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November 20, 2009 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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By Jason Schneider |
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GPS geo-tagging is the generic name for any system that adds latitude and longitude coordinates to the EXIF file of your captured images. The benefits of doing so are considerable. Geo-tagging allows you to sort your photos based on where they were taken-great for travelers-and it lets you do cool stuff like create travel maps that track your trip, locate your images on global maps like Google Earth, post your photos on the frenetically active geo-tagging areas of social networking sites like Flickr, and connect with people who have shared your experiences.  Nikon GP1 on D90 Canon DSLRs including the EOS 40D, 50D, 5D Mark II, 1DS Mark II and 1D Mark III also support GPS input by plugging third party GPS units into the USB port of Canon wireless file transmitters including the WFT-E3A, WFT-E4A and WFT-E2A. Canon offers a list of compatible and incompatible GPS units as well as a video on how to set up their cameras for geo-tagging with USB and GPS devices.  Nikon CoolPix 6000 While there has been considerable buzz about building GPS data receivers into digital point-and-shoots, so far there's only one GPS-enabled point-and-shoot camera on the market-the Nikon P6000, a high-end-enthusiast aimed model (street price $446.95). Featuring a 13.5 megapixel sensor, a 4X Nikkor zoom lens, Nikon EXPEED image processing, RAW capture, and VR image stabilization, there's a lot more to this camera than just GPS ability, but that's certainly one of its key selling points. As the promo exults, "New GPS capability will automatically geo-tag your photos with the exact location of where you shot that picture. Upload pictures directly to My Picturetown, then conduct searches based on where your pictures were taken."  Sony GPS CS3KA All in all, GPS geo-tagging sounds fantastic-and it is. It's not only useful, but addictive as well. However there are also some inconveniences and limitations that will inhibit the rapid spread of this intriguing technology to the mass-market to mass-market point-and-shoot cameras. Indeed, building these systems into cell phones or even building cameras into GPS devices may well be the way the geo-tagging is destined to make it big-time. Unlike other capabilities built into cameras, receiver-based geo-tagging is not totally automatic and seamless, like face detection or auto scene selection, both of which require little if any user intervention by shooters. Here's how it works in the Nikon CoolPix P6000. To set the P6000 for geo-tagging, turn the mode dial to GPS, press the menu button to display the GPS menu, choose "Record GPS data" and press OK, then choose On and press OK. Now press the menu button to return to the signal status display screen. Three white squares next to the shooting mode icon indicate that signals from four or more satellites have been received and that position data will be recorded; two white squares means three signals have been received and position data will still be recorded; no white squares next to the shooting mode icon means positioning has not been done but that the storage time period has not been exceeded-that is, the system is still looking. When a satellite icon appears in place of the shooting mode icon, the storage time has been exceeded and positional information will not be recorded. Once you have a good signal, you can switch the mode dial to a shooting mode and start taking pictures.  Sony GPS CS3KA Once you get past the set-up procedure, there are other caveats. The system doesn't work at all inside buildings (unless you can aim the camera out a window toward an open expanse of sky), in urban corridors where buildings block the sky, under overpasses, inside tunnels, near high-powered electrical lines, or between clusters of trees. It may seem counter-intuitive, but it works best in an open field. Using a 1.5Ghz mobile phone near the camera may disrupt positioning, and while the GPS geo-tagging will usually provide position accuracy within 10 meters of the actual location it may have a margin or error of up to several hundred meters depending on the positioning environment. Finally, if you have enabled GPS and then move into an environment (such as indoors) where obtaining an accurate fix is unlikely, it's recommended that you turn the feature off to prevent the system from draining the camera battery in a fruitless search for a satellite signal. You can use the last recorded GPS data to tag indoor shots taken in a nearby location, you can manually update position data if you wish, and you can even use GPS data to set the date/time of your camera's clock. When we spoke to Eric Zarakov, VP of Strategic Marketing at Tessera, a company that supplies wafer-sized Smart Optics camera modules that provide such features as red-eye control and face detection in cell phone cameras, he was skeptical about in-camera GPS systems. "I don't see GPS as a seamless integration in digital cameras," he observed, "but it might be very successful in cell phone cameras that provide back-up geo-positioning via cell tower triangulation. It would also be a much larger market-one billion camera phones vs. 120-million digital still cameras. Essentially this type of feature should be designed around the experience rather than the technology, and as an experience it has to be intuitive and automatic-like auto scene mode setting. In my opinion, geo-tagging is in its infancy, and configuring it into a GPS device with imaging capability is certainly one way it could go."  Jobo GPS Other companies are much more optimistic about putting GPS geo-tagging capability into or onto digital cameras. Geotate, with offices in the UK, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Japan, describes itself as "a geo software company whose solutions enable portable devices to add a geo-tag to an object (that is, a file) without compromising the user experience" and touts their system as a "patented approach that captures raw GPS satellite signals in the available memory that are later unlocked via a web based service to enable instant, intuitive auto geo-tagging. Geotate provides geo-tagging devices sold under the Jobo label that are claimed to address such major issues as speed of signal acquisition and power consumption, and work with various devices including DSLRs, point-and-shoot cameras, and camcorders. A good example that's available in the U.S. is the Jobo photoGPS (suggested price $159, shoe mount adapter for Sony DSLRs, $49.90, dimensions 2.7x0.8x1.7 inches) that mounts in your camera's hot shoe to capture the geo-data of in less than a second. Compatible with PC and Mac platforms, it provides street, city, and country location data as well as GPS coordinates, can store up to 1,000 locations, is USB 2.0 compatible, and has a claimed battery life of about 4 weeks.  Sony GPS CS3KA Foolography (the name has to make you smile) is another European-based company that showed up at the last Photo Marketing Association in Las Vegas to promote their "small light, and unobtrusive" geo-tagging system claimed to pro vide excellent speed and reliability in a direct wireless system "without cumbersome cables." It consists of a tiny un-tethered module that sits directly on the camera, connecting to any Bluetooth GPS receiver that can be kept in your pocket or backpack. It works with the Nikon D200, D300, D700 and D2- and D3-series Nikon DSLRs as well as the Fuji F5 Pro, weighs an unbelievable 3 grams (!) and is said to connect in an average time of only 3 sec depending on the GPS Bluetooth receiver you use. For more info go to www.foolography.com My personal verdict on GPS geo-tagging: While we're not likely to see an explosion of moderately priced GPS-enabled digital point-and-shoot cameras in 2009, there are plenty of folks other than geeks and pros who are using what's out there right now, and doing so with relish and enthusiasm-just go to Flickr and you'll be amazed at the level of geo-tagging activity. GPS geo-tagging devices are also likely to be an increasingly popular add-on accessory for DSLR-toting enthusiasts, especially social networking fans who love to travel. I'd sure love to have GPS geo-tagging built into my Blackberry, and maybe even my DSLR. Once they work out some of the glitches and make the process even more seamless, I think this thing is really going to take off, although it's hard to say in exactly what form. Would you believe 2010 could well be The Year Of GPS. I'll take odds on seeing lots more of it going forward.
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