''thanks to an affordable robotic tripod, it is now possible to use a consumer camera to take images in the gigapixel range – like this one of President Obama's inauguration.
'' [source]

Cool... but there is also free/open photo stitching software out there:
- (3D/panorama) hugin. Open-source.
- (image assembler) panavue. Free standard version.
- more info here