On Nov. 4, Panoramio's one-year descent to online obliteration will commence. This news came after Google announced that the photo-sharing website will officially be discontinued since it has already outlived its purpose.
Panoramio was acquired by the tech company back in 2007 to augment its mapping technology. The site served as a destination for photographers to store, organize, share and geolocate their photographs. Its technology is said to have contributed in the Google Geo product mix, helping in the development of the engineering and technical resources that power applications and services such as Google Maps.
The database of photographs within the site is responsible for a large chunk of imagery in Google Maps. The same is also true in the case of Picasa, which Google acquired in 2004. This photo service is also getting phased out to make way for Google Photos.
In an official statement, Google said that Panoramio will be a redundant platform since its functions are already being provided by Google Maps and the company's Local Guides program.
Google tried to appease the members of the Panoramio community, who naturally have expressed outrage and dismay.
"I have millions of views, some photos with more than 100,000 views ... I've reported tons of errors in maps and now?" PavolG, an irate user complained. "They're [telling] me goodbye. We don't need you anymore, because we are accepting only photos of restaurants now."
The company pointed out that the plan to shut the site down has been made public in 2014 and that its continued existence was due to the community's clamor that it is retained. Google argued that since that period, it has worked to integrate its photo-sharing services into Maps. The company has also cultivated a thriving community of global explorers within its Local Guides program.
"To make this transition easier, we'll provide several options to continue sharing photos through other services," Google said. "If you choose, you can also export all your data and take it somewhere else."
Google has also reassured those users concerned about the fate of their photos stored at Panoramio. These files can be transferred to the Google Album Archive of Panoramio users who also have existing Google accounts. The company stressed that it is imperative to link the Google+ account to a Panoramio profile in order for such transfer to transpire automatically.
After Nov. 4, Panoramio users will still be able to access their photos but this is limited for one year. Also, the site will no longer allow the addition of new photos or user comments.
