Web life is full of surprises, and none so more unpleasant as a sudden and unexplained dramatic drop in web traffic to a site. About a week ago, we saw a 90% drop in traffic from Google searches coming to Panoramic Earth (see Google traffic graph above). This was unexpected and caused quite a stir. Had we inadvertently broken a new rule and so been penalized? Had Google changing it's algorithm, thus changing the rules? One thing that was obvious from the flurry of related postings to various forums was that we were not alone.And a week later, again for no apparent reason, things returned to normal. They say a week is a long time in politics - well it sure is a long time on the net when this kind of thing happens.
With the recent addition of a panorama from the Sidama Savannah in Ethiopia by Richard Greenall, Panoramic Earth now features 360 panoramas from 6 continents. The only one missing currently is Antarctica, and putting up a white image claiming it to be from the South Pole during a snow storm would be cheating.
Similarly, the addition of pictures from Trinity College in Dublin by Matthew Walters adds Ireland to the list of featured countries, bringing the current number to 33. That is now over 2100 panoramas from 33 countries over 6 continents. From mountain tops to caves, jungle to desert, and fields to cities. It is a tribute to the enthusiasm of photographers in many different places, and we want to thank all those who have chosen to display their images on the site to date.
Panoramic Earth now has over 2100 panoramas from around the world. Panoramic image 2100 shows the Steam Vents at the Kilauea Caldera at the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii Island (also known as 'Big Island'), bringing the total number of panoramas from the State of Hawaii to 108.
The global collection of 360° panoramic pictures continues to grow at about 6 panoramas a day from all over the world, so it will not be long before we have to report on image 2200.
Sometimes it is interesting to see where the RSS site feed ends up. Recently we came across two sites that incorporate and show the our feed of new panoramas as part of their own site. Good news all round really, and another example of how the net weaves in and out to link various parts together. So if you do not have a feed reader, then let these sites do the feeding for you and just look at the panoramas that they put up. Two such sites are in the RSS Feed Directory and on Photopress which show the new panoramic images and the descriptions, with, of course, links back to the photographer and the page in Panoramic Earth where the image can be viewed with a world map and more information.
Panoramic Earth now has a new homepage giving more options and better access to the rest of the site. Changes include: - Thumbnails of the latest panoramas added, linking through to the page
- Country pins on Google world map allowing quicker access to the country information
- New list of popular places of interest
- Goto a random panorama on the site
As before, you can still see the lists of recent photographers who have contributed to Panoramic Earth, and the list of the most recently updated regions of the world to which panoramas have been added.
