Posts Tagged ‘Panoramio’
Google Street View jetzt auch mit Picasa
19 Aug. 2009 | Author: Antonio De Mitri |
Nachdem Google bereits seit Februar Ansichten auf Street View mit geokodierten Fotos der Community Panoramio anreichert (wir berichteten), ergänzt die Suchmaschine den Dienst jetzt auch mit öffentlich zugänglichen, geokodierten Bildern aus Picasa.
Dies „hilft den Nutzern von Google Maps, von einem Standort einen besseren Eindruck zu bekommen, vor allem dort, wo wir vielleicht nicht über Panoramio-Fotos verfügen“, schreibt Daniel Cotting im Google Lat Long Blog. Aufnahmen mit erkennbaren Gesichtern würden ausgefiltert, versichert das Blog. Außerdem sorge ein vorheriger Bildabgleich dafür, dass die veröffentlichten Fotos auch wirklich relevant für den User seien. Das Feature gibt es zunächst für die wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten rund um die Welt.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features | 
Tags: Fotos, Google, google maps, google street view, Maps, Panoramio, picasa, street view, Suchmaschine | 
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Google Maps extends local content offering
Google Maps is transforming itself ever increasingly from a classic Local Search service to that of an all-encompassing localized information service.
The function “My Maps”, which allows users to generate content and make that accessible to other users, was seemingly one of the first steps in this direction. Recently, the sector-leading search engine added localized photos and videos to the “My Maps” arsenal, accessible under the “Explore this area” (after entering a location in the search field) … see our post.
Just weeks after the above innovations, comes the “More” button, to be found at the top right corner within the displayed map (in all views). Using this feature, one can access even more resources such as photos, panoramas (Panoramio) as well as local-interest articles from Wikipedia. If one selects Wikipedia, for example – for every location where any relevant Wikipedia content exists, a small Wikipedia symbol appears on the map. When clicked, the symbol opens an extract from the online-lexicon in a pop-up window, with a link to the full article. The text describes relevant content e.g. Buildings, streets, places or institutions.
Through these new functions, Google wants to ease the discovery of information about the geographical context, for its users. This was detailed by Christoph Oehler, Product Manager at Google, in Google’s Lat Long Blog.
Upcoming features anticipated for Google Maps include the probable integration of relevant Local News. Such a function is apparently available, according to the Google Lat Long Blog, as of May 2008 in the US-version of the virtual earth program Google Earth. This capability is soon expected for the German-edition of Google Earth as well as Google Maps (maps.google.de). This was announced in a separate announcement by press spokesman Stefan Keuchel, in an interview with “Spiegel-Online”.
Exploring with Google Maps
Using Google Maps, the world is now ever more discoverable than before. User-uploaded photos, videos and maps, matched to the locality of the requested search, have recently been added to the arsenal of Google’s local search capability, providing yet more local and background information.
To do so, one enters a location into the search field. A preview of the results appears in the menu adjacent to the map. If one wants to see more, just click either on “Explore this location” [de= ‚Erkunden Sie dieses Gebiet’] or on “More Photos, Videos and User-Created Maps” [de= ,Mehr Fotos, Videos und von Nutzern erstellte Karten’]. On clicking, an expanded results list appears. Simultaneously thumbnails of the photos and videos appear overlaid on the map, where they in turn can be clicked to view. Using the search results it is also possible to click on User-Maps, and select whether further photos or videos should be displayed. These extended results are then only accessible via thumbnails on the map-view. Shifting position or changing viewing scale of the map reveals further results.
Whether photos, videos or maps – the newly access content is completely user-generated and uploaded. The photographs originate from [geo-tagged user photos, from] the Web2.0 photo service Panoramio, which was acquired by Google in July 2007. They show interesting buildings, attractions or city views. YouTube, an acquisition of Google in October 2006, delivers the videos. However Google’s usual high quality controls are not in evidence – the videos are seldom really useful, as regards local information. The User-Maps have been assembled by other users of Google Maps’ “My Maps” [de=„Meine Karten“], and categorized by the creator us “public” accessible.
