Questions to the data API

[Chillyskye]

I tried asking these questions to questions (at) panoramio [dot] com but so far without result.

So pasting the mail here, in the hope that either Panoramio staff, or other users of the forum can answer some of the issues I have with the API.

Quote:

Hi Panoramio,

We are using the data API because we want to display the location data
long with the photos, and it seems to be the only way to do that.
I'm wondering however, why the data we receive sometimes seems a bit
odd, compared to what we expect to see.

In further details, what we do is calling your service with a URL like
the following:
http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?set=full&from=0&to=19&minx=11.9125184726&miny=54.7610839535&maxx=11.9925184726&maxy=54.7660839535&size=square&callback=list_cb

As you can tell from the parts of the URL we are trying to get the
photos based on a given bounding box, and slicing the results up in
chunks of 20 and return them to our callback.

Reading the descriptions of the APIs it seems sorting is disabled when
using area search, which is giving us some trouble when trying to
pinpoint the individual photos to an index in the array.
For some reason the order of the array returned from the range 0-9
extended with the range 10-19 is not the same as the order in the array
returned from the range 0-19.

Furthermore if you run the exact URL I supplied as a sample, it will
return a count of 10, but the array of photos will be empty. I can't
figure out why this is. It might be the same in other areas,
that the actual amount of photos we can get doesn't match the amount
the count tells me there should be.


Is there any public documentation on these behaviours I can get access
to, so I can sort out the last bugs in our implementation?


Kind regards,
Michael Olesen

Furthermore I had a couple of other questions I didn't get to ask in the mail, but will ask here too:

Some of the photos supplied by the data API, which we are using to make our own thumbnail scrollbox, doesn't exist when we try running them through the photowidget (with photoId and userId supplied). This happens on maybe 1 out of 20 or so photos.

Furthermore, I wanted to see what is actually going on with the data returned by the data API using an area based search, so in an attempt to further pinpoint the index of the individual photos returned, I found something very odd.

I don't have the exact query I tested this with anymore, so the query posted is just to prove the method, not the result:

I wanted to compare the ordering of the say first 100 results from a given area, with the result of a foreach picking just 1 photo at a time, with an incrementing index value from 1 to 100.
What I got was most unexpected. I thought I would get just a differently ordered list, but instead I saw a lot of dublets. Often if not all the time in succession.

If you want proof of this behavior, I can remake the example with sample PHP code, but if anyone seen this before I don't think I need to.


PS:
There were several reasons why we needed to make our own PhotoListWidget, for one, it doesn't handle endpoints very well. If you scroll above the first entry it starts behaving strangely, and also we lack the location info when working with the photos in this manor, at least its not in data we get returned from the service, and there is no documentation on how to retrieve it, other than via the data API.

Hope someone can give me some help here.
Panoramio has a great deal of relevant photos for the users of our site www.lokus.dk

Sample of our current implementation:
http://lokus.dk/taastrup/hoeje_taastr./eigtveds_alle/billeder/panoramio

-mod edit TomasK- despammed email address

[Draken]

Please notice the Panoramio photos on your website need to be hyperlinked to the photo URL hosted on Panoramio. Otherwise you are not complying with the API terms.

Having said that, I hope you get some answers from the Team or knowledegeable users.

[Chillyskye]

About the missing link to the photo on Panoramio.
I was messing with a few things for trying to linking directly to the fullsize version of the photo, but dropped the idea.
However the eventlistener for clicking on the photo is still there, just without doing anything.

But as you may have noticed from my post I have a lot of loose ends in the way the widgets work, and the page still need a lot of polish, cleanup included.
Just for now I have some other tasks to tend to, untill I know how I can work around my current issues.

[Chillyskye]

I was wondering how long it normally takes before one gets a response when mailing to questions at panoramio (com).
Or alternatively if there is another email address or any other means of communication I can use, to get in contact with them.

The first emails we sent was some weeks ago.
I don't expect to get a definitive solution right away, but at least an indication that they have received our mails or something.

-mod edit TomasK: Despammed email address

[Tomas K☼h☼ut]

Chillyskye:

You have right mail address.
But please note, that Team is rather small (especially when you see, how many users are signed here), so help desk is not their top priority.

And please, don't put email addresses in forum directly (don't give a harvest for spambots).

[Zagadka]

I have the same issues, so I'll listen in.

[Chillyskye]

Because of the lack of response so far, I've reproduced my previous results, and listing them here, along with my methods.
Hope this can set some more focus on the issues.


First thing first, the issues with pinpointing a photo to an index in the returned array of photos from a given geographical area.
Logically you should be able to generate the same result if you take 100 photos at once, and if you take the 100 just one at a time and append them to an array. However as I discovered this isn't the case.

The following is a vardump of the rectangle I'm working with for this sample. Its the same for both of the following code bits.

Code:

array(2) {

  ["sw"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => string(13) "55.6356227551"

    ["lng"] => string(13) "12.2433150247"

  }

  ["ne"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => string(13) "55.6636420396"

    ["lng"] => string(13) "12.3482058545"

  }

}

The first codebit is suppose to take the first 100 photos from the area, and print them one at a time.

[PHP]

Code:

$image_url = 'http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?set=public&from=0&to=100&minx='.$rect['sw']['lng'].'&miny='.$rect['sw']['lat'].'&maxx='.$rect['ne']['lng'].'&maxy='.$rect['ne']['lat'].'&size=original';

$images_contents = json_decode(file_get_contents($image_url));

$i = 0;

foreach($images_contents->photos as $photo) {

 echo $i.": ".$photo->photo_id."<br>";

 $i++;

}

>From that I get the following result. Note: no dublets.

Code:

0: 3883690

1: 6116408

2: 852601

3: 20732571

4: 5907200

5: 11652870

6: 7376918

7: 15543176

8: 24481510

9: 933615

10: 24500327

11: 24499303

12: 24499362

13: 3237553

14: 4031813

15: 7618666

16: 1345296

17: 237124

18: 9310307

19: 5144171

20: 1292113

21: 3048961

22: 6939130

23: 26680629

24: 24499876

25: 14247681

26: 11250236

27: 852573

28: 5590081

29: 11653015

30: 94870

31: 11992966

32: 1291894

33: 5907353

34: 24481597

35: 24500308

36: 23471790

37: 24481480

38: 5884360

39: 24500278

40: 9549175

41: 18711762

42: 427854

43: 5319212

44: 3400135

45: 24481144

46: 24505835

47: 10506390

48: 23361660

49: 5862231

50: 4423302

51: 18711306

52: 24498810

53: 4423701

54: 20046929

55: 18732365

56: 18732023

57: 3048198

58: 1345343

59: 24499770

60: 24500079

61: 24499235

62: 9310384

63: 1370409

64: 24499178

65: 9310419

66: 24500107

67: 2300680

68: 24481167

69: 26680507

70: 18732282

71: 18731510

72: 9310328

73: 18731091

74: 9492294

75: 24499786

76: 24499334

77: 24498857

78: 18731758

79: 3891481

80: 23363070

81: 24499909

82: 18711707

83: 23361639

84: 24499058

85: 9310460

86: 24500158

87: 23362847

88: 24499010

89: 3048273

90: 23361726

91: 24500191

92: 24481103

93: 9310474

94: 22618856

95: 9310369

96: 14247665

97: 9737848

98: 9309792

99: 9310403

The second codebit is suppose to take the first 100 photos from the area one by one, and print them.

[PHP]

Code:

for($i = 0;$i < 100;$i++) {

 $image_url = 'http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?set=public&from='.$i.'&to='.($i+1).'&minx='.$rect['sw']['lng'].'&miny='.$rect['sw']['lat'].'&maxx='.$rect['ne']['lng'].'&maxy='.$rect['ne']['lat'].'&size=original';

 $image_contents = json_decode(file_get_contents($image_url));

 echo $i.": ".$image_contents->photos[0]->photo_id."<br>";

}

>From that I get the following result. Note all the dublets.

Code:

0: 3883690

1: 6116408

2: 6116408

3: 852601

4: 20732571

5: 20732571

6: 5907200

7: 5590081

8: 11653015

9: 94870

10: 11992966

11: 11652870

12: 11652870

13: 7376918

14: 7376918

15: 15543176

16: 933615

17: 24500327

18: 24500308

19: 23471790

20: 24481480

21: 5884360

22: 24500278

23: 18711762

24: 24499362

25: 24499362

26: 24481144

27: 24505835

28: 24499362

29: 3237553

30: 24481144

31: 24505835

32: 4031813

33: 4031813

34: 7618666

35: 4031813

36: 4031813

37: 7618666

38: 7618666

39: 1345296

40: 1345296

41: 4423701

42: 1345296

43: 4423701

44: 237124

45: 237124

46: 9310307

47: 9310307

48: 5144171

49: 5144171

50: 18732023

51: 3048198

52: 1292113

53: 1292113

54: 3048961

55: 6939130

56: 24499770

57: 26680629

58: 24500079

59: 24499235

60: 9310384

61: 1370409

62: 24499178

63: 9310419

64: 9310419

65: 24500107

66: 2300680

67: 24481167

68: 18732282

69: 18731510

70: 18731091

71: 18731091

72: 9492294

73: 24499786

74: 24499334

75: 24498857

76: 18731758

77: 3891481

78: 3891481

79: 23363070

80: 24499909

81: 18711707

82: 23361639

83: 24499058

84: 9310460

85: 24500158

86: 23362847

87: 24498952

88: 24499010

89: 3048273

90: 23361726

91: 24500191

92: 24481103

93: 9310474

94: 22618856

95: 14247681

96: 14247681

97: 14247665

98: 9737848

99: 9309792

If I was just getting all 100 photos at once it wouldn't be an issue, cause they seem to be unique in that case (but the order is not always the same, every time I retrieve the list, but I will come to that later).
The fact of the matter is however, that I'm using the following method to chunk up the thumbsarray for my custom photolist widget, as getting a full list of maybe 700 or so photos, as there are in some areas, can take a while for a user to retrieve.

[JavaScript]

Code:

var url = 'http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php';

url += '?set=public';

url += '&from='+(number*chunk_size);

url += '&to='+((number*chunk_size)+chunk_size);

url += '&minx=<?= $rect['sw']['lng'] ?>';

url += '&miny=<?= $rect['sw']['lat'] ?>';

url += '&maxx=<?= $rect['ne']['lng'] ?>';

url += '&maxy=<?= $rect['ne']['lat'] ?>';

url += '&size=square';

url += '&callback=handleChunk';

Calling this dynamicly as the user scrolls through the photolist widget.
Current implementation of this with the area from the samples above:
http://lokus.dk/taastrup/hoeje_taastr./billeder/panoramio
I've used the div-structure from the Panoramio photolist widget, but the method behind to get the photos is custommade with calls to the service with URLs created as shown above. The chunk_size right now is 20 (vertical photolist), but in a soon upcomming version its 32 (horizontal photolist)


Because we are getting the photos in chunks its easy to hit upon the dublets, ofcause, the larger the chunk_size, the smaller the chance for this to happen, but if we turn it up too far the user is going to experience excessive loadtimes.
But ideally the arrays should be dependable, and even better, sortable (which they doesn't seem to be either)


I mentioned that there once in a while appears to be something up with the ordering. It infact looks more like that a single photo pops into the list once in a while, and then out the next time you reload the exact same list.
I can't really reproduce this, as it seems to be rather random, but it has happened in the first chunk of photos on http://lokus.dk/taastrup/hoeje_taastr./billeder/panoramio .
So just reloading that site some times can produce the phenomenon, but its not garentied to.


Next thing on the issue-list is photos which gets returned from the data api, with a thumbnail, but can't be shown in the photo widget.
It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen for some photos. Using the folllowing options to create the photowidget.
We use photoId + userId to get the photo. Which is retrieved from the current position in our photolist widget.

[JavaScript]

Code:

var photoWidtgetOptions = {

 'width': 510,

 'height': 340,

 'rows': 1,

 'columns': 1,

 'croppedPhotos': false,

 'attributionStyle': panoramio.tos.Style.HIDDEN,

 'disableDefaultEvents': true

};



var photodisplay_widget = new panoramio.PhotoWidget('panoramio_displayarea',

 {disableDefaultEvents:true,'ids':[{'photoId':photo_id,'userId':user_id}]},

 photoWidtgetOptions

);

I've found a case here which has existed for at least some days.
The photoId is 6039564
The userId is 612176
And unless the ordering of the array we are working with changes, a sample can de found at http://lokus.dk/charlottenlund/sophus_bauditz_vej/billeder/panoramio?pos=3
The photo exist if I go to http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6039564, so I don't get why its not retrievable via the widget. (Some privacy settings?)


Last thing on my current issue-list
The count field in our result set, when retrieving photos from an area, doesn't match the rowcount in the photos array, when we use the data API.
The following is the method I'm using to get the count from the result set, and how many rows actually gets returned.

[PHP]

Code:

$image_url = 'http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?set=full&from=0&to=10000000&minx='.$rect['sw']['lng'].'&miny='.$rect['sw']['lat'].'&maxx='.$rect['ne']['lng'].'&maxy='.$rect['ne']['lat'].'&size=original';

$images_contents = json_decode(file_get_contents($image_url));

echo 'count: '.$images_contents->count.'<br>';

echo 'rowcount: '.count($images_contents->photos);

Here is 2 samples, first their coord sets followed by the result of the method above.

[Sample 1]

Code:

array(2) {

  ["sw"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => string(13) "54.7610839535"

    ["lng"] => string(13) "11.9125184726"

  }

  ["ne"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => float(54.7660839535)

    ["lng"] => string(13) "11.9925184726"

  }

}



count: 10

rowcount: 0

[Sample 2]

Code:

array(2) {

  ["sw"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => string(13) "55.6356227551"

    ["lng"] => string(13) "12.2433150247"

  }

  ["ne"] => array(2) {

    ["lat"] => string(13) "55.6636420396"

    ["lng"] => string(13) "12.3482058545"

  }

}



count: 323

rowcount: 247

As you can see in the first sample there should be 10 photos, but we get none returned.
In the second sample there should be 323, but we only get 247.

[© Douglas MacGregor]

I don't know the answer to these questions, but it is very important that someone who does know gives an answer.

We are very concerned that some external websites are not using the API properly. If we want them to display our photos in this way, Panoramio has to make it easy for them to use the API and it has to work without needing a degree in computer science!

[Galatas ©]

Quote © Douglas MacGregor:

I don't know the answer to these questions, but it is very important that someone who does know gives an answer.

We are very concerned that some external websites are not using the API properly. If we want them to display our photos in this way, Panoramio has to make it easy for them to use the API and it has to work without needing a degree in computer science!

That's the least they can do considering so many members dislike their photos being used in this way at all.

[hvbemmel]

Quote © Douglas MacGregor:

Panoramio has to make it easy for them to use the API and it has to work without needing a degree in computer science!

Actually they did. That's the reason the widget API was developed.

But I agree with you that the data API should be overhauled too.

[Chillyskye]

Quote Galatas:

That's the least they can do considering so many members dislike their photos being used in this way at all.

As I'm not a member of the Panoramio community per say, I would like to know what you refere to when you say that many members dislike their photos being used in this way.
By this way, are you refering to external use of the photos or am I reading it incorrectly?

[Chillyskye]

hvbemmel:
Do you know if the team is actually looking at overhauling the data API currently, or has plans to do so in the near future?


Another thing is, can someone with some code insight confirm that my methods and results are valid, and does document several bugs or strange behaviours in the API.
Because if this is the case, then I don't understand why the team can't at least acknowledge there are some flaws. I've tried contacting them many times now, and not even a response with that they have received my mails.
I understand they are not many on the team, and prioritize the softer support questions. But getting a stronger and stronger feeling of being ignored for pointing out flaws. This may not be true, but its the impression I get when no one answers.

[caseriodacastineira]

if i call for a json string asking from the photo 75 to 85 on the selected area i using this:

http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?order=popularity&set=full&from=75&to=85&minx=-7.47&miny=42.29&maxx=-7.42&maxy=42.32&size=medium

i get the right answer:

Code:

{"count": 118, "photos": [{"upload_date": "20 March 2011", "owner_name": "Gocx", "photo_id": 49760477, "longitude": -7.4258139999999999, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "", "latitude": 42.318162000000001, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4421954", "owner_id": 4421954, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/49760477.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/49760477"}, {"upload_date": "25 March 2010", "owner_name": "jgvreg", "photo_id": 33629816, "longitude": -7.4402330000000001, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vista do Val entre A Medorra e A Mioteira", "latitude": 42.305039000000001, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4322171", "owner_id": 4322171, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/33629816.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33629816"}, {"upload_date": "25 March 2010", "owner_name": "jgvreg", "photo_id": 33629823, "longitude": -7.4396750000000003, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vista cara Monforte e Castro Caldelas", "latitude": 42.305101999999998, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4322171", "owner_id": 4322171, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/33629823.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33629823"}, {"upload_date": "20 March 2011", "owner_name": "Gocx", "photo_id": 49760491, "longitude": -7.4361661996699997, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vilar (Pesqueiras)", "latitude": 42.3170071909, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4421954", "owner_id": 4421954, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/49760491.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/49760491"}], "has_more": false}

but if i ask for the photos from 80 to 100 using this:

http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?order=popularity&set=full&from=80&to=100&minx=-7.47&miny=42.29&maxx=-7.42&maxy=42.32&size=medium

i get an empty json string:

Code:

{"count": 118, "photos": [], "has_more": false}

anyone has an answer for this?

thanks in advance

[junk0128]

Quote caseriodacastineira:

if i call for a json string asking from the photo 75 to 85 on the selected area i using this:

http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?order=popularity&set=full&from=75&to=85&minx=-7.47&miny=42.29&maxx=-7.42&maxy=42.32&size=medium

i get the right answer:

{"count": 118, "photos": [{"upload_date": "20 March 2011", "owner_name": "Gocx", "photo_id": 49760477, "longitude": -7.4258139999999999, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "", "latitude": 42.318162000000001, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4421954", "owner_id": 4421954, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/49760477.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/49760477"}, {"upload_date": "25 March 2010", "owner_name": "jgvreg", "photo_id": 33629816, "longitude": -7.4402330000000001, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vista do Val entre A Medorra e A Mioteira", "latitude": 42.305039000000001, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4322171", "owner_id": 4322171, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/33629816.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33629816"}, {"upload_date": "25 March 2010", "owner_name": "jgvreg", "photo_id": 33629823, "longitude": -7.4396750000000003, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vista cara Monforte e Castro Caldelas", "latitude": 42.305101999999998, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4322171", "owner_id": 4322171, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/33629823.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33629823"}, {"upload_date": "20 March 2011", "owner_name": "Gocx", "photo_id": 49760491, "longitude": -7.4361661996699997, "height": 375, "width": 500, "photo_title": "Vilar (Pesqueiras)", "latitude": 42.3170071909, "owner_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/user/4421954", "owner_id": 4421954, "photo_file_url": "http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/49760491.jpg", "photo_url": "http://www.panoramio.com/photo/49760491"}], "has_more": false}

The count value tells a lie.

[elicoo]

Did anyone solve this issue?

[GianfrancoUCL]

Hello.

Has anyone get an answer to this thread? I am posting here since my problem look related to this old thread.

I am trying to get all geolocated pictures inside a bounding box.

When I get the first chunk of pictures I got the following header in JSON:

stdClass Object ( [count] => 5740 

[has_more] => 1 

[map_location] =>....

If I am not wrong it means that in my bounding box I might have 5740 pictures.

This header comes both when I ask one picture a time and when I ask for more pictures.

I tried to collect all of them with a while do loop in PHP whose condition is while ($hasmore=1);

where $hasmore is my variable receiving the has_more parameter for each picture.

I tried in several fashions, chunk of pictures, one by one pictures but I never got to the point where has more is 'false'.

I had loops repeated more than 20k.. I had to stop them since I expected not more than 5740.

Have anyone met this problem?

Thank You

Gianfranco