Non-transparent selection?

I just noticed that none of my pictures, which I had uploaded at the beginning of March to the Panoramio site, are displayed in Google Earth. Therefore I visited the Panoramio forum and searched for posts that deal with the same problem. As a matter of fact I found that others have the same problem, too.

I looked at some pictures, which are not displayed in GE, but can be viewed directly on the Panoramio site. You have to know the user’s ID on Panoramio. So, if none of your pictures are displayed in GE, nobody will ever know that pictures exist from you except the ones who browse the Panoramio site or the few who you directly contacted and told that you posted some of your pictures at the Panoramio site. But as far as I understand it that is not the purpose of the connection from Panoramio to GE.

I have viewed pictures from one person who had uploaded his pictures at the beginning of January. And now in April they still were not linked to GE. In the forum he had posted the question why his pictures haven’t shown up yet in GE. And some of the answers were dubious like the pictures may have not been up to higher standard or “rejected by Google Earth”. But his pictures were incredibly good and others thought so, too.

I start wondering what this is all about. I’ve seen photos that were not as good as mine, and they showed up with the little star sign in GE. Somehow I get the feeling that the Internet due to the anonymity allows other power players to pull their strings in the background quite effectively and build a wall of isolation and selective network.

A couple years ago I’ve seen here in Seattle the sign “Invisible Fence”. It is just another sign for how people protect their interests. Fences always existed. People always erect boundaries through all kinds of means including belonging to a certain class, profession, money elite, or sharing other common interests.

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One response to “Non-transparent selection?”

  1. Ute,

    Photos uploaded to Panoramio are not immediately included in Google Earth. Usually it takes around 4-6 weeks until the selected photos are included in Google Earth. The photos you see now were the ones uploaded before the first week of February.

    This time the delay has been longer, it has taken a couple of months, but in a couple of days we expect the new photos to be displayed in Google Earth.

    By the way, 350.000 people browse Panoramio site everyday, so even if your photos are still not in Google Earth, they are very much viewed.

    Regards,

    Eduardo