Gigapan Imager used to craft 1,474 megapixel image of Obama's inauguration

In theory, at least, we already knew that the Gigapan Imager was capable of some amazing things. This, friends, is proof. David Bergman strapped the device and his Canon G10 onto a rail at Barack Obama's inauguration and snapped 220 images. After giving his MacBook Pro 6.5 hours to compile a two gigabyte image, he hosted it up on his website for people to zoom around on. We'll caution you -- you can easy kill a few hours checking out faces and such if you end up visiting the read link, but it's totally worth it.

[Via Gadling]

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:20PM]

read link down

[Rob PRO Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:07PM]

looks like he's had a few too many hits....

[Aguiluz Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:49PM]

Yeah, Bluehost sucks.

[JustinB Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:07PM]

This truly is a really cool photo. It's awesome to see the detail when you zoom in.

You can even find the snipers 8-)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:12PM]

that's gonna be a nightmare to tag

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:22PM]

Couldn't find a single one. Can you help me with it? :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:40PM]

Not sure if it's the snipers he's talking about but there are some ominous shadowy figures on the right corner of the building in the center of the background.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 7:06PM]

On the right corner of the Hart Senate Office Building. (Use google Maps)

[Generalguy41 Posted Jan 25th 2009 8:25PM]

Ominous shadowy figure? Sounds like a gargoyle....

....but wait.... isn't Bush sitting behind Obama?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 9:17PM]

Theres odd 3 people with a scarf in front of their face in the 10th seating row in front of the trees. Secret service?

And good enough picture to show that president is protected by a glass made of 6 glass sheets and thicker backglass, probably polycorbonate. So anybody wanting to test for weapon penetration can get the specs from this picture.:)

[ic wiener Posted Jan 26th 2009 12:39PM]

i didn't know the secret service people wore pink hats!

[coolbho3000 Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:07PM]

"This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota"

Great, Engadget, way to post this for millions to see. All that zooming and panning killed the site's CPU.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:14PM]

These kinds of images are amazing!
I can't access this one though - seems the server ha sbene overloaded (or rather the CPU).
Is there an alternative link?

[John W Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:08PM]

The page just says "This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota"

[Ethan Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:20PM]

Yeah... first I've ever seen of that one. Cloud computing truly is the future.

[gadgetfanboy Posted Jan 26th 2009 2:00AM]

@ethan -

this has nothing to do with so-called "cloud computing". (worst buzzword ever).

hosting an image on a website is not cloud computing, it's just HOW THE WEB WORKS.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:08PM]

lol, first good "first!" I've read.

maybe just because me = rabid family guy fan.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:08PM]

*sigh*

i sure do hate it when a webpage gets so crowded, it gets SUSPENDED for a long long time

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:09PM]

site down...guess he only had a gigapan of bandwidth

[fourthletter Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:08PM]

How exciting for you did you get the flowers and award which mark you out as the biggest idiot this page will ever see

In other news Engadget kills another web page !

[fourthletter Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:10PM]

Engadget brings you news so top secret it self destructs very quickly.

[MrFairladyz Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:10PM]

first to link!!

http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15374&window_height=622&window_width=1009

bow chicka wow wow

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:11PM]

Glad I saw this earlier through another site - David Bergman has been a favorite photographer of mine for years, and I was thrilled to see what he pulled off on Tuesday.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:15PM]

Too bad we can't see that because of you. You exceeded the CPU quota :)

[Rob Conway Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:53PM]

at least someone posted this on twitter yesterday so i got to see it, before the site got engadgeted!

[Saad Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:13PM]

I wish he would've used SilverLight instead of Flash.

High quality Flash on high resolution monitors is a pain, where as SilverLight works like butter, especially when it has to do with huge image zooming.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 7:47PM]

right, because that would really pull an audience, making people download a plug-in they've never heard of (average user) just to see a big picture of a bunch of people...

[quotaPop Posted Jan 25th 2009 8:05PM]

zing!

[Saad Posted Jan 25th 2009 8:48PM]

Well Andrew, considering that SilverLight works on IE7, FireFox and Chrome (Which I'm writing this from), and adding the fact that it will download & install in less than 30 seconds and it is digitally signed by Microsoft (All protection software will allow it to install) and works on PC and Mac, I really don't see any problem with using SilverLight for such projects. Coding might be little odd/new, but the result is mind blowing.

Flash is still amazing, but not when it is something like this project on a high resolution screen I'm using right now, trust me.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 9:38PM]

i suppose it would be great for you...but try telling that to my grandmother
just seeing it from his standpoint...how much image zooming code is readily available for silverlight?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 9:44PM]

on the other hand, as commenter (wayy) above posted
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/

[roach Posted Jan 25th 2009 9:58PM]

You don't give your Grandma a lot of credit. I'm sure she will be able to figure out the big green button can easily install Photosynthesis.

[Saad Posted Jan 25th 2009 10:05PM]

Check out this example Andrew:

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

Here is how to create one from scratch in a SilverLight project maker (turns out to be easy!):

http://www.silverlightrecipes.com/2008/03/silverlight-20-deep-zoom-using.html

And here is how to create one on spot for you to use anywhere! (I stitched a couple of images on Window Live Photo Gallery, and uploaded it; I got a huge photo which is great material for photo zooming):

http://photozoom.mslivelabs.com

:)

[Quikboy Posted Jan 26th 2009 2:44AM]

@Andrew Moulton: "making people download a plug-in they've never heard of"

That's an issue, but it shouldn't have to be. I'm quite sure the average user will notice it says Microsoft in front of Silverlight, and if they want to confirm it's not some virus or whatever, they could just search it up to find more info.

Silverlight is really dandy, and makes sense for viewing those high-res pics, and live streaming video.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 26th 2009 2:59PM]

LOL, Bluehost is the best hosting provider as long as you don't really ask for what they offer :)

[Lando Calrissian Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:59PM]

My personal hosting company is by far the best, as long as you don't host anything on it.

[callumshell1 Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:19PM]

but....but I e-mailed you this 2 days ago D:

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:21PM]

If you can't see the image in the read link, search this page for
bow chicka wow wow
and check the link above xD

[MaX PL Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:21PM]

this isnt really the place for this but i'll say it anyway...

why is that all mac users have to report the fact that they own one? in this story, he had to specify that his macbook did this.

reading newegg laptop harddrive reviews, nearly everyone reviewing mentions the fact that they did it on a macbook.

"hey becky i just talked to darren murph on aim, on my macbook. we had a great convo."

/sorry.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:33PM]

Humans are by default, pretentious. Mac users will say they're Mac users, and people with high-end PCs will say as much (eg. I just encoded this music on my dual-cpu Xenon server with 10 Tesla GPUs!).

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:56PM]

Because girls will have sex with you if you have a Mac. I finally got a date with a girl who asked me about my new MacBook Pro. Yeah, okay, I was at Starbucks when it happened, I admit it.

Anyway, XP never got me laid.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 7:40PM]

Macbooks are only attractive to anorexic brunettes and Asians.

The End.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 7:50PM]

@Kattleox: shenanigans, slightly chunky blonde girls love my unibody.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 10:27PM]

Boom Chika Chika Wow Wow....

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:22PM]

Just spotted Emperor Palpatine!
Zoom in to the right part of the picture to the Right column towards the Middle Section, zoom to the yellow bit that will eventually see "section", now a couple rows on the edge next to soldiers, the guy in front of the guy wearing the red hat.

[Leo Posted Jan 25th 2009 7:14PM]

LOL, so true! :D

[Sachin Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:23PM]

i went to the alternate link and looked at the image...unsurprisingly, it's just a PhotoSynth-esque (albeit 2D) compilation of 220 images...

for some weird reason I was expecting to see a huge like bajillion-HD single image at 1474 MP so i could see like facial details like tears and creases on people's faces on the other side of the Capitol Building...kinda disappointed.

[macjonny Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:32PM]

Maybe learn a couple of things about photography and you'll know why that isn't possible...

We're kinda disappointed in your brain..

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 25th 2009 9:34PM]

There is actually a camera with this resolution:

http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/

[Generalguy41 Posted Jan 25th 2009 6:32PM]

THERE HE IS!!!! I FOUND WALDO!!!!