Panoramio Now Allows Underwater Ocean Photos

Panoramio, Google's geo-location photo sharing site, is adding a great new feature for scuba diving and underwater photography enthusiasts, the possibility to upload ocean images to the service.

"Panoramio has always been about sharing places of the world with your camera. Today we are very excited to announce we are adding a whole new world to Panoramio: the oceans," Panoramio announced.

"Starting today, we are changing our photo acceptance criteria to accept underwater imagery in Panoramio. We are teaming up with the Google Earth team to provide a better Ocean in Google Earth experience," the announcement continued.

That pretty much says it all, Panoramio users are free to add their underwater images to the site, complete with location. This will enable other Panoramio users to see some of the most inaccessible places on Earth, oceans.

Granted, this doesn't mean that you'll see a flood of underwater photos hit Panoramio, but scuba diving is an increasingly popular activity so there are bound to be at least some interesting photos.

Of course, this is not exactly a new 'feature' in the strictest sense, users were perfectly capable of uploading underwater photos before, it's just that Panoramio rules didn't allow it.

"We have noticed that many Panoramio users are already uploading wonderful underwater photos, so we are really looking forward to see the fantastic images that will result from this," the blog post read.

Now that these photos are allowed though, it's not too hard to imagine that they'll eventually make their way into Google Earth "Ocean" where they will be available as user photos, just like regular Panoramio photos are now.

Panoramio may not get as much spotlight from Google as its other photo sharing service, Picasa, but it's a very interesting product on its own with a dedicated community. And it's prove an invaluable source for things like Google Maps, Google Earth or Street View. [via Google Earth Blog]