Why do you use Panoramio and what about it makes you happy?

[Adam Lasnik]

Just like the subject says... I would love to know more about what motivates you to use Panoramio and what makes you happy about the service :)

(As the Program Manager of Panoramio, I'm also always genuinely interested in your blunt yet constructive criticism, but I do ask that you share that in the "Support and Feedback" topic and save this thread for the positive stuff ;)

[RoarX]

Ever since I was a kid, using a cheap and crappy analog camera, my style of photography has always been landscapes and buildings. People have been more or less absent from my photos, and I was always told that my photos were boring. Panoramio seemed perfect for my style of photography and still feels like the right place for me to invest time by uploading my photos. Having my photos visible through Google Earth is also a great bonus! The mapping feature is one of the great things about Panoramio. When I upload photos from small and big trips, putting them on the map makes it more interesting for those who look at them. They can folow me through streets and over mountains, and kind of taking part in the journey through my photos.

[Tucky]

Knowing there are other people in this world who see my photos if they are looking a location in Google Earth. They can then see how it looks there. Maybe it's a little help / information for them. This thought is fun.

[hvbemmel]

I got my first camera on my 10th birthday (1961), a real AGFA Click! 

4*4 cm film, focus 8.8 with two different "diaphragm" openings one for sun and one for cloudy weather. The films, B&W of course, were expensive for my small allowance and the developing and printing even more, so I used the camera on special occasions and then thinking three times before clicking. And don´t forget those light bulbs, five one time bulbs for so much money!

Slowly I climbed up the ladder , yashica, then my first SLR`s (Praktica). Making dia positives was the hit in those times, macro was my nr one. using all kinds of tools to try and make things look better. (compendium, auto bellows etc). My analog era ended with a Minolta.

My first steps in digital were with a real 2.2 mp Olympus. A 64 MB card and off you go. That one also accompanied us when we went to Isla Margarita with our children to celebrate our 25 th wedding anniversary, early 2004. There my Panoramio history finds his roots, although the idea perhaps wasn´t even born yet. My eldest son met a girl from Colombia on that vacation and after some flying from him to her they decided to get married at the end of 2005, of course in Colombia. I made tons of photos there, in the mean time with a 6.1 MP Kodak (no wonder they don´t exist any more, the camera had a control that couldn´t stand the heat, above 30 degrees C, you had to apply force to turn the wheel pressing that tiny little rubber button(right upper corner in the photo, force and technique, not good).

   

Being a geography nutter, I always carry printed maps and wiki with me when I go somewhere new, I went through my Colombia photos in August 2007 and wanted to find the places I visited in Colombia on the map. The resolution there was terrible, but suddenly a few dots (it were dot´s then) appeared on the map and under the dots were photos. Well, that was just my thing. Instead of keeping my photos only on a hard drive, just there to bore my family, I could bore the whole world! how about that, what more could I want.  

I should be ashamed of myself, but I think the first thing I noticed that there was something about the Panoramio map and if I remember correctly I went to the forum to report even before I misplaced my first photo (due to the poor resolution of the map, geolocating in the blind)

The rest is history. What do I love about PA? The photos, the countries I would love to visit but probably never will, the nice people, the not so nice people, the internet at its best; people from all over the world all around one big photoalbum,  a team that´s among us, the best social medium ever; because nobody is talking about what he ate or what the cat dragged home, the flaws that Panoramio has (except this "forum" :p), the patience of most users with the flaws that Panoramio has, the patience the team has with the moderators.

Did I ever mention I talk too much?

[Cluke]

A really good question that caused me to give some serious consideration to the answer.

1) I recall being very excited to discover that I could submit pictures to Panoramio that might just get accepted for Google Earth and Google Maps. I was already a member of a couple of photography and art sharing sites (Flickr and Deviantart) but the difference with Panoramio was that through the association with Google Earth there was a real chance of Joe Public getting to see my pictures and not just other photographers and artists (who will often have a competing desire to promote their own work as their main consideration). Even now, after a few years on the site, I still get a frisson of excitement when that little Panoramio logo appears below a picture - and an equal sense of dissapointment when even a 2nd review doesn't secure a place on GE. And when my friends and family (those who are not into photography) express any interest in my work I will usually direct them to a picture on GM or GE first (which always seems to impress - but I may be imagining that bit :-))

2) Like Roarx I have a lot of pictures that I wouldn't otherwise post, pictures of buildings, sculptures ,etc., that are well suited to Panoramio. And because I have an outlet for that type of work I will often take pictures almost exclusively with Panoramio and Google Earth in mind when I'm out and about. 

3) I particularly like the "On the map" feature and especially the "Popular" tab. Seeing some of the outstanding work from around the world has been a real inspiration, and a motivation for me to raise my game with my own work in the hope of emulating the success of these first class images.

4) Discovering places I couldn't imagine - through my contacts I see images of far flung, and often remote places of the globe that I am unlikely to ever visit but are brought daily, almost live, into my home. It's like having my own personal National Geographic.

5) It's free, there are no adverts and my real name doesn't get shown. Yes, there is a trade off in that Google gets free content to put on it's maps and I would be willing to pay a small fee to keep it advert free if the site ever went down that route - but then I would expect a fee for any pictures used. As for my name - well, I'm just one of those paranoid types that has never, ever used my real name on the internet.

6) The stats - love em! The more the merrier - they give some real insights into how the images are used and viewed. But that's just my sad geek side talking. :-)

And yes there are a few bad points but I'll save that for "Support and Feedback" as suggested :-)

Hope this is useful to you

Regards

Cluke

[© Tom Cooper]

On Monday, August 19, 2013 4:37:35 PM UTC-5, Adam Lasnik wrote:

Just like the subject says... I would love to know more about what motivates you to use Panoramio and what makes you happy about the service :)

 

 

Adam, I answered that question for you two years ago at the 2011 Google Geo User's Summit, but I'll go back over some things and probably add a few more.  BTW, I still wear that T-shirt and sometimes get questions about it.

 

1) I love maps.  I don't use paper maps much any more, but I could show you a couple bookshelves full of maps and cabinet drawers with many more.  When I discovered Google Earth, it fit into that addicition perfectly.  It was like going from an occasional beer to...well, it took it up more than a notch.

 

2) I love photography.  While I'm not the best photographer out there, I think my photos are interesting, useful, and sometimes really good.  I was once seriously considering becoming a wedding photographer, but I'm really glad I figured out landscapes were my real passion.

 

3) Panoramio married those two together.  While other photo sites I tried require you to gather a following and agreesively market your photos for them to be seen, Panoramio allows people to find your photos based on geography.  Someone using GE and interested in the United States may stumble on one of my photos.  Someone interested in Minnesota is likely to find my photos.  Someone interested in Anoka County will certanly find my photos.  Someone interested in my home town in Anoka County will (until this changed recently) only find my photos.

 

4) Streetview didn't exist (or maybe was in its infancy) when I started.  So some of the reasons I started doing Panoramio (illustration) are less important.  But like I said before, Streetview is like a mugshot - useful, functional, sometimes even getting lucky with something attractive - but it has no human touch.  Panoramio brings life to the map.  These are not scientific mechanical mugshots, but interpretations - composition and cropping, angles of view, time of day, weather, color, and more - that come from a deliberate (even if sometimes subconscious) set of choices by a living, breathing human being with likes, dislikes, passions and fears.  No machine can replace that.

 

In addition, just being seen is important.  In 2011 at the time of the Geo User's Summit, I was receiving about 1,500 views a day.  Adding two years worth of photos has moved that up to over 2,400 views a day.  In the ten minutes it has taken to type this, I've received about 17 views.

 

It also doesn't hurt that the Panoramio pages have no ads.  Other photo sites I've tried had in-your-face ads that I was so glad to be free from on Panoramio.

 

Tom

[IPAAT]

I often need information about the different locations. On Panoramio I can find a lot of visual information. I love the information that can not be found in guidebooks or maps.

I have a lot of information about the different locations. And one that can be found in  guidebooks, and another that which I possess exclusive.

Panoramio is a convenient place for the exchange of such information. Someone looking, someone shows...

For me, the main thing on Panoramio - it's geography. That which is not yet available in Street View. And that which will never be in Street View - a personal point of view.

[IPAAT]

P.S. In 2008-2011 on the Russian forum was a similar poll. Here are the results:

Why do you upload your photos to Panoramio?

Because I want to see your picture on GoogleEarth and boast this fact (11%)
To show to friends (relatives, family) are the places where I have been (4%)
To make your own "world map" (4%)
I want to talk to strangers (via comments) and show them my photos ( 6%)
I use this resource as a regular photo hosting with the added feature - a mapping (2%)
I want to show all the places that interest me (24%)
I want to help anyone who is looking for information on this site (or in GE) to find it (34%)

I want to be about my most beautiful pictures seen everything in the world  (7%)

Stupid question and I will not answer it - and so did not understand? (4%)

[♠ c0l0gne1 ♣]

I've always liked to travel the world on a map. So when GE started I was fascinated by it and looked at the places I had been and all the places I would like to travel to and the photos were an immense help to visualize what a place looks like. The fact that I had photos to fill empty spaces on GE motivated me to join Panoramio in Jan 08.

I quickly found that Panoramio is more than just getting your photos on GE. Over all I value the sense of community, the possibility to exchange comments with likeminded Pano users ( I tend to avoid the spamming brigade) and the chance to actually meet for a photowalk. I even bought a camera off another Pano user;-)

I also appreciate that there are no obtrusive ads on Panoramio.

[Wim Constant]

I like to share my photos with the world. I started uploading on "Webshots" under the name "AceHanlon". But later a friend pointed out Panoramio to me. Since than I prefer Panoramio over Webshots  (they keep changing their name: Webshots - Smile - Webshots;  and I just found out I can't even access my account there anymore).

The great advantage of Panoramio is the possibility to place your photos on Google Earth.

I always look at a lot of photos on GE in the surroundings of my holiday destination.

In that way I have found a lot of places I wanted to visit.

[Adam Elmquist]

I have learned of so many photo locations right in my own back yard and all over the United States, I have been able to visit and photograph many of the places for myself, that I wouldn't of know about before.

[davidcmc58]

When I was a child, I had an unique hobby of collecting scenery post cards. I not only collected post cards for those places I visited, but also asked some of my relatives to get me post cards from their travels. Through these hundreds of scenery post cards from various parts of the world (which I still have in my collection), I fell in love with geography and scenery photography. Fast forward to year 2005 when I downloaded Google Earth, I immediately knew this would be one of my favorite internet products forever. To me GE is an immense modern day geo-tagged postcard collection for anyone with internet access. After using it to plan my travels for a while, I finally decided to join Panoramio so that I can contribute my tiny bit to this great GE / Panoramio community. Five and a half years later, it turned out to be way more than what I was expecting. Here is a list of what Panoramio does for me:  

1. It's a personal geo-tagged scenery photo collection for myself to remind me of all the interesting places I have visited.

2. It's a great way to share my best scenery shots with fellow Panoramio members as well as GE users all over the globe.

3. It motivates me to get out there and take as many shots as possible and thus makes me appreciate our beautiful earth even more. 

4. By visiting other members' great galleries, I have learned so much about photography and thus became a better snap shooter myself.

5. I get a lot of personal satisfaction when I found many of my photos are used by travel / tourism sites through API.

6. The thought of someone far far away can potentially know a certain place better just by clicking my GE photos ....... priceless!

[sixten_imgs]

My Top 4 list of many good things in Panoramio:

Photos: Seeing them in different ways, learning and getting ideas from them, getting feedback to your own photos. No queuing at the airports everywhere...

People: Friendly, entertaining, interesting  and surprising connections to the other side of the world or nearer. Born before the Internet I think I'll never get used to this. It was only some decades ago you read about some distant place and now you suddenly see it and talk to someone actually living there :). 

Learning: Everything new in the photography, history, geography and foreign languages like English and... Yorkshire. And maybe even the life itself.

Reliability: Panoramio is one of the best sites I know what comes to the fast and working voluntary moderation and the official reviewing. If you want to show to granny, aunt or your neighbour the site where you have uploaded snapshots you really do not have to be prepared for the serious blushing and coughing...

Thank you for asking and for the many good & fast answers on this forum, Adam. I think the site is getting to good direction in the connection between "the firm" and "the customers".

[Nick Weall]

I stumbled across Panoramio shortly after I discovered Google Earth in 2008 and saw that photographs could be uploaded to it provided certain criteria were satisfied.

I have practised photography since a child and suddenly found an excellent way of sharing photographs with the widest possible potential audience.

Needless to say I became hooked to Panoramio.

So I primarily like sharing and appreciate the fact that my shots overall have enjoyed millions of views.

I enjoy entering the NPC.

I enter the Panoramio Contest quite often as well and I think that it was a very good idea to stop offering the prizes. Kudos ought to be sufficient reward.

I enjoy keeping an eye on the forum.

I’ll report advertisers when I come across them.

I love the occasional banter that the comments facility provides and sometimes the exchange of more serious information too.

I feel that I have made many new Panoramio friends over the years through the comments facility and that is great.

I appreciate the speed of uploading new shots and the quick reviews.

I very much appreciate the statistical information.

Street view and now the new walk along canals sort of views etc means that I no longer concentrate on trying to provide just GE potential sort of shots but indulge in bird photography as well for example.

Adam is good to see you prepared to interact more with the members of Panoramio that is much appreciated.

I hope that Panoramio remains for many years to come.

 

[Biketommy]

Severel years before Internet existed and I knew about Panoramio I was out travelling and loved it. Adventure, biking, trekking, exploring, documenting and enjoying the world is my lifestyle. But my pictures was in disorder, I forgot what it looked like and people didn´t know what a great time I had and what exciting and beautiful things I saw. And things change and the memory fade away... I wished I could place my pictures on my own map, take more photos of the surroundings, document for the future and share it with others.

A couple of years later I saw Google maps and that it was possible to upload pictures, and for free. That was exactly what I needed. Panoramio is excellent for having copies, sort the pictures, view them on a map, and I'm happy if people have benefit from my pictures. I am using Panoramio very often to see pictures and link pictures to others when we talk about places. And I like that there is so many viewers from all over the world.

Tommy

[Adam Lasnik]

All of your replies just made my day!  I'm going to pass around this thread tomorrow to my teammates that might not have seen it yet.  Thank you!

RoarX, I have much the same passion re: landscape and building photography.  Sadly, a huge swath of my photos aren't geotagged yet (and in many cases, I have forgotten their exact location!), but the dSLR I recently bought recently has GPS built in, and so I will be excited to share more photos soon.  re: buildings:  if you are ever in Chicago, you must take the Architectural Boat Tour; it's a fascinating boat ride that gets you up close to lots of the quirky and awesome buildings in that city, along with a cheerful and knowledgeable guide.  Even my least-architecturely-inclined friends have loved the tour.

Tucky, I can absolutely understand how seeing your photos in Google Earth or -- more specifically, knowing that others are enjoying them -- is something special.  I'm curious, though; do you get a similar sense of pleasure from having your photos appear on Google Maps, or is that not as special for you as having them in GE? [Edited to add:  er, hold that thought!  I'm gonna start a separate thread for that!]

Herman, heh, you are always welcome to "talk too much" here.  As one of the folks that has so kindly and consistently helped our community, you've earned the right to be listened to :D.  re: the older cameras... I recall that my dad has a Brownie.  Alas, I don't remember the specifics of my older cameras, but I did just get to recently appreciate all the old photos which had been sitting in boxes (more specifically, in negatives) after paying for a service to expertly scan all of them and put the high res jpegs on DVDs.  I had to wait literally months for them to finish, but it was well worth the time and money to protect this nostalgic imagery from my past!

I wonder sometimes, too, if the limits inherent in film photography pushed us to be more keenly aware of and appreciative of our surroundings.  But I'll stop going down that curmudgeonly path now.

Cluke, thanks for all the positive thoughts and for helping me and my teammates understand what encouraged and encourages you to use Panoramio.  I, too, used Flickr quite a bit back in the day (as well as Fotki and other services), but I have come to learn that Panoramio is indeed different and special.  Certainly the imagery focus here -- such a keen interest in sharing imagery about a place -- seems unique IMHO.  By the way, this comment of yours especially resonated with me: "Like Roarx I have a lot of pictures that I wouldn't otherwise post."  It makes me think I've been a bit overly shy in sharing photos here.  To be frank, I've been so impressed at the overall quality of composition that sometimes I've felt my own pictures aren't quite worthy (coupled with the fact that I care much more about supporting other photographers and their interests here ;).  I wonder if any other Panoramio members / potential members feel similarly.  

Tom, nice to re-see you!  That was a fun summit!  And I can appreciate your preference re: a less-cluttered, ad-free look on photos pages.  I can't predict or promise the future, but my teammates and I share a common interest in making members' photos shine even more, and ads aren't part of that plan ;).  Also, re: your love of Maps, have you read Ken Jennings' book "Mapheads" yet?  I received it as a gift and initially thought it'd be rather dry, but it was an absolutely delightful read!

IPAAT, your note is fascinating for its focus on information.  I don't normally think of photos as information (but rather as art), and yet now I very much understand what you mean.  The two things -- art and information -- are quite often inseparable, and when it comes to GeoImagery, the info conveyed in a photo can be critically important (in traveling, house hunting, etc.).  Ah, and that poll is also intriguing; thanks for sharing!

♠ c0l0gne1 ♣, I'm glad you've referenced the community.  With the help of a lot of you here, I've been slowly getting to better understand how and where this community exists; in many cases, as you've suggested, it's in person.  Interestingly enough, I'm leading a bunch of colleagues on a photo walk this Tuesday -- with many of them not having been on one before!  I am trying to do more to bridge the online and offline photography communities myself, though starting small at first.

Wimconstant, okay, you've convinced me I need to start another topic here to better understand how people view Google Earth and Google Maps differently.  We plan to continue having all accepted photos be shown in both places, but I want to better understand folks' perception (without cluttering up this thread :D).

Adam (great name, btw!), I like your mention of discovery.  From the Explore page and beyond, that's something that's inspired me personally here as well.

Davidcmc58, you touched on a point that I hadn't previously considered:  one's Panoramio account as a personal reminder of where one has traveled.  A place that's online and backed up and accessible.  I also think it's near that you feel your photography skills have improved in part due to Panoramio.   I hope and expect it will be the same for me; I've already been impressed (and informed) by reading some of the threads in the Photo Critiques forum.

sixten_imgs, I am glad Panoramio is a safe and enjoyable place even for Grandmas :)  And I am also really happy to hear your kind words.  I realize that there are things about Panoramio that are frustrating, but I also know that my teammates and I love photography, love maps, and deeply appreciate the volunteers and other members of the community here for making Panoramio as amazing as it is.

Nick Weall, thanks also for sharing your thoughts, for helping to keep Panoramio decluttered from spammers, and for your compliments about my interaction.  I still need to spend the bulk of my time working with our product managers, engineers, and cross-functional partners, but I am reading the forums here often and I like posting as well.  And as you can see in some circumstances, I can "talk" even more than Herman! :D  (I likely should have broken this down into earlier, bite-sized pieces, but oh well!)

Tommy, I hear you about memories lost and so on.  I wish I had been annotating my photos much earlier; a ton of my photos of grand churches in Europe and gorgeous scenery in Latin America remain untitled, ungeotagged, etc.

Anyway, thanks all of you for being a part of Panoramio and for kindly sharing your thoughts in this and other threads.  As an American, I'd normally think of this as a good time for a group hug, but as a world traveler, I also realize that this would be insufficient in some areas and simply offensive in others, so I'll end here.

[Hans Sterkendries]

Hi Adam

Up until I felt I had little to add to this tread. Some years ago I answered this very same question and my motivation can also basically be found in my profile. However, something davidcmc58 wrote in your other tread (the one on GM vs GE) made me change my mind.

He said he was not checking out pictures on GM because " they are so selective and hence do not represent the visual reality of the places". That is my feeling about GE.

Why do I use Panoramio? I can't remember exactly how I discovered Panoramio. I just know that at one point, 6 or 7 years ago, I wanted to share some pictures with some friends. The easiest way was putting them online and being able to put them on a map was what made me choose Panoramio.

Of course, over the years my using Panoramio has changed. At one point I hesistated between two options: turning my Panoramio gallery into a photographic business card or adding as much as possible to the site in order to help it grow. I eventually chose the second option but the introduction of the "Best" tag/tab gave me the opportunity to combine the two.

Choosing the second option also gave me the opportunity to use Panoramio as a way to unlock my photo collection: the tags and the map both help me to retrieve specific pictures relatively easy. Tha fact that I can easily download a "full size version" is a big plus for me. Little side note: I would like to see that full size version better protected from others.

Anyway, back to my reflection on GE because that's my motivation to finally answer your question. I have no idea how long it took me to realise that some pictures were also selected for GE. However, I never really cared about GE because the selection makes it a sterile environment: no people, no animals, no close-ups, no movable machines, no food... I basically stopped using GE and I can honestly say that I don't have the program on my computer anymore. At one point it started giving an error on my desktop computer, so whenever I wanted to use it (close to never), I had to launch my laptop computer. Then, when I got a new desktop computer I didn't even installl the program. Never missed it so far.

The thing I like about Panoramio is the fact that it shows the world in all its different aspects. It's not limited to the pictures that are included in GE. It's one of the reasons why I had the fact that the Panoramio map by default does not include the non-selected pictures! I use Panoramio to check out places I want to visit, see what are the best photo opportunities, the best view points etc.

And on top of that, I like the fact that Panoramio is a community that shares a same goal, a community where people are willing to help each other. a community also where you can interact with others...  I even met some of the people in real life and I have never been disappointed.

[© Tom Cooper]

On Tuesday, August 27, 2013 11:55:07 AM UTC-5, Hans Sterkendries wrote:

And on top of that, I like the fact that Panoramio is a community that shares a same goal, a community where people are willing to help each other. a community also where you can interact with others... I even met some of the people in real life and I have never been disappointed.

 

Adam,

 

I hadn't thought of this until Hans mentioned it - you mentioned in the other thread how much fun the 2011 Geo User's summit was.  For me, this was the best thing about it.  Getting to meet in person some of the people I had "known" on line.  That was a major highlight.  Although Hans was not at that event, one person who had met him before had great things to say about him.

Tom

[txllxt]

For me the name 'Panoramio' suggests it has something to do with panoramas and that happens to be one of my special interests. At present I'm occupied inside the State Hermitage Museum and I've noticed that Google's Art Project (: a kind of Streetview inside musea) offers very little of this gigantic labyrinth of exhibition spaces & halls. Also the picture quality is rather poor. So first of all for my own pleasure I'm reconstructing the walk we walked with a series of high pixel panoramas, on which a deep zoom-in on details is possible. I thank Panoramio for this zoom-in service especially. 

[Merle_Layden]

Excellent topic, especially considering some of the negativity surrounding the 'New Panoramio"

I like photography, and I like to share with people.  I find that in the general population of my relatives and friends (and perhaps myself even) people are interested in their ideas and their impressions, and very few people take the time or expend the effort to really LOOK at what you are trying to convey.  

In this community you have people dedicated to sharing and also dedicated to appreciating other's point of view, an other's way of seeing the world, and in getting a broader view of not only the landscape but of the culture from different parts of the world.  

I also am interested in finding out what tweaks interest in viewers, whether my pictures or someone else's.  I am also finding that to get and maintain interest in my work, I have to put something back into this group, whether by way of communicating or by participating.  

There are things that bug me, but I happily continue to check my Panoramio page nearly every day.  And I am always appreciative of comments that inspire me.

Kind regards, and thanks for the forum that Panoramio has made available.  

Merle

PS It sure beats much of the inane drivel on FB!

[asumtown]

This is a good topic, even if I've replied a bit late!

I've always liked taking pictures since I got my first 110 film camera as a child. When i got a 35 mm compact in my 20s, I liked taking pictures of the town I lived in, and when I got online in the 2000's I put up some scans of these pictures on a website I had set up.
Soon after this I got into digital photography and used Flickr in about 2007. The purpose of my Flickr account was to put up pictures that would document the town I live in. However, it wasn't long before I exceded the limit (about 200 at the time I think) and had to 'Go Pro' which was about $25 a year to display the extra pictures. I paid for one year and then didn't bother as I didn't think it was worth it.
A few years ago, I discovered Panoramio through Google Earth. Obviously the purpose of Pano is photos of places, which was the reason I set up my Flickr account, but with the added bonus of being able to geo tag pics with the possibility of them ending up on GE.
And it's free :-D

That's what makes me happy about the service; what motivates me is the fact that other people will see my pictures (I know I'm not the greatest photographer) on GE and it may encourage them to visit those places, in the same way other people's photos have done for me.

[leif.s]

Many words, i dont have so many, I just think it's great!

[Sixten Imgs]

This is a thread that really ought to have a lot more visibility on this forum. The Panoramio deserves it.

How about giving this a rise and some promotion =  The sticky? New postings...?

[skida]

I uploaded my first photograph in June 2007, shortly after discovering the Panoramio layer on Google Earth. It's a pretty crappy photo, but I made a special trip on a rainy day to take some shots which would meet the criteria, so I have left it up. The motivation then was the same as now: To share my world with others who may not be familiar with it. Special happiness comes from the conversations I have in the photo comments with friends I have never met from all over the world. Even though I hate the forum layout, I have returned to it after a gap of some years, just to see how some of my old friends are getting on.

[Adam Elmquist]

Same here, my current account shows Feb 2009, but I did used to have an old account from 2006, that in 2009 converted to my current account now that I use and enjoy everyday..  If Panoramio / Google Earth didn't exist I would never known of some locations in my own backyard and beyond, and thanks to such a great community of photographers I have learned of better shooting methods and tricks to get some kick-butt awesome shots..  I know Panoramio has been going through a transition, I can only say take the good with the bad and move on and enjoy many more, what ever the future may bring.  Please have Google not abandon Panoramio ever, Google maps / Google Earth App Panoramio layer either.  Some other fantastic Google Products have been on the chopping block lately :-(

[ikar.us]

In the German forum, one user complains that the broken statistics steals him hours of time he has spent on klicking his mates' images, and the klicks he would have received.

Seems he mistakes Panoramio for Farmville.