Comments on: Coming in 2008: GPS-enabled cameras?

The founder of GPS chip designer Sirf Technology believes some cameras next year will know where they're taking photos, partly through new technology that can get a location fix faster.

[megelhoff]

Wow big deal

Like I'm going to look at a picture and know where the heck this was shot based on the gps information on the print. Good Luck... But for Geo-caching now that another story, but daily life for the regular Joe? It just doesn't make sense. Just my 2 cents...

[LuvThatCO2]

Eh....

"Like I'm going to look at a picture and know where the heck this was shot based on the gps information on the print. "

The gps info is embedded into the image so that the location of the photo can later be shown ON A MAP. You dont have to know what the actual coordinates mean.

You would think this would be patently obvious to anyone who read the story... but I guess not.

[ericwoodford]

Easy-peasy

This would be great!

1. Take picture.
2. Upload to Flickr.
3. See pictures mapped. http://www.flickr.com/photos/87916290@N00/map/

[Sensible Engineering]

We call this GPS Imaging and we have been doing it for years.

The power of this technology is very significant but we have been doing this for rears. see gpsimaging.com

[MTGrizzly]

GPS and photography...

I carry around a notebook and a GPS receiver with my camera
wherever I go. It involves a somewhat laborious process of
turning the GPS receiver on and off and waiting to get fixes. At
least with a separate GPS receiver, I can wait and take a fix
after I am through taking pictures, (I, primarily, take
landscapes, which hardly ever move... LOL)

I live in the Rockies and it is relatively easy to get a location fix
out here. It takes about twice as long to get a 3D fix, (which I
like to get). However, I was recently in NYC and could not get a
GPS fix, anywhere - even in Battery Park, where it seemed it
should be easy. The same limitations will apply with GPS
cameras.

GPS receivers use up batteries faster than you can replace
them. I cannot see how I would want to use my camera
batteries for something that won't necessarily work every time.

[mahurshi]

GPS Coordinates on Photographs

I really don't see the average Joe making use of long ugly numbers like "Lat: 51.499279, Lon: -0.127437" on his pictures. Maybe they could be hidden as invisible tags in the files, but they're still numbers to the eyes.

Unless of course, it actually detects what the location is tags it as "Westminster Abbey", in which case, it might be more useful.

This technology would requre a big database lookup (preferably online for the most up to date data) and that would mean more hardware on the cameras and, ultimately, additional costs.


Mahurshi

[cameronjpu]

Are you kidding?

It's metadata! It's not printed on the picture, and no, you don't get the raw coordinates, you simply tell google maps (or any other map program with an API) to look at your pictures and display them on a map. Sheesh!

[rajid--2008]

GPS Startup time

The camera could simply attach the geotag information, once acquired, to all pictures taken since the camera was turned on. Yes, there are some cases where this may not work, but giving the configuration capability, it could be useful for a lot of people and save time waiting for the GPS to acquire.

[bgulien]

Nikon D2X is GPS enabled

Not yet inside, but with a cable and a gps you can have your
coordinates on film.
But as someone here said: what's the use for the average
snapshooter?

[cameronjpu]

I'd love to have it

I'm a casual photographer, but I think it would be awesome to pull up Google earth and see pinpoints where all my pictures are. What a great way to track a vacation!

[reubenwilcock]

GeoPic II already does this..

The GeoPic II is the closest thing available to a built in geotagging device - just connect it to your Nikon DSLR and then the DLSR sees the GPS location and attaches it automatically to the pictures. No fancy software to sync it all up later, no fuss, just sits on the hot shoe or the strap and does the job. Also buffers the GPS location in case you want to use it indoors! It's made by Custom Idea (www.customidea.com).

[gthiruva]

GPS Integrated Cameras are here now.

Magellan already has the Triton 2000 handheld GPS with a 2
Megapixel camera. It's no DSLR or anything cool like that, but it is
easy and already integrated. So this is not like a hard to solve
problem here - it just takes the will of camera manufacturers to
integrate the GPS receiver into the camera.

[gthiruva]

FYI: the link

http://www.magellangps.com/products/product.asp?
prodID=1910&SEGID=425&tab=2&ajaxlink=1910

[cybertai]

There're some alternatives

Some alternatives:

1. Sony's GPS-CS1, I guess this one only works with Sony's camera

http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2006/08/02/geotag-your-pictures-with-sony-gps-cs1/

2. ATP's Photo Finder, this one supports almost every camera, cool!

http://www.sciuridae.co.uk/technology/atp_photofinder_review.htm