Month: June 2009

Smart Way of Visualizing Spherical Panoramas: Little Planets

Posted by Jan Vrsinsky – June 28, 2009

I’ve been toying recently with various representations of a spherical panorama. The stereographic (or little planet) projection has become my favorite for various reasons:

* I think it’s the most interesting way to represent a spherical panorama (much less boring than the usual equirect I used in this blog post)

* It’s also more practical because the image’s width to height ratio is usualy 1:1 so it displays nicely almost everywhere

* It’s definitely more creative because you can tweak each image quite a lot (you can rotate the “viewpoint”, alter horizontal compression, move the center, etc.)

Take a look at some examples:

Stereographic Projection

Tram Public Transport in Prague, Czech Republic

Wind Harvesters

Wind Harvester Farm

Mexico City

Mexico City

Click on the images to view interactive versions.

Please send me links to little-planet images you find or your own. ;-)

Sphericam in action: 360 Degrees Of Panoramic Video

Posted by Jan Vrsinsky – June 17, 2009

Jeffrey Martin, Bruce Pales, and Jan Vrsinsky drink beer as the sun goes down at the Dejvicka station pub beer garden in Prague 6.

This is a 270×270 degree stereographic, or ‘little planet’ projection.


The video was created by Jeffrey Martin (email him at 360 c i t i e s at g mail)

How Google Street View Will Look 5 Years From Now

Posted by Jan Vrsinsky – June 6, 2009

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth which provides panoramic views of streets so the viewers can look around at any place that has been covered. What is the difference between Google Street View and handcrafted virtual panoramic photography as of today? What is stopping Street View to look as today’s best VR panoramas? What are the current and future technology constraints? How will Street View look in 5 years?
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3 Inspiring Videos That Will Make You Feel Better

Posted by Jan Vrsinsky – June 4, 2009

Here are two videos that I currently use to help me to shift my focus whenever I feel I’ve drifted away from what I want. Plus one longer and more thoughtful.
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Mexpedition Diaries: 360 panoramic imagery and photos from Mexico, Belize and Guatemala

Posted by Jan Vrsinsky – June 1, 2009

I invite you to follow my Mexpedition Diaries photoblog. A regular dose of imagery from Mexico, Belize and Guatemala I created during a trip in 2008. You can find photos as well as spherical 360 panoramas there.

Deformed Maya Skull
(go to Mexpedition Diaries)

We started in Mexico City and headed north, then through Palenque to Yucatan, then to Belize, Guatemala and back to Mexico City. Here’s the map of the whole Mexpedition Diaries trip. More…