Hot on the heals on my post on how Google can help in your serious studies on the geography of Israel with their Google Earth and Google Map tools, enter Microsoft Photosynth.  I first posted on Photosynth back in June 2007 and thought it would be great to revisit how this tool has been taken up.

And it sure has taken off!.  In a nutshell, Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyses them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space.  Sounds confusing?  Check out the following video explaining it in far better terms then I could muster up.

Very cool indeed!  For some awesome examples of how this tool works, check out the following “synths” (links you to the Direct3D viewer to get the most out of the tool.) – Sistine Chapel – Cappella Sistina & Glacier Point (Combined), Yosemite National Park, California.

But in keeping with the theme of using technology to help with your studies on Israel, let me draw your attention to an awesome “synth” I found on Jerusalem – in particular, the Western Wall.  This synth consists of a total of 746 photo’s synthed at 100%.  In lay terms, this is one hell of an awesome synth!

Having been to Israel in 1998, on place I found really touching was the Western Wall.  This section of the Old City of Jerusalem contains the wall of the Second Temple dating back to King Herod’s time.  More notably, it was this Temple that Jesus Christ frequented during his brief visit to planet earth.  Once you visit this place, you are changed.  Forever.

Here is where this technology is so powerful.  Below is a synth with 746 photo’s all joined together in perfect harmony of the Western Wall area.  Before you have a play with it, let me draw your attention to one of it’s awesome details.

This is the view of the Western Wall as I approached it after winding through a bunch of side alleys.  To walk into this open area and look at this site and let it sink in as to what you are actually looking at, is a mind blowing experience.  You won’t know what I’m talking about until you actually experience it for yourself.  As you can see, this is a panoramic view  of the entire courtyard and contains heaps of detail.  This is just 1 of the 746 photo’s in this synth.  Let me show you another..

This is a close up of the Western Wall where Jews place written prayers in the cracks in the wall of the Second Temple as they pray to God.  You just need to spend a couple of minutes watching this and you are blown away at how they revere and call out to God in the prayers.

The beauty of Photosynth is that these two photo’s and the other 744 are all joined together and form a 3D panoramic view of the entire site.  And the detail you extract from it is amazing!

I’ve embedded the synth below for your viewing and exploring pleasure.  Please note that you’ll need a fast internet connection and a new generation browser to view this.

To play with the synth in all its glory, click here to view it in Direct3D mode.