Google announced May 31 that it has acquired Spain-based Panoramio, a Web site that links photographs to the exact geographical location where they were taken. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Panoramio is a community-driven site that lets users store and organize their photos and display the photos location in Google Earth.
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“The acquisition of Panoramio will incorporate that Web site, its underlying technology, its content, developers, and user community into the Google Geo product mix,” stated a Google FAQ on the acquisition. “Panoramio will add interesting, useful content to Google products and will bolster Googles engineering and technical resources.”
Currently, Panoramios photos are a default layer in Google Earth.
According to Panoramios terms of service, users are allowed to opt out of the transfer of their personal information to any company that may acquire them. However, according to Googles FAQ on the aquisition, if you choose to opt out of this transfer now that Google has acquired the company, your photos will be deleted.
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