Extreme Resolution Photography

December 18, 2006 7:25 AM

xRez: Extreme Resolution Photography. Gigapixel photos with a Google Maps-style interface. The photo of Boston is 95,000 by 40,000 pixels. [via]
posted by kirkaracha (34 comments total)

The Boston shot is gorgeous, and so detailed I could probably recognize someone in Copley Square, assuming anybody I knew happened to be standing in Copley Square when it was taken. I had dinner at Top of the Hub on Friday night (the floor above the Skywalk) and had just about this view, which is even more breathtaking at night.

I hope nobody in the forthcoming Simmons Hall shot was walking around naked with the shades open. On second thought...
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:51 AM on December 18, 2006

Very nice; thanks!
posted by TedW at 8:04 AM on December 18, 2006

These are great! Interesting to compare their technology to Gigapxl, another super-high resolution photography group. Gigapxl uses 9"x18" film, a single exposure, and scans the negatives. xRez is using standard digital cameras with automated multiple exposures and custom stitching software. Two very different approaches, both with great results.

One drawback of the stitching approach is that your scene and lighting is changing while you take your multiple exposures. Then again the Gigapxl guys have built a huge amount of custom equipment to do what they're doing.
posted by Nelson at 8:38 AM on December 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

Hmm, a direct link to a file of that size may not have been the best idea.... :)
posted by Malor at 8:39 AM on December 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

What are those plants growing on the roof of the Lenox? Herbs for the kitchen, or someone's pot patch?

Seriously, this is amazing, and also more than a little creepy. If I can see the facial expressions and license plates in this picture, what kind of technology does the government have, and how are they using it? Brrrrrrr.
posted by birdhaus at 8:39 AM on December 18, 2006

Thanks for the post. The Boston picture is interesting, and prompted a few thoughts: (1) Where is everyone? (2) Some of those rooftop patios are pretty elaborate, and (3) A camera that can capture that much detailed information could be a real invasion of privacy -- just think of the same picture taken at night (by the way, I realize the Boston photo is stitched together from hundreds of smaller pictures -- but still).
posted by pardonyou? at 8:41 AM on December 18, 2006

Hardest. Where's Waldo. Ever.
posted by Laen at 8:50 AM on December 18, 2006

I was able to find an attractive female sunbather in the Boston scene. Very near the left edge extents, about 1/3rd the way up, on the rooftop.
posted by tfmm at 9:02 AM on December 18, 2006

xRez is using standard digital cameras with automated multiple exposures and custom stitching software.

Is that why this section has a ghost and identical twins?
posted by cmonkey at 9:06 AM on December 18, 2006

Fezzik:"Why do you wear a mask?
Were you burned by acid or something?"

Man in Black:"Oh no. It's just they're terribly comfortable.
I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.”
posted by the Real Dan at 9:08 AM on December 18, 2006

And there's a guy in a deck chair wearing very yellow shorts as well. (find him!)
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:00 AM on December 18, 2006

a) American cities look like Sim City layouts.

ii) Here is a big camera
posted by asok at 10:10 AM on December 18, 2006

pardonyou:

(1) Where is everyone?
a) It's summertime, and Boston is d-e-a-d in the summer;
b) It's gotta be a Saturday or Sunday morning- if you check out the Hatch concert shell along the river (left edge, halfway up), there's a Oldies 103.3 Summer Concert Series banner, and the roadies are setting up the equipment for a concert.

(2) Some of those rooftop patios are pretty elaborate
I especially like the turquoise billards table, on the roof of the building at the corner of Dartmouth and Marlborough Sts. (left edge, halfway up) Who knew you could buy an outdoor pool table?
posted by Lord Kinbote at 10:11 AM on December 18, 2006

The Park Street Chuch clock shows 11:17-ish...
posted by Lord Kinbote at 10:18 AM on December 18, 2006

Just under the Copley Place pedestrian bridge, the back half of a USPS truck is missing, thanks to the stitching. Weirdly enough, you can see the whole truck reflected in the glass of the footbridge...
posted by Lord Kinbote at 10:22 AM on December 18, 2006

Where is everyone?

There are plenty of people on the Common walking around.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:31 AM on December 18, 2006

Found truck (after checking map), found shorts guy, found pool table (looks like a rooftop pool zoomed out!), found a female sunbather standing behind a table.

Now, imagine getting releases for gigapixel photographs ....
posted by dhartung at 11:09 AM on December 18, 2006

For you Bostonians, what's the airport in the background?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 12:00 PM on December 18, 2006

DieHipsterDie: That would be Logan International Airport (BOS)
posted by skynxnex at 12:19 PM on December 18, 2006

Whoa. If we have this one the internet, what does the military have?
posted by armoured-ant at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2006

Much less creepy and incredibly beautiful are the time lapse links of Yosemite (here) and El Capitan (here).

Now THAT'S a proper use of technology!
posted by birdhaus at 1:39 PM on December 18, 2006

I realize the image is stiched, but this is funny/odd. If you zoom in on the Romanesque church, there's a severed leg lying on the sidewalk right below the rose window of the basillica. I'm pretty sure the leg was not walking, and oddly enough 3 ladies are pointing at it.
posted by tfmm at 2:10 PM on December 18, 2006

I love how you can zoom in on the big mirrored building and check out the backside of buildings.

And am I the only one thinking of Blade Runner when he plays with this?
posted by InnocentBystander at 2:42 PM on December 18, 2006

"What are those plants growing on the roof of the Lenox? Herbs for the kitchen, or someone's pot patch?"

Funny, while I was checking those plants out--not pot I don't think--I was wondering what da PoLeese would do with technology like this.

I'm putting in my order for a shot here in California. I recommend the Hollywood Hills in summer, lots of pools, can't have those tan lines in the moPixBiz. My my. How about a night shot of Rio?
posted by BillyElmore at 2:49 PM on December 18, 2006

And am I the only one thinking of Blade Runner when he plays with this?

I am always thinking of Blade Runner.
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:53 PM on December 18, 2006

And am I the only one thinking of Blade Runner when he plays with this?

totally. every time i double-clicked, i heard in my head harrison ford saying "enhance... enhance..."
posted by sergeant sandwich at 3:38 PM on December 18, 2006

So let's say I'm tempted to do something like this myself. I can handle the shooting and stitching. How easy is it to set up one of those neat googlemaps interfaces on a web page? Is there a guide somewhere? Does it involve licensing or something?
posted by -harlequin- at 5:09 PM on December 18, 2006

It's neat-o, but I feel like I'm spying on the two guys in wheelchairs and the blonde behind them with the low-cut top, slouching as she comes out of that building. In a public place it's legal to take a photo of anyone, but still...it seems wrong somehow and yes, creepy as hell. Cool, but creepy.
posted by Listener at 5:37 PM on December 18, 2006

I can see where I work in that photo of Boston...

...Boston is much nicer from a few hundred feet up!
posted by inoculatedcities at 5:57 PM on December 18, 2006

This is really cool.
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:59 PM on December 18, 2006

Google Maps API
posted by kirkaracha at 6:10 PM on December 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

anyone else notice that most of the cars license plates appear to have been intentionally blurred? there are a few instances where i can read advertisements on nearby streetsigns or bumperstickers on the cars that are definitely smaller than license plate characters, but the license plates are blurry.

also, I found almost exactly half of a postal truck. funny.
posted by ab3 at 1:57 AM on December 19, 2006

There is somebody sleeping at his desk in the red brick buildning in the center of the pic. 10th floor, third window from the right. Creeepyy.
posted by hoskala at 3:28 AM on December 19, 2006

On the corner of Dartmouth (left-to-right) and whatever the up-and-down cross street is, a woman's exiting the crosswalk as her ghost is crossing the street. Also, there are two versions of the same guy on the corner.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:31 PM on December 20, 2006