Picture This: Picasa Updates From Google

Users of Google’s Picasa Web Albums have a couple of new features available for placing photos on maps, and Picasa on mobile devices.

The time-honored slide show of vacation pictures, put on display for one’s vaguely interested relatives, has a bright and shiny new 21st Century update. It comes from Picasa in the form of updates to the Web Albums functions.

A ‘Map My Photos’ feature on Picasa albums lets the photographer show where their pictures were taken. A post on Google’s official blog by Ping Chen and Joel Onofrio described the process:

Here’s how to get started: when you create a new album, just fill in the optional ‘Place Taken’ field. You can even drag and drop individual photos directly onto a map, and use built-in Google Maps technology to pinpoint exactly where each was shot.

Google also launched a version of Picasa specifically constructed for mobiles. This product connects to the user’s Web Albums, so the mobile functions as a virtual book full of pictures. People can also keep track of photo updates by family and friends, and comment on new pictures from the mobile phone.