Another weird update

Facebook isn't the only company making changes lately. Google Earth has overhauled their Panoramio photo layer. Gone are the little blue dots, replaced by lighter blue boxes. Tiny, light blue boxes. They have also added a new layer - Places. Both of these changes are reviewed at the Google Earth Blog.

The Panoramio change is one I do not agree with. I thought the blue dots that were used before were much easier to see. The new boxes don't stand out enough visually. I suppose Google could always tweak them a bit or change them altogether. Hopefully the icon change wasn't too hard to do. Even more worrisome, for me, is the fact that the new icon boxes don't show up in the numbers that the old icons did. I experimented with viewing photos in Manhattan, and the number of photos explode when image is zoomed. In an area where you see maybe one or two little boxes, you might see dozens of little camera icons when you zoom in. That makes it harder to know where all the photos are located. Who wants to browse around at a close view level all the time?

The Places, on the other hand, could be quite handy. They show up as larger boxes, and they mark interesting and important places. When clicked, a box pops up showing text from Wikipedia and a small selection of Panoramio photos. I think the Places are useful for finding the really important stuff. Using Manhattan as an example, I can now easily locate the Empire State Building. No need to do a search, and no need to see where all the Panoramio icons are grouped.

If Google and/or Panoramio can fix the "photos not showing unless zoomed in very far" bug, I can live with the new icon look. If not, then I am not amused.