Microsoft scales Mount Everest

Google gets a lot of attention for its Street View adventures -- it's travelled from the Great Barrier Reef to the Grand Canyon -- but Microsoft is not taking this lying down. The software giant has teamed up with David Breashears and his non-profit, GlacierWorks, to scale the heights of the Himalayas.

The IE10 team, Microsoft Research, and the developers at Pixel Lab have come together to create a multi-touch experience that allows users to explore the work of David Breashears, who has spent considerable time exploring and photographing the world's tallest mountain chain.

Microsoft's Roger Caprioti announces "renowned explorer, filmmaker and photographer, David began chronicling the changes to the glaciers of Mount Everest and the greater Himalayan region in 2007 when he first matched an iconic image taken in 1921 by explorer George Mallory. David’s photo revealed the stark changes occurred to this glacier during the 86 years since Mallory took his photo".

Using Gigapixel images and video, a simple tap or pan lets you fly across panoramic views of Everest and zoom into images composed of billions of pixels to discover the region in great detail. "If you want to explore an area, a peak or basecamp on the mountain, you simply draw a circle around a piece of the photo and the site will automatically zoom to what you want to explore" explains Caprioti.

This is built with Internet Explorer 10 in mind, but the "browser you loved to hate" is not necessary in order to explore Mount Everest. You can check it out at GlacierWorks. Take that Google Street View!