Hardware
The Garibaldi Project: Academic Research on Microsoft Surface
Brown University is working on a project that is a perfect fit for a Microsoft Surface: digitizing the Garibaldi moving panorama. A moving panorama is basically a massive canvas painting that is scrolled in front of an audience to tell a story. The Garibaldi is more than a football field in length. Far too big for scholars to handle practically, but virtually, it handles beautifully on a Microsoft Surface.
The most obvious advantage is the ability to browse through the panorama with a swipe across the screen vs. delicately turning a five-foot wide scroll. In addition, the project has paired the Surface with a 72″ display, providing a view closer in size to the actual panorama. The digital version also offers menus to access additional information in a snap, the ability to magnify areas via object interaction, information hotspots akin to document comments, and the ability to markup the image with an IR-light pen (whereas marking up the actual panorama would result in a major freakout). Such a wonderful, worthwhile use of surface computing. Video below.
Via the Microsoft Surface Blog
The Garibaldi Project from Ian Spector on Vimeo.
osiris
04/29/2010 at 1:46 am
I like seeing these uses for the surface even if this is one of the more unique uses.