High Altitude: Selfie From World's Tallest Building

Gerald Donovan took this vertigo-inducing photograph at the top of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest man-made structure.

The 47-year-old was there to put the finishing touches to the Dubai 360 project – which includes a virtual tour of the city and a 360 degree panoramic timelapse.

He said: “I'm not usually one for selfies, in fact, I think this could well be the very first one I've ever shared. However, it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Cheltenham-born Donovan, who has lived in the UAE for seven years, used a special panoramic camera controlled by an i-Phone app to capture the selfie at 830m high.

He said: “The camera I used was a Ricoh Theta. It's a very small single-shot 360 degree panoramic camera that captures the entire spherical view around it.

“The camera and pole mostly disappear due to the way the Theta stitches its two images together.”

Dubai360.com, which launches in January 2015, will give users the ability to travel anywhere in Dubai, at the touch of a button.

Highlights include a 36-hour panoramic timelapse from the pinnacle of the Burj Khalifa, and a fully interactive tour of the city.

Donovan said: “Viewers will be able to fully interact with the video, deciding for themselves the direction to look in and zoom in and out to see more detail.

“The idea is to be able to present Dubai to a worldwide audience and allow people to virtually explore and experience the city at their own leisure - wherever on the planet they may be.

“The timelapse is just a single component of a city-wide interactive tour of still photography, video, and timelapses - all presented in fully interactive 360 degree views.

“When viewing content through their web browsers, people will be able to virtually hop around the city of Dubai by selecting hotspots that will then take them to other vantage points.”