Cyclopark Update - July 2011 images of the development

Cyclopark Update - July 2011 images of the development are now available to view at:  ImageSouthEast

Cyclopark in Kent - geotagged images of develolment

I recently had the opportunity to geophotograph the new cycling facility development in NW Kent, UK called Cyclopark.

The images can be seen here:

http://imagesoutheast.smugmug.com/



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Casio to launch a GPS camera that geotags indoors !

During my career in the avionics industry one of the companies I worked for designed and manufactured electro-mechanical inertial navigation systems for military aircraft. Back in the 80s the leading edge systems began to integrate with the map display for the crew to see details of their route and mission waypoints. Wind forward 20 or so years and that technology is placed in the palm of your hand for geophotography (photography with geotags).

The new CASIO Exilim EX-H20G camera, due on sale in the US in November 2010, features a Hybrid-GPS sensor which augments the normal GPS data feed with indoor tracking information maintained by a chip based motion sensor. So the location data for the photographic geotags is maintained upto date by an estimated position calculated from the speed and acceleration observbed by the motion sensors similar to my in-car gps which continues to track location as I drive through the Dartford tunnel under the Thames.

All the usual compact digital camera features are included and these are summarised at Photographyblog and it should deliver good quality images if my other Exlim camera was anythiong to go by. There are detailed spec sheets and more info at Imaging Resource .

It will be the first such system available to geotaggers and will succeed if the GPS start up time is short and both outdoor and indoor locations are accurate. See the full CASIO USA Press Release here.

Nikon give up on built in GPS - Nikon P7000

The previous high end compact from Nikon, the P6000 had a built in GPS. Although it had a slow initial GPS lock problem it was an extremely portable, convenient and capable way to do geotagged photography.

The replacement camera, the P7000, has removed this feature - disappointing Nikon. The only manufacturer with the vision to include NMEA serial GPS interface capability to it's high end digital SLRs has tried once and given up on a compact camera with built in GPS. As a previously confirmed Nikon SLR user I'm sorry to say that it is time for us to take a closer look at the Panasonic Lumix offerings such as the DMC-TZ10 with "Travel Mode" GPS built in.

User review of Sony GPS logger

During a summer holiday visit to the beautiful atlantic island of Madeira I had the chance to try out my Sony GPS-CS3KA GPS unit. I am in the process of preparing the images for upload to my SmugMug pages but initial checks using GoogleEarth show excellent accuracy of location for shots taken on a Panasonic Lumix G1 with no built in GPS capability.

Notable benefits are the usefulness with any camera, the ease of use of the simple menu structure and the speed of GPS lock. Initial location times when turned on were much quicker than the Nikon P6000 with built in GPS. This reduces the time before geotagged photos can be taken. A great benefit when on an organised minibus tour of the West of the island where location stops were often brief.

The only drawback is the 64 shot limit on tags. Before the 64 tag memory is exceeded it is necessary to remove the SD card from the camera and insert it into the Sony GPS logger so at can associate shots and geotags using timestamp data (previously synchronised by the user on camera and logger menus). The transfer was speedy and trouble free.

I'd recommend this system for anyone who has a camera without built in  GPS or without the GPS interfaces of Nikon high end SLRs. Although the Sony advertising for this product implies that it only works for it's own Cybershot cameras, it should work with any digital camera shooting JPEGs and using SD card image storage.

Eye-Fi gives Wi-Fi geotagging in a simple SD card add on

Newly released this summer is the Eye-Fi Explore X2. This tiny device doubles as a replacement SD card for any camera giving wi-fi connectivity and a basic wi-fi sensed geotagging capability. Take a look at this introductory video clip.

GPS-enabled phone artist

Wow - take a look at this GPS art.