Hello, Straightdopers; AMAPAC here.
I’d like to be able to take a picture and have the camera automatically annotate the GPS coordinates of the spot where the picture was taken.
Does anyone know of a camera that will do this?
Thanks…AMAPAC
Also the Nikon Coolpix P6000.
Its not actually a camera , but my ipaq 6955 does this in camera mode.
Declan
The iPhone does this, but may not meet your needs – as it’s more than just a camera, and the quality of the camera is not suitable for anything beyond everyday photo snapping.
Nikon has a GPS accessory to their line of dSLR’s:
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Photography-Accessories/Miscellaneous/25396/GP-1-GPS-Unit.html
Another option is to use a separate GPS unit which can record the path travelled, and then use a program to attach the GPS longitude and latitude to the picture’s EXIF information by correlating the image timestamps with the recorded path. I think there are simple programs that can do this for you. It’s a good option if you already have a working GPS unit and don’t want to waste money on a new one.
http://www.gisteq.com/PhotoTrackr/PhotoTrackrDPL700.php
They have other models but I own this one and love it. You just carry it in your pocket or backpack while you take pictures with any camera (heck, even your cellphone) and when you get home, their not quite elegant software geotags all the pics.
Cheap and efficient.
It does eat some batteries, though. One AA per 10 hour day is my routine.
Sony has one too - works with any digital camera (not just Sony brand):
On a somewhat related note, the Eye-Fi Explore SD card works with any SD-accepting camera and geotags by triangulating nearby Wi-Fi hotspots. Not as precise or available as GPS, but still kinda neat! Oh, it also automatically uploads pictures to the Internet anytime you’re near a hotspot.
I’ve used quite a few combinations of camera/GPS hardware to do this, including some higher-end GPS receivers. I’ve yet to see a camera that works well as a camera and a GPS. Admittedly, my own interest is more oriented toward precise positioning, so I’m not up on the latest DSLRs and the casual user that just wants to use this to figure where the hell they were last night might be OK with the iPhone level of geotagging.
As far as tagging images in the field, Ricoh (bluetooth) and Nikon (wi-fi) cameras have radios that can send images to a GPS-enabled phone/pocket PC/computer. And camera-enabled phones/PDAs can get GPS info from internal or external GPS. (Per the OP, ignoring solutions that rely on wi-fi hotspots or cell towers for locational information.)
The more popular solution, as mentioned by several posters, is to use a separate camera and GPS, with GPS coordinate annotation done at a later date via timestamp information. This allows a much greater selection of cameras, including digital SLRs.
Consumer GPS chips have improved significantly with regard to accuracy/$ in the past 5 years, and the various GPS logging “puck” devices that have been mentioned upthread work fairly well. I’m not familiar with the PhotoTrackr device mentioned by Sapo, but I question the manufacturer’s claim that “user can carry it inside a backpack without worrying about the loss of satellite reception”. A GPS receiver that is powered by the hotshoe of the camera, thus exposed when the camera is in use, is a pretty neat idea, so long as the photographer makes sure that the device has a view of the sky long enough to get a fix prior to shooting. Maybe a DSLR with this option and EXIF tagging already exists, IDK.
Consumer geotagging pucks usually come with proprietary software that tags images with EXIF lat/long coordinates based on a GPS log input file. Though bells and whistles may be different, they work on synchronization of camera and GPS clocks.
My preference is a bespoke handheld GPS. With a hand held you can add your own maps to the display and record more descriptional info (waypoints) for photo shoots. With a puck, you have no feedback about your position fix/quality other than maybe a few blinking lights.
For software, MS Pro Photo Tools 2 is a free download and works pretty well if you have a GPX file from when your photos were taken. The program has a time slider to adjust the timestamp/GPS clock info.
Much to my surprise, their claim is quite right. My previous experience with GPS devices was that getting a signal was a real pain, but this one just keeps it all day long, no matter what I am doing.
When I am doing footwork, it is often in a pocket of my pants. If I am doing roadwork, I just leave it inside the center console of my truck and forget about it. So it is keeping the signal inside the console inside the car. I am sure that a backpack is not a problem for it.
The one feature I miss, as you mentioned, is the ability to mark a point. I normally just take a random photo to map a spot, but I would love to be able to do that without turning on the camera.
As for the feedback I get from the device, blinking green means all is well, blinking red means “guess what’s the problem for I am not telling”. Fortunately, blinking red is not a common thing.
The most common complaint I have heard about this device is about the durability of the casing. I am extremely fastidious in taking care of my stuff, so after 10,000 miles of work it is looking just as new. The fact that it stays in the car most of the time helps a lot, of course.
@Sapo
If the accuracy is good enough, sounds like a good product. Do you know what file format is recorded? Website says 16 bytes binary data per record for logging but not what format.
I confess I haven’t even bothered to look where the files are stored. I just let their software tag the jpegs and that’s good enough for me.
Accuracy is fairly good. You get best results in Google Earth, but how they show in google maps is good enough for me. I get different readings in all four corners of my small enough backyard.