goeurope.about.com thinks Panoramic Earth is 'Cool'..

James Martin, the main travel writer and guru for all things Erope on About.com, has recently posted his view of the tour of Rome on Panoramic Earth. It looks like he considers this to be 'cool' and has enjoyed looking at the panoramas while exploring the numerous churches and other sights of Rome to be found on the tour.

As he has said: "And even cooler, a line on the map revolving around the icon tells you what direction you're facing in the current panorama view."

You can find his comments on goeurope.about.com

200 Panoramas and Counting

Panoramic Earth now has more than 200 panoramas featured on the site and continues to grow at a rapid pace. The 200^th image is of Peterskirche (St Peter's Church) in Vienna.

360° Panorama of Peterskirche in Vienna

Built between 1701 and 1733, Peterskirche is one of the best Baroque churches of Vienna. The design is inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and it was one of the first domed buildings in the city. The altarpiece within the church shows the Healing of the Lame by St. Peter and St. John in Jerusalem, and was painted by Martino Altomonte. Peterskirche lies at the heart of Vienna very close to Stephansplatz, one of the most visited Viennese sights.

This panoramic photograph was contributed to Panoramic Earth by Peter Watts.

Trafalgar Square gains a Lawn

For 2 days Trafalgar square was graced with a grass lawn. It seemed very popular with people and totally transformed the feel of the square from a vast area of paving to something much more relaxing. It is a shame that this was only for 2 days. There are two 360° panoramic photographs of this event: Panorama of the Trafalgar Square Lawn | Panorama from Nelson's Column.

This is just one of many panoramas taken from London, the complete list is found in the London Index of Panoramic Earth.

Singapore - Panoramas from Singapore

Singapore has been visited by one of the full time photographers on Panoramic Earth in recent times. The result is an interactive map of Singapore with panoramas from all over the Republic of Singapore. This includes extensive coverage not only of the city, but also further afield, including Singapore Zoo and Sentosa. Whether you live in Singapore or are planning a holiday there, we hope that you will find this a useful resource as you explore this fascinating place.

Syndicated to Technocrati:singapore

Panoramic Earth v2.0 Launched (new and improved)...

Panoramic Earth version 2 has finally arrived. As I mentioned in March, we have been working on updating the site to make it more useful to everyone. The new version was made live on the 19th April, marking the end of months of effort and time.

So please feel free to explore. I would be really interested in any comments or observations anyone has. Let me know about any difficulties you had getting around, was it easy to use, did things load and run properly etc. Leave your comments about the site as comments to this post here.

• On the new site you will find a growing number of panoramic images of different places from around the world link to a Google map. Each place will have it's own description too.
• Submit your own panoramic images and descriptions of places you have visited to Panoramic Earth.
• If you want to comment on any of the locations you find on the site then feel free to do so. On almost every page you will find a comment box near the bottom. You will have to register with Panoramic Earth in order to access this.

To get you going here are a few of the many places you can explore on Panormaic Earth:

London | Budapest | Rome | Vienna | Bangkok | Singapore

Otherwise, visit the home page go from there. Your comments will be taken into account as the site continues to develop.

Bali Mokey Business - Uluwatu Temple

While recently visiting Asia to shoot panoramic images for Panoramic Earth.com I found myself coming face to face with the Macaque monkeys of Uluwatu Temple.

Uluwatu Temple is on the southern end of Bali, situated on high cliffs and, as it turned out, inundated with monkeys. These are considered sacred and honoured residents of the temple and as such roam freely around the compound.

Being very used to humans, naturally inquisitive and totally un-shy, They also have a habit of knicking anything that is not tied down, be it a water bottle, hat or pair of glasses. Shortly after this picture was taken, a scream from an assaulted tourist confirmed the fact as she was relieved of her straw hat. The monkeys at Uluwatu are considered sacred, and therefore allowed to roam the site and hassle the tourists freely. Of course, it is possible to buy some food from a number of vendors to entice the monkeys close. Not, it seems, that the food is needed for this purpose, but it may placate the animals and afford some temporary protection.

The panoramic images taken form Uluwatu Temple and other places in Bali will shortly be available on the new version of Panoramic Earth, to be launched in the near future.

New for Old - Panoramic Earth is changing...

Over the last year a new version of Panoramic Earth has been developed. This is now nearing completion. The basic concept of linking panoramic images from around the world to interactive maps remains, but there are also some very significant differences.

The Old:
The New:
As you can see there is quite a bit of change – in fact the whole thing looks brand new. Here are some of the improvements we have been working on.

• We wave goodbye to the Java applet for most of the tours, and say hello to Google Maps. As Google maps continue to cover more of the earth it is now possible to link the images to this, which will result in faster load times and more flexibility.
• We will be able to differentiate the different types of locations using different pins, so you will know what you are looking at.
• Each individual location covered, be it a museum, beach, church temple or volcano (yes we have some!) will come with it’s own individual description.
• You will be able to search for different types of locations using a new search function.
• New Panoramic Earth will be open to all. Anyone will be able to submit panoramic images to the website. Anyone will be able to add comments to each of the locations.

This will be coming to a browser near you in a very short time. In the meantime please add your thoughts or express your interest in being kept up to date or involved here!

Peter Watts
Panoramic Earth.