Instagram 3.0 release: now with photo maps

If you are a user of the popular iPhone or Android application Instagram you may be interested in today's update that brings the app to version  3.0. The main functionality up until now was to provide users with photo taking and sharing features. What made the app special was the effects or filters that you could apply to the photos before you'd share them with friends. You can check out the Webstagr.am search engine to take a look at public photos taken by Instagr.am members.

The startup grew quickly to more than 80 million members which caught the interest of major social networking players. It was Facebook that acquired Instagram for 1 Billion Dollars in shares and cash. With the acquisition came uncertainty about the future of the service. Many thought that Facebook would integrate the service into its own social network.

That's at least for now not an issue, as the new version is available as an update and new download for everyone. One of the new features in Instagram 3.0 is the photo maps view which offers a different way of browsing Instagram photos. To protect users from leaking photos that they do not want linked to locations, Instagram will prompt users to review any geotagged photo before the map becomes visible to the public.

Instructions have been posted on the Instagram Help Center website that walk you through the process of reviewing, adding and removing photos from the photo map.

Several pages of the app have received a new look. This is for instance the case for user profiles, the Explore tab, hashtag and location pages, as well as the photo upload screen.

The photo uploader in addition has received an add to your photo map switch which you can turn on or off at any time. In addition, you can name your current location to associate that name with the photos you take there.

You will also notice speed improvements that make the app faster and more responsive. This is in line with the new infinite scrolling feature that lets you view all your photos on a single page without having to click on a "load more " button when you reach the bottom of the page.

Last but not least, it is now possible to report comments as abuse or spam, in addition to deleting them.

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