Photosynth, a free application from Microsoft, creates interactive panoramas with photos from a standard digital camera

Google has taught us to swoop in on our homes from outer space and cruise through cities at street level. Now its arch-rival Microsoft is inviting us to build three-dimensional, 360-degree images we can fly around, step inside and spin with a flick of the wrist.

Photosynth, described by Microsoft as "the next step in the evolution of digital photography," analyses hundreds of pictures and stitches them together to create a composite image with super-high resolution.

The software, released to the public today after nearly two years of trials, lets anyone with a computer create a 3D image known as a synth using their own pictures or those from photo-sharing websites such as Flickr.

"Photosynth analyses the photographs you send it and creates a 3D world in which to present those photographs," Paul Foster, of Microsoft, said.

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