Google Ruined Panoramio, and Now They’ve Ruined Maps Views

[jmeeter]

This is what the Maps Views profile used to look like. It made sense and had functionality.

Google does many things right, like email and search. But what they absolutely do not understand is how to build and maintain a social platform. Google announced that they would no longer be developing Panoramio and would be making a transition into a new, hybrid service called Views. I call it “hybrid” because it was partially a new product, but integrated into Google Maps. This was very controversial for many people who had been on Panoramio years before Google acquired it.

Recently, Google then announced that they would be dissolving Views as we know it entirely and the features would be integrated directly into Google Maps. This may all seem like semantics over product names and facelifts. I assumed all along that the core features of the service would remain the same. I could not have been more wrong.

This is what the entire Views service has been reduced to. One single sidebar.

Views was actually a half decent service. The integration with Google+ was a bit weird but overall it was simple and usable. With the new change, they’ve collapsed the entire service into one single sidebar on Google Maps. Before I had a full page of my images which allowed me to sort them based on various criteria. Now it’s literally just a collapsable sidebar that features a stream of photos – I can no longer sort them by popularity or separate spheres from images.

The new ‘service’ is actually missing MANY of the core features of Views – commenting, sharing, photo titles and captions, etc. The list goes on.

I love Google and will continue to use many of their services, but I can only sit back and shake my head as I witness their continued failures with Panoramio, Views, and now Google Maps.

[Peter van Lom]

I guess most of PA users will agree with you. Google thought they could meet FB popularity with g+ but got it wrong.  Google thought it would be a good idea to make a connection with views and GM but got it wrong. To be honest I don't give a s.. what happens to those features. I am primarely  concerned about what happens to PA and GE. That work(s)(ed) for me and that is my interest. Now we have to wait - as we have done for a long time - and see if Google gets it right next time. I feel that is going to be a crossroad for many PA users.

[Jordan Meeter]

I tend to agree with you, but what bothers me is the investment of time and effort I've put in to contributing to Views. I have over 600 photos and spheres which have yielded over 1 million views. I feel like it was all for nothing. What's worse is Google have completely deleted my profile from Views and now it redirects to an announcement post on Google+. Utterly ridiculous.

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Peter van Lom via Panoramio Help Forum (Support & feedback) <panoramio-questions-support+APn2...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I guess most of PA users will agree with you. Google thought they could meet FB popularity with g+ but got it wrong.  Google thought it would be a good idea to make a connection with views and GM but got it wrong. To be honest I don't give a s.. what happens to those features. I am primarely am concerned what happens to PA and GE. That work(s)(ed) for me and that is my interest. Now we have to wait - as we have done for a long time - and see if Google gets it right next time. I feel that is going to be a crossroad for many PA users.

On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 7:39:55 PM UTC+2, jmeeter wrote:

This is what the Maps Views profile used to look like. It made sense and had functionality.

Google does many things right, like email and search. But what they absolutely do not understand is how to build and maintain a social platform. Google announced that they would no longer be developing Panoramio and would be making a transition into a new, hybrid service called Views. I call it “hybrid” because it was partially a new product, but integrated into Google Maps. This was very controversial for many people who had been on Panoramio years before Google acquired it.

Recently, Google then announced that they would be dissolving Views as we know it entirely and the features would be integrated directly into Google Maps. This may all seem like semantics over product names and facelifts. I assumed all along that the core features of the service would remain the same. I could not have been more wrong.

This is what the entire Views service has been reduced to. One single sidebar.

Views was actually a half decent service. The integration with Google+ was a bit weird but overall it was simple and usable. With the new change, they’ve collapsed the entire service into one single sidebar on Google Maps. Before I had a full page of my images which allowed me to sort them based on various criteria. Now it’s literally just a collapsable sidebar that features a stream of photos – I can no longer sort them by popularity or separate spheres from images.

The new ‘service’ is actually missing MANY of the core features of Views – commenting, sharing, photo titles and captions, etc. The list goes on.

I love Google and will continue to use many of their services, but I can only sit back and shake my head as I witness their continued failures with Panoramio, Views, and now Google Maps.

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[jmeeter]

I tend to agree with you, but what bothers me is the investment of time and effort I've put in to contributing to Views. I have over 600 photos and spheres which have yielded over 1 million views. I feel like it was all for nothing. What's worse is Google have completely deleted my profile from Views and now it redirects to an announcement post on Google+. Utterly ridiculous.

[Peter van Lom]

I totally sympathize with you. The effort has been tremendous, that counts for the serious PA users too. Google never appreciated that.  

That is what mean with crossroad. If Google does not get it right, a good deal of quality photographers will quit.

[hvbemmel]

The closing of Views was announced some month ago. As this is not a Panoramio matter you can find threads about that in the miscellaneous forum, Your spheres will be integrated with Streetview, they say they are working on a follow up for Views and a follow up for Panoramio. There still is no communication with the Panoramio users. 

The max 5000 photos from Panoramio as well as from Views in the left pane on GM is really an insult for any photographer. All photos are shown in 3:2 format even if the original is 10:1 or 2:3, utterly ridiculous. see the sticky thread down from this post. As this topic is covered there I would appreciate when you would go on with the discussion in that thread. 

I will close this one. thanks in advance for your understanding.