Exporting Panoramio Photos to Google Maps through KML

[twdanny]

Hi, everyone.

I tried to download a KML from Panoramio through See in Google Earth, which is basically "download KML". I downloaded the KML file to desktop and then tried to make it work on Google Maps.

In Google Maps, I tried to create a new "my map" by importing the KML I just downloaded; unfortunately, this doesn't do anything. (It worked with the same set of pictures on KML from my Picasa Account)

Is the KML file returned by Panoramio a little different from the one in Picasa?

Thanks.

[AustinMN]

Quote twdanny:

A common error is to confuse "Google Earth" (a stand-alone program you can download for free from Google) and "Google Maps" a web application viewed through a browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

Google Earth can read and display .KML files, but only if you have downloaded and installed the program.

Google Maps can not display .KML files.

Austin

[twdanny]

Quote AustinMN:

Quote twdanny:

A common error is to confuse "Google Earth" (a stand-alone program you can download for free from Google) and "Google Maps" a web application viewed through a browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

Google Earth can read and display .KML files, but only if you have downloaded and installed the program.

Google Maps can not display .KML files.

Austin

There's actually a way to create a "My Map" by importing a KML file (from Picasa in my case). I was wondering if "In Google Earth" would return the same type of KML file as Picasa does. Thanks.

[Panamon-Creel]

Picasa creates a local copy of the display pictures on your computer when you create a KMZ file, the Panoramio KML file on the other hand links to the Panoramio/Google servers where the uploaded picture(s) resides and maybe G-Maps My Maps isn't able to retrieve it form the servers

[twdanny]

Quote Panamon_Creel:

Picasa creates a local copy of the display pictures on your computer when you create a KMZ file, the Panoramio KML file on the other hand links to the Panoramio/Google servers where the uploaded picture(s) resides and maybe G-Maps My Maps isn't able to retrieve it form the servers

Oh, I keep miscommunicating. I created the KML off the Picasa Web Albums, meaning the "My Map" is created off the pictures on Google servers. For example, here's the link to the KML:
http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/twdanny/albumid/5416246119379674961?alt=kml&kind=photo&hl=ko

and here's the link to the 'My Map':
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106745054838572169608.00047af86cc3ac67bd1a2&ll=37.555976,126.893056&spn=0.004661,0.009216&z=17

It doesn't seem to work with the KML file from Panoramio's "in Google Earth" KML file.

[LuciaM]

twdanny,

AFAIK the kml file which you acquire/access via Picasa Web Albums is a 'static' file which, upon download, already includes a placemark for each geocoded photo in the album; the photos are linked from your Picasa account.

The file which you can download from Panoramio is a type of kml file called a 'network link'. The difference between the network link file and the static file is that the network link only downloads placemarks when they are geocoded for the specific area which you are looking at in GE. If you have 3,000 photos in the account but turn your file on in GE when you are looking at a country where you have no photos, no placemarks download.

The benefit of network links for Panoramio members is that folks who upload photos consistently will be able to see their pictures in GE without downloading a new file, since the network link automatically accesses whatever is in the account (which is approved for GE and geocoded.) For Picasa Web Albums, you would need to download a new file to see your newly added photos. Network links also keep file sizes/memory use more modest.

That's a long way to get to this: The problem that you are having relates to how Mapmaker in Google Maps handles kmls which are network links. The KML Guide makes vague reference to there being 'limitations' on the importing of network links into My Maps. The Panoramio network links do not seem to work with MapMaker. That may well be intentional, since Google is already adding Pano photos to Maps on its own terms.

If your goal is just to see your photos in Google Maps - as opposed to trying a back-door way of adding your photos to the Maps database in addition to the Pano process - try this after your photos have been approved for GE. (Your account appears to be quite new.) Copy the kml link url and paste into a Maps 'Search Maps' box. Add &output=maps to the end of the url and click the button. When your photos have been reviewed, you'll see a display similar to the display in the embedded Panoramio Maps. You can save that map to My Maps but because it is not identified as being 'yours', you cannot share it via My Maps.

You can throw my comparable link into the search box to see what the results will look like.

http://www.panoramio.com/kml/?user=11963&output=maps

Be sure to put it into the search box; just clicking on it prompts a file download.

hth,
L.

PS Nice night view of the Sungsan Bridge!

[leae]

I am trying to export a particular users photos, into a KML to be used in ArcGIS.
Has anyone tried this, with any luck?

I can use the 
http://www.panoramio.com/panoramio.kml?user=######
trick to get the KML, but it never loads in ArcGIS!

Would love some help!!!

[Tomas K☼h☼ut]

I don't know ArcGIS.

So I can only guess... KML file from Panoramio does not contain any photos. It contains only query, which must be handled by client:

  <NetworkLink>

    <name>Tomas K☼h☼ut&#39;s photos</name>

    <Link>

    

      <href>http://mt0.google.com/mapslt/kmz/skel?hl=en_US.utf8&amp;lyrs=com.panoramio.earth.p.user.3181113|render_icons&amp;ergn=</href>

        <refreshInterval>3600</refreshInterval>

        <viewRefreshMode>onInterval</viewRefreshMode>

    

    </Link>

  </NetworkLink>

Can ArcGIS handle such queries? Is NetworkLink supported here?

Update: elements Link and NetworkLink seems to be KML standard, not Google specific extension. So ArcGIS shall know how to handle them...

[QuentinUK]

Google's Panoramio kml does not even work with Google's own product Google Maps, even though it does work with Google Earth. I asked a Similar question in kml forum a few years ago, still no satisfactory answer.

More recently I've draw a map on Google Maps and exported it as kml and it is not imported properly into Google Maps API. (The polyline appears correctly but the place markers, originally a variety of shapes, only appear as droplets.)

If the kml does not work, because the Panoramio API is closing the only alternative is the Picassa API, which is only any good if the user's photos are already in Picassa, or Google+. And Google have closed the opportunity to copy photos from Panoramio to Google+.