"July 28, 2010, 12:33 pm
Why Don’t More Cameras Offer GPS?
By RIK FAIRLIE
I’ve seen a lot of new point-and-shoot cameras over the past couple of weeks as camera makers announce their new summer lineups. A few have demonstrated solid new improvements that should deliver better photos. But one feature that I had been hoping to see — a built-in GPS receiver for geo-tagging photos — wasn’t offered on a single new camera.
Sony’s Cyber-shot HX5V is one of the few cameras available with built-in GPS.Built-in GPS is particularly useful this time of year when people are traveling a bit more than usual and snapping photos of trips, family events and summer sports. GPS lets you capture the exact location (latitude and longitude coordinates) where each image was snapped; photo-editing software like iPhoto, Picasa, Lightroom, and Photoshop Elements can automatically interpret the geo-tags and plot the photos on a map. It’s a very cool way to view your photo collection, and it also can help you retrace your steps to find that out-of-the-way hotel in Rome you raved about five years ago.
A few cameras with built-in GPS have been available for a year or two, including the Sony Cyber-shot HX5V, the Nikon Coolpix P6000 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7. But camera makers say they haven’t adopted widespread use of GPS radios in cameras because it’s expensive — it can add almost $100 to the cost of a camera — and because users haven’t really demanded the feature. Camera manufacturers see GPS as a niche market.
You can add GPS capabilities to existing cameras by purchasing add-on adapters for D.S.L.R. cameras or stand-alone devices that work with any camera. They work, but they are extra gear to lug around.
The easiest way to add GPS capabilities to an existing camera — without having to carry anything extra — is by using an Eye-Fi Geo X2, Explore X2, or Pro X2. These SD cards not only have a Wi-Fi radio that enables them to automatically upload photos to your computer or a photo-sharing site like Flickr, but they also have a geo-tagging feature that adds location coordinates to the image’s EXIF data.
The Eye-Fi cards don’t use GPS satellites to determine coordinates, however. They rely on triangulation of data from Skyhook Wireless Wi-Fi networks. That means the Skyhook network probably won’t work in most remote locations, where there are no Wi-Fi networks.
Until camera makers put GPS receivers in mainstream cameras, the Eye-Fi cards are the simplest way to pinpoint locations where photos are taken. If geo-tagging photos is important to you, they’re worth looking into."
I don't have one, but would be interesting to have one. I have so many slides that I have not marked as to time or place. Having gone digital, GPS coords would be nice, but not necessary as the timestamp would group photos for me, and hopefully I would have a wide shot of where I was at, or be able to interpolate between photos.
There's some free software that allows you to take the GPS data from the logs of a hand held GPS, then add that data into your photos by matching up the time stamps. It's fast, it's free, it works with any camera (including raw images) and you have a mapping hand held GPS to help you get around while you're out hiking or out on vacation.
This way, you'll never accidentally upload a photo from around your house with Geo data in the EXIF like you might with the cameras with built in GPSs, or smart phones.
I think it's a bad thing, but hey, it's coming soon enough, so get used to it. GPS will be ubiquitous in any device fairly soon, and with everyone getting used to location stuff thanks to Foursquare (and Facebook's new rip-off) it's only a matter of time before everyone's updating their location online as a matter of course.
The divide we currently enjoy between IRL and OTI isn't going to last forever, sadly.
Talks | TEDx
Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world
"About this talk
By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web -- building a "social layer" on top of the real world. At TEDxBoston, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce."
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This way, you'll never accidentally upload a photo from around your house with Geo data in the EXIF like you might with the cameras with built in GPSs, or smart phones.
The divide we currently enjoy between IRL and OTI isn't going to last forever, sadly.
Talks | TEDx
Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world
"About this talk
By now, we're used to letting Facebook and Twitter capture our social lives on the web -- building a "social layer" on top of the real world. At TEDxBoston, Seth Priebatsch looks at the next layer in progress: the "game layer," a pervasive net of behavior-steering game dynamics that will reshape education and commerce."
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.html