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Maybe this will be available for all kinds of things in the future … like famous architectural sites ? ( cough … google … ) maybe some huge internet monster of a company can do this for all kinds of places all over the whole that have some significance … 

When geologists wanted a better look at a Yosemite rock face in years past, they only had one option: climb the cliff.

But now, thanks to super-high resolution gigapixel images created by a team of 70 photographers using GigaPan robotic imagers and a laser-mapping airplane, park geologist Greg Stock now has unprecedented access to the geological features of one of the world’s most famous parks. And all from the comfort of his laptop.

“When you’re climbing, your primary purpose is just surviving,” Stock said. “You can make some observations, but it’s a lot harder.”

The Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project is a Microsoft-sponsored collaboration between Los Angeles-based photography studio, xRez, and the National Park Service, intended to help Stock catalog and understand dangerous rock slides in Yosemite. Printed out at magazine-quality 300 dpi resolution, the photos stretch uninterrupted for 40 feet.

“People have been documenting rock fall in Yosemite for 150 years but we’re doing it now with a precision that other people couldn’t have dreamed of,” Stock said. “Every rock-fall event begins with the basic documentation: Where was it, how big was it, and why did it happen? And sometimes these photos are the only way of ascertaining those things.”

via wired