Monday, August 2, 2010

Gigapan Training in Schenley Park

Yesterday I attended a Gigapan training around Panther Hollow in Schenley Park.

A Gigapan training?  I'm sure some people are probably wondering what a Gigapan is...

A Gigapan is a neat little device that allows you to take very high resolution pictures using a regular point-and-shoot camera.  It was developed right here in Pittsburgh.  (note that the Gigapan picture on that website is of Schenley Park!)




There are a lot of possible applications of this technology when it comes to sharing information about watersheds (and anything else!)  These high resolution pictures are great ways to virtually explore a large area, then zoom in on interesting features.  They are also a great way to track changes over time, if many pictures are taken from the same location say, once a year.

The training was fun!  I didn't try a Gigapan out myself since I was running around and talking about my project, but I was able to see the Gigapan in action, which was really neat.

Here's a shot of some people scoping out possible photo location sites:

Giga1

My friend Caitlin was at this training, and we shared ideas about how to use Iphones to collect and share scientific data and ideas.  Here she is setting up a Gigapan picture:

Giga2

The best part (for me) was that many of the people taking pictures offered to let me use them in my outreach!  They aren't all uploaded yet but will be soon.  I hope to have some very high resolution photos of the Panther Hollow watershed soon.

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