Microsoft’s Photosynth Gets Its Own iOS App

Photosynth is one of the many cool-but-underpromoted-and-unknown aspects of the Bing Maps experience. That could change soon thanks to the launch this week of a Photosynth app for iOS devices. With the Photosynth app, users can create panoramic images inside the app — no additional stitching software required — and upload them directly into Bing […]

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Photosynth is one of the many cool-but-underpromoted-and-unknown aspects of the Bing Maps experience. That could change soon thanks to the launch this week of a Photosynth app for iOS devices.

With the Photosynth app, users can create panoramic images inside the app — no additional stitching software required — and upload them directly into Bing Maps. (Or to Facebook if you prefer.) It looks better than I’m describing it, so watch at about the :20 mark of this Microsoft video to see how the app works.

<br><a href="https://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&amp;vid=286219d4-1988-4479-816f-12e36d18b514&amp;src=SLPl:embed:&amp;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new" title="Microsoft Photosynth App &ndash; April 2011">Video: Microsoft Photosynth App &ndash; April 2011</a>

If users upload panoramas to Bing Maps and tag them with the name of the location (a museum, stadium, store, etc.), the photosynth panorama will show up alongside the business/location’s listing.

It can be a compelling way to introduce a location to potential visitors. Consider this screenshot below of a Photosynth panorama of a snorkeling spot on Maui. The images are hosted on Photosynth.net, but I discovered the panorama via a link in Bing Maps while planning for a trip there later this year.

photosynth-maui

The Photosynth app is currently available for Apple devices running iOS 4.1 or later, and a Windows Phone version is in the works, too.


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About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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