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Google's photo services regained prominence this year when Google Plus rolled in Picasa as the natural choice for hosting photos shared on the social network. But Panoramio, Google's less well-known photo service based on location data, is making moves as well.

Google has just announced Panoramio Groups for sharing photos with likeminded people. There's a directory for existing groups, and anybody can create a new one. Groups are a fundamental building block of a social network, and Panoramio has joined that club.

Google announced a new, swooshier format for showing photos on Place Pages, its listings for businesses and landmarks. Photos are now displayed in a lightbox layered over the screen, with a simple slideshow navigation similar to Google Reader - Play and Fast Flip from Google Labs.

Google is not known for smooth design, but it seems to be trying harder to give users a pleasurable experience. "This simple and intuitive online album experience makes it easier to explore all the wonderful photographs of places all over the world," the company wrote on its Lat Long blog.

This morning, Google announced that it will now display images next to some local search results. For the last two years, Google generally showed a map as the first item on the search results page whenever a user searched for a location, but now, a grid with six pictures will also appear next to this map as well. These images come right from the Panoramio photo layer in Google Maps, and clicking on it brings up Google Maps with the photo layer.