Have you ever wished you could remember exactly where you were when you took that beautiful seashore photo? Or how about trying to explain how to get to the perfect picnic spot you discovered along that scenic river? Or, maybe you simply want to get back to that remote campsite where you accidentally left your iPad!
If any of those scenarios sound familiar, you are probably a candidate for a GPS-enabled camera. Once you start adding GPS metadata to your photos, you’ll be surprised at all the unexpected advantages it can offer.
Years ago, however, adding metadata was at best - a pain. It used to be a matter of carrying a GPS device and then taking readings at each place you took a photo, so you could come back home and try to match them correctly. One lost note and you didn’t know which GPS coordinate went with which photo, not to mention the chance of error when typing in long and cryptic GPS coordinates.
Now, that’s all a thing of the past. With today’s accessories and software, it can all be done automatically, or with a couple clicks of your mouse.
I recently had the opportunity to test drive a number of GPS devices in conjunction with some specialized software from GeoSpatial Experts in Thornton, Colorado. Their GPS-Photo Link software is used extensively by law enforcement, government, oil & gas, rescue and natural resource management groups around the world. With a simple “wizard-like” menu progression, you are stepped through the process and then presented with a wealth of output possibilities.
The software packages start around $149 and go up to the “do-all” master package - GIS Pro Series for $349.00. That was the one I used, and I must admit to being quit impressed with all the options it presented. Watch the video to see how easily the output files were created.
The new version 5.0 outputs to ESRI Enterprise Geodatabases, Access files and PDF files as well as the ESRI Shape Files, Google Earth, Word and Web pages available in previous versions. In addition, the new interface is more interactive, allowing users to apply a variety of mapping functions to their photo project and preview the results on a live digital map before generating the final output.
That’s all well and good, but how do you get the GPS data needed to go with your photos, you ask? Actually, there are a number of options. The first and simplest method is to attach a GPS sensor to your camera if there is one available. I tested the Nikon GP-1 unit on a number of my Nikon DSLR’s. It was as simple as inserting the unit in the hot shoe atop my camera and plugging in it’s cord to the Nikon 10-pin connector on the front of my camera.
Once plugged in, I merely had to wait for the unit to detect the GPS satellites above me, and when the green light came on, I was ready to shoot. Waiting time ranged from 15 to 75 seconds depending on location, cloud cover, etc. Usually it was on the lesser end of that range. The GPS data was then automatically included in each of the photos I shot and was ready for plotting as soon as I downloaded them to my computer.
Read page two of this article by clicking here.
Doug Bardwell, based in Cleveland, OH, writes about interesting new travel technology topics, across the country and around the world. Feel free to drop him a line at travel.dougbardwell@gmail.com with suggestions for future products to be reviewed. If you've ever used one of the products he's reviewed, please leave your thoughts in the comment box below. To get his stories delivered to your inbox, click the RSS feed or the "Subscribe" button above.
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