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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Any cameras with GPS available yet/soon?

Any cameras with GPS available yet/soon?
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willed
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Apr 23, 2007, 10:48 AM
 
My ancient CyberShot ('is that a huge camera in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?') is due for an update, but I'm not in any hurry as it still works fine. I was wondering, I've heard people mention GPS in cameras as being the next big thing; is this actually trickling down to consumer cameras or is it still a pipe dream? I think it would be a very cool feature. Do you think it's a good idea or would battery drain / privacy issues etc outweigh the benefits?
     
starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 11:43 AM
 
I heard about this great idea a year ago. I'd be interested in this as well.

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Mithras
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Apr 23, 2007, 11:46 AM
 
I think software makes it pretty easy to just have a GPS in your backpack or whatever, and sync up the GPS locations with the camera timestamps. So having two devices is still the norm, I think.
     
Goldfinger
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Apr 23, 2007, 12:11 PM
 
Pipe dream.

Don't see the point for consumers and current batteries aren't up for it. A camera that has a 5h standby time is pointless. A camera needs to last +1000 shots and virtually infinite standby time for me.

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willed  (op)
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Apr 23, 2007, 12:28 PM
 
But hasn't Nokia just brought out a phone with built in GPS? Surely phones are meant to have even longer standby time than cameras, so it may be possible?
     
starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 12:41 PM
 
I think it would be a great idea. The cost of GPS in both manufacturing and battery life has gotten so low there's really no point in NOT doing it.

If you want your camera to last 1000+ shots, then you can turn the GPS off.

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Big Mac
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Apr 23, 2007, 12:56 PM
 
What would be the point of GPS in a camera?

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climber
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Apr 23, 2007, 12:59 PM
 
It marks the location as given by the GPS within each photo. Just like the camera stores infor on exposure, etc.
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Big Mac
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Apr 23, 2007, 01:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by climber View Post
It marks the location as given by the GPS within each photo. Just like the camera stores infor on exposure, etc.
Sounds like a cool but ultimately useless feature unless someone has a special reason for using it.

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mitchell_pgh
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Apr 23, 2007, 01:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by Goldfinger View Post
Pipe dream.

Don't see the point for consumers and current batteries aren't up for it. A camera that has a 5h standby time is pointless. A camera needs to last +1000 shots and virtually infinite standby time for me.
IMHO, it's not a pipe dream... it's going to be a reality before all that long. The batteries are up for it and most users don't need 1000+ shots with infinite standby.

New Zealand's Rakon develops world's smallest GPS receiver - Engadget

I firmly believe that such GPS receivers will start showing up in many places (laptops, cars, cell phones, cameras, etc.) and will be rather useful if appropriately implemented.

Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Sounds like a cool but ultimately useless feature unless someone has a special reason for using it.
Is it useless to know where you took a photo? Sounds as basic as a time stamp, shutter speed, etc. Think if iPhoto had a feature where you could map your photos?
     
Big Mac
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Apr 23, 2007, 01:24 PM
 
Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh View Post
Is it useless to know where you took a photo? Sounds as basic as a time stamp, shutter speed, etc. Think if iPhoto had a feature where you could map your photos?
It could be cool, but usually you have a good idea of where your photos are taken, so I don't particularly see the point.

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Cipher13
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Apr 23, 2007, 01:36 PM
 
I doubt it would be worth it. I would never bother waiting minutes for the GPS device to connect and authenticate.

Too much wasted time.
     
starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 01:56 PM
 
Maybe _I_ know where the picture was taken, but how about if the pictures were passed down over generations, or even posted on a web site today? I think the idea of a GPS in a cam is a wonderful idea.

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willed  (op)
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Apr 23, 2007, 02:54 PM
 
Yeah I think it would be pretty cool. Since I've had my old camera I've travelled round the US East Coast, Israel, the Sinai and all over Europe. It would be pretty cool to be able to see a Google Maps type thing where it flagged the countries/locations where you'd taken pictures and you could click to go to those pictures. I realise you can probably do that sort of thing already with the right software, but it's quite an effort tagging all your photos for this purpose. It would be nice if it did it automatically.
     
Mithras
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Apr 23, 2007, 03:17 PM
 
Two interesting pieces of software:

GPSPhotoLinker: Overview -- uses your GPS log to load geotags into your photos. Then you can (for example) search Spotlight for "Seattle" and get all photos taken there.

iCraig - Software - iPhotoToGoogleEarth -- generates a KMZ file so you can browse through your photos via Google Earth.

For hiking and river trips especially this would be fun. Too bad I don't have a gps...
     
Goldfinger
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Apr 23, 2007, 03:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by willed View Post
But hasn't Nokia just brought out a phone with built in GPS? Surely phones are meant to have even longer standby time than cameras, so it may be possible?
Yup, the N95. And battery life is horrible. Even with the GPS turned off. But then again most Series 60 Nokias have horrible battery life.

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willed  (op)
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Apr 23, 2007, 03:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by Mithras View Post
Two interesting pieces of software:

GPSPhotoLinker: Overview -- uses your GPS log to load geotags into your photos. Then you can (for example) search Spotlight for "Seattle" and get all photos taken there.

iCraig - Software - iPhotoToGoogleEarth -- generates a KMZ file so you can browse through your photos via Google Earth.

For hiking and river trips especially this would be fun. Too bad I don't have a gps...
Cool stuff. You can use it without a GPS if you input the locations through their Geotagger software apparently... but then it's all a bit much effort. It would be great if this was built in to cameras and integrated between iPhoto/Aperture and GoogleEarth. If anyone does it, it'll probably be Apple and Google leading the way.
     
mac128k-1984
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Apr 23, 2007, 03:49 PM
 
Seems like a useless add-on to charge more of a camera.
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starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 03:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by mac128k-1984 View Post
Seems like a useless add-on to charge more of a camera.
You mean like timestamping?

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Apr 23, 2007, 04:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by starman View Post
You mean like timestamping?
I think cameras that print the time/date on the picture actually cost less.

If you mean exif data, that's another story. But you do realize you are comparing apples and oranges right?
     
starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 04:08 PM
 
I'm saying that GPS costs significantly less than it used to and it's not such a stupid idea. You have the capability of saving WHEN, why not WHERE?

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residentEvil
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Apr 23, 2007, 04:13 PM
 
ah, but a photo does say WHERE

picture is worth a 1000 words remember?

     
Mithras
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Apr 23, 2007, 04:26 PM
 
Here's an example, kind of:

A few years ago my dad got his Colorado River permit (after a 12-year wait!), and we led a 20-day trip with a bunch of friends. I tagged most of our photos with the river mile, so you can scroll down a map of the river, with rapids and side canyons marked, seeing the pictures as you go:



Colorado River photos, by river mile


It was fun, but it was a pain in the arse, and geotagging would have been awesome.
     
Teronzhul
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Apr 23, 2007, 04:32 PM
 
I think I would prefer something more along the lines of a camera with bluetooth and a separate bluetooth enabled gps unit. It would be pretty sweet to have the gps functionality though for picture location. I like the idea.
     
King Bob On The Cob
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Apr 23, 2007, 04:39 PM
 
A ton of cell phones in the US have GPS at this point (I know all new Sprint phones will), perhaps bluetooth to the phone to grab your location?
     
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Apr 23, 2007, 05:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by King Bob On The Cob View Post
A ton of cell phones in the US have GPS at this point (I know all new Sprint phones will), perhaps bluetooth to the phone to grab your location?
Or just download the steam of time and location captures and sync with the photo timestamp?
     
mac128k-1984
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Apr 23, 2007, 07:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by starman View Post
You mean like timestamping?
Time stamping is a useful add on, GPS is not. Gee, am I in my living room, or my dining room when I took that picture, oh wait let use my in camera GPS.

I've taken photos all over the continent, from Canada to Mexico and I've never once wondered, thought of or needed some sort of gps for my pictures.
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SSharon
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Apr 23, 2007, 09:17 PM
 
I agree that this would be useful for future generations or for sharing online. I could see some benefit to searching google image for 'boot' or something and then specifying only pics from the US so I get pics of shoes instead of car trunks.
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- - e r i k - -
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Apr 23, 2007, 10:02 PM
 
Geotagging photos is immensly useful. I guess if you never leave your house you won't need it, but for the traveller it's awesome.

Check my geotagged photos here:
Flickr: Explore Erik K Veland's geotagged photos on a Map

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starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 10:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by mac128k-1984 View Post
Time stamping is a useful add on, GPS is not. Gee, am I in my living room, or my dining room when I took that picture, oh wait let use my in camera GPS.

I've taken photos all over the continent, from Canada to Mexico and I've never once wondered, thought of or needed some sort of gps for my pictures.
You need to think outside the box.

My grandparents passed away recently and there were a TON of pictureswe found that we had no idea where they were taken or when.

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starman
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Apr 23, 2007, 10:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - View Post
Geotagging photos is immensly useful. I guess if you never leave your house you won't need it, but for the traveller it's awesome.

Check my geotagged photos here:
Flickr: Explore Erik K Veland's geotagged photos on a Map
Badass.

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willed  (op)
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Apr 24, 2007, 04:51 AM
 
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - View Post
Geotagging photos is immensly useful. I guess if you never leave your house you won't need it, but for the traveller it's awesome.

Check my geotagged photos here:
Flickr: Explore Erik K Veland's geotagged photos on a Map
Very cool, just the sort of thing I was thinking about. I would love it if that was all done automatically, but it sounds like that's not going to happen for a few years.
     
ghporter
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Apr 24, 2007, 08:19 AM
 
However one gets the GPS data into the camera, having a GPS stamp on digital images WOULD be useful in a lot of situations. Not photo contests, but what about people who simply want to remember "where were we when you took that picture?" Or even "was that facing west in the afternoon or east in the morning?" It would be a very nice thing to have.

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Apr 24, 2007, 09:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
However one gets the GPS data into the camera, having a GPS stamp on digital images WOULD be useful in a lot of situations. Not photo contests, but what about people who simply want to remember "where were we when you took that picture?" Or even "was that facing west in the afternoon or east in the morning?" It would be a very nice thing to have.
it would be nice if they made a way for the camera to make two copies of the pictures. One with the stamp, and one without
     
mac128k-1984
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Apr 24, 2007, 09:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
However one gets the GPS data into the camera, having a GPS stamp on digital images WOULD be useful in a lot of situations. Not photo contests, but what about people who simply want to remember "where were we when you took that picture?" Or even "was that facing west in the afternoon or east in the morning?" It would be a very nice thing to have.
Maybe I'm in the minority but I tend to remember where I shoot and short of the geek factor of adding the gps to the camera I'm still not seeing a need.

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock View Post
it would be nice if they made a way for the camera to make two copies of the pictures. One with the stamp, and one without
The date stamp is in the exif, so you should be able to use that.
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climber
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Apr 24, 2007, 11:47 AM
 
You could also use GPS data to search for all photos in your library that you have taken in a particular geographic area. Combined with Goggle earth or some other maping program you could quite easily find that one of Old Faithful out of 4,000 you took at yellowstone last summer.
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Apr 24, 2007, 01:20 PM
 
What's wrong with you people? Just because YOU don't see the need, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be an option. Dadgum. I guarantee 95% of people posting in this thread don't use 50% of their camera's features -- so should the unused ones be removed?

OH WAIT! They already do that with LOWER-PRICED cameras. And wait -- HIGHER-PRICED cameras have more features! D'oh! Maybe since GPS is a feature only high-end photogs will use, it'll only come with HIGH-PRICED cameras. Hopefully the Camera Cabal won't force all the point-n-shoots to buy such fancy new things!!11!
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Apr 24, 2007, 02:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by RAILhead View Post
What's wrong with you people? Just because YOU don't see the need, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be an option. Dadgum. I guarantee 95% of people posting in this thread don't use 50% of their camera's features -- so should the unused ones be removed?

OH WAIT! They already do that with LOWER-PRICED cameras. And wait -- HIGHER-PRICED cameras have more features! D'oh! Maybe since GPS is a feature only high-end photogs will use, it'll only come with HIGH-PRICED cameras. Hopefully the Camera Cabal won't force all the point-n-shoots to buy such fancy new things!!11!
You know, it's kind of funny, but as I saw the thread listed on the main page I thought "You know, my camera has a ton of features I don't use, might as well add GPS and a feature that allows me to type text onto the picture labeling items of interest."

I guess I am in the camp of add GPS now. But just like the flash, I will probably use it every 10,000 pictures or so.

If they can add it cheaply to a $50 phone, they can add it cheaply to a $200 camera.
     
ghporter
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Apr 24, 2007, 09:01 PM
 
I have a CF GPS card that is VERY useful, but only on a supported device (like a computer with a PC card slot or a PDA with a CF slot). But to have something (not too complicated and not too many cables) that would provide GPS data to a camera when I wanted it would be very, VERY handy.

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Apr 25, 2007, 05:39 AM
 
Sony has a keyring dongle that does this. I've seen it used with the Sony Alpha D-SLR but I imagine you could use it with any camera. It's Windows only unfortunately. Here's a review.

Sony GPS tracker for photographers: Digital Photography Review
     
nerd
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Apr 25, 2007, 11:12 AM
 
Someone has a posting in the Aperture forums at Apple saying how it has his Sony dongle working. I would love to have this built into Aperture/iPhoto. I take a few road trips a year for work and I've already forgotten where I've taken a few photos.
     
starman
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:09 PM
 
(skirting the 6 month limit)

Apparently, GPS cameras are going to be announced/released at CES in January. Not such a stupid idea, is it?

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Laminar
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:16 PM
 
IT SUCKS. I WOULDN'T USE IT SO NO ONE SHOULD.
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:21 PM
 
Just another way for big brother to keep an eye on you.
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mdc
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:29 PM
 
Having the data stamped into EXIF would be nice.
Whenever I import a photo into iPhoto I use keywords to assign it a location and who is in it. My iPhoto library is very searchable because of that. Having GPS coordinates already in the photo would be one less manual step.
     
Dakar the Fourth
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:31 PM
 
I could see some type of google maps integration with that data.
     
MacosNerd
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:45 PM
 
So a camera with a GPS built in, sounds a little like feature creep - at first blush at least. On further contemplation, it could be a good idea. I'll have to see how it plays out before I jump on the bandwagon. Of course my D70 is working well enough anyways so its unlikely I'll be needing to upgrade that in the near future.
     
Jens Peter
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Dec 4, 2007, 03:48 PM
 
We just talked about this at work today, over the lunch

I think it would be a good feature to have, I like to have my photos geotagged and currently when uploading to Flickr, its a slow manual process. But when it's finished, it great!

But when I look in iPhoto, select a picture and press the apple-key+i, there is a "GPS Latitude", "GPS Longitude" and "GPS Altitude" so is iPhoto GPS-enabled already?

My Flickr map.
     
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Dec 5, 2007, 03:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth View Post
I could see some type of google maps integration with that data.
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Dakar the Fourth
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Dec 5, 2007, 09:19 AM
 
Not exactly what I was thinking, but cool none the less.
     
 
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