WORLD’S LARGEST ONLINE PHOTO SITE PANORAMIO CLOSES DOWN IN NOVEMBER

By Snigdha Som (TNI Siliguri)  |  TNI Editing Siliguri

Webdesk, TNI Siliguri, 14^th October, 2016: One of the biggest digital photographic site Panoramio is going to be shut down by Google on 4^th November 2016. According to the sources at Google Inc the official reply to the decision is “’we’ve decided to move forward with closing down Panoramio”. The reason behind is the alternative feature of photo uploading in Google Maps and Local Guides. Earlier in 2014 also Google have officially announced to shut it but it was later postponed viewing negative reactions to the announcement. However, the stage is all set and Panoramio is going. Panoramio used to be Web destination for photographers and travelers to share location-specific photos, enabling anyone to pull up a location on a world map and view any available images of it.

The feature was later enabled in Google Maps. However, the ray of hope for the photos is that they will be transferred to Google Maps and hence there would be no loss of photos due to the closure. Apart from that the Panoramio accounts linked to a Google account will get their photos transferred to Google Album Archive with of course full resolution, the company says. However, the current Panoramio users will get their account accessible to the photos (within Panoramio) until November 2017 but will be debarred from interaction and future uploads. Ranatu Ghatak, a well-known photographer from Siliguri and one of the biggest contributors in Panoramio with photographs from North Bengal and Siliguri told TNI “It is very much shocking and also surprising when I came to know the news. Panoramio helped a lot of photographers like us. If such opportunities are closed, then we photographers can’t explore ourselves. Closing a website like Panoramio will definitely give a negative impact”.

Graphics: TNI Creatives