Philly from the Top — One Liberty Observation Deck
A gigapixel tiny-planet panorama of Philadelphia, shot more than 1,000 feet up the spire of One Liberty Place and built into six touchscreen kiosks across the observation deck. The panorama made local news twice — once for the install, once when it caught a wedding proposal playing out in Love Park below.
Six touchscreen kiosks across One Liberty Place’s observation deck, each one built around a gigapixel tiny-planet panorama of Philadelphia — day and night versions, nearly 100 interactive points of interest baked into the frame: City Hall, the stadiums, the river, the whole skyline compressed into a single navigable sphere.
Getting the source imagery meant climbing more than 1,000 feet up the spire itself. 6ABC caught it on camera for a July 2015 segment, with Chopper 6 HD circling overhead while Gavin worked: “It was just remarkable, it was incredible to be up there,” he told the station, identified on screen as co-owner of Panogs. “We do a special niche of panoramic which is hyper-resolution gigapixel experience.”
The install came from a team already familiar from elsewhere in this portfolio — Stimulant, the same agency behind Sutro Tower, brought in Panogs as “world-class photography partners” for the client, Montparnasse56, the deck’s operator. Stimulant’s own announcement notes Panogs had done comparable work at the Space Needle and Reunion Tower.
The panorama’s resolution turned it into its own second news story: a gigapixel frame doesn’t just show a wedding party in Love Park, it can be pushed in on until you can tell who they are — which is exactly what happened, and 6ABC covered that too.
What Gavin did
- Climbed the spire of One Liberty Place, 1,000+ feet up, to shoot the source gigapixel imagery
- Shot and stitched day and night gigapixel spheres of Philadelphia
- Built the tiny-planet panoramas into six interactive touchscreen kiosks across the deck
- Interviewed on camera by 6ABC, identified by name as co-owner of Panogs
The file dates on the drive run from 2015 through 2019, consistent with an installation that stayed live and got revisited rather than a single shoot.
It was just remarkable, it was incredible to be up there. We do a special niche of panoramic which is hyper-resolution gigapixel experience.
We worked with Montparnasse56, the operator of the One Liberty Place Observation Deck, and our world-class photography partners Panogs, to create a 360-degree explorable panorama of Philadelphia.
