The 1 World Trade Center Interactive By TIME Is The Coolest Thing On The Internet

This panorama truly does provide a view of New York City like never before. A full 360-degree interactive image from the tallest building in the western hemisphere, 1 World Trade Center.

In early 2013, TIME began negotiating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that built the original World Trade Center and owns the new one, to gain exclusive access to the top of its spire.

After months of back and forth, TIME was granted access, and for that we should all be thankful. The views are amazing.

TIME partnered with a tech startup called GigaPan to produce the interactive image that went up on the Internet last week. It took the company eight months to create the 13-ft.-long aluminum jib calibrated to adhere to the base of the beacon at the top of the tower's 408-ft. spire.

At the end of the jib was a Canon 5D Mark II with a 100-mm lens used to shoot 567 pictures over a five-hour span Sept. 28, 2013.

The images were then "stitched together digitally into a single massive-and zoomable-image of everything the eye can see in all directions."

To accompany the interactive image, TIME also published a great read about Kevin Murphy and the team of ironworkers that pieced together the skeleton of this skyscraper. you can experience both by clicking here.

Here is a video about how the interactive was made: