heartkids Orphanage in India

Every now and again something really great happens. Seeing Heartkids use Panoramic Earth to display virtual tours of their orphanage in India was one of those. Heartkids runs a number of homes for orphans and children abandoned by their families around Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. Each Heartkids home houses up to nine children, providing them with a house-mum and a loving, nurturing environment. Because of what the charity does, every day about 150 children aged 4 to 18 find a safe place where they get food, clothing, play and education. Outside they were rejected, living hand to mouth in extreme deprivation. Inside there is life and hope for the future.

Heartkids not only provides for the children but also medical help for adults, especially those suffering from leprosy, HIV or polio disabilities. These individuals are rejected by society and forsaken. Yet through the work of Heartkids their humanity is acknowledged and some dignity restored.

Panorama of Heartkids Home 1 full supplied by Panoramic Earth

Such work always needs more support, and if you are interested then you can help, get involved and make a difference.

At Panoramic Earth, we are just grateful to have been allowed to play a part. And we would welcome this more, so if you have a worthy cause you would like to let others know about with virtual tours, then please talk to us.

Christmas Lights at Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens are a very popular tourist attraction near to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Every year the gardens are decorated with extensive lights, themed on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Around the gardens you will find various installations depicting the 12 days, from a partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming.

It can take a couple of hours to go around the gardens. It is often raining here, and free umbrellas are provided. While this can make for a somewhat damp evening, it does mean that the lights reflect wonderfully in the wet stone.

Taking virtual tour images under these conditions can be quite tricky. The paths are narrow and often full of people. It is dark and very long exposures are required. The best time to do photography is towards the end of the evening when the crowds have thinned out. At that time it is possible to get some stunning images, making for dramatic virtual tour panoramas as shown below.

Panorama of Butchart Gardens Christmas Lights supplied by Panoramic Earth

While these conditions can be a challenge for the photographer, the results can be dramatic and very much worth the effort.

Panorama of Butchart Gardens Italian Garden supplied by Panoramic Earth © Peter Watts