Nikon's geotagging GP-1 dongle now available

When we asked how you'd change Nikon's 720p-recording D90 DSLR, many of you globe-trotting photogs let out wistful sighs, gazed at the brightest star, and wished with all your might for automatic geotagging of photos. Like some trickster genie, Nikon is granting your wishes, but we're not sure the GP-1 GPS add-on is exactly what you had in mind. It slots into the hot-shoe on most cameras (clipping onto the strap for a few) and uses an unwieldy looking cable to connect to the body of your D200, D3, D700, D90, D300, or D3X. We can't say that we're particularly fond of the device's means of indicating status, either: red blinky light = no satellites; green blinky = three satellites; green solid = four satellites or more. C'mon Nikon, for $240 you couldn't integrate that cable into a hand strap and put more than two LEDs up in there?

[Via Gadget Lab]

[olas polare @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:52AM]

clowns
why not let it communicate with the camera... THROUGH THE HOTSHOE!?

[atomicthumbs @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:09AM]

Because the hotshoe is for flash synchronization and not general data, maybe?

[SITEiNK @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:33PM]

you got it right. the shoe is actually only for flash sync purposes.
aside form the less than ideal way of attachment, the GP-1 is a really great and fairly accurate device.
Another great addition to an already outstanding camera range.
If your looking for a DSLR, stop by a local retailer that lets you hold the camera and test out it's options before you decide.

[Stoned Hippy @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:59AM]

No love for the D60?

[Jay @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:04AM]

How about some D80 support?

[SITEiNK @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:38PM]

unfortunately, the D80 does not have the GPS connector that the other units have, so there is little hope for support on this camera.

[DJCalarco @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:07AM]

It must just be a GPS thing, because I use a $50,000 gps unit for work, and the status light is one led that blinks fast for 3 or less satellites, and slow for 4 or more.

[ernest @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:23AM]

My most missed feature for this type of devices is always a compass! It would be awesome if Nikon (or Canon, so I don't have to get a new camera) would include a digital compass in this thing. Some calibration would, of course, be needed, but if you are interested in the position of the thing you're shooting the data is worth _a lot_ more when both position and direction are included.

[Vagrant @ Dec 2nd 2008 7:03PM]

When I need to know the direction of which way I'm facing, I would look at the mini compass I carry and make a note using whatever device, or pencil & paper. Unfortunately, the GPS just isn't going to know which way you're facing, only your last heading.

This is great that Nikon got this going. I'm having to do it the old fashioned way with my Canon and use my cell phone camera sometimes with GPS data embedded in the EXIF.

Still, one has to worry about line of sight to the sky. Trees and leaves play havoc, but again my cell phone does one better as it can use it's built-in GPS, as well as the external Bluetooth GPS I carry.

[csmitty @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:34AM]

i thought the gps support was built in. or atleast thats what they advertised. i guess that meant it could with the correct hardware. kinda silly. I dont see the need to know exactly where i took the picture (as if the picture couldn't tell where it was) for $240. I'd rather put that to a lens and name the album where i took the pictures.

[schmitty338 @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:39PM]

...just because YOU don't see the need to know where you took a picture doesn't mean thousands, nigh, millions of others would love to know where all their pictures are taken.

Especially for professional applications. For example, wildlife photographers, you can't tell exactly where that picture of a rare animal/plant was just from a picture full of plants, the geotagging info would be a lot of help.

How about Journalists? A journalist in the field will likely be snapping thousands of pictures a day while traveling...you think he/she is going to remember where all of those pictures were taken? Normally they would have to record this information manually.

There are MANY people who could benefit from geotagging systems

[Aigarius @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:37AM]

And how do you connect a flash there? It should have a hot-shoo or a built-in flash master.

[ike @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:31PM]

The device can also clip on to the neck strap.

[DugB @ Dec 2nd 2008 11:58AM]

I use a DiGPS unit with my D300...it can be mounted on the hotshoe (though is still interfaced to the camera via the 10-pin connector, like this Nikon unit) BUT the hotshoe mount also has a slot for putting it on the strap (what I do, since it's the only way to use it with the pop-up flash).

There are a bunch of GPS solutions out there...the DiGPS is really nice, and they have good customer service (they sent me 2 additional clips for free when my original broke - mainly because I screwed with it).

There's also the Red Hen unit, which mounts right on the 10-pin connector but receives signals from external Bluetooth GPS receivers.

Also, search for homebrew options - there are many (and many can be had for way less than Nikon's new solution).

Good luck!
- DugB

[VampireHunter Z @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:02PM]

$240 for what pen and paper can do? Even if you take 100 pictures they are probably going to be in the same location. Basically multiple shots per location. It's really not that much work to write it down and then copy and paste to metadata.

[Josh @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:38PM]

It's a handy little device.. but it's very expensive considering that all it's doing is logging coordinates. If it was nearer the $100-150 mark then more likely. But at that price range i'd rather buy a new lens.

And there are lots of situations where you can't remember where you took the photo. Especially if you're on holiday, if you're taking fairly ambiguous photos like in forests that all basically look the same, abstract photos, etc. Though gps in the woods is a bad example.. =P

[sirabhinav @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:03PM]

fail! just use gmaps on your cellphone - write down the location in a small notebook..go home and geotag!
spend the $240 on a new/used lens!

[Joseph @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:51PM]

Some of us would pay $240 to not have to manually geotag. Guess it all depends on your workflow and time. For me, my time is worth more than that. I used to do everything myself. Buy plumbing tools, figure out how to do it myself. Buy powertools, do it myself. As a designer and photographer, i can spend my time making money and pay someone else less to do it. If my work required geotagging, $300 is a small price to pay for a nikon approved piece of gear.

[SNasta @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:14PM]

I like the GPS geocoding on the camera. It's kinda fun to have the exact location rather than the approximate. If you use Lightroom you just click a button and it takes you to the exact location on Google Maps. That being said there are a bunch of hotshoe GPS' that integrate with Nikon's. I used Geomet'rs hotshoe GPS for 10 days in Maine and it worked flawlessly (if you care I put up a short story on Gadgetguys.com)

[Nick @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:16PM]

Ermm... I don't wait a GPS pumping radiation into my forehead thanks... :\

[Mike @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:26PM]

It's a GPS receiver. Any radiation it receives is already pumping into your forehead from the satellite. This device doesn't emit anything. Unless the LED is REALLY bright :)

[Josh @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:39PM]

Do you own a mobile phone? Going to be a helluva lot worse =D

Did you know that GPS can make your ears bleed if you're not careful? True story.

[Razor @ Dec 13th 2008 1:54PM]

Wow, I think that is the dimmest comment I've ever seen.

[Sean @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:21PM]

For $240 this thing should also be giving me turn-by-turn directions to my next photo shoot.

[Trent @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:35PM]

with live traffic.

[asdffdsa @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:23PM]

should be built into the camera.

I'm sure we'll see this soon.

[farfisa @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:21PM]

So you can know EXACTLY where everybody asked you "what's that on yer camera?"

[Bob S. @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:12PM]

I don't understand what's with the haters. Don't you realize how much better Ansel Adams' photos would have been if they'd included longitude and latitude to 10 decimal places?

[Nuclear Fire @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:35PM]

Hey Canon, wake up and get something like this out for your customers. We're feeling a bit lonely.

[jakjak @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:10PM]

Anyone has any experience using this one from Unidech?
http://unidech.com/
It has compass features that most of the camera GPS unit doesn't.

[SolidState @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:46PM]

Wouldn't be better to just put a bluetooth wireless link on the camera? Just pair the camera with your cell phone to get GPS data from phone. Most cell phone comes with a GPS these days and get better with each generation. Using the cell phone for location would also have the option to use approximation from cell towers if GPS is not available, ex in side buildings.

The bluetooth link also gives you the option to send the picture in real-time, of course a low resolution picture.

Also, it would be nice if I could get a video camera with geo tagging.

[sam @ Dec 7th 2008 2:41PM]

That just makes to much sense

[Razor @ Dec 13th 2008 1:57PM]

How would Nikon make and money from that?

[Kenneth @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:27PM]

Anyone know if there are other GPS units that works with D90?

[Johan. Peeters @ Dec 3rd 2008 3:35AM]

You should try the Jobo PhotoGPS which mounts on the hot shoe as well, works with any hotshoe camera so not only the Nikons. Cost is $159 and the rechargeable battery last forever. Always ready and no start-up time (cold starts in

[kio @ Dec 3rd 2008 3:59AM]

Hi
just a question :
if you shoot an object which is about 50 meters away from you, what does the dongle tag ? the object or the shooter ?! uh ? and what about objects at 1 km away ?

If ever you know some device that tags the object (based on the focus ? or alike), please tell me.

tks

[Crispin @ Dec 3rd 2008 4:44AM]

Why pay for this? I knocked one together for £30 ($60) the same weekend I got my D200. They chew up your battery though as the cam never goes into standby.

[sventyfour @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:57AM]

, no hand strap or hot shoe and cancer qq :( Geotagging still awesome, especially for field science work.