Q: How are high-resolution panoramas made?
A:

Panoramas are usually constructed out of 10's or 100's of individual pictures. Each picture is zoomed in to see a small area, and these pictures are assembled into a single panorama using "stitching" software. There are several ways to capture pictures and stitch them. The GigaPan project has developed an automatic system for capturing and stitching pictures, but you can share panoramas from any source on this site.

Because a panorama is assembled from multiple pictures, sometimes you'll see strange things if something moved between the pictures.

Q: Can I annotate other photographer's panoramas?
A:

YES! You can take snapshot, annotate, and make comments on anyone's panorama, not just your own. One of the most exciting things about having your panorama be public is that other people will discover new things and share them, resulting in a community annotation of the near-endless features of each panorama.

Q: Where can I get a Gigapan camera mount?
A:

We are pleased to announce that large-scale production of the GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is underway. The GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is capable of capturing multi-gigapixel, explorable panoramas with many compact digital cameras. The GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is manufactured and sold by GigaPan Systems.

Q: Can I build my own Gigapan camera mount?
A:

Yes, if you are adventurous and have some basic knowledge of mechanisms you can build a Gigapan camera mount. We will be publishing an open-source reference design soon.

Q: Which stitching software should I use?
A:

We have developed a special stitcher that's easy to use with the GigaPan device. We've also had good success with products such as PTGui and Autopano Pro, both of which work with images from a variety of sources and give the user a lot of control over the output.

Q: My panorama is larger than 50 megs, so why does the uploader tell me that it is too small?
A:

The uploader requires that panoramas have a pixel resolution of at least 50 megapixels (i.e 50 million pixels). Pixel resolution is calculated by multiplying the width of the panorama by the height, in pixels. The pixel resolution is related to, but different from, the file's size on disk, which is measured in megabytes or gigabytes. Thus, while a panorama may be greater than 50 megs (i.e. megabytes), it does not necessarily have a pixel resolution of at least 50 megapixels.

Q: Is there a Gigapan camera mount for larger/professional grade digital cameras (such as SLRs)?
A:

Currently there is not a Gigapan camera mount for larger/professional grade digital cameras. We may be creating one in the near future, that, in addition to supporting larger cameras will have a time-lapse feature as part of the mount.

Q: I know the perfect place for a photo, can I arrange to have someone take a panorama of it?
A:

We don't have an official service to take panoramas, however, we do have a extended network of avid Gigapan users. So send your idea for a photo to ideas@gigapan.org. If we know of anyone in your area we will pass it along to them. Of course, we suggest YOU take the Gigapan, it's easy and fun and we are certain you can do it.

Q: I found something offensive/disturbing in one of the photos, who do I report it to?
A:

We are sorry that you found something offensive/disturbing in one of the photos. Please send an email to reporting@gigapan.org. In your email please include the name of the panorama, the URL for the panorama, and a description of what you found and where in the panorama. If at all possible, please include a screenshot. We will look into it as soon as and possible.

Q: What is the "Explore Score"?
A:

The Explore Score is a measure of how many people are looking at your panoramas as well as how much they're actively exploring it. Some panoramas are pretty to look at as a whole, but aren't very interesting to zoom in and out of. The Explore Score is a measure of the long term entertainment and interest value of a given panorama.

Q: How do I increase my "Explore Score"?
A:

Since the explore score is dependent on both how many people are looking at your panorama as well as how much they're actively exploring it, to increase one's explore score you should make your panorama findable, and make it interesting to explore. The main ways that people find panoramas to explore are by searching tags and text or by navigating the map. Geolocating your panorama will ensure that your panorama appears on the map. Adding tags, snapshots, and descriptions to your panoramas will make them show up in more searches, and will make the act of exploring your panorama more interesting.

Q: Can I embed a panorama on my web site or blog?
A:

Yes, provided you agree to and abide by the Gigapan Terms of Embedding. See the instructions for embedding for details on how to write the code.

Q: When will my panorama be visible in Google Earth?
A:

If you geolocate your panorama using the "Place this Panorama in Google Earth" link in My Home -> My Gigapans, and mark the "Share this Gigapan with others using Google Earth" checkbox, your panorama will be immediately visible to other gigapan.org users in Google Earth when they click the "View in Google Earth 4.2+" link.

However, panoramas are not automatically included in the Gigapan layer in Google Earth. Those panoramas are hand-selected and only periodically updated. We look at several aspects when deciding which panoramas to include in the Google Earth layer update, such as quality of the image, interesting features of the image, quality of the geolocation/placement in Google Earth, etc.