A quick answer to the question is to say that Image Resolution is a term used to describe how much detail exists in an image. For example an image that is 1600 X 1200 pixels would have far more detail than an 800 X 600 pixel image.

Essentially, the total number of pixels in an image is calculated in the same way as the square footage of a room. So, an image resolution of 800 X 600 would equate to 4800 total pixels.

You might think that the higher the resolution the better the image. Your are correct to make this assumption. If an image is to be used as part of a Virtual Tour or other website, there are a couple of factors to consider.

The larger the image, the longer the image will take to load to someone's computer.

A typical computer monitor can only display 72dpi (dots per inch), so additional resolution above an beyond that will only slow down the rate at which your tour or other website will load, and will provide no additional online benefit. Your Buildatour.com Tour(s) will display your tour images at 800 X 600 pixels and 72 dpi (nearly full-screen on a 17" monitor).

For best results, Buildatour.com users should make sure that their digital camera's resolution setting is larger than 800 X 600. You may upload any size image you prefer to your Buildatour.com Tour(s). We automatically down-size larger images to 800 X 600 pixels. However, we cannot up-size smaller images without significant image degradation.