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Panoramio Help

Adding photos to Panoramio

Panoramio's limitations are minimal, designed to let you upload lots of photos with little effort! This table shows how many photos you can upload and what size they can be.

Limitation Maximum Comments
Number of photos The number of photos isn't limited, but their total disk space can't exceed 2 Gbytes. Approximate equivalent number of photos:
  • 4 megapixel camera: 1000 photos
  • 7 megapixel camera: 500 photos
Size of photos 5 MBytes per photo Please resize a photo if it's larger than 5 MBytes. For all other photos, the Panoramio server automatically resizes the photos for you.

Adding a single photo

To upload a photo, you'll first need to be registered. If you haven't registered yet, now is the time to sign up for Panoramio.

To upload a photo:

  1. Click Upload your photos if you're looking at the Panoramio home page, or click the Upload tab from most other pages.
  2. Browse to select the photo from your computer.
  3. Give the photo a title, if you want.
  4. To map your photo now, click Map this photo. For more information on mapping photos, see Mapping photos. You can map your photo later, or start now and cancel if you change your mind.
  5. Click Finish.

Adding multiple photos

To add multiple photos:

  1. Upload the first photo as described above.
  2. While the first photo is uploading, browse for another photo and select it. Keep browsing and selecting photos until you've selected as many photos as you'd like.
  3. Click Finish when you've selected all the photos you want to upload. There's no need to wait for the uploads to finish.

You can map the photos as you upload them, or map them later. When you map multiple photos, notice that the default location of a photo is the same as the location of the previous photo, so it's easy to map multiple photos taken during one photo shoot.

To significantly change the map location from the location of the previous photo, look for the Location indicator above the map and click [change it]. This is an example of what to look for:

Location: Zurich, Switzerland [change it]

Panoramio doesn't support batch uploads. Each photo must be individually uploaded to ensure the best quality and geolocation accuracy.

Mapping photos

To map a photo, you associate it with a location. You can identify the location by searching for the location on the map and manipulating the map image, or by entering the coordinates.

New Panoramio users often ask whether to associate a photo with the location in which they were standing or the location that they were viewing. Panoramio prefers that you map photos to the location where you were standing when you took them. As an example, if you took a photo of a city while standing on a hill above the city, you associate the photo with the hill, although it shows the city.

After you've mapped the photo, others can go to the actual location and see the same view. You might find that if you don't map the photo precisely, other members will suggest corrections to your locations.

If you are an advanced user who geocodes photos before uploading them, skip this section and refer to Uploading geocoded photos.

How to map a photo

To map a photo:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • If you are uploading a new photo, while it's being uploaded, or after it's done, click Map this photo.
    • If you are mapping a photo that's already in Panoramio, go to your personal page (Your photos), and click to view the photo.
  2. Specify the location of the photo, using the instructions in How to specify map locations. If the location you specify is ambiguous, Panoramio displays some options.
  3. Click one of the options. Panoramio then displays a map with the specified location marked.
  4. Zoom in and move the marker if necessary to correct the location or make it more exact.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • If this is a new photo, click Finish.
    • If this photo was already in Panoramio, click Save position.

How to specify map locations

You can specify a map location by searching for it, or by entering coordinates.

To search, note these options:

  • You can enter a standard place name, such as city and country, or city, state or province, and country.
  • You can enter the name of a famous street, such as Third Avenue, New York or Ramblas, Barcelona.
  • You can enter a well-known place name, such as Eiffel Tower, Mount Fuji or Cape of Good Hope.
  • You can enter the name in your preferred language. For example, you can enter Saragossa or Zaragoza; Nueva York or New York; Köln or Cologne; and Leipzig or Lipsia.
  • You should add further identification if a place has a common name. For example, add the name of a province, state, or country to distinguish the place name. For example, you might enter Cox, Spain; Cox, California; or Cox, England.

To provide coordinates:

  • Supply latitude and longitude information in either decimal or degree-minute-second (DMS) notation.
  • Use positive coordinates to indicate Northern latitudes and Eastern longitudes. Use negative coordinates to indicate Southern latitude and Western longitude. Do not prefix longitudes and latitudes with N, S, E, or W.

Here's an example of the ways you can enter coordinates.

  • Decimal example: 40.56345, -3.45678
  • DMS example: 37° 4' 39.11", -110° 57' 53.09"

Uploading geocoded photos

When a digital camera saves a photo, it also saves some additional information, such as camera settings, date, shutter speed, or scene information. This data is saved in exchangeable image file (EXIF) format.

Some cameras have GPS receivers or can accept external GPS connectors, so that they can store the geolocation information with a photo. You can also process photos before uploading them to Panoramio to add geolocation information to the EXIF data, using hardware or software solutions.

If you have geocoded a photo before uploading it, you don't have to map it in Panoramio: the information contained with the photo lets Panoramio automatically map the photo. If you manually map a photo that's already geocoded, the manual mapping supersedes the geolocation information and the original geolocation information can't be retrieved.

Some EXIF data is not readable by Panoramio. Try using a different EXIF editor, such as Exifer.

Viewing your uploaded photos

As soon as you've uploaded your photos to Panoramio you can view them on Panoramio's map, and in a local Google Earth KML file, where your photos appear as miniatures.

To view your photos on Panoramio's map:

  • While viewing Panoramio's map, click the Recent tab or the Your photos tab.

To view your photos as they will appear in Google Earth: