GigaPan: Providing big picture context to conservation science without sacrificing the details

Scale has traditionally been one of the most challenging aspects of science and conservation photography. Detail is almost always important to scientists, but macro images lack the context and perspective of panoramas. At the onset of a study, it is not always possible to know what elements of an ecosystem will prove to be of particular interest, and therefore determining which elements to focus on can be difficult. Add to these concerns the challenge of minimizing human impact in observational studies. How can scientists study an entire system in detail without interfering with system functioning? GigaPan, short for gigapixel panorama, has emerged with a new approach to observing a system remotely, from various scales. The company, a spin-off of a collaboration between NASA and Carnegie Mellon University, is bringing Mars Rover technology to Earth. Gigapixel image of Half-dome in Yosemite National Park, USA, from afar. Zoom in on some trees or rocks using the full image by Grant Myers. Photo: PC Magazine Each panoramic “gigapixel” image is composed of many smaller images and is created by photographers who attach their cameras to GigaPan robotic mounts and program the image specifications. The mounts then pivot slightly while snapping hundreds, even thousands, of photos, which are stitched together using GigaPan Stitch software. The result is a giant high-definition panoramic comprised of billions of pixels, which the user can explore with mapping technology similar to Google Maps. Each image is comprised of hundreds or thousands of tiles, which the viewer uses to…