Simplifying geo-tagging of your digital images

Geo-tagging of photo images, or embedding the coordinates of the location a picture was taken at, recorded by a global positioning satellite receiver, is not new though still quite rare. Until now, the data log recorded by a GPS receiver needed to be synchronised with a folder of image files, with the recorded coordinates matched up to the right photo using date/time comparison.

The process involved downloading both coordinates log file and the images onto a computer and then running the synchronisation software. If all was well, the metadata in the image files would be updated with the correct positioning coordinates for the time that picture was taken, enabling you to rediscover where you were, precisely, at the time.

ATP Electronics, best known as a manufacturer of memory cards and accessories, has debuted its GPS PhotoFinder here at the PMA 2008 show, and it promises to simplify the whole process radically. There is no longer any need to use a PC and download files, you simply plug your camera’s SD card into the ATP GPS PhotoFinder device and the device itself will sync the image files. Only SD cards are supported for in the device itself, but you can sync files on most types of camera memory card using the device’s USB port. Just plug your card reader into the USB port and you’re away.