18 Gigapixels Parorama of Prague

What is the best and simplest way to visit a city without leaving your home? The internet has a whole suite of information and photos on many cities around the world, but I’m quite sure nothing comes quite close to this stunning 18 gigapixels parorama photo of Prague.

Before I talk about the photo and its site, lets examine how huge is 18 gigapixels? It is basically 192,000 pixels wide by 96,000 pixels tall, and is stitched together with 600 shots taken from a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR.

The photo was created by 360 cities, and you can check out the full high-rez image on the 360 Cities website. And here’s the description on the site:

This image is currently (as of 12/2009) the largest spherical panoramic photo in the world. It is 192,000 pixels wide and 96,000 pixels tall. That’s 18.4 billion pixels, or 18.4 gigapixels! When it’s printed, it will be 16 meters (53 feet) long at regular photographic quality (300dpi). It was shot in early October 2009 from the top of the Zizkov TV Tower in Prague, Czech Republic. A digital SLR camera and a 200mm lens were used. Hundreds of shots were shot over a few hours; these shots were then stitched together on a computer over the following few weeks.

Source: 360 Cities via DVICE

I found it very fun to zoom in on the photos and look at what people are doing on the streets and in their apartment. But then again, I wonder if the privacy of all those folks caught on camera were infringed since I’m quite sure they did not give their consent.