Paris in 26 gigapixels

March 12, 2010 8:17 AM

Paris in 26 gigapixels is a stitching of 2346 single photos showing a very high-resolution panoramic view of the French capital (354159x75570 px). Dive into the image and visit Paris like never before!

Previous gigapixelism on Metafilter: Prague (18), Yosemite National Park (17) & Harlem (a measly 13).

posted by i_cola (41 comments total)

Cool!
posted by brundlefly at 8:20 AM on March 12, 2010

Wow, that is cool. The (WARNING: AUTO-PLAYING) French music is a nice touch.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 8:23 AM on March 12, 2010

Sacré merde!
posted by Mike D at 8:27 AM on March 12, 2010

<snark>Only gigapixel? Call me when it's tera or exa-pixel.</snark>
posted by blue_beetle at 8:33 AM on March 12, 2010

The Amelie soundtrack does indeed remind me of all things nice and french, but it's annoying when it auto-starts like that.

The Eiffel tower is leaning slightly to the right... they need to do some Quality Control on their image, and perhaps try it when it's less smoggy and/or get a bigger lens. (larger size, same f ratio)
posted by MikeWarot at 8:35 AM on March 12, 2010

Soon, the hellapixel will allow you to gaze directly into the navels of tourists standing atop the Eiffel Tower.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:35 AM on March 12, 2010 [6 favorites]

The making of text is fantastic, it sounds like a project anyone could do with a bit of equipment and some connections. I particularly like how they were able to get up on top of St. Sulpice to take the photo:

The tower was being restored that’s why Martin asked the foreman if we could use the crane to mount the equipment on top of the tower. Request granted

Part 3 notes they had to edit the entire damn thing in Photoshop to blur out license plates and faces. They took the opportunity to hide 10 easter eggs in the image. Happy hunting!
posted by Nelson at 8:36 AM on March 12, 2010

Can we merge this with Paris' streetview so I can play Alfred Jarre (Absinthe Edition)?
posted by griphus at 8:39 AM on March 12, 2010

Nelson: "They took the opportunity to hide 10 easter eggs in the image."

Hey, there's Waldo!
posted by Joe Beese at 8:47 AM on March 12, 2010

Anyone found any naked people yet?
posted by gonna get a dog at 8:53 AM on March 12, 2010

hyper-cool!
posted by carsonb at 8:56 AM on March 12, 2010

OK, I'll risk looking stupid. Those terra cotta spout things all over the place - what are they?
posted by davebush at 9:00 AM on March 12, 2010

This is glorious!

I lived in Paris when I was a kid, and it's the first city I fell in love with. A good bit of my heart will always belong to Paris. It's been a decade since I was last there, which is unconscionably long. This post tugged at the ol' heartstrings.
posted by Kattullus at 9:00 AM on March 12, 2010

davebush: OK, I'll risk looking stupid. Those terra cotta spout things all over the place - what are they?

You mean the chimneys? Are you talking about the things that look like this or something else?
posted by Kattullus at 9:02 AM on March 12, 2010

Oop...sorry for forgetting the auto-audio warning.
posted by i_cola at 9:12 AM on March 12, 2010

Chimneys - I get that, the placement of them makes that apparent to me now. I'm just surprised to see so many of them, usually lined up in a tight row. Maybe I should get out more.
posted by davebush at 9:13 AM on March 12, 2010

Someone ought to stitch together all of Google Earth into a single image. We'll see if the Cray XT5 at Oak Ridge can handle that JPG without choking.
posted by crapmatic at 9:18 AM on March 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

There's a white van on a street just to the left of "Saint-Eustache" with "WWW.KOLOR.COM" as it's license plate.
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 9:38 AM on March 12, 2010

I found some graffiti on a chimney that I'm guessing is a group drawing of the developers. No sane artist would have put that on a real building.
posted by joelf at 9:38 AM on March 12, 2010

My first thought was that it was a high res panorama of Paris Hilton's...nevermind.

living under the media thumb of the United States does strange things to a person's mind
posted by davejay at 9:39 AM on March 12, 2010

*its
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 9:39 AM on March 12, 2010

I found some graffiti on a chimney that I'm guessing is a group drawing of the developers. No sane artist would have put that on a real building. Check it out here
posted by joelf at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

It seems there are people on top of the Arc de Triomphe? Neato!
posted by sararah at 11:04 AM on March 12, 2010

Find this guy!
posted by JBennett at 11:19 AM on March 12, 2010

I found Nicolas and Carla having affairs at opposite ends of the city!
posted by Kabanos at 11:27 AM on March 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Anyone found any naked people yet?
posted by gonna get a dog at 11:53 AM on March 12 [+] [!]

Does the giant tortoise near Saint-Germain des Pres count?
posted by darkmatter at 11:57 AM on March 12, 2010

This is really cool, indeed. And I love the music! I seem to remember it from a movie, but I don't remember which one. Argh! Does anyone know the movie or the name of the song?
posted by albatross84 at 12:15 PM on March 12, 2010

It seems there are people on top of the Arc de Triomphe? Neato!
posted by sararah

Anyone can go up top the top of the Arc. The best part once up there is playing "where will the next accident happen?" The traffic in the approx. one billion lanes that circle the arc is a marvel of choreographed chaos.
posted by Keith Talent at 12:42 PM on March 12, 2010

I found a blue laundry bag outside a window. Is it yours?
posted by Xurando at 12:50 PM on March 12, 2010

Nice. I found a couple eating what looked like an omelette on a really nice-looking balcony. Lots of flowers. Then I lost them again because the view had moved when I stepped away from the computer. It's pretty hard to find signs of life in all those windows and balconies. No smoking Parisians, no cats. I wonder how many people were edited out in the process.
posted by The Mouthchew at 12:53 PM on March 12, 2010

That is the theme from the movie Amelie auto-playing.
posted by JBennett at 12:59 PM on March 12, 2010

albatross84, the music is La Valse D'Amelie from the Amelie soundtrack. Composer is Yann Tiersen.

This is awesome. I'm going to Paris in June, and June can't get here soon enough.
posted by donajo at 12:59 PM on March 12, 2010

This is really cool, indeed. And I love the music! I seem to remember it from a movie, but I don't remember which one. Argh! Does anyone know the movie or the name of the song?

It's from Amélie ("Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain"). The song's title is "La Valse D'Amélie", or Amélie's Waltz.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:04 PM on March 12, 2010

so I'm slow
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:04 PM on March 12, 2010

I'm sort of envious of future generations who will be able to see moments like this from the distant past, frozen perfectly in time.

It would be so freakin' cool to be able to get a shot like this of, say, New York, 1860.
posted by quin at 3:07 PM on March 12, 2010 [5 favorites]

They had etches and drawings back then. The pinnacle of realistic depiction on paper.

People in the future won't understand this stuff because they will feel disconnected from it. They'll be used to immersible 3d environments that are animated and interactive. This will feel flat and boring, like a sketch from the 1860s
posted by joelf at 4:25 PM on March 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

qxntpqbbbqxl: "Soon, the hellapixel will allow you to gaze directly into the navels of tourists standing atop the Eiffel Tower."

Oh, it will go far beyond that, it will let you see into the very bowels of perdition!
posted by bwg at 5:18 PM on March 12, 2010

Are there similar images of other cities, oh say London or San Francisco for instance?
posted by blue shadows at 8:00 PM on March 12, 2010

Here's a thread about the creation a 72 X 240 inch pano print of the San Francisco skyline. Lots of sample images and discussion about how it came together. What I haven't found yet is a link to the final image.
posted by michswiss at 8:29 PM on March 12, 2010

There was a good one of Boston with a lot more people in the picture, but I'm having trouble finding it.. I think it was posted on MeFi..
posted by stbalbach at 10:44 PM on March 12, 2010

This is cool. I just got a Gigapan machine to do this sort of thing, but have to send it back. Either they never bothered to test it, or it was hurt in shipping. I'd love doing some of this work in London, but worry about being hassled by police.
posted by Goofyy at 6:00 AM on March 13, 2010