Automatic Geotagging with GPS Compact Flash Card
By Brian Auer • November 26th, 2007
Geotagging photos is a great way to add another level of organization to your photo collection, but it can be quite time consuming if done manually. There are devices you can carry with you that record your location while shooting so you can sync up your images after the fact and apply geotag information, but that’s still extra work and those devices can cost more than a memory card. Some cameras have GPS and geotagging built-in, but it’s far from mainstream.
A new company, Geo-Card, has come up with a different solution to geotagging photos on-the-fly. These new Compact Flash cards have a built-in GPS receiver and microcontroller that automatically inserts geotag information right into your photos as they are written to the card — and they’re fast enough to keep up with even the fastest of cameras at 15fps. The cards are available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities.
The GPS receiver and microcontroller fit snugly inside the standard CF card shell, so it’s compatible with any camera that accepts Compact Flash cards. The GPS receiver has 20-channel support, and has a very low power consumption. The microcontroller also has low power consumption, and the firmware can be updated by plugging the card into any card reader — which allows for updates and support for future camera models.
WHERE CAN YOU GET ONE?
You can’t… I made everything up; these cards don’t really exist — and if they do, I don’t know about them. I’m sure that the technology isn’t that far off, and you might expect to see something like this within the next couple of years. I do know that as soon as somebody makes one that works, I’m all over it.
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from San Diego, California. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
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You almost got me here Brian
Being a techno geek I was surprised that I missed this one …
BTW one of the easiest way to geotag is to get one of those GPS built specially for photography and they are not that expensive (starts at $100) here is one
Yeah, but wouldn’t this be way cool? No extra work, just take the picture.
I’ve been very much considering picking up one of those “pocket” gps trackers… maybe Santa will bring me one.
Hehe I’ve asked wife santa for one too, I just have to be a good boy now
A while back there was a device you could attached to your flash hot shoe.
A quick search to jostle my memory comes up with the JOBO PhotoGPS
http://www.cameratown.com/news/news.cfm/hurl/id%7C3758
Frankly I’m not convinced I need GPS coordinates for every shot.
To your idea it’d be neat, but it sure wouldn’t work for that small a device… not yet. GPS tracking can be really challenging even with a full size antenna. Perhaps sometime in the future
I think you’re right Jim — the antenna is the hard part. I’ve seen GPS receiver chips that measure 5mm x 5mm x .8mm, but without the antenna.
On my wish list Brian
I was taken in by this post. how very evil. I have a device that while it doesn’t automatically add the GPS data on the memory card it does add geotagging data to the photo very easily. I’m giving one away on my blog in December. The device is a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr and it works great. I’ve done many photowalks while using it.
I love this idea. Perhaps you can submit a patent application for it. There is already SD card with wifi. Many cell phones have GPS unit. It may be possible to get a GPS into a CF card.
Max
I thought about the patent thing, but it’s such a pain in the butt — plus I don’t have the money for it.
I saw that wifi SD card a little while back — that’s really impressive! I’ve also seen an entire Linux computer crammed into a CF card, so almost anything is possible.
When they come out…I am buying!
Blast you, Brian Auer.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-cameras/sony-gpscs1-tags-photos-with-location-191454.php
Leave it to Sony….
The Canon 40D has a USB connection to connect devices. This review gives the suggestion that a GPS and other USB devices can be connectted to the camera. The wireless grip
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E40D/E40DA.HTM
Here is another acticle on GPS tagged photos.
http://akuaku.org/archives/2003/05/gps_tagged_jpeg.shtml
You could always carry a second gps camera and just take a casual picture to mark the spot.
um… 2003!
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03022601ricohi700g.asp
” This one supports the CFGPS2 Compact Flash GPS card from I-O Data”
Close, but not exactly what I was describing. That camera uses a GPS Flash card, yes. But those GPS CF cards are ONLY GPS units and they have a big bulky chunk of extra hardware hanging off of them. That type of technology is on the right track, they just need to keep making it smaller until it all fits inside the standard card footprint.
My pulse went up… then down reading this Brain
I’d thought for a moment I’d missed a key development here! I guess one problem would be that if you changed cameras you likely couldn’t migrate it e.g. if the new camera has SD. The real advantage of data loggers, as I’ve been researching is that they are platform-independent. They work with your dSLR, your point-and-click (who carries their dSLR everywhere?), and your smart phone.
I am really surprised Brian how i missed reporting on this one. Nice post there.
I didn’t realize they made compact cards such as this. I have only recently gotten into GPS. My wife is an avid photographer I can see where she would really like to have something like this. Thanks.
It didn’t even take a year from your joke post:
http://www.eye.fi/products/explore/
It’s not GPS geotagging, but I believe it uses wi-fi triangluation to determine position. So you’re rather limited as to where the geotagging will work. It can’t be too long though till we see full-on GPS technology like this!