GeoTagger Adds Positioning Info to Snapshots

Richard Jelbert writes "Check out this hardware device to geo-tag your photos to help share / manage your photos using Google maps. The Jelbert GeoTagger device records the latitude and longitude and compass direction of every photo you take. It connects to the camera flash shoe and stores the geo metadata on an SD memory card. Geotagging is becomeing more and more popular with sites like Flickr supporting geotagging via Google Earth interface. Hardware geotagers save you the effort of geo-tagging the images manually after taking the shot. The Sony geotagger is a great step forward but the Jelbert GeoTagger also records direction data."

Slashvert

[HugePedlar (900427)]

Christ, could the summary sound any more like a PR press release?

All that's missing

[SeXy_Red (550409)]

is the angle with the horizontal. With all this information it should be relatively easy to build a 2D/3D map from the pictures you collect.

Re:

[frakir (760204)]

Actually you need more to build a reliable 3D map:
-horizontal angle mentioned by you
-altitude
-zoom

5 numbers at a minimum: latitude, longitude, vertical and horizontal angles and altitude.

Multiple alternatives

[Lord Satri (609291)]

There are *many* alternatives. Read those stories:
Flickr Adds Geotagging [slashgeo.org]
Geotagged Photo Browsing Tools for Google Earth [slashgeo.org]
Picasa Photos in Google Earth [slashgeo.org]
and the most important one:
Info on Geocoding Photos [slashgeo.org] which links (in 'related links') to numerous other sources of info.

Today, you can tag photos using Picasa and Google Earth, Yahoo! and Flickr, or other alternatives such as GPS hardware [slashgeo.org] to geotag your photos directly.

There is a fatal flaw with the product.

[Stavr0 (35032)]

It's a SONY.

GoogleEarth?

[BandwidthHog (257320)]

Doubtful, what with Flickr being owned by Yahoo and all.

Open Source Alterative

[Glacial Wanderer (962045)]

I wrote a command line application for windows that reads track information off of Garmin and Megellan GPSs (or it can read .gpx files) and then uses that information to update the exif information in the image files based on timestamp information. I'm using it with flickr and it works great. You do need to allow flickr to use exif data here: www.flickr.com/account/geo/exif. Since it updates exif information in jpg files it should work with any photo sharing tools.

This was meant to be a free simple application that you can just run on all your photos and I think it is just that. No bells, no whistles. It just gets exif data added to all the photos you just took in a quick easy manor.

You can download GeoPhoto Batcher with source code from: http://moesphoto.glacialwanderer.com/ [glacialwanderer.com]

Don't need extra equipment

[Forthan Red (820542)]

If you already own a GPS, there are several software-only solutions to perform the same function. Just sync your camera's clock to the GPS clock, and turn on the GPS tracking function. The software will link up locations by matching the photo's time-stamp with the tracklog time-stamp.

Re:

[garcia (6573)]

Thank you! I was wondering how I could do it w/o a bunch of extra shit that I'm not using already. The only question I have is how accurate the camera's clock has to be (being that the GPS is constantly updated and the camera isn't).

Are there any specific pieces of software that will take the GPS' tracklog GPX and sync it with the EXIF data or is it more a manual thing?

Re:

[garcia (6573)]

The only reason I ask is that I see plenty of ways to manually look at the tracklog and get the coords, but I don't want to do anything manually and was hoping that there was some software to do it for you. Perhaps some shell scripts or something else, maybe even for Gallery1?

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

There is software, even freeware if you aren't allergic to Microsoft: WWMX Location Stamper [wwmx.org] by MS Research. The camera clock doesn't need to be particularly accurate, unless you move fast while taking pictures. A simple trick is to always start your photo sessions by taking a picture of your GPS unit displaying the current time. Then you can compare the camera time (from the EXIF data) and the GPS time (in the picture) and calculate the offset of the camera clock, which you can then enter into the location

Oh, honestly

[Colin Smith (2679)]

Until my digital camera automatically tags all photos with the information then uploads them wirelessly and automatically up to my flickr or other site, then logs the photos into google earth or whatever. I can't be arsed. Really all this is completely automatable so why would I bother?

 

Free GeoTagger SW and Sony Does it Too

[i4u (234028)]

Grazer is now free The tool synchronizes GPS location information in GPX format and matches the timestamp of the location information with the timestamp on the EXIF header of your photos.
http://www.i4u.com/article6502.html [i4u.com]

Sony has released a GPS Geotagger gadget: Using time and location recordings from Sony's GPS-CS1 GPS device and the time stamp from a Sony digital still camera or camcorder, you can plot your digital images to a map and pinpoint exactly where you've been.
http://www.i4u.com/article6207.html [i4u.com]

GPS and photos taken inside + RoboGEO required

[Lord Satri (609291)]

Of course GPS does not work inside buildings. The website says other hardware used 'bad' ways to retrieve inside-building location information, but they give no clue on how they do it themselves! How can I judge if their system is better?!

Additionnaly, most of the work is done by RoboGeo [slashgeo.org], which must be purchased seperately.

Re:

[ceoyoyo (59147)]

No, most of the work is done by the GPS, which you must purchase separately. Then the software, which you must also purchase separately. This device, which costs 150 pounds, doesn't do anything but ask the GPS for the location when you press the shutter button.

Inconvenient without a flash shoe

[Gothmolly (148874)]

Um, most handheld digital cameras dont have a flash shoe, so this is sort of irrelevant.

Re:

[karrde (853)]

Most people willing to put out the $600 investment this requires likely have a camera worth more than that. And those cameras have a flash shoe.

Re:Practical uses?

[cayenne8 (626475)]

Is this really that useful for the public in general, or is this more of a tool for the authorities to use to better locate and document crime scenes, if the picture was taken at one?

I just heard the other day about some kind of 'mark' that digital cameras put on all images, that notate what type camera you have...and some of the programs put registration information on the images (name, etc).

I'm not sure I want all that meta data on pictures I take...just a simple picture thank you.

(I forgot the name of that tag..starts with an "E" I think.

Re:

[emag (4640)]

You mean "EXIF"? And yes, EXIF really is pretty damn useful for anyone who wants to actually know what type of comera setup was used, exposure info, focal length, whether a flash fired, etc...

Re:

[BandwidthHog (257320)]

I just heard the other day about some kind of 'mark' that digital cameras put on all images, that notate what type camera you have...and some of the programs put registration information on the images (name, etc).

I forgot the name of that tag..starts with an "E" I think.

EXIF

I'm not sure I want all that meta data on pictures I take...just a simple picture thank you.

Most of the information is both innocuous and helpful (at least to other photographers). You can disable things like camera serial number and all

Re:

[nairnr (314138)]

Pratical Uses? I can think of quite a few. When I go on vacation, I find the meta data from digital very useful. Most cameras will put EXIF [digicamhelp.com] data in the image recording such things as the specific camera you shoot with, your exposure time, aperature, what mode you shot with... You can use it to adjust how you take your shots if you shot with different settings.
As far as geotagging, it gives you the flexibility to organize your photos by location, and add in that info to your photo. I went on a month long

Re:

[Billosaur (927319)]

Is this really that useful for the public in general...?

Of course -- wives can find out where their cheating husbands are taking the naughty pictures they find on their home computer, anyone can determine where the picture someone posted on an on-line dating service was taken (she says she's in Pocatello, ID, but all her pictures are from Bozeman, MT!), etc. A multitude of uses in the home!

Re:

[ceoyoyo (59147)]

So just strip it off. It's in plain text, the format is well documented, you can even get a ready made python module for reading it. Not to mention lots and lots of software both free and otherwise for editing and deleting EXIF tags.

Re:

[Skyshadow (508)]

I just heard the other day about some kind of 'mark' that digital cameras put on all images, that notate what type camera you have...and some of the programs put registration information on the images (name, etc).

You're thinking of Exif data [wikipedia.org]. It contains information regarding a specific image: the camera model, the date and time of the photo and all sorts of potentially useful photographic details -- the ISO, aperture used, shutter speed, focal length, etc.

This can be extremely useful stuff if you're

Re:

[nizo (81281)]

A few possible uses:
-> You can now have software track the route you took while on vacation as you snapped pictures
-> If you find a camera, you can now track the route the previous owner took before losing their new camera, and know exactly where their house is with the nifty bigscreen tv (in the background of a shot taken at home for example)
-> If you find a corpse next to the road with one of these cameras, you can tell if they were standing in the road taking pictures when they got hit or if the