If you would like to use your iPhone to create a 360 degree view of a location, say your favorite museum for example or your favorite kiteboarding spot in the world, there is an app that lets you easily and rapidly do just that, app that has been developed by longtime Apple competitor Microsoft.

The app I am talking about is the Microsoft-developed Photosynth, which is offered free of charge by the Redmond-based software giant. “Using the latest in computer vision techniques, Photosynth makes it easy and fun to create and share interactive panoramas of wherever you are,” says Microsoft in the app’s description.

Get this app and you will be able to easily create a panorama of your favorite location; the panorama can cover all directions, left, right, up and down. Once you’re done creating the panorama, you can share it with others. You can share them as images on popular social networking site Facebook, you can share them as interactive panoramas on Photosynth.net, or you can upload them to Bing Maps.

According to Eric Bennett, Senior Program Manager on Microsoft Bing’s Photosynth Team, the Photosynth app can be used to:

• See your panorama take shape with each picture you take
  
• Get high-resolution results in all directions with advanced, on-device stitching
  
• See most panoramas within seconds of taking your last picture
  
• Zoom, pan, stretch, and view your panorama in landscape or portrait mode
  
• Save and view your panoramas on your device and view them online at Photosynth.net

As mentioned above, the Photosynth app is offered free of charge; you can get it from the App Store here. The app works with iOS 4.0 or newer powered devices (iPhone 3GS and 4, 4th generation iPod Touch, iPad). For now the application is available in just one language – English, of course.