Sony's GPS-CS1 provides GPS for cameras

We'd like to think if you were carrying a 3.5-inch $150 GPS receiver on your person you'd be able to use it for more than just geo-tagging your Cyber-shot photos, but hey, that's Sony for ya. Their new GPS-CS1 tracks your coordinates while you're out and syncs your timed route to your PC with their Picture Motion Browser, which then uses the timestamps embedded in your photographs to provide maps with geographically coordinated "virtual push pins" for augmented photo library meta-posterity. It's an interesting and compelling concept even despite the typical Sony walled garden, but now that they've pioneered the method we think someone's liable to hack up a quick and dirty GPS-enabled smartphone app to do the same for the rest of Flickr-using types (and don't say Zonetag -- doesn't count).

[Justin France @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:01AM]

I'm sure you could ditch Sony's proprietary solution with a GPS-enabled phone or PDA and a bit of clever software / syncing work.

Might not be as acccurate, but saves you $150 - and uses hardware you already own and tote everywhere, anyway.

[g3n3tiX @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:14AM]

Kodak did this some time ago : the coordinates stamp was applied to the picture. It was also a accesory for a camera.

[CamDude @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:18AM]

You can do this already with most common GPSs. I use a Garmin Legend. You just need to be able to save your tracklog as a standard GPX file. Then use a program like RoboGeo to automatically geotag a folder of pictures using the data from the tracklog. You can specify a time offset if the clocks on the camera and gps aren't exactly synced.

If you use the new beta of Picasa (free, from Google) you will have an option to view your geotagged photos in Google Earth. It seems to show all geotagged photos in your Picasa library, so it effectively turns Google Earth into a geographic browser of your photo collection.

I just geotagged my last trip using this method and it took just a couple minutes.

[bar @ Aug 14th 2008 8:52AM]

I use http://www.trekinu.com service to make travel albums
it's more a tool to make albums and sent to friends and family because the final result is photos on a map presentation (with option to add sound)
here my album from Australia...check it :)
http://www.trekinu.com/viewtrek.aspx?trkid=d41dra3duemrf97

[tuig @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:26AM]

I'm currently geotagging my pics by hand. I'd love it if there'd be an automated way of getting the coordinates straight in the meta-data, in stead of having to hook up yet another device to the PC to 'sync'. Also it's not clear to me how the Sony way would allow me to publish my geotagged pics to Flickr in one go, or how I could add my previous tagged photos (not made with a Sony camera...).

Why don't they make a camera with bluetooth so you can use a bluetooth GPS? Shouldn't be that expensive to add?

[Mark @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:00AM]

I have never heard of this gadget before but now i have and how pleased i am at that, it is pure magic which will make life so much easier. Be good if you could send the pics straight from the device instead of going to a PC.

[Heiko Schr�der @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:14AM]

Ricoh made a camera with bluetooth GPS connection. But like everytime thie is the only feature of the camera worth mentioning :-( NIKON D 200 supports something like GPS connection.... Ther should be a standard established from conecting camera and GPS sensors, to storing the coordinates ni the exif data..
I think Google Earthe will push this technologie...

[Heiko Schroeder @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:16AM]

http://www.alta4.com/de/produkte/gpsphotomapper/gpscamera.php

[Kenundrum @ Aug 2nd 2006 8:25AM]

I've got smugmug for photo hosting (bar none the best service out there) and they've got a plugin to google earth that shows your and other's photos on the map... it's really cool to zoom to paris for instance and see people's photos of the city. I've been trying to remember the approximate coordinates of where i took some of my shots but it's a pain in the ass. this would be really cool if the software didn't care about the camera info in the exif... but my guess is in trademark Sony Style, they will find a way of making it not work with my Canon.

[Peter @ Aug 2nd 2006 9:12AM]

If I'm not mistaken I believe the new hp hw69x5 phone is supposed to do this with it's built-in gps and flash camera, but only at 1.3 mp.

[Tom @ Aug 2nd 2006 9:37AM]

Using RoboGeo with a gps device as mentioned above, does one need to remember to create a waypoint on the gps device for each picture taken or does a gps device just log all locations by time? If it just passively logs all gps data by time, that is very, very RAD.

[Tim Helton @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:03AM]

Tom, I'm the author of RoboGEO... You can geocode photos from waypoints or automatically from the GPS tracklog. It also does a lot of other cool stuff beyond the basic task of geocoding photos.

[Furbismo @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:12AM]

Id like to see someone write program that woulkd allow users to plug it into their laptop and use it with navigational charts that you can download off of the internet. It'd be a great low cost alternative to some other GPS devices that start around $700 ( for a niice one at least).

[micha @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:32AM]

The guys at Sony R&D should have tried this bookmarklet to geocode images right within flickr. It's as easy as can be, as fast as can be. Maybe they would not have developed a 150$ dollar GPS device.

http://typolis.net/sumaato/stories/4323/

[pebo @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:47AM]

RoboGEO works extremely well for geocoding photos and displaying them on Google Earth. For linking photos to navigational charts, try Fugawi Marine ENC, which uses freely(!) available NOAA electronic vector charts.

[Seek @ Aug 2nd 2006 12:54PM]

Wow.. just discovered RoboGeo in this thread. Anyone knows if a similar solution exists under Mac OS X?

[Ole @ Dec 1st 2006 9:13AM]

We have a really neat and easy to use software called Fodysseus (http://www.fodysseus.com) - however unfortunately not for MAC.

Ole

[Rotkappchen @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:30PM]

I just don't see the novelty in Sony's product. It's just a cheap Sony-branded GPS receiver without a user interface, and a small PC program that writes location info to EXIF headers of photos, just like RoboGeo.

Here's a site with which you can do the same thing that Sony is selling *for free*: http://triptracker.net. It even supports geocoding photos hosted on Flickr. It works with just about any GPS receiver and digital camera combination. Should even work with Sony's new GPS-CS1 :)

Here's an example:
http://triptracker.net/trip/263/map/
(click on the points on the map to see the photos at that location)

[Jeff Foster @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:33PM]

why dont camera manufacturers just build in low quality GPS INTO Their cameras? it's freakin' 2006. where's this "future" i've been hearing about?

I've always been bummed to see the EXIF gps data empty, and this "solution" seems convoluted at best.

[Sir Loin @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:51PM]

Microsoft's World-Wide Media eXchange (WWMX) has been doing this for years now, it will match your photos and tracklogs and then generate interactive HTML files as well as let you upload them to their map & photo server. Very cool. I'm going to take a look at RoboGEO as well...this whole thing's going to be big soon folks, mark my words!

[Sir Loin @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:52PM]

Whoops, forgot to include the WWMX link - http://wwmx.org/

[Gregor @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:34PM]

I think this is a step in the right direction. Finally the big guys are seeing the benefit of geotagging photos and try to provide the functionality to the normal user.
That's what http://triptracker.net/ has been trying to do all along.

[Craig @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:00PM]

@seek

Yes there are OS X apps that do the same thing. GPSPhotoLinker takes your GPX route and then geocodes your timestamped photos.
iPhotoToGoogleEarth (which I wrote) exports your geocoded images from iPhoto into KMZs for viewing in Google Earth.

http://craig.stanton.net.nz/software/iPhotoToGoogleEarth.html

[Craig @ Aug 2nd 2006 5:08PM]

@seek

Yes there are OS X apps that do the same thing. GPSPhotoLinker takes your GPX route log and then geocodes your photos based on their timestamps.
iPhotoToGoogleEarth (which I wrote) exports your geocoded images from iPhoto into KMZs for viewing in Google Earth.

http://craig.stanton.net.nz/software/iPhotoToGoogleEarth.html

[happy gilmore @ Aug 2nd 2006 6:23PM]

lame!!! if you can't remember where you took your pictures, you're an idiot. shouldn't the picture itself remind you of where you were? sheesh!

[Bob Barker @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:27PM]

Yes, happy. The picture is fine for knowing where you were but then how do you know where your GPS was?

[Seek @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:43AM]

@Craig:

Thanks a lot!

[GPSuser @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:55AM]

I can do the same since a year with Picopolo ... look @ http://www.picopolo.de ... its free

[Joe @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:58AM]

the same i can do since least then one year with Picopolo ... its an freeware-tool to match pictures with your gps-route

look @ http://www.picopolo.de

[Harri Lehmuskallio @ Aug 3rd 2006 4:40AM]

You asked for the smartphone application that does this?
Here it is: http://meaning.3xi.org/

Check it out and install it to your Series 60 Nokia!

[Samuel @ Aug 22nd 2006 3:49PM]

You guys are missing the point; SONY being traditionally closed off are venturing into a new market and not only adhearing to standards (EXIF v2.1) but by doing this it is allowing anyone to use the cheap module, yes $150 is cheap (especially when you earn in £££).

So they are allowing competing cameras to work with the CS1, it adhears to standards and the free software works with Google Maps! Puls they are utilizing meta-data, which is an extreemly underused resource in computing.

I personally can't wait, but the UK release date is not made, yet.

[renae the gps expert @ Aug 25th 2006 10:31PM]

what a great little gadget, i am sure there are many uses for it. adding same functions into an existing gps enabled phone sounds more sensible for those of us who don't like carrying more gadgets.

[OrmArtur @ Sep 1st 2006 5:05AM]

If I understood right, this gadget will add location information to your photos exif-information. This Sony gadget has bundle software to do more with the photos than just mark them. If You don't already have a gps, it could be a good solution, even if You want to buy additional software like RoboGeo. You still can use the geotagged pictures with any other program that understands those tags, right? The gadget itself looks handy. Just clip it to hang onto Your backbag or even pants.

[Max @ Sep 13th 2006 2:25AM]

How accurate are these GPS things? I've never owned one, but I might be interested in one for a walking tour I'm producing. Can anyone recommend a better/cheaper unit, if this Sony is not the best way to go?

Thanks!
Max

[Chris @ Sep 13th 2006 1:10AM]

So this thing DOES work with other cameras? I dont see why not as it doesnt directly connect to the camera, but instead to the computer and add the gps into the exif data... can anyone confirm before I make the plunge and get one? Thanks!

[Max @ Sep 13th 2006 2:38AM]

Chris, Yes, it works with any camera.

[Chris @ Sep 13th 2006 12:40PM]

Thanks max! I've got one on its way from sonystyle :)

[Phil @ Sep 14th 2006 5:49PM]

You can geocode manually, but I find it time consuming and frankly very boring if you have more than a few to do, particularly if you want decent accuracy. In the absence of affordable cameras that do the job at source, tools like RoboGEO that work with tracklogs are the only efficient option.

Up to now I've used a pocket GPS unit, but (assuming it lives up to the spec) will be adopting this smaller, lighter, less battery-hungry Sony unit. It looks like it will mount very nicely on the strap of my Canon, a definite improvement over my existing set-up.

[PhilS @ Nov 20th 2006 9:58AM]

Remember that the Sony software only lets you encode JPEGs and may be TIFFs- no support for raw from Nikon or Canon D-SLRs or prosumer cameras.

[Lazzo @ Apr 21st 2007 10:18AM]

Read about how the Sony GPS CS1 works on the field. Here you can find a summary after 2 months of geocoding over 3500 pictures using the CS1 on a central america trip..
http://smocka.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/gps-cs1-summary-based-on-my-travel-experince/

[edward @ May 13th 2007 9:09AM]

I am using D200, the SONY accessory software doesn't support writing GPS information into NEF files, I programmed a application to do it, similar to Image Tracker but do more. Here is:

http://www.nikonfans.org/index.php/gps4nef/

For free...

[the Wanderer @ Jun 25th 2007 1:31AM]

This is the best Phototracker I have seen yet!
2 features make it stand out above the rest.
1) it synronizes your camera time with your Gps Time, which is critical if you are moving or if at all confused about UTC time which is what your GPS records in it Track log not your local time you have set your gps for.
2) It has a mark button, if you push it the instant you take a picture, it loggs a waypoint exactly when you took the picture.


http://www.gisteq.com/index-mappingprog.html

If you own the Nikon D-200 or 1 of 3 other Nikon Digatal SLR or a Fiji S5 Pro camera Di-gps has a GPS unit you plug-in to the camera and your Geo-tag data is alway atomaticly added.

http://www.di-gps.com/di-GPS/n2.htm

[Ben @ Jul 9th 2007 10:35AM]

Can anyone recommend what the best solution would be for a Flickr user? What I would like is that when I upload my pics to Flickr, they would automatically be added to the map. I'm not sure whether Flickr uses the co-ordinates from the EXIF data or whether it tags the pictures with the lat and long.

Cheers.