The Google way isn’t always about acquiring technology it finds interesting itself. Often its about buying the technology that one of your competitors might find interesting.
In fact, engineers already joke that the most resume for applying for a job at Google (with a nice sign-on bonus) is to create something that might be valuable to a competitor.
But in the case of Panoramio, Google is already integrating its technology into its online maps.
The Spain-based Panoramio’s photo-sharing system let’s photographer “geo-locate” their pictures, linking them to the points on Google Earth where the pictures were taken.
“Panoramio is a community photos website that enables digital photographers to geo-locate, store and organize their photographs – and to view those photographs in Google Earth,” Google director of Maps, Earth and Local, John Hanke, said on the company blog.
“We've been working with Panoramio for some time – its photos have been a default layer in Google Earth since the beginning of the year,” Mr Hanke said.
“This layer will remain in place as our teams work together toward further integrating this amazing content, generated by many, into our mapping technologies.”
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