In the past we have always had a slightly ‘unsure’ view of companies offering to take panoramic imagery and use it themselves as part of a global database but 360Cities.net is really rather good. The company, registered in the Netherlands, is dedicated to promoting geo-mapped, VR panorama photography and VR photographers around the world.

Aimed at creating a unique global network of members who are specialists in VR photography their viewing platform is notably feature-rich. For example, it is easy to embed your panorama directly in a blog after uploading. The example of the London Eye below is by Tom Mills, an international panoramic photography award winner, Tom’s work has been exhibited in England and France.

Of note is the ability to ‘right click’ in the above panorama and choose a range of projections – try out the ‘little planet’ option. Its the easiest way we have seen to both embed a panorama in a blog and provide the options for various views.

Upon uploading to 360cities.net the listing is by photographer on the front page, we quite like this as it keeps the focus on the artist rather than simply sucking images into a corporate database like other options.

One thing we would like to see is the option to ‘Load’ when embedding into a blog, just so the images don’t automatically download but hopefully this feature will be forthcoming.

Take a look at 360Cities.net for more details and http://tommills.co.uk/ for more examples.

Soon as we get a chance we will be uploading some of our own panoramas onto the system…