Mini GPS For Your Camera - N2 di-GPS mini

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.di-gps.com/di-GPS/n2.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.di-gps.com/di-GPS/n2.htm</a><br /><br /></div>"The Global Positioning System - GPS is a satellites-based navigation system developed by the United States Department of Defense, officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Navigation Signal Timing And Ranging Global Positioning System). The GPS system is made up of satellite constellation of 24 satellites in intermediate circular orbits (ICO)... The di-GPS (digital images GPS) - a special design for DSLR (Digital Single-lens reflex) camera. It provides real time position (latitude, longitude, elevation) and the precise time (UTM time) information to your DSLR camera and records the locations to each digital image files so that you would never forget the exact location where you take the pictures."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/DSC_0802.jpg"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/DSC_0802_small.jpg" /></a><br /><br />For just around $300, you can now have a tiny little dongle that will keep track of the exact co-ordinates of where you took your photographs. It has a built-in backup battery to reserve system data for rapid satellite acquisition and a built-in patch antenna, so no extenal antenna requried. The only downside is that it only works with Nikon DSLRs (albeit without MC-35) and the Fujifilm S5 Pro. A couple of things I can't figure out are - 1) does it store its data along with each image, i.e. does the GPS information get encoded along with the images themselves; and 2) are their any subscription fees. For the latter, I am guessing the answer is no.

[Phronetix]

I racking my brain for real world uses. I've come up with: law-enforcement, legal, military... otherwise, what good is this?

I mean, is it simply a 'because we can' sort of product?

D

[Suhit Gupta]

I can think of a few -
1) Photo-journalism
2) Blogging
3) Looking at photographs with respect to a map. (You can re-create a trip by looking at photos on a map, when sorted by time).

I genuinely wouldn't mind having all of my images be geo-tagged.

Suhit

[Jeremy Charette]

In theory, if you could have your photos geo-tagged, and those geo-tags were recognized by say...Flickr, or Picasa, you could then look at photos other people have taken of the same area at different times and from different perspectives. Microsoft Labs developed a program to take thousands of such pictures and re-create 3D models of famous landmarks using random photos pulled from the web. Think of it as Flickr taken to the next level.

[Suhit Gupta]

I think you are referring to WWMX (http://wwmx.org), no?

Suhit

[Jason Dunn]

I mean, is it simply a 'because we can' sort of product?

Nope, I don't think so at all - I think, years from now, it would be really cool to have a software application that would allow my family and I to sit down in front of a big TV set and look a map of the world and see dots of all the places where I've taken photos (some people do that now with thumb tacks of the places they've visited). Then imagine being able to zoom in on all those dots and see the photos you've taken in that place. I've done a fair bit of travelling so far in my life, and have a lot of photos from around the world - exploring them via geography rather than just date would be really cool.

The alternative is manually tagging them all, and that's slooooow.

I'm hoping that by 2010 we'll see GPS integrated into consumer-grade cameras, and we'll see some really neat software solutions for visualizing photo locations.

[rlobrecht]

I have a Google map on my photo gallery. When I take my GPS with me, after the trip, I use Microsoft's WWMX app to stick the GPS coordinates into each photo's exif header, and the google map picks it up. I don't do it with all our shots, but its great fun for a vacation.

[GadgetDave]

I'm kind of surprised more people don't want this. This device is cool, because it's all-in-one ... but you can do this today with some Canon cameras with an external GPS and the new wireless transmitter ... and it does imbed the GPS data in the EXIF data.

From http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07022207eos1dmarkiiiaccs.asp

Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2 – Faster workflows

Responding to feedback from Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E1 users, Canon has expanded the functionality of the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2 to also support two-way communication via peer to peer (PTP) and HTTP protocols. Remote users can trigger the shutter button or download images from the camera via an internet browser window, dramatically reducing the time it takes from capture to publication. The Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2 offers users a greater degree of security by allowing up to 4 types of WEP encryption as well as WPA2-PSK, which supports high security AES encryption.

USB host functionality means photographers can shoot directly to external storage media on longer shooting assignments. The unit also supports recording of GPS data - when connected to a portable GPS device, the location and time of capture is automatically added to each image as EXIF data.

Requiring no additional batteries, the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2 fits neatly onto the side of the EOS-1D Mark III and offers the same degree of weather resistance as the camera body.

Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3 – New encryption feature

The Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3 supports advanced image encryption when used with the EOS-1D Mark III, answering a need in the market for a secure way to transmit electronic images. The system works by writing captured images to a standard CF memory card, while the SD card slot contains the Original Data Security card (supplied with the kit) which acts as the encryption key. Encrypted images can be decrypted only by a computer with the same encryption key, allowing photographers to send images over public networks – such as wireless LANs or the internet – with the assurance that only the intended recipient can view them.

The Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3 is capable of detecting the slightest (single bit) discrepancy in image data. For images shot with the EOS-1D Mark III and a GPS-connected Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2, it can also be used to verify that GPS data recorded at the time of capture has not been altered – an increasingly important consideration for news publications.

certainly for law enforcement and journalism, but as a number of folks here have said, how cool would it be to be able to retrace a trip by the GPS data from the pictures? Especially a backpacking trip ... hmmm ...

[hyedipin]

$300!?!?! That is very pricy.. simply expensive. you can get a GPS system with screen and maps and bluetooth and all that rest..

Sony had the same/similar one.. and only for $100

Sony GPS-CS1
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/digital_imaging/release/23993.html

It just doesn't communicate but relies on your Camera's CLOCK being accurate.. That's it.. any comments on this? I wanted to buy this, but normally I know where I take my shots, it works only for safari most of the time.


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Also can someone give me more info on WWMX.. I saw the website, but what are the goodies behind that.. any way to publish them own website in map format!?