If you're heavy into geotagging -- and we think you are -- you may want to look into an interesting new product from ATP (no relation to the multifunctional nucleotide of the same name) called the GPS Photo Finder, a unique device which automatically tags your digital pictures with latitude and longitude, without the need for a PC nearby. The little rectangular box works by reading SD, MMC or Memory Stick data and then tagging pictures on the media with location coordinates (as long as your camera is synced to the clock of the Photo Finder). The internal 128MB of memory allows for roughly 550 hours of tracking, and the pictures / GPS data can be read by any application capable of handling geotagged images (such as Picasa). The device is scheduled for mass release in the first quarter of 2008, no word on price right now.
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Coolest Gadgets]
posted Dec 26th 2007 4:11PM
Costco has it for $89.99
I know, researching it now. :-) That's how I ended up at Engadget (yet again). Seems like it will work great for my upcoming trip, but I still can't find if it will work with my Nokia in RAW. Still, seems reasonable enough to pull the trigger and order it since it works with the JPG "proofs."
Microsoft's new Photosynth software could probably make great use of a product like this. I don't think it'll be too long before something like this gets built in to a camera.
There actually are cameras out there that geotag your images for you. But I think their price probably leaves them to being geared towards professional geographic information systems uses moreso then personal use.
http://www.ricoh-usa.com/solutions/solution_features.asp?pCategoryId=85&pCatName=Camera+Imaging&tsn=Ricoh-USA&pSubCategoryId=81&pSubCatName=Ricoh+500SE+Imaging+Solutions&pProductId=761&pProductName=Geo%2DImaging
There is already a product like this at a reasonable cost. The Mio C720t. It's not a digital camera, but a PND. But with a 4.3" viewfinder and integrated 2MP camera with geotagging function, you got a pretty neat and good priced option.
check out panoramio.com for a neat webapp which allows you to place your photos onto google earth/maps.
It's the future, I think. Metadata on all of our data. I think it will transform how we use and look at data as much as XML did to help us leverage data.
Camera's should have this kind of thing built in (and probably will in 5 years). What would be even nicer is getting range finder information so that the location of the subject is captured instead of just the location of the photographer.
Actually, instead of XML metadata, it could simply be a new EXIF field. That's what EXIF if for.
I just looked up EXIF - very cool and I like it a lot. I had not heard of it before. I knew that there was information in images, but I wasn't sure how it was stored. My Sony cameras have been saving f-stop, apperature and other info for years. I think you are right that this is the right place to store that information.
Actually, EXIF already has tags for lat/long data. And, there have been cameras with GPS capability out for years, but they have traditionally been pretty niche (law enforcement, insurance, etc) in their usage. That has changed due to all the mapping and location-aware apps that are out there now, but the camera manufacturers are kind of stuck in a pixel-density rut right now, and for the most part aren't very creative on features. The nice thing about this little unit, if it works as promised, is that I can use it across all my cameras, nice when on a trip.
I prefer photrax.com to panoramio. Panoramio is too heavy and slow and not really fun to browse for photos. Photrax.com offers additional wikipedia links and maps and current weather on the photo location and most of all, it looks so much nicer...
I have a separate GPS logger, the WBT-201, but the software on the PC is not too much fun to use (buggy etc.). If this works, it will be really a must-have for many people (who dont want to buy a new camera for added GPS feature).
Wow, this is some great Adenosine triphosphate
Here's the brochure you dweebs:
http://photofinder.atpinc.com/images/PhotoFinder.pdf
my profile is locked again and comment password doesnt work. please fix your code!
That's a clever idea for those with cameras that don't have build in GPS. Keep this in your bag, pull out your small digital camera, snap your photos, geotag later. It needs to be cheap (~$50 or less) for it to be worth it to people other than professional photographers, and I seriously doubt it will be.
Keep the price down, and either make it not look like crap (by making it either look good, or stark and utilitarian (like a good camera or related equipment should) that is) and you might have a sale ;)
just keep the price sane.
Also: CorpCommander,
i don't see that bieng useful, the idea of GT (afik) is to know where you were, not where the thing is (allthough, they would most likely be so close it wouldn't matter). If i wan't to know where Mt. Fuji is, i'll google the Lat/Long, if I wan't to know the best view, i'd probably check some Geotags.
Just saying.
Paragraph, it would be useful in several scenarios. Here is just one. You show up as a first responder to an oil spill. You take photos of the extents of the spill. You can create a polygon that shows the size of the spill from a series of images. Later you take more photos and you can determine if the spill is getting worse or being contained.
Another Scenario - you come across some artifact and you want to take it's picture and then report it's location, not yours. This can be for personal reasons (photos of monuments you saw on your trip to Prague) or for Emergency response such as the location of a truck that went down a ravine. Sometimes the object you want to image and locate is far away and you can't get to it for some reason.
There are a lot of ways in which this info is useful.
Just saying.
^ dumb ass ^
From TFA: "This Photo Finder works on AA batteries, and then connect it to your GPS device and camera" hmmm that sentence implies you need a separate gps device and this is just some sort of logger/storage?, where as the rest of the description seems to assume it has a gps unit built in.
I'd be really interested in something like this if it does have a gps built in, planning a trip to asia and the pacific in 08 and would love to have all my photos tagged for later viewing :) waiting for a good product with nice battery life though.
What's wrong with the Sony?
http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/02/sonys-gps-cs1-provides-gps-for-cameras/
You need to ask what's wrong with sony? really? common now, really?
sentances sentances sentances
Can't wait to see these photos combined with Flickr and Atlas by Fresh Logic Studios (http://atlas.freshlogicstudios.com)
The Sony device needs a PC to add the GPS data to the images, the article says this ATP device has a card reader or USB port for "on the go" GPS tagging, and a screen. Without knowing the price, the ATP has two advantages so far.
Just remember (for either device) to change your camera's date & time to local, or the coordinates may not match.
spelling spelling spelling
Product website:
http://photofinder.atpinc.com/
Their Australian supplier has it listed for $AUD189 ($USD165)
I've been waiting for something like this, assuming it has the GPS chip and functions built-in and isn't just some sort of card reader thingie.
I'd pay $100 for it if it had the GPS built in.
This looks a lot like a great idea in the making. I say in the making because there is no Canon support and very little Nikon SLR support. I will be interested if this device coming out lowers the cost of "pro" GPS camera tracking devices...
JPO
Camera phones should do this. I want to see one click photos auto uploaded to Flickr with the geotagging auto embedded and then picked up by Flickr. How hard can that be? So why isn't it here yet? (or is it).
I love it.
Looking forward to buy it.
I tried ordering from Borge's Imaging Australia in November 2007.
I'm still waiting for it.
Anyone know where to get this stateside??