A gigapixel image is a digital image bitmap composed of one billion (109) pixels (picture elements), 1000 times the information captured by a 1 megapixel digital camera. A square image of 31,623 pixels in width and height is one gigapixel. Current technology for creating such very high-resolution images usually involves either making digital image mosaics of many high-resolution digital photographs or using a film negative as large as 12" × 9" (30 cm × 23 cm) up to 18" × 9" (46 cm × 23 cm), which is then scanned with a high-end large-format film scanner with at least 3000 dpi resolution. Only a few cameras are capable of creating a gigapixel image in a single sweep of a scene, such as the Pan-STARRS PS1 and the Gigapxl Camera.[1] [2]
A gigamacro image is a gigapixel image which is a close-up or macro image.
A terapixel image is an image composed of one trillion (1012) pixels. Though currently rare, there have been a few instances such as the Microsoft Research Terapixel project for use on the Fulldome projection system,[3] a composite of medical images by Aperio,[4] [5] and Google Earth's Landsat images viewable as a time-lapse are collectively considered over one terapixel.[6]
In 2015 the 'Terabite', the world's first terapixel macro image, was released by GIGAmacro.[7]