Is London Bridge Falling Down?

November 16, 2010 8:23 AM

Here is an 80-gigapixel panoramic photo of London made from 7886 individual images. This panorama was shot from the top of the Centre Point building in central London, in the summer of 2010.

The detail when zooming in is awesome.

posted by gman (48 comments total)

Fantastic. I found my office :-) Thanks!
posted by honest knave at 8:39 AM on November 16, 2010

Amazing detail.
posted by ColdChef at 8:43 AM on November 16, 2010

This is really amazing!

I do wish it would zoom into where the mouse scrolled, had an option for dragging vs. airplane mode, and had a way to link to coordinates via the URL.

No naked people yet.
posted by hanoixan at 8:47 AM on November 16, 2010

London is a very grey(gray) and tan place.
posted by madajb at 8:47 AM on November 16, 2010

That is incredible. Also reminds me why I moved away from London. Although now I can visit both my old office and my old flat in stunning hi-resolution, so cheers.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:47 AM on November 16, 2010

Just picked out the antenna I installed at my old office before moving back to Canada!
posted by smcniven at 8:55 AM on November 16, 2010

Wow!
posted by Hobgoblin at 8:55 AM on November 16, 2010

This is fake because I looked and I couldn't find any Daleks.
posted by Babblesort at 8:56 AM on November 16, 2010 [5 favorites]

Good Lord... I had no idea what a voyeur I was...
posted by HuronBob at 9:02 AM on November 16, 2010

Confused... I am sat at my desk and can see the top third of Center Point tower, but when I zoom in on my office window... oh... no, wait wrong floor. God that's creepy.
posted by Molesome at 9:03 AM on November 16, 2010

I do wish it would zoom into where the mouse scrolled, had an option for dragging vs. airplane mode, and had a way to link to coordinates via the URL.

I found the interface to be infuriating. The project however is fascinating! I wish I could somehow get over the first point so as to properly enjoy it, but, well.

...now I want to sit on a tower in London (or any massive city) with a powerful telescope.
posted by Stagger Lee at 9:08 AM on November 16, 2010

There's a back half of a bus driving down one side of the street and the front half of another bus driving the other direction. Perhaps if they used full buses in London they wouldn't need double-decks.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 9:11 AM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

very tasty indeed - thank you
posted by Monkeymoo at 9:19 AM on November 16, 2010

Dang, I wasted a bunch of time last week on Google Street View in Brooklyn and Manhattan, now this...
posted by Xoebe at 9:19 AM on November 16, 2010

Southern shithole chock full of cockney wankers and chancers. Erm, I mean, nice photo of our beloved capital.
posted by Abiezer at 9:20 AM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

looks like the shard is coming along. nice to get a visual update of the place since i left, thanks.
posted by blendor at 9:37 AM on November 16, 2010

Looking North there is a dome in the middle of a green rectangle just off to the right of center. At about 7 o'clock from that is a slanting roof that looks like a solar panel. Follow that building it is on to the left to see a curious bathroom.
posted by episodic at 9:42 AM on November 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Wow. I've seen a couple of these panoramas before, but this is the first that I momentarily thought was a 3D model or drawing because it's so sharp and clear. And there are (almost) no people! Must have been a chilly weekday.

The Flash interface on that site does have some bugs, but it's much better than it was a few months ago when I last looked at it.
posted by miyabo at 9:44 AM on November 16, 2010

Noting that they've blurred out the faces of all children- Zoom in on the plaza in front of the British Museum. Kids blurred, Adults clear...
posted by marvin at 9:46 AM on November 16, 2010

That's amazing -- thanks for the link.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:48 AM on November 16, 2010

episodic: "Looking North there is a dome in the middle of a green rectangle just off to the right of center. At about 7 o'clock from that is a slanting roof that looks like a solar panel. Follow that building it is on to the left to see a curious bathroom."

The building with the dome is the British Museum. Now let's follow the rest of your directions...

Oh. Hah!

Not what I was expecting, but very cool. There's some seriously odd little penthouse flats tucked away on London's rooftops. Lots of little green oases too.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:48 AM on November 16, 2010

Looking North there is a dome in the middle of a green rectangle just off to the right of center. At about 7 o'clock from that is a slanting roof that looks like a solar panel. Follow that building it is on to the left to see a curious bathroom.

I didn't see that but I did see a construction worker on a scaffolding that was see-through!

Thanks for the link, this is pretty awesome.
posted by ashbury at 10:07 AM on November 16, 2010

Very cool, but the controls are reversed.
posted by Chuckles at 10:09 AM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Many rooftops. No Beatles. :-(
posted by punkfloyd at 10:19 AM on November 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

You can get some good detail of Cambridge and Norwich if you stand up, point your finger loosely at the monitor, and say "enhance". It's in Windows 8 alpha... I don't know if you all have it in Vista.
posted by crapmatic at 10:25 AM on November 16, 2010

Needs more pigeons.
posted by fight or flight at 10:26 AM on November 16, 2010

I can (actually) see my house from here.
posted by bright cold day at 10:27 AM on November 16, 2010

Looking North there is a dome in the middle of a green rectangle just off to the right of center. At about 7 o'clock from that is a slanting roof that looks like a solar panel. Follow that building it is on to the left to see a curious bathroom.

Man, I'm as horrible at finding things in virtual London as I am in real London.

I see the slanted roof (I think). Following to the left gets me a yellow wall, a red door, a "for let" sign, someone's rooftop garden, some scaffolding...
posted by madajb at 11:04 AM on November 16, 2010

@madajb - this will help - http://imgur.com/0fIZv.jpg
posted by episodic at 11:26 AM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

I found waldo!
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:48 AM on November 16, 2010

I learned something about the weirdness of zoom lenses searching for my building. It's not visible, but buildings in the area to the depth of maybe half a mile appear to be on the same plane.

(Oh, and it's Wally in the UK - Where's Wally?)
posted by Grangousier at 12:13 PM on November 16, 2010

Also, if you haven't noticed, there is a right-click menu to choose different "views". They don't seem to make a difference when fully zoomed, but at a distance they make things more... interesting.
posted by hincandenza at 12:41 PM on November 16, 2010

Many rooftops. No Beatles. :-(

Steve Jobs has them.
posted by TedW at 12:58 PM on November 16, 2010

Viewing west, bright orange building, 12th balcony down.

Lol...
posted by hillabeans at 1:01 PM on November 16, 2010

Could you be more specific, hillabeans? I'm looking westward and I see no bright orange buildings- there's a bright orange building near-field dead east, but most everything else I'm seeing even close to orange is a terra cotta color more than anything.

Maybe suggest the time on the compass map (i.e., dead north is 12 o'clock, dead west is 9 o'clock, etc), how far out it is (in the foreground, or far in the distance, etc), and a major landmark near it to help us clue in.
posted by hincandenza at 1:19 PM on November 16, 2010

Wait, where's the Eiffel Tower?
posted by nomadicink at 1:22 PM on November 16, 2010

Wait- you're probably referring to this: dead east, on the bright orange apartment complex directly in the foreground (literally across the street from the location of the picture taking tower itself), on the 12th balcony down (or as everyone else would call it, "third balcony up"), someone has a big hookah sitting out on their balcony.

Damned stoners are terrible at navigation...
posted by hincandenza at 1:25 PM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Could you be more specific, hillabeans?

Very sorry, correction dead East, bottom of the screen at 6o'clock. Most brightly lit buildings I've seen so far.
posted by hillabeans at 1:26 PM on November 16, 2010

OK, so far we have a hookah and a fancy glassed-in bathtub. What a riot! I can just see the business cards...

Metafilter: Voyeurs of Esoterica

("By the way madam, I can see my house!") lol
posted by circular at 1:46 PM on November 16, 2010

Looking North there is a dome in the middle of a green rectangle just off to the right of center. At about 7 o'clock from that is a slanting roof that looks like a solar panel. Follow that building it is on to the left to see a curious bathroom.

That bathroom belongs to a famous-in-Britain comedian, one to be seen regularly on a popular BBC tv news quiz. (A friend lives next door.) There's a bar at the top of Centre Point, with windows running all the way around from floor to ceiling, giving drinkers exactly the view in this photo. Quite a few people hang around waiting to see if anyone will take a bath.
posted by bebrogued at 2:01 PM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

bebrogued: Ian, or Paul?

What an amazing panorama. I could spend all night zooming round on that.
posted by derbs at 2:25 PM on November 16, 2010

Damn, that one girl is cute.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:27 PM on November 16, 2010

@madajb - this will help - http://imgur.com/0fIZv.jpg

Hah, that is most excellent!
posted by madajb at 2:33 PM on November 16, 2010

I found some ducks!
posted by ymgve at 5:34 PM on November 16, 2010

They've carefully gone and blurred the faces of any children - and only children, so they've either spent hoursandhours doing this or they have some really clever AI. I think this was very wise - we don't want any paedophiles using this to find out what children look like.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:42 PM on November 16, 2010

I suppose searching for the beast with two backs is a bit pointless, this being England and all?
posted by Roachbeard at 9:38 PM on November 16, 2010

Am I the only one fighting the urge to say "Computer, enhance!" when zooming in?
posted by asconfusedasnigel at 10:08 PM on November 16, 2010

When you guys are done click on "Explore Other Places". Some of the other ones are even better in my opinion.
posted by Defenestrator at 8:19 PM on November 17, 2010