The recording the Danube Panorama is applied Slit-Scan Imaging Technology. Slit-Scan is a traditional film and photographic technique that uses a focal plane shutter or slit as aperture. The film is exposed by moving it past a fine slit. In the digital realm this is done by image processing: one can simply cut out pixel columns of video-frames and assemble it back into static or moving images.

Whether the slit-scanning happens with a statical or with a moving camera, slit-scanned images transform time-based phenomena and have their own perspective, projection properties and distinct translations of time and space relationships.

The Danube Panorama Project makes use of slit-scanning techniques in real-time. Additionally, speed information retrieved from a GPS-Receiver is used to control the 'sampling frequency' or framerate of that process. The result is a series of single images and their GPS-tracks. The recording engine is currently implemented in Pure Data and Gem utilizing two customized externals: gps and pix_slitscan

Handling, production and post-processing of Danube Panorama's material requires building heavily customized tool-sets, which will be based on or modeled around existing Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) such as Pd/Gem for production or imagemagick for post-production and montage.

The ideal production vessel is a large cargo ship to shoot stable images, smaller vessels are (too) shaky and will require the additional effort of stabilized camera platforms. As recording requires daylight conditions, recording happens during the day - ideal production time therefor is the summer season, when the days are longest. Ideal recording side is left of moving directions, assuring recording the image happens from left to right. Otherwise recorded image will be recorded horizontal flipped, which might confuse not only in the case of text. Shooting the image should happen on both sides in parallel, and on a redundant system, to make sure usable material is available in any case.