You may have noticed that the Google Maps site frequently changes:

The link to 'photo-sphere.appspot.com' is no longer available,
'Google Views' was discontinued in 2015,
'Panoramio' linking your photos to Google closed in 2016,
'Google+ Auto-Awesome' feature is discontinued,
'Google Map Maker' was retired in March 2017,
The 'Add a photo' tab was removed from the row of thumbnails,
'Google+ for consumers' was due to shut down in April 2019,
'Street View' app is so far only available for Android and Apple iOS, but not for Windows desktops.

However, it may still be possible to produce and upload a 'Photosphere' using Windows, if you follow these instructions. There are numerous web sites available explaining how to produce 360° panoramas with non-Android digital cameras. Almost any compact camera or DSLR will produce a set of overlapping images which can be stitched together with suitable software such as 'Panorama Studio' This can then be saved as a 'spherical' or alternatively a 'cylindrical' image.

Your panorama should be in JPG format, not TIFF, and ideally be a complete 360° horizontal x 180° vertical panorama, known as spherical 'equirectangular', having an aspect ratio of exactly 2:1.
Alternatively you can use 'cylindrical' panoramas with widths of less than 8000px by following the simple modifications shown at the end of this page.

First download the XMP template from here, which contains the required 'equirectangular projection' meta tag. Tick 'Save File', choose a location, and unzip it to obtain the file:
'equirectangular-template.xmp.'
You may be asked to give permission for this download, and it should also appear in your 'Downloads' folder

Open the jpg spherical panorama photo you wish to use, in Photoshop (CS6)

Go to File > File-Info and select the 'Raw Data' tab in the top row. This raw data is known as 'EXIF' and specifies the format of your image which must be modified as follows to display your image as a 'Photosphere'


If 'Show Templates Folder' is listed at the bottom then click the arrow to the right; otherwise select 'Import' from the list.


On the 'Import Options' window that opens next, choose option 2:
'Keep original metadata, but REPLACE matching properties from template'


Tick 'OK' then using the page that appears, navigate to the 'equirectangular-template.xmp' file that you downloaded previously, select it, and click 'OK' in the new 'Raw Data' window that opens

Click 'File' > 'SAVE-AS'  jpg, choose a new name if you wish,
tick 'SAVE', set Maximum Quality=12,
(don't use 'Export' or 'Save for Web' or you will lose the EXIF data),
Tick 'OK' but don't close the Photoshop window yet.

Now check that the extra EXIF data has been added by going back to File > File-Info and the 'Raw Data' tab. Look for these six new lines, they should be somewhere in the list, probably near the top or the bottom.

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You should now add the GPS metadata with the Latitude and Longitude, as follows.

Download, and install the free 'GEOSETTER' from here: http://www.geosetter.de/en/
You will need to choose 'MENU' and 'DOWNLOAD'

Run 'Geosetter'and right click on your Photosphere image. In the menu that appears, hover over 'GeoSetter' and choose 'Show Image Positions on Map' **


** If you do not have these options then tick 'VIEW' on the top row of 'GeoSetter' and choose 'MAP' from the list instead.

Adjust the size of the map that appears using the + - buttons at the top left and locate your camera position. Right click on the map to create a map marker and drag it to your exact position.
Tick the red and green icon 5th from the left ('Set position marker') and then finally tick the red and green icon 4th from the left:
('Assign position marker to selected images')

Now you should add a description to appear on the Google Photosphere page. Close the map or double click on the original image in 'Geosetter' to re-open the 'Edit data' window. Select the 'Source/Description' tab and enter a title into the 'Caption' box. Something like 'St Michael's Mount' is quite sufficient, not a long description. Then click 'OK'

You must now save all your changes by ticking the blue square icon in the top row as below, then click 'OK'.
Alternatively, go to 'Edit' > 'Save changes of Selected Image'

To make absolutely sure that the new Meta Data has been added correctly, open the photo again in Photoshop, and select 'File' / 'File/Info' then 'Raw Data'. Search carefully down the text and look for BOTH of these entries:

and (at the bottom)
OR, select the'GPS Data' tab:

Also check that your description is listed in the 'Raw Data'.

If you would like to view your new Photosphere before uploading it there is an excellent free viewer available here at FSPViewer

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Now you can upload your panorama with this new metadata to Google Maps, as follows:

Open Google Maps at https://www.google.co.uk/maps
(login if requested) and use the search box find the nearest Google 'place' to your camera location avoiding commercial enterprises such as hotels and restaurants. Photospheres can only be added to images for a Google listed 'place'. For instance, 'Cala Mesquida', 'Cala Mesquida resort', and 'Cala Mesquida Beach' will each be considered as a different 'place' although they are close together. Choose the nearest place to your camera's position before uploading.

After searching for a place, left click the image at the top of the column and a 'camera' symbol should appear.

Alternatively look in the left hand column for 'Add a photo' or 'Add media'.
Click on one of these links and follow instructions to upload your panorama. If all goes well you should receive an immediate 'Thank You' message from Google and you should tick 'Done'. Wait a few minutes then go to 'Menu' > 'Your-contributions' > 'Photos' and it should be somewhere in your list but not necessarily at the top. It should also have a circular arrow (instead of a camera symbol) indicating that it is a Photosphere. If this symbol is missing it will only be published as a plain image. Click on the image for it to be displayed in full. You might have to wait an hour or so for it to be approved.
If there is a row of tiny thumbnails at the bottom right, click to enlarge it. (i.e. 'show imagery')
If there are no thumbnails then tick 'Menu' (3 bars at top left),
then 'satellite' then set to 'Labels on'
Your panorama may or may not be included in this row of thumbnails. If it is, then hovering over it will show a line pointing to your camera position on the map.


To check if your Photosphere is listed on Google Maps, navigate to the location, enlarge the map and tick on the little 'yellow man' icon at the bottom right corner. This should enable little blue dots for each photosphere in that area including one for your Photosphere.
If there are no blue dots at all then tick 'Menu' (3 bars at top left),
then 'satellite', and set to 'Labels on'.

If there is still no blue marker for your Photosphere then try clicking around the nearest large place-marker instead, this sometimes brings up additional photospheres. Note however the following which was published by Google Maps in March 2019:
If you want to make changes or start over again click the 3 dot icon on your photo and select 'delete this photo'.

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A 'cylindrical' panorama has a reduced vertical field of view of around 90° or so and doesn't include so much foreground or sky. To make a cylindrical panorama image display on Google as a photosphere it must have a width to height ratio of 2:1 but simply increasing the height will result in a badly distorted image. Using the EXIF format 'cylindrical' instead of 'equirectangular' or changing the 'crop' values doesn't work either, but as a compromise, you can add blank space to the top and bottom to increase the height to half the width
as follows:

Choose a cylindrical panoramic JPG image at least 1200px high and less than about 7000px in width, and open it in Photoshop.
Go to 'Image'   >  'Canvas-size'   >  'New Size'
Set 'height' to 200 and units to 'percent'
Set the 'Anchor' icon to show all 8 arrows
Set the 'Canvas extension colour' to 'Gray'


Click OK  'File > Save-As > jpg'
(DON'T use 'Export' or 'Save for Web'!)
Set maximum quality to 12 and tick OK

Now add the XMP and GPS Metadata and a description, as described for a spherical panorama at the top of this page, and upload as shown previously.