Juzer Burhani

Launched in 2006 as an online extension of the Picasa photo management application, Picasa Web Albums didn't become very popular, as Flickr continued to grow. Besides lacking a community of photography enthusiasts and leaving out a lot of basic features like stats or adding a photo to favorites, Picasa Web Albums is not a great name and many might not even know that Google has a photo sharing service.



There are many references in Picasa Web's code which show that the service will change its name to Google Photos. The navigation bar already uses "Photos" as an anchor text, there's a Google Photos Screensaver and the service's blog is titled Google Photos Blog.





Other upcoming features referenced in the code include content licensing options, uploading photos by email and tagging people in your photos.

Tickr

Sometimes the best ideas are also the simplest ones. Tickr is a simple idea but also a great one. In essence Tickr lets you search Flickr by keyword and location.

Why is that so great? Well, it means you can make some great visual comparisons of different cultures around the world. For example, the images in this post show some of the differences in fashion in California and Japan. I've just spent at least one happy hour comparing 'houses', 'pubs' and 'businessmen' in different countries.

The examples on the Tickr homepage include 'architecture' in 'Rome' and also 'glaciers' in 'Alaska'. The latter example is a good demonstration of another feature of Tickr - the time-line. As well as showing the location of photos on a Google Map, Tickr also presents the photos in a time-line based on when the photographs were taken. This means that in the given example it is possible to compare photographs of glaciers taken in 2001 to photographs taken this year.

These are my first two panoramic images i have created recently. Both are hosted at Google Panoramio.
The first one is shot from the terrace of Al Jamea tus Saifiyah - Arabic Academy.
This panorama is also posted on Gigapan images.


The second one is shot from the terrace of Khaimat ar Riyazat building.


comments are welcome.
Related Posts :
Google Panoramio Features Look Around
Surat skyline from Al Jamea tus Saifiyah

Have you ever looked at a photo and wondered what was beyond its edges - just what was left of that castle or what the facade of Notre Dame looks like from close up? We certainly have, which is why I'm happy to tell you about a new feature we've just introduced for Panoramio, Google's site for sharing geo-tagged photos.

Panoramio enables photographers to geo-locate, store and organize their photographs and to view those images in their geographic context. You may already have seen photos from the Panoramio layer while zooming around in Google Earth or Google Maps (just click the "more" button), but have you visited the Panoramio website? Now, when browsing photos on the site you can explore multiple images of a particular location in a more seamless way.

For select photos on www.panoramio.com, you'll find a new link below the photo:

When you click it, a pop-up will appear that looks like this:

When you mouse over an image, you'll see polygonal frames appear. Each of these frames represents a photo of the same location taken from a different angle or perspective. Just click on the frame to view that photo, and continue exploring. You can also click the thumbnails on the right-hand panel.

Follow the "Look around" link from this photo of Notre Dame in Paris or St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow to see them from all different angles. Take a look at these beautiful photos of the Astrological Clock in Prague.

We're experimenting with this new feature, so you won't find the "look around" link for all of the over 5 million photos shared in Panoramio. For now you'll find it primarily on photos of popular tourist attractions, but, as with our other tools and services, we plan to keep tinkering with it, so keep an eye out for new developments.

Via - Google Latlong

Do you ever visit Google Maps and sometimes get caught up browsing for interesting places? Maybe daydream about getting away, or reflecting back on that awesome vacation you took?

I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new feature that makes it more interesting for users to browse and explore different places on Google Maps. With this feature, you can explore an area by viewing photos, videos, user-created maps, and suggested local queries.

Start by searching for any location, such as Solvang, CA. You can see from the photos and popular searches that it's a place known for its Danish roots and wineries:

Click "Explore this area" and you'll find more content, which automatically updates as you pan and zoom the map. Keep dragging and zooming to explore interesting new places!

The development team hopes that you'll enjoy the feature and find some content on Google Maps that you hadn't noticed before. As we worked on this feature, we found ourselves daydreaming and exploring various places, so we'd like to share some of our favorites:

• Kyoto, Japan
• Paris, France
• Sphinx, Egypt
• Colosseum, Rome
• Yellowstone National Park

I'll leave you with a video that gives you a taste of the new feature. Now go exploring!