Photo software reveals new way of looking at the space shuttle

I've mentioned PhotoSynth before (from Microsoft Live Labs), but with the current space shuttle mission, this new gallery deserved a mention.

In collaboration between Microsoft's Live Labs team in Seattle, Washington, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and NASA's Ames Research Center, in Silicon Valley, these collections were created to allow people to see the shuttle Endeavour, and the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in a way never seen before.

Basically, you have hundreds of images geo-spatially located around the shuttle as it sits on it's pad.

What PhotoSynth does is figure out where these shots overlap, and present you with an incredibly cool interface to navigate within the space, visually.

Another neat feature is the amount of detail present in the images. You can zoom, and zoom, and zoom, and on some very high rez images, you can reveal astonishing features.

And you don't take a huge bandwidth hit either. I've very impressed by this, and am wondering where this technology will resurface in Microsoft's world.

Technorati Tags: Photography, Nasa, Photosynth, Microsoft, Microsoft Live Labs, Cool, Technology, Space Program, Space Shuttle, Image Manipulation

Post Script: This article was inspired by my good friend, Ranger-Bob and his awesome/leet technical ability. He is able to watch NASA TV, Live, on his Palm T|X, from his outhouse..now that's dedication!