Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. "Perhaps the most amazing demo I've seen this year," wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images.
SeaDragon and Photosynth are amazing pieces of software. Blaise envisions that all the related images on the internet can be linked together based on the semantic information contained in the individual images. Imagine what that could do for local navigation. I want the high res image zoom technology on my cell phone and I want the related images environment to be my next option of online street view maps. |