Panoramic Images of the World

Virgin Promises to Change Face of Banking

2012-01-12T04:20:00.000-08:00

Using a stunning 270° video panoramic projection on Senate House in Central London, Virgin used a 3-minute light and sound extravaganza to launch Virgin Money, the new bank run by Virgin.

Richard Branson, who launched the event, told the BBC: "People are suspicious of banks and they have good reason to be after the last few years. “The Virgin brand is well trusted and has always offered good products in a range of different businesses..We think we can come in and shake up the industry."

The 3D extravaganza used the backdrop of Senate House to maximum effect, providing all those present with a fully immersive experience, which you can get a taste of on this video here.

Winter Walks in London

2011-12-19T11:06:00.001-08:00

Everyone will have their favourite walk round London, and this is but one suggestion that takes in one of the best Royal Parks, stunning panoramic views, fantastic market stalls and pretty boutiques. It will take about 2 hours depending on how much time is spent admiring the views or browsing the stalls.

The walk starts at Great Portland Sreet tube from where it is a short distance to formal, laid out Avenue Gardens part of Regents Park. After this you can either continue up through the northern end of the park or make a (probably not quick) detour left to the Queen Mary Rose Gardens.

Panorama of Regents Park - Rose Gardens in Queen Mary's Gardens supplied by Panoramic Earth

At the top of the par we pass by London Zoo and then cross the Regents Canal and along Prince Albert Road to Primrose Hill. For those inclined, it is a short, but steep, walk to the top for stunning panoramic views over the city. Exit at the north-east corner onto Regents Park Road and continue north along a pretty row of boutique shops and cafes - a good place to grab a slice of cake and drink.

Panorama of Primrose Hill supplied by Panoramic Earth

Continue across the railway bridge and then head right down to Chalk Farm tube where there is a fantastically painted building. At this point you begin the return trip turning south and heading back to Camden Market. This is where you can loose a lot of time browsing the various stalls selling almost anything you could imagine, including a lot of local arts and crafts.

Panorama of Camden Lock Market supplied by Panoramic Earth

The weary can opt to end their walk here or finish it by either wandering up Parkway past the Jazz Cafe and a fantastic health food shop or along Regents Canal. Both routes end up near the north end of Regents Park and from there you head south to end up back at Great Portland Street.

London at Christmas

2011-12-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

Once again London has geared up for the run up to Christmas. Once again the lights are on in Oxford Street and ice skating rings have opened up at the Natural History Museum, Somerset House and other venues. The Winter Wonderland has arrived in Hyde Park and thousands of people our out to find various Christmas shopping bargains, enjoy the rides or relax at the Bavarian Village (shown below).

Panorama of Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland Bavarian Village supplied by Panoramic Earth

Every year just before Christmas Oxford Street and Regent Street are closed to traffic, and them promptly fill with tens of thousands of people who descend on the shops. One of the busiest shopping days of the year, it is accompanied by various street entertainment, rides and music, making for a festive atmosphere.

Panorama of Regent Street Christmas Lights 2011 supplied by Panoramic Earth

And yet in the midst of it all on wonders if the Christian meaning behind Christmas has somehow been lost.

Occupy London Campaign

2011-11-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks the tent city of the Occupy London anti-capitalist protest has occupied the space in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London. This is the closest that the protest group could get to the London Stock Exchange, situated just north of the Cathedral. On the day that the Corporation of London came to issue eviction notices to people, Peter Watts, a virtual tour photographer, went down to the site to create a virtual tour of the protest.

Panorama of Occupy London Camp at St Pauls Cathedral supplied by Panoramic Earth

Peter said that he found the site friendly and relaxed. The large 'University' tent provided all kinds of information about the protest and a daily list of events, talks and activities.

Panorama of St Pauls Cathedral - Occupy London supplied by Panoramic Earth

Understandably, Occupy London intend to remain for as long as it takes to persuade people that the status quo in the City can not be allowed to continue, and that issues around corporate and capitalist greed need to be addressed. Also understandably, the City would like the protest camp to move, for media attention to focus on other things and, probably, for them to be able to get on with business as usual.

The precise 'business as usual' that the Occupy London group are intent on preventing.

For Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T03:06:00.000-08:00

Also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day, Remembrance Day is a day when the Commonwealth countries pause to remember all those who have fallen in the line of duty since World War I. It is used to mark the time when hostilities ended at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month.

Panorama of Poppy Field in Bloom supplied by Panoramic Earth

The poppy became the symbol of the day, this delicate flower filling the fields of the fallen in many parts of the front line in Europe. We present the image above as a reminder of the sacrifice made by many who fought, whether they won or lost, in hope of a better future.

The Best Roman Palace in the World

2011-10-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in seeing the most complete Roman palace in the whole world, then you need to head for Split, a port town on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. There you will find Diocletian's Palace, built in the 4th century for the Roman Emperor as a retirement home.

Panorama of Peristyle of Diocletian's Palace supplied by Panoramic Earth

Some home - containing army barracks, imperial quarters and servant sectors, the walled compound was capable of housing several thousand people. Central to the complex was the Emperors mausoleum, now Split Cathedral. While there, climb up the Bell Tower for fantastic views over the palace and rest of the city, as shown below.

Panorama of View of Split from Bell Tower of St Duje supplied by Panoramic Earth

Panoramic Earth forms Partnership with Aaduki

2011-08-26T01:46:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth recently formed a partnership with Aaduki insurance offering both professional and amateur camera insurance through their services. In addition to a range of camera insurance and film equipment policies, Aaduki also offer Public Liability, Employer Liability (EL) and Public Indemnity (PI) insurance, a must for any professional. For the amateur, having insurance gives you peace of mind when taking your photography gear out for a shoot.

More about the different insurance policies can be found on the Aaduki website, or by reading these articles:

We at Panoramic Earth are very excited about this opportunity, Aaduki is a strong and reputable brand and we are delighted to be associated with them.

Great Ocean Road Updated

2011-08-12T15:33:00.001-07:00

The virtual tour images from the Great Ocean Road in Australia on Panoramic Earth have been updated. Viewers can now explore the road through various full screen images showing off the amazing coastline and rock formations along the route. While the most popular part of the road are the Twelve Apostles, other more inaccessible areas of the road are considered by some to be more stunning. It is just that the coach tours do not go there.

Editor favourites from the route include Loch Ard Gorge shown below.

Panorama of Loch Ard Gorge Beach supplied by Panoramic Earth

If you are on the Great Ocean Road and want a really good view of some of the sea stacks of the Twelve Apostles, then the best thing to do is to go down Gibsons Steps nearby and walk along the beach. Then you get away from the crowds and have a better perspective of the cliffs and stacks.

Panorama of Twelve Apostles from Gibson Steps Beach supplied by Panoramic Earth

Exploring Mallorca

2011-08-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

Most of those who visit Mallorca this summer will inevitably spend almost all their time in their own hotel or beach resort, or walking around the shopping streets of Palma. Then there are the large crowds that are bused to some major tourist attraction to join the thousands of others. These people will miss out on many of the fine things that Mallorca has to offer, little villages tucked away in the mountains, tiny Calas along the northern coast, ancient forts and castles on the hills.

As this map below shows, Mallorca has so much more to offer, and it is worth making the effort to get out and explore a little. Away from the beaches, many Mallorca hotels are tucked away in beautiful surroundings with dramatic views.

This tour of Mallorca requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please go to the &amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.panoramicearth.com/1842/Spain/Mallorca"&amp;amp;amp;gt;Mallorca page on Panoramic Earth&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;.

And here is a view over Cala Banyalbufar, just one of the small Calas that line the dramatic northern coast. Not as easy to get to as the beaches on the south, but incredibly beautiful and quiet.

Panorama of View over Cala Banyalbufar supplied by Panoramic Earth

Rob Bowker - New Panoramic Earth VT Contributor

2011-07-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth welcomes Rob Bowker to our regular contributors. A graphic designer and photographer based in Oxfordshire, he has 25 years experience working as a a graphics and publications manager in the charity sectors. Not content with this, Rob continues to find new photography challenges, inspired by Hockney’s ‘joiners’ back in the eighties and the late Ian Hamilton Finlay’s treatment of text with landscape. More of his work can be seen on Photoshelter and on his own blog.

His foray into panoramic photography and virtual tour work started with a crude 360˚ pan using a borrowed K1000 Pentax 35mm film camera of a long-since demolished area of Bradford slum (which he intends to dig out and put together). Since then he has progressed through animation and film making to the VR panoramas, which, he says, ‘scratch the same itch!’.

Panorama of Wallingford Bridge supplied by Panoramic Earth

Rob, "really loves the way a flash panorama allows you to capture intimate and otherwise uncelebrated corners of the world. On viewing, the effect is immediate and compelling." Not an unusual response to 360 panoramas, and a sentiment voiced by his son seeing an early shot of Wallingford Bridge, who exclaimed, "Wow, it’s just like being there!"

Panorama of Queen's Arbour, Wallingford Castle Meadows supplied by Panoramic Earth

One of his current favourite panoramas is of Queen’s Arbour, near to Wallingford Castle. Rob considers this a work in progress and is moving onto creating fully spherical images, which he will continue to share on Panoramic Earth in the future.

Out of this World - Mars Panorama

2011-07-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

After the Moon, the next stop in the sights of manned space flight programmes is Mars. If ever you wondered what that would look like, then take a look a this Mars Landscape Panorama which gives you a 360 view of the Red Planet.

Known as the McMurdo panorama, it was put together from 1400 individual images taken by NASA robot Spirit during the winter months on Mars when it could not move. So the next step is to put a person up there with a camera and tripod - any photography companies interested in sponsoring...?

New Large Map Views from Panoramic Earth

2011-07-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth has launched a new layout for it's virtual tours on the site, using a larger image and map presentation, as shown below with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Now it is easier to explore the area around a given location on the Google map, and easier to see what other virtual tour images are nearby. Just click on the Large Map View link below the virtual tour image to get the layout below.

Whereas the normal map view presents the panorama next to the map and the text description below it, the new view gives a wider presentation of the image above a wider map. And you can still get to the location description and information. Simply click on the Description tab next to the panorama for the location data. To go back to the traditional view, click the Small Map View below the panorama.

Luxury Holidays in Cyprus

2011-07-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

Cyprus - golden sands, ancient sites, fantastic restaurants. A beautiful and fantastic place to holiday, and ideal for children. Several luxury Cyprus hotels and beach resorts offer excellent facilities for whole families and many are very aware of the need to provide activities for children.

An excellent choice for family-friendly hotels is the Columbia Beach Resort in Cyprus. Here the parents can relax around the pools, enjoy the beaches and a bit of golf, steam bath or Jacuzzi. You can unwind with various health and spa treatments and then enjoy the evening in the restaurants and cocktail bars.

In the meantime, a dedicated children's club will take care of the 3-12 year olds, with planned day trips and other events. Take the weight of looking after your children off your mind and bring them to a holiday resort where they can make life-long friends and have an amazing time.

These beach resort hotels provide the best for the whole family on Cyprus: relaxation, luxury and fun. A Cyprus holiday to remember.

Cider with Rosie and Slad

2011-06-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

In the Cotswolds, near to Stroud, is the tiny rural village of Slad which was thrust into world view by it's association with Cider with Rosie, written by Laurie Lee. The village lies in the picturesque Cotswold hills and has not much more than a line if stone buildings, village pub and church.

The pub, the Woolpack Inn, is popular with walkers and locals from the surrounding villages. It's name is a reminder of the wool and clothmaking industry that once dominated much of the Cotswolds. Laurie Lee is buried in the churchyard of the village church, Holy Trinity, just across the road from the pub.

Panorama of Holy Trinity Church - Outside supplied by Panoramic Earth

Slad is just one of many village full of little bits of history tucked away in the Cotswolds and well worth exploring. The small collection of virtual tour images from around the village show why the region is very popular in the summer months. Rural, picturesque, quiet and relaxing.

Panoramic Earth Blog Nominated by Teach Street

2011-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

It is always great when someone recommends what we are doing. Today we found out that the Panoramic Earth Blog has been recommended to TeachStreet to become a featured blogger, which is a great compliment.

Photography Classes | Add your site

You can find us there under the Photography Classes section through the links above and also suggest your own blog to them.

Summer Skiing on Val Senales Glacier

2011-05-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Val Senales Glacier at the end of Val Senales is a stunning place to be, surrounded by some of the highest peaks of South Tyrol. As shown in this virtual tour panorama, the scenery takes your breath away. Even better for skiers, as evidenced by the pair of skis stuck in the snow, the height of the glacier allows for year-round skiing.

Panorama of Val Senales glacier supplied by Panoramic Earth

For skiers, the Funivia Ghacciao cable car delivers you direct to the four lifts serving 2 red and 3 blue runs on the glacier, which also has a snow park and 5km of Nordic ski track.

Spurious Patent Threatens VR Technologies

2011-05-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

According to the IVRPA, an incorrectly granted patent now threatens all creation, distribution and use of all and any virtual tour technology and images, whether for commercial or personal use. Dated June 2nd 2004, the '400 patent (US Patent 6754400) places a potential strangle hold on all virtual tour photographers, developers of panoramic image software, any company displaying these images and any person pursuing this as a hobby.

The IVRPA sate that the patent also covers the use of any lens combination, any method of creating and storing such images digitally, use and generation of hotspots within panoramic images, use of mouse to manipulate images. The company holding the patent has already sued VT producers and clients using the images, shutting a few down.

Every aspect covered by this patent is had been previously published. Back in 1998, 6 years before the issue of the '400 patent, Professor Helmut Dersch developed Pano Tools and released the code under the GNU General Public License and there are commercial agreements as far back as 1999 that cite the use of VT technoligies, like this one with Microsoft, no less.

It seem remarkable, therefore, that the US Patent office should have granted the '400 patent, but the industry is now in the costly position of having to contend this ridiculous patent. Arrogant attempts to starnglehold the industry have been tried before, most notably the failed attempt by iPix.

360 Panorama of Whole Night Sky

2011-05-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

Every so often something amazing comes along that truly has the capacity to make one stop and just go 'Wow'. The Photopic Sky Survey is one of those things. Photographer Nick Risinger travelled nearly 60,000 miles taking individual images of the night time sky and then painstakingly stitched them together to form a composite 360° night time panorama.

The task was painstaking, dividing the sky into 624 uniformly spaced areas and then seeking out light-free places from which to capture the images using 6 cameras. Each sector was photographed 60 time using 4 short, 4 medium, and 4 long shots for each camera to help to reduce the amount of noise, overhead satellite trails and other unwanted artifacts.

The result is stunning. A fully interactive spherical image that shows the night sky if one was suspended in space where the earth should be. The Milky Way and other galaxies can be explored, zoomed in on and panned around. As if that was not enough, the interactive image can be overlaid with the stellar constellations sky map.

This is a truly amazing achievement. And now to find a HD projector and blank wall...

St Paul de Vence and Alpes Martimes

2011-03-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

It is always great to see new parts of the world open up on Panoramic Earth. Recent additions by Isabel Marques show the beautiful countryside around St Paul de Vance in France. This beautiful, medieval town grew up around a hill fort in the Alpes Martimes just north of Nice. The earliest fortifications around the town date from the 13th century, and it is still surrounded by 16th century walls.

Panorama of Alpes Maritimes, St. Paul de Vence supplied by Panoramic Earth

In addition to the beautiful countryside shown in the virtual tour above, St Paul de Vence has on offer several museums, including the world famous Fondation Maegh.The town is a delight to walk around, relax in and has numerous rustic cafes on offer. It makes an ideal day-trip for those wanting a break from the bustle of Nice.

This panorama is free to embed in your site. Please see the Embed Tour page for details.

Beautiful Panorama of Rome

2011-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Just one of the many dramatic 360° panoramic views and virtual tours of Rome. This one was created from a series of images taken on a sunny day while walking around the Cupola of St Peters Basilica in the Vatican. It provides a dramatic 360 view of the Roman skyline.

Panorama of Rome from the Vatican Cupola supplied by Panoramic Earth

See the complete virtual tour of Rome, featuring pictures and information from many of the most important and popular landmarks and tourist attractions around the city, or search out your favourite place on the Rome panorama index.

Travelling to Rome? Check out these cheap Rome hotel deals.

Personal Panoramic Image Maps

2011-01-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Available to anyone who uploads 30+ virtual tour panoramas to Panoramic Earth is now able to embed their own collective virtual tour on their site(s). Using simple, cut and paste code, this personal tour will show the location of their panoramas linked to Google maps.

Always starting at the latest location they added, and automatically updated with you new images, this is a great way to allow people to view your latest work added to the site.

And how to get the code? The option becomes available when you reach the 30 image target. Then you simply need to go to your profile and select the Personal Maps option listed near the bottom of the profile menu. Copy the presented code and there you have it. Below is tour for Peter Watts.

This tour of Peter Watts's panoramas requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please go to Peter Watts's destination list on Panoramic Earth.

Merry Christmas from Panoramic Earth

2010-12-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Wishing all our readers and site users all the blessings of the season and a great start to 2011. To round off the year, here is a fantastic panorama taken by Malcolm Etherington of a snow-covered Lyme Regis and coast in the UK after unusually cold weather. Thanks and enjoy.

Panorama of Lyme Regis Beach at Christmas supplied by Panoramic Earth

Beaches in the NightTime

2010-12-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

Praia da Lagoinha is a very pretty beach in Ubatuba, Brazil. When sitting in the depths of the cold, English winter, one can be look longingly at the stretches of sand and sea, viewed here at sunset under a full moon.

Panorama of Praia da Lagoinha Noturna supplied by Panoramic Earth

Much thanks to Emilio Campi for sharing this image with us. Can we come and visit please?

London in the Snow, December 2010

2010-12-20T13:58:00.001-08:00

Once again London was covered in snow, and once again the news became snow-obsessed. And yet, much of the infrastructure in the capital kept running, with only 5% of bus routes affected much. However, traffic levels were greatly reduced and the airports closed, making the pace of life and noise levels much more pleasant. Though bemoaned by many, snow is welcome by many as well, who make the most of the opportunity to throw the stuff around, roll about in it, slide down hills on it and build stuff out of it.

This panoramas below shows how snow can transform a scene, creating a little magic for those who stop complaining long enough to enter in.

Panorama of Regents Canal and St Marks Bridge in Snow supplied by Panoramic Earth

And nearby is Primrose Hill, whose southern slope provides both excellent views over the snow-covered city, and equally fantastic tobogganing opportunities. In an almost 'anything goes' manner, all kinds of objects are used to slide down the slope. Even lying on other people (hopefully friends) seemed acceptable, with trays, cases and road signs converted into possible toboggans for the afternoon.

Canon EF Lenses - Change your Photography

2010-12-17T02:47:00.000-08:00

Canon produce a vast range of EF lenses for their EOS cameras, making them an excellent choice for anyone looking to buy a new digital camera. Not only that, the range continues to expand and grow, allowing budding photographers also to explore new areas of photography. Canon EF lenses are among the best in the world, they were the first to successfully commercialize Ultrasonic motor (USM) lenses, fast, silent and precise autofocus. Many of the lenses also have image stabilization (IS) or hybrid IS technology. This provides compensation for hand-shake in low-light, slow exposure settings, making photography even easier.

Canon EF Lenses

This video below provides an excellent introductory tutorial into Canon EF lenses.

Before starting out on selecting a Canon lens, it is always important to ask what kind of photography you want to do. However, whether you are interested in wide angle, scenic shots, macro work or need zoom for wildlife photography, Canon have got it covered.

The Canon EF lenses are identified by several factors:

Focal Length – given in mm, with low numbers providing wide angle images and higher focal lengths providing greater magnification of long-range objects, but with a narrower field of view. The Canon EF range is very diverse, covering 8mm fisheye lenses through to 1200mm lenses.
Aperture – marked as f/1.0 or similar. The number indicates the lowest setting at which that lens will work. A lower f value indicates that the lens will allow more light in and therefore work in lower light conditions.
Macro – these EF lenses are specifically designed for very close up work, and the work best for these kind of images. So, if your thing is photographing details of stitching or capturing bug-eyes and mushroom gills, then this is the thing to look out for.
USM – The lens has an ultrasonic motor for focussing. These motors are faster and quieter than other types of auto-focus motors and consume les power.
IS – EF lenses marked IS have image stabilization technology built in.
DO lens – These EF lenses have special Diffractive Optics glass and are usually smaller, lighter and perform better than non-DO lenses. Be prepared to pay for them.
L-Series – the EF lens ‘Luxury’ series, top of the line, with the best optical qualities and build, and with a price tag to match. They all have DO lens technology. Unless you have a lot of money, are mad about your photography or a professional, the L-series are what most of us drool over from a distance.

So there is a brief overview of lens nomenclature. The best way to choose a lens is to find a friend and see if they will be willing to let you use their kit. If you have that kind of friend be very grateful. Otherwise, make sure you can try them out in the shop, even have an attendant stand with you as you shoot some frames on your own body from the shop door. Of course, often budget plays an unfortunately limiting role in the lenses we can buy.

If you are buying a new lens, consider the kit lens, if it is of good quality. These often cover the range of circumstances most of us are likely to find ourselves in. The EF 24-105mm IS USM lens I have covers pretty much all I need for most things. The quality of the images has been great, and the IS has helped greatly in photographing moving objects like birds from a boat.

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Edinburgh in the Snow

2010-12-09T02:14:00.000-08:00

Edinburgh, like much of the rest of Britain, has been covered in snow in recent days. Stuart Robertson, one of our intrepid photographers, has been out and about capturing some of the scenes of the city. Nothing shows the scene more clearly than the view from the top of Nelsons Monument in the heart of the city, shown below:

Panorama of From The Top Of Nelsons Monument In The Snow supplied by Panoramic Earth

Less than a mile from the centre of Edinburgh is Holyrood Park, dominated by the Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat. These snow covered slopes provide another stunning view over the city, as well as a fantastic playground for snow fights, tobogganing and sledging.

Snow has the magical effect of transforming buildings. And so it has transformed the appearance of the Scottish Parliament building opposite the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Built to remind people of the Scottish landscape, the snow covered building now blends in well with Salisbury Crags behind it.

The Wonders of Vienna

2010-12-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

Vienna, the capital city of Austria, has much to offer visitors year round. With many magnificent historical buildings and world-class museums, the historical center of Vienna is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vienna is also considered a fantastic place to live, being recently ranked 1st out of 127 world cities for quality of life.

Panorama of Michaelerplatz supplied by Panoramic Earth

During the summer, people freely wander through beautiful parks and squares, browse the museums and markets. In the winter there is the famous Christmas market held outside the Rathaus, the wonders of the Prater park and amusements and numerous concerts.

Panorama near Dent de Jaman

2010-11-29T08:51:00.000-08:00

Demonstrating the ability to embed a single Virtual Tour panorama, this cylindrical image shows the view from Dent de Jaman, a 1875m high mountain rising above Montreux, situated north of Rochers de Naye in the Vaud region of Switzerland.

Panorama of Near the Dent de Jaman supplied by Panoramic Earth

Anyone can embed any panorama from Panoramic Earth in a non-commercial website for free. Whole regional tour options are also available, showing a collection of images linked to a map of the area.

360 Panoramas from Herman Desmet

2010-11-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

Panoramic Earth welcomes Herman Desmet as one of the latest contributors to our growing collection of virtual tours from around the world. His latest photos can be found on his Contributed Panoramas page.

Based in Belgium, he began taking photos about 15 years ago, first as a hobby developing into a real passion and also studied photography at the local art school. Being a keen mountaineer gave him ample opportunity for fantastic landscape and nature photos. However, he has also built up experience with studio and portrait work. His pictures have been published in magazines like National Geographic as well as various newspapers. Some of his work can be found on his website; Herman Demset Photographie, and also on his personal blog.

Herman has lately specialized in architecture, real-estate and panorama photography, expanding into 360° panoramas and virtual tours for internet use. He feels that nowadays everybody can make digital photos, but doing a perfect 360°-180°VR panorama is a skill on its own requiring special equipment and lots of practice, patience and knowledge of photography to get the best results. But when you succeed in making a gorgeous digital 360 panorama, it amazes people like they were amazed in the pre-internet era when they saw a huge print of a fantastic picture.

And, for Herman, amazing people is what his photography is all about.

Panoramic Earth Visits the World Travel Market 2010

2010-11-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Our team has just spent 3 days walking the stands at the World Travel Market 2010 in the Exel centre in London. Over that time we managed to talk the the tourist boards or marketing folk of almost every country represented about how they could use Panoramic Earth to promote their regions. On the whole the response has ranged from interested to very positive, so hopefully during 2011 we will be announcing a series of partnership arrangements to promote various destinations.

The WTM is massive, with thousands of exhibitors from all sectors of the travel industry. Walking round the stands and networking for 8 hours a day has had a toll, both on legs and voices, but has been very worthwhile, and fascinating to see how the different countries and regions represent themselves at the fair. Naturally, the largest parties seemed to be held on stands from Latin America or the Caribbean.

Welcome to Henry Stuart and Spherical Images Ltd

2010-10-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

Henry Stuart is one of the latest photographers to join the growing list of contributors on Panoramic Earth. He has over 5 years experience in the industry and is the founder of Spherical Images Ltd, 'a London-based virtual tour company, providing HD quality virtual tours...allowing clients to bring their venues to the customer with unparalleled impact and quality'.

Through his work and passion, Henry has photographed many of the top locations within the UK, including the top of the Swiss Re (Gherkin) building, Royal Albert Hall and the London Aquarium. As shown below, he is not adverse to working in challenging and dangerous conditions.

Say Hello to a Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragon (c) Henry Stuart, used by permission

Henry says one of the most scary asignments he has done was creating a Virtual Tour of the Komodo Dragon, Raja, at London Zoo. The experience involved getting close up and personal with the dragon, which attacked the camera and then chased the curator round the enclosure as he tried to rescue the camera gear from a very sticky end. Henry says the kit had to be chemically disinfected by zoo specialists and still smelt of Komodo spit months later!

They had just one take, which caught this amazing image of the dragon head on. In the end, completing the shot in the Komodo Dragon enclosure was too risky, and the image was super-imposed on a tour created of the less-life-threatening, adjacent turtle enclosure, which explains the presence of the turtle in another part of the virtual tour.

Some of his favourite images can be found Spherical Images with many being uploaded also on Panoramic Earth.

Panorama Embedding Not Possible in Wordpress

2010-10-21T04:06:00.001-07:00

Sadly, Wordpress does not allow the use of various htm tags that are often used to embed content within blogs. These include the object, embed and iframe tags. Wordpress also disables any posting of Javascript from most sites, though there may be ways round this.

The sad result of this is that, currently, you can not easily embed content from Panoramic Earth into Wordpress blogs or pages. If this changes in the future then we will naturally shout about it!

Embed Single Panorama Option Launched

2010-10-20T03:32:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth has just launched the ability for non-commercial websites to embed individual 360° panoramas within your own websites for free. So creators of blogs, personal sites etc can now embed stunning, full screen panoramas within their pages, absolutely free. Please see the Terms and Conditions for details, register with Panoramic Earth and follow the procedure given below.

Embedding Panoramas Step 1
Below every panorama is an EMBED button, as shown below. Simply click on this to start the procedure.

Embedding Panoramas Step 2
Select the Single Image Embedding radial and then click on Continue as shown below.

Embedding Panoramas Step 3
Select the height and width you want to have on your site. The code will be recalculated. Then click on Select to select all the code presented as shown below. Simply copy this and paste it into your web page. Job done. The code must be used in it's entirety, without changing any part of it. This is part of the T&C's for this service.

Embedding Panoramas - The Result And the result is a stunning image within your website, as shown here for the Colosseum in Rome.

Panorama of Colosseum of Rome supplied by Panoramic Earth

Enjoy. If enough people ask for alternative methods of embedding, such as iframes, then we will look into implementing these too.

Embedding Single Images

2010-10-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

This is a test post to try out tow different versions of ways to embed single images from Panoramic Earth onto blogs. At some point, at least one of these methods will become obsolete so one of these embedded images may fail to work in the future.

Javascript Embedding

Panorama of Whalers Bluff Lighthouse supplied by Panoramic Earth

Iframe Embedding

This image of Portland requires iframes. If you cannot see the image then please go to the &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.panoramicearth.com/5857/Australia/Portland"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Portland page on Panoramic Earth&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

ZeelandNet Nominates Panoramic Earth Website of the Day

2010-09-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

On the 29th October ZeelandNet nominated Panoramic Earth is the Website of the Day (Site van de Tag) on it's homepage. ZeelandNet linked to Panoramic Earth with the tag line: "Panoramafoto's van over de hele wereld" (Panorama photos from over the whole world), which accurately capturing part of the aims of the site.

For us this was a fantastic recommendation, as ZeelandNet is one of the most popular web portals in the Netherlands, and in the whole world with an Alexa traffic rank of about 23,000. To be promoted by such a website is the fruit of a lot of hard work by both the photographers, writers and programmers behind Panoramic Earth.

Panoramic Earth Ranked in Internet 100

2010-09-27T04:26:00.000-07:00

Increasingly growing in popularity over recent months, Panoramic Earth has now been ranked by Internet100.nl among the top 100 websites. Mentioned as 'Panoramafoto's van over de hele wereld' (Panorama-photos from over the whole world), this precisely captures the heart of Panoramic Earth which, now with nearly 6000 full screen 360° panoramas, continues in it's aim to build a virtual tour of the earth.

More than just an 360° panoramic image library, this collaborative project now involves over 60 photographers and features images from over 60 countries, with strong representation from Europe and Australasia in particular. You can follow the latest additions via the New Images page or through Panoramic Earth's Twitter feed.

Monaco Tourist Attractions Tour

2010-09-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Monaco is famous for luxury hotels, luxury yachts and the Monte Carlo Casino. It is also full of important historical sites, museums and other attractions, mostly focussed around Monaco-Ville, the old part of Monaco.

Thanks to Isabel Marques, Panoramic Earth has a growing tour of Monaco which shows interactive, 360° panoramas taken of some of the main sights and attractions. A complete index of Monte Carlo attractions and lists of images tagged Monaco also help users explore the various locations and attractions featured.

As with other Panoramic Earth tours, the Monaco map, guide and virtual tour can be embedded in other sites as interactive content.

Improvements to Image Uploading

2010-08-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth has recently launched a new uploading procedure for adding 360° panoramas to the site. In response to user observations, and fully described on the Panorama Upload Help page, the new method allows:

Batch uploading of panoramas to an individual holding area.
Automatic detection of Cylindrical and Spherical panorama format.
Automatic check compatibility of image with site requirements.
Individual image management, editing, and allocation to a specific location within the site.
Modular system allows you to upload now and complete the process at a later time.
Faster uploading and fewer failed uploads.

With nearly 100 contributing photographers and 6,000 panoramas worldwide, we will continue to work on improving the site layout and function. Any and all feedback on this new process gratefully received!

Promoted on Radio Bremen

2010-08-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth is gaining increasing exposure and commendation throughout the internet. Two recent recommendations coming from:

Radio Bremen's Surftipps Section - Die Welt als Panorama article commends Panoramic earth for clarity, high resolution images, clear mapping in information about nearby locations.
ClicRBS - major Brazilian portal website recommends Panoramic Earth's Budapest Tour with coverage of the major sites in the city.

These are just two of the recent articles written about the site, which now has nearly 6,000 panoramas from all over the world.

Panoramic Earth Supports Pestival and Termites

2010-07-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Pestival 'celebrates the art of being an insect through awe-inspiring hands-on and multi-platform events and ideas, leading up to a biennial festival with a local and global reach.' As part of the project they created the Termite Pavilion - a model of the inside of a termite mound, scaled up to human size from a 3D scan of a termite mound from Namibia.

The resulting structure, made from sustainable Austrian spruce laminate, currently stands in London Zoo, one of the top London attractions, next to the Bird Display Area and close to the Bearded Pig enclosure and London Zoo restaurants.

London Zoo is a ticketed attraction in London and very popular. London Pass holders get free entrance to the zoo and jump the queues.

This virtual tour was kindly taken for Pestival, fee of charge, by Peter Watts and Panoramic Earth is pleased to be able to support this project with free image hosting and distribution.

Panoramic Views from Apple

2010-07-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

Digital panoramas are an incredible sight to behold and can be displayed across a variety of technologies including; the internet, web browsers, DVDs, CDs, and a computer’s hard drive. Each of these choices have their own separate limitations depending on your viewing options. Today, there are quite a few different playback applications, especially for Apple devices, from which you can display panoramas.

First of all it is worth knowing that there is no special type of equipment required to view panoramas, though Apple devices are ideal for many people. It is possible to view panoramas on just about any modern computer operating system without the use of a special display or projector. Just make sure that your monitor is properly calibrated for colour. And in most cases, there is no special software needed – but if there is for the device you’re using it is easily accessible and usually comes with the product you have purchased.

As we all know computer hardware and software evolves very quickly. That means that the technology for viewing panoramas improves frequently and it may be difficult to set specific standards for the minimum system requirements for displaying digital panoramas effectively. It is helpful the know that the newer your computer or device, the better the panoramic display will likely be. If you are shopping for new computer equipment, try doing a search for PC World discount vouchers to save a little money on your purchase.

As mentioned, the main methods of accessing and viewing panoramas include the web browser, DVD, and a hard drive. However, the playback applications include the QuickTime Player Pro, Java, iPix, SpinControl, ActiveX, and Flash. In most cases, QuickTime is ideal for Apple computers and devices. It is also possible for some of these players to be embedded into the HTML of a webpage, so that visitors to your website can benefit from any panoramas that you upload.

For many photography and computer enthusiasts, Apple computers and devices are the top of the line. More and more people today are turning to Apple products for their work and entertainment solutions, ranging from the iMac to the MacBook Pro to the iPod and the iPhone. Many people even use the newly released iPad for sharing photos and viewing panoramas.

It is possible to purchase Apple devices from a number of places. In fact, those looking to save a little money may opt to use PC World discount codes for significant discounts on Apple products. However, most Apple devices can be bought online at reasonable prices or directly from the Apple store online, though shopping around may allow you to save on shipping, tax, and overall cost. Regardless of where you do your shopping, you should always do plenty of research before making that final purchase. Do you want a laptop or a desktop computer with a fancy large monitor? Is an iPod or iPad enough to view your pictures? It all just comes down to how good you want your panoramic views to look when displayed.

Disclaimer: This is a guest post, the views expressed herein may not be those held by Panoramic Earth.

WCCI 2101 uses Panoramic Earth

2010-07-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

The Barcelona tour on Panoramic Earth has been recommended by the 2010 WCCI (World Congress on Computational Intelligence). The interactive map and tour is listed as on of the Barcelona Maps on their 'getting about' page. The whole tour is shown below. It can be embedded on any site following instructions on the Use a Tour page.

This tour of Barcelona requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please go to the Barcelona page on Panoramic Earth.

Virtual Tour of Florence

2010-06-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Florence is one of the top travel and tourist destinations in Italy. At the heart of Tuscany, and once the capital of a united Italy, Florence is full of history, historical buildings and famous works of art. This new Florence virtual tour shows 360 panoramas of the sights and attractions, churches, public squares and other views.

As usual with Panoramic Earth, these 50+ images are all accompanied with some local and travel information, and can be embedded by other websites as their own content. Included within the tour are stunning panoramas taken around Florence Cathedral, including a unique virtual tour of the interior of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, taken as not even local Florentines see it, without people present.

Viewing 360 Panoramas on iPad and iPhone

2010-06-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

Krpano has been quick to take up the challenge of providing a way to view 360 panoramas on iPhone and iPad devices. Neither the iPhone or iPad support Flash, preventing many applications most web users take for granted, including the most popular panorama viewers, from working on them.

Krpano have already released a Javascript based viewer that uses CSS 3D transforms to display the panoramas. Currently there are still limitations, the CSS 3D transforms used are only available as Webkit extensions in the Mobile Safari and in the Mac Safari Browsers, and the viewer will only work with Cubic panoramas.

No doubt, further developments will follow, and it will not be long before Spherical, Equirectangular, Cylindrical, Small Planet, Partial panoramas and all the other projections we like to play around with will work on these mobile devices. At Panoramic Earth, we will follow this with keen interest, and are already seeking ways of implementing this for the panoramas we have.

Flash will probably still remain popular for many panorama viewers, but this demonstrates once again how fast technology moves on the web, and how quickly developers respond to the new opportunities and challenges.

A Taste of Spain, London 6th June

2010-05-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

On the 6th of June London will see the Taste of Spain festival occupying the whole of Regent Street, between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street, in the heart of central London.

Supported by the Spanish Tourist Office, The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the free festival will welcome many of the Spanish regions who will add colour and flair to the capital. With giant paellas, flamenco music, medieval food markets and a range of interactive sports challenges and events, visitors will be whisked away for a day to Spain's sunnier shores.

On the 24th and 25th July the Taste of Spain festival can be found on The Mound in Edinburgh.

Language Translations

2010-05-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

While Panoramic Earth is set up with English as the main site, we recognize that many people are interested in adding information about their places in other languages. To help with that, members can apply for access to the language admin options within their profiles. This enables you to:

Provide local translations for the country, region and image title.
Manage translations for specific locations.
Provide local and travel information in local language.
Change relevant meta-data to optimize these language pages within search engines.
Link to other pages within the site.

We will continue to provide and edit English texts for locations. These pages within the site contain some advice and help with this:

Editing Style - help about the writing style used on Panoramic Earth and easy way to link images together.
Destination Admin Help - walk-through guide to accessing and editing location procedures.
Translation Help - walk-through guide to the language admin sections.

These systems are already finding much support, as Manuel Ruiz says; 'Fantastic, and now I can translate the comments into Spanish. It's great! Now I can show people who speak Spanish and not English some views of my city.'

New Version of Embedded Tours

2010-04-26T04:52:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth provides the opportunity to use our virtual tours as embedded content in 3rd party sites, as described on our Use a Tour page. With the launch of the new site, the style and content of these tours has been updated and the new versions are now being automatically served to our current clients.

Changing Tour Height and Width
Due to popular demand we have added the flexibility for users to alter the height of the panoramas and the maps within the tours. Within the code the following parameters can now be set:

width - the width of the iframe (default = 600)
height - the height of the iframe (default = 750 for free tours)
maph - height of the map within the tour (default = 200)
panh- height of the panorama within the tour (default = 220)

Where to put the changes
The default code supplied do not include maph and panh perameters. These must be entered after the key= parameter in the code.

Standard code:
<iframe name="panearthtour" id="panearthtour" width="600" height="750" frameborder="0" src="http://www.panoramicearth.com/tour.php?
key=nDA4ZSBP6v9xRjHkF8RU5dMIsZupIz7T391486bd2c3630f1de37e338eda7f514">This tour of Oahu requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please go to the <a href="http://www.panoramicearth.com/1607/United States of America/Oahu">Oahu page on Panoramic Earth</a>.</iframe>

Amended Code (changes in red):
<iframe name="panearthtour" id="panearthtour" width="600"
height="880" frameborder="0" src="http://www.panoramicearth.com/tour.php?
key=nDA4ZSBP6v9xRjHkF8RU5dMIsZupIz7T391486bd2c3630f1de37e338eda7f514
&maph=300&panh=250">This tour of Oahu requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please
go to the <a href="http://www.panoramicearth.com/1607/United
States of America/Oahu">Oahu page on Panoramic Earth</a>.</iframe>

Notes:

The height of the iframe must be adjusted accordingly.
Some panoramas on the sight have heights around 300 pixels high. Setting the panh parameter higher than this may result in pixilation of some images on your tour.
In the future we will add a simple way of doing this as you create your tour on Panoramic Earth before you are given your code.

Examples of embeded tours can be found on:

Singapore - High Resolution Panoramas

2010-04-22T10:29:00.001-07:00

There are now over 100, high resolution, 360° virtual tour panoramas from Singapore now on Panoramic Earth. These images cover many of the sights and attractions of Singapore city and the wider island. They show various shots of the skyscrapers around Boat Bay and Clarke Quay, but also the interior of many temples and churches, some from Singapore Zoo and some of Sentosa Island.

The latest image is a hand-held panorama taken inside the shark's tunnel at the Underwater World Attraction on Setnosa Island, shown below.

Panoramic Earth - New Site Launched!

2010-04-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth (v3.0) is finally here. After months of planning and effort the new site has finally arrived. The site has many new features and a completely new look and feel, making it easier to navigate and more informative. Among the new features include:

Accepts Spherical as well as Cylindrical panoramas.
Faster loading flash panorama viewer.
Full screen viewing options of high resolution images.
Easy to follow upload interface.
Multi-language support.
Updated, faster Google maps.
Special Article pages.

This, however is not the end, we will continue working to add more features in the future. Please come and visit the new site, and leave feedback in the comments below. We would really like to know of development ideas you may have - you never know, we may well pick it up and add it to the next list! Happy viewing, Panoramic Earth Team

Panoramic Earth v3.0 - Nearly There

2010-03-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

New Panoramic Earth Homepage

As mentioned previously, Panoramic Earth is undergoing a major overhaul. We are nearly ready to launch the new version of the site - This will include several major improvements like:

Complete redesign of the layout and feel, with much improved functionality
Changes to the image uploading procedures.
Use of high resolution images.
Full screen viewing options.
Cylindrical (panoramas that go round and round) and Spherical (pan up and down as well) images.
Updating to the latest Google maps API
Embedding of individual images as well as regional tours
Better image searching, clearer tables of images.

These changes will improve the quality of work our contributors are able to display, and create a much improved experience for our visitors. Many of the basic principles will remain the same with the panoramas still linked to Google maps, and we will still intend to create a description of each one answering the 'What is it, where is it, how do I get there and what is nearby?' questions. For our contributors this means that in a short while we will be disabling new uploads to the old version during the changeover, which is expected to take a couple of days. For our visitors, it should be a fairly seamless experience, though don't be tempted to think you have come to the wrong place when it happens!

Panoramic Earth about to Change

2010-01-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

The New Site Screenshot

For several months now we have been working on a major site upgrade for Panoramic Earth, completely redesigning the look, feel and functionality of the site. The good news is that the principles remain the same, still showing great 360 panoramas from around the world from panoramic photographers. Still linking the images to Google maps with local and travel information.

The better news is that the site will be easier to navigate, better to look at and have much more functionality. These two screen shots show some of the differences to be expected:

The Old Site Screenshot

Much cleaner feel and navigation.
Immediate presentation of some local information without scrolling down.
Thumbnails linking to nearby images.
Incorporation of the Krpano flash panorama viewer giving smoother action.
Larger, high resolution images suitable for full screen viewing.
Ability to display both spherical and cylindrical 360 panoramas.
Ability to embed single images as well as whole regional tours.
Local directory for each destination covered giving local travel links.

Most of the work is now completed and we expect to be able to announce a 'go live' date soon. The use of high resolution images, and incorporation of spherical panoramas, will mean some changes to the uploading and editing procedures for photographers, but this will remain a relatively simple affair.

We are very excited about these changes, offering a much better viewing experience for our visitors and expand the services we can offer the travel industry and community. 2010 will be a year of change, expansion and improvement for us.

Growth in 2009

2009-12-31T09:35:00.001-08:00

2009 has been an exciting time for Panoramic Earth. the number of 360 images has grown steadily over the past 12 months, as has the number of contributors to the site. Here are some of the achievements of the past year:

Collection grown to over 4600 panoramas from about 50 countries around the world.
Over 60 photographers worldwide now contribute to the site.
Coverage in the UK and Australia continues to grow fast.
Breaking ground to cover more countries, with images from India and China and USA being added.
Consistently ranked among the top 100,000 sites in both the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore according to Alexa.
Introduction of the tag cloud, allowing photographers to better promote their images.
Nearly 200 regional tours embedded in other websites using Panoramic Earth images.

But, we will not rest there. A lot of things on the net have changed since Panoramic Earth was first launched, bringing in advances like new Flash panoramas viewers, changes to Google maps and ability to embed content in other websites. In the next year we hope to see:

Collection grow to about 10,000 panoramas.
Launch a brand new site design with more features, bells and whistles
Introduce new panorama viewer, allowing both spherical and high resolution images to be displayed.
Allow embedding of individual images into other sites
Simplify uploading process and access to other languages
Addition of forums, various article pages and photographers directory.

So, 2010 promises to be busy, full of challenges and potential. We look forward to seeing what exciting places people photograph, and wish all our members a very Happy New Year for 2010.

Panoramic Earth on TwitterCounter

2009-11-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

TwitterCounter is yet another tool slurping data from Twitter and presenting it in visual format. In it you can see trends of how frequently different users are tweeting, who follows them and other statistics. The screenshot below shows the trending graph for Panoramic Earth on the day we signed up for the service. Interestingly, our Twitter profile showed that we had over twice as many followers and lamost 3 times as many tweets as were showing on our TwitterCounter profile. Not quite sure why that should be.

Google Image Swirl - Great way to do Image Search

2009-11-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago Google launched a new way of viewing images, the Image Swirl. Still in Beta phase, it attempts to collect groups of related images together, presenting them in clusters. The user selects a cluster of interest, which then expands into it's one circle, still connected to previous 'higher' circles on the tree. In this way you dive down into ever more specific types of images. Concept shown below for the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the opening screen showing the main image clusters:

Screenshot of Eiffel Tower top part of Swirl

And then, several steps in showing the expanded, yet still linked, sub sets of images of the Eiffel Tower. Eventually you get to single images which then link to the sites they are placed in. This reminds me a bit of diving into fractal images, but is, naturally, of much more immediate use.

Eiffel Tower - several steps into the Swirl.

It is a much more relaxing and playful way of looking for images than a straight image search. The rationale and background blurb, taken from the Google Blog, states:

'Back in 2001, to give people a new, quicker way to find images, we launched Image Search. When you do a search for [eiffel tower] you'll find an array of images of the tower in the daytime, in black and white, at sunset and more. With Similar Images, which recently graduated from Google Labs, you can click "Find similar images" to narrow your search to, say, pictures of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Today, we've launched an experimental feature in Labs called Google Image Swirl, which builds on new computer vision research to cluster similar images into representative groups in a fun, exploratory interface.'

UFO Sighted Beside Road

2009-11-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

'Klaus Mayer, a photographer in Australia, recently photographed a UFO beside a road'. The image has attracted a lot of attention since being published, linked to a Google map showing exactly where it was seen.

A fantastic article opener, suitable for an X-files episode. The truth, however, is that this is a sculpture which, being made of scrap metal, is unlikely to fly anywhere fast, and the image a 360 panorama showing the Australian countryside. Just one of several lining the A1 near to Lower Light.

But it made a good headline!

Beaches of Phuket 360 Panoramas

2009-11-12T04:08:00.000-08:00

Nearly 40 panoramas of the beaches and attractions in Phuket have recently been added to Panoramic Earth. Most of Phuket's beaches line the western side of the island, with the most famous being Patong Beach and Kata Beach, lined with hotels and beach resorts. However, as the virtual tour of Phuket shows, there are numerous other beaches worth exploring. Some of them arguably more beautiful than the popular ones, and certainly less developed.

Phuket has more to offer than just beaches. Worth visiting inland are Elephant Villages offering elephant trekking rides in the jungle, waterfalls and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre in Khao Phro Thaeo Wildlife Park. 360 panorama virtual tours of these are also found on the site.

The most luxurious hotels in Phuket have to be those within the Laguna Phuket Resort, where visitors relax by the pools of Allamanda Laguna Phuket Hotel, Banyan Tree Phuket Hotel, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Hotel, Laguna Beach Resort Hotel, Laguna Holiday Resort and Sheraton Grande Laguna Hotel.

All built near the beautiful Bang Tao Beach. See the Phuket Map for more virtual tours and 360 panoramas of the beaches, sights and attractions of Phuket.

Broadway and Battery Place Surge

2009-11-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday saw a sudden surge in the number of people wanting information about Broadway and Battery Place in New York. Suddenly, from the usual trickle, hundreds of people were viewing the page data, mostly wanting to know where it is and how to get there.

360 panorama of Broadway and Battery Place, New York. © Peter Watts

We are intrigued, and can only guess that there may have been a fireworks display or some such held there. If anyone can shed any light on it we'd love to know!

Success of Image Tags

2009-08-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

A month ago Panoramic Earth introduced Tags for panoramic images. A month on the success of this has become clear with:

Several thousand specific 'tag' pages being viewed
66% of 'tag' page views coming from search engine results
High percentage of visitors following links to specific locations

Some of the most viewed tag pages:

england ¦ greater london ¦ australia ¦ beach ¦ cave ¦ hawaii ¦ vatican

This shows the usefulness of image tags in promoting the panoramic images on the site. Tags are added by the photographer as they upload the images and are therefore very specific and targetted - make use of them!

Panoramic Earth Joins Twitter

2009-08-12T11:04:00.001-07:00

Panoramic Earth on Twitter: We have recently joined Twitter, come follow us there. Both posts from this blog and new images added to Panoramic Earth will be tweeted.

Feedmil - The New Feed Search Engine

2009-06-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Site promotion is always an important issue. The net never stands still and it can be hard to keep up with new tools. One such tool Panoramic Earth is now using is Feedmil, a feed search engine. Feedmil provides topic-focused feeds for all types of medial like blogs, microblogs, public and social media feeds as well as podcasts. It is set up to help people search feeds of interest efficiently and quickly through simple interfaces backed by innovative technologies.

Submitting a feed is done through a simple form. Feedmil also pro-actively hunts out feeds for itself and then contacts feed producers to submit a description of it.

For Users, the Feedmil interface allows you to specify both the search query and also the popularity range of feeds. Making full potential of the 'Long Tail', users can quickly discover high quality, less popular feeds for subjects of interest. Slider controls adjust the search for topic relevance giving more accurate results while allowing you to explore the feeds you like serendipitously.

Feedmil was founded in 2008 by a web scientist and 3 enthusiastic search engineers. It is currently a privately funded startup, aiming to become 'the best feed search engine in the world'.

Panoramas from High Places

2009-06-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Often the best viewpoints over cities and the like is at the top of monuments. This poses particular challenges as taking a 360° image from a single point on the monument will probably result in a lot of blank wall, and only a partial view of the potential view. Panoramic Earth has a new contributor, Richard Herring, who specializes in taking a series of images that, when put together, give the impression of hanging in mid air, as if the monument or tower from which the images were taken did not exist. He says the following:

'I'm a part-time traveller and occasional photographer, with a particular interest in SE Asia. As I hope my contributed panoramas show, I enjoy the challenge of taking panoramas from high places like towers and monuments, where even if there were space and time to set up a tripod, 180 degrees of the image would be of blank walls and tourists. Under those circumstances, there's no alternative to a steady hand and a good deal of luck (and often a good deal of manual post-processing.) But it's worth the effort, even if the results are sometimes technically flawed, to get a spectacular view that couldn't be achieved any other way.'

These results can be clearly seen in 360 panoramas constructed from series of photos taken from the top of the from the Petřin Tower in Prague, the Monument in London and the Wat Si Saket image from Bankgok (compare with this Golden Mount image taken without moving around the platform and shows the chedi on the top).

For those trying this kind of image it is useful to consider the following:

Imagine that the point of rotation is the center of the tower.
Remember to keep the camera as steady as possible
Shoot in portrait mode and keep the center of the image on the horizon.
From each photographic point take an image directly ahead of the center of the tower.
Then take a couple more facing slightly to the right and the left.
Try to do this at as many points as possible round the tower, but at least at the middle of each side and corner if possible (giving at least 8 points the images are taken from). This provides quite a bit of overlap between the groups which helps when it comes to stitching.
Use image stitching software, like Hugin (free) or PTGui (paid) to compose the shot.

As Richard shows, the results can be very good. Other examples of this kind of picture on Panoramic Earth include:

A composite of the San Francisco skyline taken from the Coit Tower.
View over Stanford University from the Hoover Tower in California.
View of Oxford from St Mary's Church Tower.

Panoramas of London in the Snow

2009-02-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

The 2nd February 2009 saw some of the heaviest snowfalls in London for many years. Much of the city closed down, public transport was severely affected and for a time London's airports closed. As a result, London was much quieter than normal as the landscape was transformed into something magical.

Some panoramic images from the day were added to Panoramic Earth, mostly taken from Regents Park.

Season Greetings and 2008 Achievements

2008-12-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to one and all. 2008 has been an exciting year for Panoramic Earth, with thousands of 360 panoramas from all over the world added to the site. Here are some of the year's highlights:

Growth to over 3400 panoramas, with new images being added on a near-daily basis
360 panoramas from over 40 countries on every continent bar Antartica (though we'd love to see some from there - anybody?)
Over 35 contributing panoramic photographers
Use of the tours as embedded content in over 100 other places on the internet
Incorporation of the Google Earth plugin allowing users to view the images linked to Google Earth from their own browser
About 400,000 visitors during 2008

Next year looks to equally exciting as Panoramic Earth grows to become one of the largest collections of cylindrical panoramas on the planet. We intend to introduce a forum for our users and photographers, as well a special directory for panoramic photographers and resources. Hopefully, by the end of 2009 we will have over 7,000 images.

So, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from a content editorial team looking forward to a break!

Panoramic Earth meets Google Earth

2008-12-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Google recently launched a Google Earth plugin API allowing Google Earth data to be viewed in websites in much the same way as the Google Maps data can be used. Panoramic Earth has added this to the viewing options for the panoramas in the site. Thus it is now possible to view the panoramas liked to the Google Earth view in addition to the map, satellite and terrain views previously available. Simply slelct 'Earth' from the Map tab to activate. You may need to download the plugin for this to work. Below is a screenshot of a Brooklyn Bridge panorama from New York in the Google Earth view. A couple of cautionary notes though, the Google Earth plugin is very memory hungry and the geplugin.exe process does not stop when you change back to another view, but keeps collecting data as other map views are moved around. It is also not stopped if that tab / window using it is closed, but the browser is still running. It can, of course, be ended in the Task Manager. Interestingly, the Google Earth plugin is not supported by Google's Chrome browser.

Panoramas from Australia's Red Centre

2008-12-16T02:17:00.000-08:00

Panoramic photographer Klaus Mayer has been busy again, and there are now over 25 panoramas from Australia's Red Centre on Panoramic Earth. The panoramas cover sights in the vibrant town Alice Springs, surrounding major tourist attractions and remote outback destinations.

The images can be found on the Northern Territory or Alice Springs panorama index. Klaus enjoys traveling around the outback and remote areas of Australia when he has the time, and this collection is sure to grow in the future. To date, the sites covered around Alice Springs include Uluru (aka Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (aka Olgas), Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park, Hermannsburg and outback destinations like Chambers Pillar, Henbury Meteorite Craters and Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park.

Klaus' latest image from the Albert Namatjira Monument brings the total number of panoramas on Panoramic Earth to near 3400.

Panoramic Earth hits 3200 Panoramas

2008-11-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Panoramic Earth has just passed a landmark of 3200 fully interactive 360 panoramas from all around the world. With recent added pictures from the very northern areas of New Zealand, including around Cape Reinga, and other parts of Northland, this global guide continues to grow. Pictures from Australia, especially from around Victoria and South Australia, are also regularly added to the site and the number of contributing panoramic photographers has also grown. As always, these beautiful panoramas are linked to Google maps and are accompanied with local descriptions.

Panoramic Earth continues to make these tours available to other websites to use as embedded content. So, if running a virtual tour from parts of New Zealand, Australia or any other featured place in the world is of interest to you, then check out the site's Use a Tour page. Below is an example tour based around Doubtless Bay, a rugged and beautiful part of Northland in New Zealand.

This tour of Doubtless Bay requires iframes. If you cannot see the tour then please go to the &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.panoramicearth.com/3465/New Zealand/Doubtless_Bay"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Doubtless Bay page on Panoramic Earth&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.

New York Guide and Map

2008-11-27T01:30:00.000-08:00

With over 100 panoramas of New York providing an interactive guide to the city, Panoramic Earth continues to expand it's coverage of the USA. New York is one of the most visited travel destinations in the US, and a major entry point for visitors from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people travel here from Europe every year for the shopping, eating and world famous sights. Panoramic Earth's guide and map of New York covers many of the well known sights, as well as parts of the city not so frequently promoted to tourists.

Each panorama is linked to a Google Map of New York and accompanied with some local and travel information. This allows you to see where you are, what is there and how to get there in one easy, interactive step. For a full list of the New York 360° panoramas available see the New York Panorama Index on Panoramic Earth. As with the other tours on the site, this New York guide can be embedded within 3rd party sites. See the Use a Tour page for more information.

Google Chrome Slow Takeup

2008-11-06T01:28:00.000-08:00

Since it's launch earlier this year it seems that, even with the huge power of Google to promote things, the take up of Google's own browser, Google Chrome, has been quite slow. Panoramic Earth has seen the use of Chrome grow to only 0.67% of it's visitors in the last few months. In addition to this the browser seems to sometimes have problems loading up Google maps at first, though this is resolved when the page is refreshed.

Most of the comments thus far on the web about Google Chrome come from Fire Fox users who have taken a look. They seem pretty unanimous in agreeing that it is a faster browser and, while taking more memory to run when first open, does not suffer from memory bloat like other browsers. However, they also seem pretty unanimous in thier disapointment that there is, to date, little in the way of Add-ons that make Fire Fox so popular among it's users. Most often noted are those like Ad-Block Plus and Informenter. Therefore it seems that unless and until Google Chrome encourages the use and development by such add-ons by the wider community then this browser is not going to see wide uptake in the near future.

Obi Baby & Child Carrier

2008-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

When hiking around to get to locations you see many different ways people deal with children. A new baby and child carrier is quite innovative. Unlike back pack style baby carriers, the Obi Baby & Child Carrier folds up small enough to fit in a large pocket. It comes in a small pouch which can be attached to a belt. This means that it is only on your back for the time you actually need it - when your child or toddler has run out of energy. For the rest of the time your back is free from any load.

Obi Bay and Child Carrier Website

The Obi Baby Carriers are suitable for children between about 1 year and 3 years, depending on child size. The come in several styles and colours, black, cream, and yellow. The carrier is made from strong cotton webbing, which is durable, washable and comfortable to wear.

Beaches of the World

2008-09-15T04:59:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for some beautiful pictures of beaches around the world then Panoramic Earth is a place to come. Here you will find over 200 panoramas of beaches from all over the world, each linked to Google maps allowing you to see where it is and how to get there. The beach panoramas are also accompanied with some local and travel information and there are often other panoramas taken nearby of local attractions, hotels or places of interest.

2700 Panoramas

2008-08-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth now has 2700 panoramas from all over the earth. The latest image, submitted by Robin Wilson, is a beautiful 360 panorama from Tolsta Bay, an isolated by on the Isles of Lewis, one of the Western Isles, and part of the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland.

Robin has spent a lot of time photographing this part of Scotland, and his panoramas reflect the care and dedication he has to this part of the world. This picture is stunning, capturing dramatic storm clouds over the island to the south with a massive double rainbow hanging over the beach. To the north, the sun is shining once again, clearly visible over the still ocean in late afternoon.

Find and View Recent Panoramas with Ease

2008-08-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today we made some changes to Panoramic Earth which will make viewing the recent panoramas added to the site easier to find and follow. On the homepage there are now links to the recent images, displaying them as either a list of recent panoramas or as thumbnail previews of the pictures. These links are found at the top of the 8 most recent panoramas shown on the homepage (the link here will take you to our thumbnail previews):

One will take you to a Photo View table with thumbnails of the images and, unlike before, you can easily browse back through the site additions right to the very first panoramas (from London):

You can easily select the List View, which will just show the titles of the latest pictures:

Links from both will take you to the specific page showing the panorama linked to it's Google map, or to the wider geographical region in which the picture was taken. This should make exploring the world through Panoramic Earth a little easier.

Panoramas from Adelaide

2008-08-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

There are now over 50 panoramas from Adelaide on Panoramic Earth. This is the main city of South Victoria in Australia and shows images from both central Adelaide and some of the surrounding beaches (such as Glenelg Beach).

The list of images on the site can be found either in the Adelaide panorama index, which lists the images by category, or by an Adelaide panorama search, which lists all images alphabetically.

Improved Search Result Presentation

2008-07-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

Searches for panoramas on Panoramic Earth has just got smarter as we have just implemented changes that make these more useful. Instead of a simple A-Z list of the search returns, these are now tabulated in a more meaningful way as shown below:

You get -

Panorama ID - a site ID given to each panorama
Location Name - An active link which will take you to the location listed
Region and Country Listing - Shows you where in the world the location is found at a glance.

The search covers more than just the location title. For example, a search for 'victoria' will return both panorama locations with 'Victoria' in the title and also images from Victoria in Australia and other places where Victoria relevant to the search request.

This is much more useful than the old way of presenting search results as shown above.

Reaching Critical Mass?

2008-07-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

We are finding increasingly that images added to Panoramic Earth are becoming rapidly indexed by Google and also found in the searches. Panoramas of the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, one of the tourist attractions in Hong Kong, was found position 9 and 10 within Google within 24 hours using general search terms relevant to it. Of course, that might all have changed now. For the current status of this page within Google follow this 10000 Buddha Temple search

June top 10 Panoramas

2008-07-04T04:52:00.000-07:00

It is always interesting to see what are the most viewed panoramas over time. Here are the list of the top 10 most viewed images on Panoramic Earth during June 2008. What would be even more interesting is to know why some of them are so popular:

They range from holiday destinations in Mallorca through to beaches in Hawaii, and from galleries and architecture to the tops of Swiss mountains. We have to see if the trend changes during July.

10,000 Search Terms and the Google Dance

2008-06-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

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.

33 Countries in 6 Continents

2008-06-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2100 Panoramas

2008-06-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Feeds Feed Sties

2008-06-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

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.

1,500 Panoramas from England

2008-06-05T03:04:00.001-07:00

New Home Page

2008-06-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

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.

1900 Panoramas

2008-05-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Panoramic Earth now features over 1900 panoramas taken from around the world. Each 360 panorama comes with photographers comments and some local information, making it a kind of guide to places. The latest panoramas come from Mount Mauganui in New Zealand, the Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong and Central Park in New York.

Central Park , New York

KingPano Panoramic Head Review

2008-05-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

When in Las Vegas I had the opportunity to meet with Bill King, the inventor of the KingPano panoramic head. Over a coffee we talked about the development of the head, where he is going with it from here, and my experience and observations while using it. I have used it world-wide for a couple of years shooting over 3,000 panoramas, and found it a light weight, sturdy and inexpensive alternative to other professional panoramic heads available.

Recent reviews put the KingPano as a suitable alternative to the Manfrotto MN303SPH panoramic head, and I agree. For a start it is much cheaper, much lighter and comes with little compromise compared to the Manfrotto system.

Developed over several years, the KingPano and has gone through more than 40 designs. The current version is made of durable Acrylic, with a stop-click base. I have previously reviewed the Panosaurus, and much prefer the KingPano to it. The feel is more solid, it is lighter weight and has a click stop base, which the Panosaurus does not. Similarly, the vertical arm of the KingPano feels more solid than that of the Panosaurus when attached to the base.

The KingPano also comes with a leveling device attached (unlike many rivals). This is a three-ring device, which I am not particularly fond and find fiddly to use. I also found that this was not the most solid system, and at points there was too much flex. Instead, I prefer to use a ball and socket system, such as the Manfrotto 438, which allows you to lock the camera in place with one switch (although this does add to the weight). Bill was kind enough to make me a head without his leveling system, and this has worked a dream.

One of the drawbacks of the current KingPano is that the camera mount has to be unscrewed from the horizontal arm of the tripod each time it is used. This can be a real pain, especially if you are taking a number of images from different locations, but need to set down between shots for transport. In the end I adapted my mounting arm from the Panosaurus and used that.

The other drawback was that the set-up is shorter than the Panosaurus, so could not be set up accurately for the use of zoom lenses. Both systems have problems shooting the vertical zenith shot of spherical panoramas as the attaching screw for the camera can protrude (the Panosaurus has the option of using a recessed screw, but again this leads to a time consuming, more fiddly, set down after each shot).

Bill listened eagerly to my observations, and has big plans for the future. He is setting up a workshop which will make future models in metal, will have a quick release for the camera and overcome the zenith shot issues. He is also considering changing the leveling system and extending the length of the arms. Considering himself a perfectionist, I look forward to having a go with the next model. By then I expect it will rapidly become the panorama head of choice for many.

Real Player Ad-on Breaks Google Map Search

2008-05-10T02:44:00.000-07:00

Ad-onsfor browsers are great, but sometimes they throw up problems. While the RealPlayer Browser ad-on for Fire Fox browsers allows you to automatically find downloadable content on a page it has an unfortunate side effect - it prevents search in Google Maps. So if you have this ad-on active in Fire Fox, then you may only be able to search Google Maps once before you have to refresh the entire page, a pain for those who spend their time go-locating places. We have noticed that this is not the only web function that is affected by the RealPlayer Browser Ad-on. If you are facing this problem then try de-activating this ad-on.

Select Tools > Ad-ons
Select the RealPlayer Browser form the list
Click on Disable
Restart Fire Fox and see if the problem has been resolved.

More information from the Google Maps Usergroup. Fire Fox is still reported by most of those who use it to be more stable, more friendly and more adaptable than any of Microsoft's IE family.

Klaus Mayer - Panoramas from Australia

2008-05-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

It has been fantastic to watch a number of panoramas from rural places in Australia being added to Panoramic Earth in the last few days. A new member, Klaus Mayer, has been adding images from both the The Grampians and from Kangaroo Island. Given the vast distances between the two, this represents quite a lot of time in a car.

Klaus emigrated to Australia in 2000 and claims that photography is just a hobby. One, it seems, to which he is committed. He started creating panoramas when coming across Helmut Dersch’s PTViewer a couple of years ago, at a time when he was still using film.

He recently brought a K10D, is now ‘hooked on panos’ as he put it, and started sharing some on a personal home page. His favourite destinations are in the outback, which means that a lot of driving is required, and time is limited to weekends and holidays. Thankfully, being in Australia, sun is often not a problem.

Klaus started adding Australian images to Panoramic Earth in April 2008. A full list of Klaus’s panoramas is available from his profile, and those interested in his work can follow him via his own RSS feed. About the site, Klaus says ‘I like panoramicearth.com because it shows visitors where the photo was taken and which direction they are facing when viewing the pano’.

Google Maps Loss of Satellite Images

2008-05-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Just over the last few days, the presentation of the satellite images on Google maps has been temperamental, which will cause problems for people wanting to accurately geo-locate pins on maps. For those submitting images to Panoramic Earth, this causes problems both in locating the image and setting the true north point of the panorama. There is not a lot that we can do except hope that this problem, beyond the control of anyone except Google, will be shortly resolved.

Most Popular Panoramas in April 2008

2008-05-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

It is always interesting to see what people are looking at. Here is a list of the top 16 most popular and most frequently viewed panoramas from Panoramic Earth in April. Places in Mallorca are popular at the moment, this may be a reflection of the weather in the UK (Mallorca is a very popular destination for people in England), and the fact that the time to book summer holidays is with us.

La Pergola Aparthotel in Mallorca
Scotts Hotel in Mallorca
Es Canet Parc Agroturismo in Mallorca
Puerto de Sóller Beach outside Hotel Esplendido in Mallorca
Hotel Son Borguny in Mallorca
City Hall in Singapore
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
Colosseum of Rome in Rome
Millennium Bridge in London
Ketteringham Hall in Ketteringham
The Monument to the Fire of London in London
Westminster Cathedral in London
Tower Bridge in London
The London Eye in London
London Bridge in London
Circus Maximus in Rome

Personal Photographer RSS

2008-04-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

There are now individual contributor feeds for all the photographers that add 360 panoramas to Panoramic Earth. These are found in the photographer's profile, and are a great way of keeping up to date with what your favourite panoramic photographer has been up to. It is quite possible to add the RSS feed to a blog, as has been done in in80clicks where the RSS has been placed into the side of the blog allowing visitors to quickly see what has been going on. Naturally, the best way to use these is to add them to an RSS reader. For those new to RSS, the video below is a good introduction.

Panoramic Earth RSS Feeds

2008-04-09T12:22:00.001-07:00

Panoramic Earth now has an RSS feed, which lists the most recent images added to the site. The feed is available from the home page, or simply click on the RSS button shown above. Now you can easily be kept up to date with all the fantastic new 360° panoramas that are added to the site as and when they happen.

For the future, we are planning RSS feeds for each photographer, and are considering whether it would be useful to have them linked to each country.

Panorama of Dalai Lama's Monastery

2008-04-07T19:01:00.001-07:00

Though co-incidental, the timing of this could not have been better planned. As there are protests and arrests in London and Paris over the Chinese treatment of Tibet and their own people as try to carry the Olympic torch to Beijing, a user of Panoramic Earth has uploaded a 360° panorama taken from the personal monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Here is the Namgyal Monastery panorama. The Namgyal Monastery is found in Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, part of India. The Dalai Lama moved the monastery here when the Chinese red army invaded Tibet in 1959.

Thanks to Malcolm Etherington for this unique and timely contribution to the site.

360 Panoramas from Rottnest Island

2008-02-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

Rottnest Island is a short distance from Perth and Freemantle off the coast of Western Australia. It is a popular tourist destination, known for it's sandy beaches, being car free and the small quokkas, marsupials the size of a large rabbit that inhabit the island. The coastline is rugged, carved of the interaction of limestone with the sea. There are now 360° panoramas from Rottnest linked to a Google map.

360° Panorama from Cape Vlamingh

The most famous parts of the island are Cape Vlamingh, named after a Dutch explorer who mistook the quokkas for rats and so bequeathed the name to the island ('rotte' = Dutch for 'rat'). From here it is possible to see whales, dolphins, ospreys and other sea life. Some of the beaches, like Geordie Beach, are lined with holiday accomodation on the shore and pleasure boats in the water. Others are protected from both boats and fishing, and are little secluded places of rest. Among these are Mabel Cove and Little Parakeet Bay.

360° Panorama from Mabel Cove

Being an island surrounded by lagoons, Rottnest has seen it's fair share of shipwrecks over time, and has 2 lighthouses to ward shipping away. On a good day it is possible to see Perth from the Bathurst Lighthouse on the eastern end of the island.

A Thousand 360 Panoramas

2008-02-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Marking another milestone, Panoramic Earth has now reached more than a thousand 360° panoramas linked to Google maps. The thousandth panorama is of the Inner Harbour at Dartmouth, and was taken by Malcolm Etherington, who wrote the following about the image.

"This attractive little harbour in the town centre is known locally as the 'Boatfloat' and is surrounded by busy shops, cafes, restaurants, and many fine Georgian buildings. It connects to the main Dartmouth estuary via lock gates under the roadway, which are currently disused, and so dries out at low tide as seen in this photo."

Malcolm has contributed a number of panoramas to Panoramic Earth, which can be found in the Malcolm Etherington Panorama Index. Some of the panoramas are also featured on EuroPanoramas.

Panoramas from the Great Ocean Road

2008-02-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

The Great Ocean Road in Australia is about 270km starting at Torquay near Geelong in the east and ending at Warrnambool in the west in Victoria. The road was built by 3000 returned servicemen from WWI, known locally as 'Diggers', as a war memorial to the fallen. Today the Great Ocean Road is better known for the Twelve Apostles, a series of 8 limestone stacks that stand just of shore near to Port Campbell. The Twelve Apostles used to be known as the Sow and Piglets, but this was not considered good for tourism and so the name was changed. In 2005 one of the stacks collapsed into the sea leaving the 8 remaining today. Panoramic Earth now features a number of 360 panoramas taken from various points along the Great Ocean Road showing a number of the prominent formations.

Below are small versions of some of the 360 panoramas featured. Click on the image to be taken to a larger version linked to Google maps of the region where you will also find more information.

Loch Ard Gorge 360 Panorama

The Twelve Apostles 360 Panorama

The Grotto 360 Panorama

New Zealand Seals

2008-02-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

Shag Point in New Zealand is just one of many places where you can see seals. The point of on South Island, a little off the beaten track, so not many people visit it. Which means, that for those that do, there are not hundreds of people wandering around with cameras. The picture shown here is part of a 360 panorama of Shag Point which shows the surrounding rugged coastline and small islands just offshore where many seals can be found basking. At dusk penguins come ashore and waddle up the beach to their burrows in the sand.

800 panoramas and coutning...

2007-11-17T05:38:00.000-08:00

There are now more then 800 panoramas on Panoramic Earth. The 800th location is a panorama of Old Town Square, Prague. This is known in Czeck as Staroměstské náměstí, and is one of the more popular tourist attractions in the city. The panorama is shown below.

The number of panoramas shown on the site continues to grow. This panorama was taken by Peter Watts, who has added the following description to accompany the image:

"A panorama taken from the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) right at the center of Prague, one of the most popular travel destinations in Europe. This panoramic picture shows such attractions as the Jan Hus Monument, the Astronomical Clock, the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, and St. Nicholas Church. The famous Astronomical Clock is also located nearby. Prague is a beautiful city and a lovely one to take panoramic pictures of."

Panoramas from Cambridge

2007-11-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

Panoramic Earth launches an interactive map of Cambridge with numerous 360° panoramas of places of interest taken around the city. These panoramas show some of the colleges, open spaces, museums and other attractions in Cambridge. The panoramic images are linked to Google maps for easy navigation, and each is accompanied by some local information. The virtual tour of Cambridge will continue to grow as more panoramas are added in the future. Cambridge is a popular tourist destination in the UK, with many people making day-trips from London to visit this historical city.

Cambridge University Colleges: There are a number of panoramas from various colleges of Cambridge University. These colleges are sometimes open to the public and form some of the main tourist attractions in the city. The panorama below was taken in Trinity College.

Punting on the River Cam: One of the top activities for visitors, the River Cam encircles most of the city. The panorama below shows one of the punt rental stations on the river. Wearing a straw boater when punting is an option. Loosing the pole in the river is also an option, just not so recommended.

Pieces of Cambridge: Cambridge has a number of open spaces, commonly called a Piece. Many of these are associated with particular colleges. These gardens and grassed areas are an ideal resting and picnic spot in the summer. The panorama below shows Christ’s Piece.

Panoramas from Oxford

2007-10-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

Panoramic Earth launches a new map of Oxford to which is linked nearly 50 fully 30 panoramas taken around this historic city, one of the most visited cities outside London in the UK. Alongside each panorama is some local and travel information forming a virtual tour of the sights and attractions in Oxford.

Take a walk up the church spire of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin to get a panoramic view over the famous Radcliffe Cinema and All Souls College .

Explore the famous and old Colleges of Oxford University. These college buildings are hundreds of year old, and the colleges are full of tradition and history. Explore the old quads and college grounds when they are open.

Oxford is full of old chapels and churches like the one in Whadam College shown below. Weddings at the respective colleges are often highly desired by college students and alumni alike who are allowed to marry here if they fulfill certain conditions.

Finally, anyone visiting Oxford must go punting on the River Cherwell, shown in the image below taken from Magdalen Bridge, from which students jump into the River on many May Days.

All images provided courtesy of Peter Watts, all rights reserved.

Virtual tour of Ibiza with over 50 fully 360 Panoramas

2007-10-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Explore the Ibiza with this Ibiza Map, which links over 50 fully 360° panoramas of the beaches and calas around Ibiza to a Google map. Each panoramic image is accompanied by a local description and travel directions providing one of the most comprehensive tours of Ibiza, from the famous beaches near to San Antonio, Ibiza Town and Santa Eularia to beautiful isolated beaches of Cala Xucla and Cala Olivera.

This virtual tour is a very useful tour for anyone planning a trip to Ibiza, and linking the panoramas to a Google map of Ibiza provides a unique way of viewing the island's treasures.

As with the other virtual tours produced by Panoramic Earth, this tour can be used by other websites for free, simply see the Use a Tour pages on the site for more details.