Your Photos Stamped with Location?
Photographs have been time stamped for ages, but now they can be stamped with the exact location in the world where they were taken? Interesting concept. Stephen Shankland, at CNET wrote an article about it today which I found pretty interesting because I had not yet heard of this technology. Apparently it is being called “Geotagging”. Cute name. Whoever came up with it is certainly going to get a gold star on their next employee performance evaluations.
What value does geotagging actually have? Well for starters on the personal side it allows you to find digital photos in a different way on your computer. Instead of when you took them, or just a random name, you can search them based on a vacation destination. Also, it can be used as more of a historical reference years into the future when a certain landmark is no longer there.
“I think PMA next year is going to be when a number of companies unveil cameras with geotagging built in,” said Graham, who flew in from the company’s Swindon, U.K., headquarters to meet with camera companies at the photo show (Pro Marketing Association Trade Show).
So…what exactly will you need when this becomes available? Apparently the cost and bulk of creating a camera with a GPS navigation system built in is too bulky. Sounds like you will have to carry the camera as well as a GPS utility with you to make this function properly.
“At this time we feel there are too many glitchy things–dropouts of communication with the satellites, power consumption,” said Richard Pelkowski, digital SLR (single-lens reflex) product manager for Olympus America. “We just have to overcome some limitations.”
Nikon and Canon have taken baby steps toward tighter integration. High-end Nikon SLRs such as the D300 and D3 have a port that lets a GPS unit be attached directly, communicating with the camera so the location information can be recorded. A wireless transmitter can augment Canon’s higher-end SLRs, including the 40D and 1D Mark III, to provide a GPS port, too.
General Electric’s 10-megapixel E1050, which licensee General Imaging discussed at PMA, is a bigger step.
The company’s current plans are to sell two versions of the E1050, a $249 model in May and another with a built-in GPS receiver by about September that’s expected to cost about $50 to $75 more, a GE representative said.
All this is moving in the right direction, but as of now these technologies will not work immediately as the photo is taken. Photos must be uploaded to the computer, or the camera connected and the information will process once it does to geotag the photo. Not a huge deal really since you likely will connect to a PC anyways to store the phots, print them, or e-mail them anyways.
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Filed under: Computers and Internet, Portable Media by JMH
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