Microsoft has just announced the release of the latest updates to their Photosynth technology, which through an integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth means that the technology can now be used commercially.

What is Photosynth?

Photosynth ‘stitches’ together digital photos of any object or location giving the user a 3D, 360-degree, interactive experience of the space. You can navigate around the ‘synth’ to view the object or location from all angles (according to the number and position of the original photos) and zoom in to the images to see the detail.

What has been added to Photosynth?

The latest release of Photosynth introduces:

· Commercial licensing - businesses can now use the technology to give their customers an exciting new way to explore and interact with their products, whether that be a hotel room or a car

· Privacy controls - users can now choose how they share the synths by making them public or unlisted on https://www.photosynth.net

· One click highlighting – makes navigating through the synths much easier

What have Earthware been doing with Photosynth?

At Earthware we have been playing with photosynth for a while now, and with Microsoft’s latest updates we have now made live our new property photosynths map using Virtual Earth in London property consultants Residential Land displaying three of their properties using this new technology.

Residential Land users are used to seeing the great Aerial and Birds Eye imagery of property that is available with the Earthware Property interactive maps already available on the site, but now with the Photosynth map they can also see the inside of the properties. They can ‘walk’ around the space to discover how the rooms flow together and even zoom in to see what the cupboard door handles in the kitchen are like. Buyers/renters are able to see the property inside and out without actually needing to go there, opening up more properties to them and therefore increasing Residential Lands rental and sales figures.

View the photosynth map to see exactly how Residential Land are using photosynth and contact Earthware to find out how you could be using it too.