Obligatory Minority Report reference. There, it’s out of the way, and we can enjoy this interesting video without worrying about when the allusion is going to drop.

The University of Lincoln in the UK recently hosted an interactive exhibition in which users can navigate a number of gigapixel photos by using over-sized gestures tracked by a Kinect. Meanwhile, your experience is enhanced by ambient noise recorded at the location of the photo. Of course, the people and cattle in the pictures don’t move, which kind of breaks the illusion, but it’s a nice touch.

Check out the video:

I’m surprised Microsoft hasn’t shown off something like this already. Their Seadragon demo for the Surface was one of the more impressive uses of the large, touch-friendly interface. Perhaps they have something in the works, but I doubt it’s as immersive as this super-sized exhibit.

This kind of thing is fun to think about in relation to teaching and presentations. Whether it’s actually more practical than a slide deck and a laser pointer is questionable, but it’s a hell of a lot cooler.

Unfortunately the exhibition was just this last weekend, so you’ll have to wait for the next one. Keep an eye on the GigaLinc page for news, and check out the images they had on show. As usual, it’s stunning to be able to zoom in from a panoramic view to the point where you can read the ads on the back of a guy’s newspaper a hundred feet away.