Google's recent acquisition of Spanish company Panoramio, whose technology allows users to pin pictures to Google's online maps, has been widely documented in the industry press. The purchase of Panoramio now appears to be the start of a new expansion by the search engine giant into online photo sharing, with two new features being announced this week.
Following on from the popularity of photo share sites and social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Google have taken photo sharing one step further with the launch of 'Map My Photos'.
With 'Map My Photos', not only can users share their photos with friends, they can actually add the pictures to a map to show exactly where the snaps were taken. Sound a tad laborious? Not really, as the recent Google Blog explains:
"When you create a new album, just fill in the optional 'Place Taken' field. You can even drag and drop individual photos directly onto a map, and use built-in Google Maps technology to pinpoint exactly where each was shot."
The team at Google has also been working to improve access to online photos, even when a user is nowhere near a PC. With the launch of Picasa Web Albums for mobile devices, users can now view their photo albums any place, at any time.
The mobile version of Picasa Web Albums will also let users see the latest picture updates from friends and even add comments to photos using their mobile phones. The whole process is geared towards making Picasa Web Albums more accessible and convenient for its users. As the Software Engineers at Google state:
"Thumbnails and photos are automatically re-sized for your device's screen, so pictures look good and download fast. All you need to get started is a phone with a web browser and a data plan."
With the launch of Map My Photos and Picasa Web Albums for mobile devices, users will now have more options than ever before for online photo storage and sharing.
