by Aaron Spence | Feb 2, 2009 | Projects
The best Alcatraz virtual tour on the web is right here: Alcatraz Virtual Tour. View the full map version with audio here: Alcatraz Virtual Tour with Audio. Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Main Cell Block There are plenty of Alcatraz Virtual Tours on the web, but apart from ours none of them contain high resolution, best quality full spherical, full screen virtual tours with hotspots, mapped on google maps & containing audio recorded live at the time. Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Officers Club Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Exercise Yard Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Control Centre Alcatraz is an incredible place and it’s well worth spending a few hours to half a day there. At some times in the year they have an early boat over to the island. It arrives well before the crowds. Get that boat & take advantage of the crowd less Alcatraz. Here’s the official cruise company where you can book your Alcatraz tickets online. When I visited Alcatraz Island to shoot these virtual tours a funny thing happened. At around midday I was back at the dock waiting for the ferry to arrive when off the boat hopped the guys from Mapjack, ready to shoot their own virtual tour of Alcatraz. Here is me on Alcatraz just finished shooting virtual tours, as shot by Mapjack, another virtual tour company. For more info on Alcatraz go to the official National Parks website here: Alcatraz...
by Aaron Spence | Feb 2, 2009 | Panoramas
With over 500 virtual tours of Adelaide you’ll find plenty to see on our virtual tour site. Adelaide is a beautiful city full of old buildings & churches (by Australian standards). The City area is completely surrounded by massive parks, some of which contain sports fields & botanical gardens. Here you can view over 60 Adelaide Botanical Gardens Virtual Tours. Victoria Square – Adelaide Virtual Tour Glass Footbridge – Adelaide Virtual Tour Black swan & paddle boats on The River Torrens – Adelaide Virtual Tour Botanic Gardens of Adelaide Virtual Tour Bicentennial Conservatory – Adelaide Virtual Tour Port Adelaide Virtual Tour – Queens Wharf Henley Jetty – Adelaide Virtual...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 31, 2009 | Panoramas
Back in October 2008 I had the opportunity to shoot virtual tours from the top of Australia’s Tallest mountain, Mt Kosciusko. I put together a separate map of the 46 Mt Kosciusko Walking Track Virtual Tours. This area is also known as the Snowy Mountains and the Australia Alps. It’s located in Kosciusko National Park. Of course Australia being the flattest continent on Earth, our mountains are more rolling hills than ‘mountains’. This is borne out by the fact there’s a nice wide walking track all the way to the top, while back in the day you could drive to the top. They closed the road in the 1970’s though, as parking at the top of our tallest mountain was becoming an issue. A Virtual Tour of Mt Kosciusko – From the top. The official record lists the height of Mt Kosciusko at 2228m (7310 ft). My camera mounted GPS claimed a height of 2232m (7322 ft), you can decide which one you want to believe. (Hint: GPS is generally not very accurate at measuring height, although very close in this instance) There are 2 walking tracks to the top. I chose the shorter one, a 13km (8 mile) return, which runs from the top of the Thredbo Chairlift. The lift costs $28 for a return trip in summer and takes about 10mins. It’s a beautiful ride up. The walk wasn’t too hard consisting mostly of undulating hills. In October I had to cross about 6 snow drifts, some of which were quite long, and near to the top of Kosciusko a little steep and slippery as well, but...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 19, 2009 | Production
Talking about shaving the Nikon always reminds me of a lunch I had with friends one Sunday afternoon. We were eating bread rolls with meat & salad when I happened to read the label for the ham. It read ‘Lightly Shaved Hungarian’ which none of us had heard of, so I pronounced, “I’ll have a lightly shaved Hungarian please, my favourite kind!” We all cracked up laughing, my wife included. Not funny? I guess you had to be there All joking aside, shaving the hood off the Nikon 10.5mm is a serious although not too difficult process. If you’re not certain you want it shaved, turn back now as you can’t glue the hood back on later. Although you could have it repaired with a new one, at considerable expense I expect. In fact talking with NPS Australia (Nikon Professional Services) at a motor race I heard the best example of a shaved 10.5mm they’d ever seen was one done ‘professionally’. According to them a gentleman bought a 10.5mm and a hood as a spare part. He had the spare part hood cut perfectly, then had Nikon install the cut hood onto his new 10.5mm. I’m told the result looked like it came from the factory. The other end of the scale looked more like a dog had ripped the hood off with it’s teeth The method I’m about to describe will provide a good (although not factory) finish, and require about $6 worth of tools from your local hardware store. It requires no workshop or other gear, and I actually performed the procedure while staying at a hotel...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 19, 2009 | Panoramas
After 2 weeks in Japan Rick landed in the UK ready to start shooting London virtual tours. He spent his time shooting mainly in the Central London areas, covering plenty of the major sites such as: Buckingham Palace Virtual Tour: Trafalgar Square Virtual Tour: London Eye, from Jubilee Gardens, Virtual Tour: Horse Guards Virtual Tour: Piccadilly Circus Virtual Tour: There are also plenty of multi monitor wallpapers from Central London on our Desktop Wallpaper site....
by Aaron Spence | Jan 17, 2009 | Panoramas
Our intrepid pano photographer Rick headed overseas late last year. His destination, London UK, with a couple of weeks in Japan on the way. Rick experienced 2 sides of Japan in his 2 weeks, the City – Tokyo, and the Country – Hokkaido. Plenty of stunning photography was produced in the short time Rick had available. Here are a few examples: Shibuya Station, Tokyo Tomakomai Shrine, Mount...
by Aaron Spence | Aug 5, 2008 | Production
Today Google launched Streetview in Australia, and it is brilliant. The coverage is simply mind boggling. Included is every major city or town in the entire country it seems. Of course Streetview only shoots from streets at present, so they miss a lot, like Fraser Island, Uluru, National Parks, beaches, trails, mountains, waterfalls, accommodation, tours, shows etc but the vast coverage is great for getting an idea of a place. In addition to incorporating Streetview scenes into Panedia, we’ll use it extensively to scope out places for high quality photography in cities and towns we’ve not been to before. For the Streetview launch, Tourism Australia has chosen 8 virtual tours to showcase Streetview Oz. We have shot all the same places except Perth. So I’ve created a comparison gallery of the best Streetview images as chosen by Tourism Australia and the shots we took at the same place. High resolution image comparison gallery: http://photos.panedia.com/p616902282 (I have changed the Streetview choices a little to make them match up better with the spot we shot from, but in every case the Streetview quality is the same.) Surfers Paradise – Streetview Surfers Paradise – Panedia Canberra – Streetview Canberra – Panedia Alice Springs – Streetview Alice Springs – Panedia Sydney – Streetview Sydney – Panedia Check out all the comparison images in high resolution at our gallery here:...
by Aaron Spence | Jun 17, 2008 | News
5052 Virtual Tours are now online at Panedia. I’d been planning to post at 4000, then 4500, but before I’ve had a chance, we’ve hit 5000. I’ve been shooting in Byron Bay, and Sydney. While Rick has been all over the place. Shooting heaps of panos within an hour or 2 of Melbourne. We also have every intersection + a lot more in the Melbourne City Grid, plus we have audio for each panorama there. And we’ve added a new size of panorama to the map…almost double the previous largest size….while we’ve added auto panorama sizing based on your browser window size as well. We’ve also started shooting aerial panoramas in Canberra at the recent Balloon festival. Watch this space, there’s more to come on that subject. I’m off to Sydney again in an hour for the Google Developer day tomorrow, plus I’ll shoot a lot more Sydney for Panedia. I’m planning to shoot northern beaches over the next week. I’m also hoping to attend the Apple store opening on the 19th of June. I’ll leave you with this fireworks pano (complete with audio) from ‘Cracker Night’ at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast 2 weeks ago. Cracker Night – Surfers...
by Aaron Spence | Apr 21, 2008 | Production
Sydney Opera House, Australia. (Hotspots Off) Before we start I’d like to point out the naming convention we’re using for our panorama/mapping sites: http://maps.panedia.com is our ‘MAPS’ site…big map, small panoramas by default. http://pano.panedia.com is our ‘PANO’ site, fullscreen panoramas, dynamic hotspots and small map. Both sites use the same content, albeit in different sizes and formats, but they present the world in a very different way. ‘Maps’ is a top down look at the world, whereas ‘Pano’ is a ground based tour through the world. OK simple explanation over, lets look at the details. Stanley, Tasmania, Australia. (Mouseover Panorama Hotspot) In the Pano site we’ve managed to integrate the panorama and google maps completely. So mousing over a hotspot in the panorama updates the map, while mousing over a marker on the map, updates the panorama. All the hotspots inside the panorama are dynamically generated based on a number of factors in our algorithm. Each hotspot when moused over opens a large thumbnail image of the view from that panorama position. The hotspot window also contains the distance & bearing to that panorama from the one you are in. Of course you can turn the hotspots off an enjoy the view anytime using the ‘Hotspot’ checkbox on the top left of the window. Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. When you mouse over a hotspot in the panorama, the map scrolls or jumps (depends on the distance) to the marker you are viewing. This gives you an aerial view of that location, while the hotspot shows you an image from that location. Clicking the hotspot or map marker will...
by Aaron Spence | Apr 20, 2008 | Production
People familiar with Google’s Streetview, which is basically panoramic virtual tours on maps, would be forgiven for thinking Panedia is just another ‘me too’ effort. Allow me to show you how this is not the case. There are fundamental differences between Streetview & Panedia, which produce vastly different end results. One isn’t better than the other, they are both great technologies, but they both serve very different purposes and potentially different markets. Core Philosophies Google Streetview Goal: Add visuals to maps so people can look around on the ground, enabling greater understanding of a specific location or area. [Link Out] Result: Attach panoramic cameras to cars and drive down all streets in a city taking images. Add panoramas to maps. [Larry Page’s Idea] Panedia Goal:Use Panoramic Virtual Tours to produce the worlds best destination content and create a visual archive of our changing world. Make the content available in as many mediums as possible. Result: Use professional photographers & equipment along with extensive automated workflows to produce some of the most beautiful destination content available. Shooting places of interest & of historical value. Use the content in may ways including adding it to maps for online viewing. Practical Results As you would expect these philosophies lead to very different results where Street View & Panedia overlap, ie on maps. Panedia = Low quantity of extremely high quality panoramic virtual tours on maps.Google Street View = Vast quantity of low quality panoramic virtual tours on maps. Google Streetview – Cnr Geary & Stockton St – Union Square, San Francisco. Panedia = Low quantity of extremely high quality virtual tours...
by Aaron Spence | Apr 11, 2008 | Production
Last week Ben Scheirman over at the Flux88 blog did a quick review of an important feature on our Wallpaper site. He noted that we read user information from visitors to wallpaper.panedia.com and customise the site to their needs as best we can. This feature started as a simple concept that grew to become a very useful aspect of the site. We have plans to further extend this type of functionality over time. Thanks...
by Aaron Spence | Apr 7, 2008 | News
3513 Virtual Tours are now online at Panedia. With hundreds more in the pipeline, 4000 should be coming up soon. I’ve been busy stitching panos from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Panos I shot back in December that haven’t been prepped until now. Among those panos are amazing huge termite mounds and waterfalls in Litchfield National Park about 90 minutes drive outside of Darwin, & the Aviation Museum near the Darwin Airport. Here’s a view inside the wheel bay of a B-52 bomber at the Aviation Museum. The B-52 is the centerpiece of the museum taking up much of the total floor...
by Aaron Spence | Apr 3, 2008 | Production
With Panedia Wallpaper I’m introducing the first of many products and services to come out of the huge Panedia panoramic content library. The site has been up for a few weeks testing in narrow release, today we give it the official heave ho into wide release. (Tell your friends about it Panedia Desktop Wallpaper contains over 40 wallpapers at present, with a ‘Free Daily’ wallpaper being added every day. The daily wallpaper update is available free for 24hrs only, before it goes into the members gallery. There is also a public gallery (free) which is added to monthly. Each wallpaper on the site is available in 16 sizes from 800×600 to 2560×1600 for single, dual and triple monitors in the 3 common ratios 4:3, 5:4 & Widescreen (16:10). We produce 130 separate images for each wallpaper to provide all the sizes for MAC and PC computers. Members (paid) have access to all wallpapers at all times, plus the master files used to generate the wallpapers. With these files members can cut up their own wallpaper sizes, for up to 4 or 5 monitors. We’re working on tools to enhance this capability in the short to medium term. Members can also use Panedia Wallpaper as a form of Service, I’ve called it WAAS (Wallpaper As A Service) for want of a better term, whereby they need not horde images on their computers for wallpaper. A member can access the site at any time from any computer and download the exact size image(s) they require. Using the ‘Set As Desktop Background’ function of Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari the wallpaper image...
by Aaron Spence | Mar 29, 2008 | People
Rodrick…or Rick as we call him around here, started shooting for us full time a couple of weeks ago. In that time he’s already added hundreds of panos to Panedia. From Fraser Island to The Melbourne Motor Show and the Melbourne Grand Prix, he’s been very busy. Rick is a talented still and pano photographer whose work can view viewed on his personal site www.rodrickbond.com. He ‘s a graduate of RMIT (Royal Melboure Institute of Technology) with a bachelor of photography. He also builds some very cool stuff, so he’ll be working on R&D for our photographic processes and helping set up systems to make life easier for future photographers. Contrary to the photo seen here of Rick on Fraser Island, he’s not a crazy homeless man, although Rick might say otherwise. And finally Rick will be blogging here as well, about things that strike his...
by Aaron Spence | Mar 27, 2008 | People
Panedia is growing. In addition to yours truly we now have 3 amazing people working on different aspects of Panedia. I’ll be introducing the team via the blog over the next short while. A couple of the team members will also be blogging here. Jim Whimpey: We’re still working on his official title, but he’s responsible for our websites. He’s also our master of blogging & pano photographer in training, while completing an IT degree at University. If you’re wanting to get to know Jim, his blog is at Valhalla Island, while he tweets at...
by Aaron Spence | Mar 26, 2008 | News
We hit a big milestone yesterday, 3000 virtual tours. We should have hit it a few months ago, when I finished the panos I shot in the Northern Territory, but I haven’t finished them yet. Instead I was at www.easterfest.com.au on the weekend and shot another 75 panos there, taking our total to just over 3000. So much has been going on over the last couple of months that I can’t begin to explain it all, suffice to say, many new announcements & sites will be forthcoming over the next short while. We also have hundreds more panos in the pipeline, so the 4000 pano milestone will be coming up...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 5, 2008 | Panoramas
This is an oldy, but a goody. I was shooting on Noosa beach late one afternoon when I notice 2 girls surfing which is not common. Girls surfing is, but 2 girls surfing alone isn’t. I’m shooting panos with a fisheye lens so there is no use taking pics of them, and I would ask permission first in that situation (which is of course impossible). So I continue shooting around the area and then down by the rock wall, when they decide they’ve finished surfing and it’s time to head in. Perfect serendipity, the lead girl is leaving the water just as I’m shooting, creating one of my favourite panos. You can’t see the girls in the thumb, you’ll need to view the pano...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 3, 2008 | Panoramas
The Northern Territory (NT) in Australia is an incredible place. It is so very sparsely populated that the capital city, Darwin, has only 110,000 residents, while the entire state contains 215,000 people, or around 1% of the Australian population. Considering this I was surprised to find such a large and unique looking building for the State Parliament house, or to be precise ‘Legislative Assembly’. I was also surprised to learn this beautiful building was already 13yrs old. Standing right near it, I figured it was very new, with it’s grand structures and (to me) Asian influences. But that’s the NT, a place chock full of surprises. Parliament House...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 2, 2008 | Panoramas
Cradle Mountain National Park is a very popular and beautiful spot in Tasmania. On my last shooting trip to Tasmania I managed 2 trips here. On the first one it was snowing after a cold snap in the middle of summer, this shot is from the 2nd visit about 10 days later when the snow had all...
by Aaron Spence | Jan 1, 2008 | Panoramas
It’s New Years day, and time to give my blog some well deserved attention….how many other bloggers have decided this today I wonder? My guess is 1 million. The link posted here is to my favourite pano of the moment. It’s of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and was my submission for the ‘Best Of 2007’ on the World Wide...
