I don’t get to travel much. As a teacher, I snatch every opportunity to chaperon field trips because it is my best chance to get out of the state for a while.
It’s no surprise, then, that I’ve been fascinated with two things lately: Google Earth and a great photography web site Panoramio. Panoramio works along with Google Earth to upload photos of places around the world taken by visitors who join the site. I have already posted 164 pictures to the site of places in Nitro, St. Albans, Charleston, Erie Lake, and Myrtle Beach. The greatest thing is that every month or so, the site uploads pictures to Google Earth.
This causes a lot of gripes. One of the biggest complaints about Google Earth is the huge number of applications that can clutter the map itself with tiny icons. Panoramio has several hundred thousand pictures uploaded to Google Earth and its tiny blue dots can clutter the map. Here’s the solution. Turn the Panoramio feature off. If you’re not willing to learn how to do that, then you need to recheck your interest in Google Earth, since all of the applications that be activated and deactivated the same way. One click is all it takes.
Panoramio is great for the same reasons as Google Earth. Through their site, you can search any place in the world and view photos taken from that place. This is great for people like me who would love to travel around the world but may never get the chance (at least, not any time soon.) It has also changed the way I look at things around my community. It is easy to think of places and landmarks you see every day as uninteresting or not worth anyone’s time. Since I joined Panoramio, though, I’ve been trying to find ways to photograph things around the area and make them seem interesting. Much like these photos (go to my link below to see larger versions):
When I first browsed their site, there were maybe three photos taken from my home town. Now, however, there are about ten, thanks to Yours Truly. This site is also great for searching places you have been before and viewing pictures as a sort of reminiscence. I do this all the time with places like Kings Island, Cedar Point, etc.
One of the members of the site created a widget to upload to blogs, MySpace, etc., that displays a few of the pictures from a certain area. I had to find the lat. and long. of St. Albans, but I’ll post the widget below. Those of you from WV, you should enjoy seeing pictures of familiar places. If you’re not from WV, I hope my pics peak your curiosity and maybe you’ll visit our beautiful state. Here is the link to my photos:
http://www.panoramio.com/user/461591
The comments at the bottom are from people who have viewed my pictures and commented on them. There are also some responses to photos I viewed, as well. You don’t have to read them. I hope you enjoy the pics.
