Billion-Pixel Pictures Allow Ultra-Zooming for Science

Originally published May 27, 2009 | National Geographic News | by Brian Handwerk

First developed for the NASA rovers on Mars, the GigaPan system stitches together thousands of close-up images taken with ordinary digital cameras into superhigh-resolution panoramas that provide viewers with rich topography. The impact of this took could prove very useful for remote scholars, be they in Iceland or Kentucky, and school children alike.

View the few sites in Egypt that have already been captured in GigaPan.