News: Digital Life
Google Earth: flight at the museum
14.01.2009
Google Earth has added yet another new layer to its functionality and this time it is all about high art - or high resolution art - at the Prado Museum in Spain.
The Prado Museum, which houses amazing masterpieces by Caravaggio, Botticelli and Rembrandt, amongst others, has become the world's first museum to allow people to navigate through the museum and browse its artwork.
By enabling '3D buildings' in Google Earth and typing in 'Prado Museum, Spain' you will be taken directly there and can fly around the museum's 3D rendering.
Once there you will be given the choice of browsing through 14 works of art, including the Three Graces, Descent from the Cross andJacob's Dream.
The key difference about viewing these paintings is that they are in ultra-high resolution, or gigapixel quality, so should you choose to you can zoom up to the tiniest details like brushstrokes and cracks in the paint - it's almost like being there in front of the actual picture with a magnifying glass!
In fact, Javier Rodriguez Zapatero, Google Spain's director, told the UK Independent that the images are 1,400 times clearer than the quality of those snapped by the average 10-megapixel camera, were you to go on a tour of the real museum.
This isn't the first time Google Earth has made art and culture that bit more accessible - back in November 2008 it gave us the opportunity to explore the streets of Ancient Rome in 3D and view some 6,700 buildings of the time, including the Ludus Magnus gladiator school.
By Marie Boran
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