Migrating from Panoramio: A New Home for Geotagged Photos

With Panoramio closing down, we want to welcome the passionate community to Mapillary and demonstrate why it is the perfect home for geotagged photos.

Over the past few days we’ve heard from members of the Panoramio community who are looking for an alternative for their contributions to live on, since Google is closing down the service. Panoramio is a community with a passion for sharing photos that highlight the unique and beautiful places of our planet, a passion we share at Mapillary. In fact, we’re on a mission to create a photo representation of the world - everywhere from downtown Manhattan to a windswept research station in Antarctica.

It’s our pleasure to welcome the very like-minded Panoramio community to join us in sharing photos of places we care about. Here’s a little snapshot of why Mapillary is a good alternative to Panoramio and why we’re excited that you’re exploring the world with us.

Led by the community

We are a global community visualizing streets, roads and places. Anyone can capture, share and explore street-level photos. We want to make it simple for people to contribute photos no matter how they are taking them. We support photos from our Android and iOS apps, action cameras, 360º cameras and even video files.

Photo/diagram of capture methods

A place to see the world

We know you love exploring the world as much as we do. Here are a few of our favourites from across the globe.

Downtown Manhattan - bhousel

Rothera Research Station in Antarctica - janine

Shwedagon Pagoda - kokoye2007

A place to understand the world

Photos with impact

The photos you contribute are not only visually appealing, they also can have a very real impact. All the photos you contribute are available for OpenStreetMap, NGOs, personal and educational use, and can be used to create and update maps for places that need more accurate maps for disaster risk reduction and efficient delivery of humanitarian services (like in Dar es Salaam). You can read more about our partnership with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team here.

Dar es Salaam Coverage Timelapse

Computer Vision

We’re big believers in the power of computer vision. They say a picture is worth a thousand words — we really believe that! In every photo we detect objects and classify areas of interest to help people better understand the world around them.

Some of our exciting computer vision features

Migrating from Panoramio

UPDATE: We now have a process for transferring your photos to Mapillary. Sign up here and we will send you instructions. When you fill out our migration form, we'll use the Panoramio API to download your photos, process them and upload them to Mapillary. You can also check out our Panoramio migration page that outlines what Mapillary is all about.

This week we'll be working hard to create a process for all existing Panoramio contributors so that you can easily backup the photos and view them on Mapillary. To be notified when you can begin the migration, sign up for a Mapillary account here.

In the meantime however, you’re welcome to get started using our existing tools. Here are some useful resources to get you going.

  • Uploader - we have an easy-to-use uploader where you can drag and drop your photos
  • Forum - introduce yourself to the Mapillary community and share your knowledge
  • Wiki - have a read of our wiki for some helpful tips & tricks
  • Useful Videos - introduction, tutorials & cool features

/The Mapillary Team

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