Updated

A new interactive photo has been taken from the spire of the nearly completed 1 World Trade Center. It offers stunning 360-degree views of the New York City metropolitan area that can be enlarged to bring up incredible detail.

Time magazine posted the image on its website Thursday.

Users can pan across the photo and zoom in tight on the cityscape without losing any clarity.

Time got exclusive access to the tower's spire from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.

It took eight months to design and construct a 13-foot-long rotating arm. Then a camera with a 100-millimeter lens was mounted on it.

The camera produced hundreds of pictures that were stitched together digitally into a single panoramic image.