Boeing introduced the 737 Explained, a virtual model of the Boeing 737 generated from thousands of high-resolution photographs that create an immersive 3-D-like model, according to Microsoft News Center.

“737 Explained is one of the best marketing tools I’ve seen because it allows us to show prospective customers the new features and improvements without bringing them to an airport,” said Diana Klug, director of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

The 737 is the world’s best-selling airplane and has benefited from continuous investment to incorporate the latest technology and performance improvements. The Boeing marketing team wanted an equally innovative way to demonstrate the airplane’s latest features.

737 Explained is hosted on Windows Azure, which stores the project data - more than 20,000 high-resolution photographs combined into a 32-gigapixel image of the plane on Microsoft’s cloud-based servers. This allows prospective customers and Boeing representatives to show the detail of the airplane virtually anytime, anywhere, and on many different devices.

737 Explained also uses Microsoft Silverlight Deep Zoom, which enables a rich user experience with 360-degree tours of the airplane and the ability to view every component of the plane down to the landing gear, engine components and individual rivets.