A different approach to GPS-enabled cameras
(Credit:
NXP Software)
Photography's essential use of GPS differs from the typical GPS application in one significant way: You don't need it to tell you where you are, only where you've been. Why does this distinction matter? Because the former requires far more real-time horsepower and precision than the latter does. For digital photography, that translates into the difference between bulky, expensive power-draining solutions or small-footprint, cheap, energy-efficient ones.
The first product available using NXP's SnapSpot swGPS technology--Jobo AG's PhotoGPS, a $149 add-on that fits into a camera's hotshoe--will ship this summer. I'm just hoping that the execution works as well as the theory sounds.
Senior Editor Lori Grunin has been covering digital imaging for two decades, but her memory's kind of sketchy on the details. You can hear about it every week on Indecent Exposure, the podcast she co-hosts with Matt Fitzgerald. 
