Geotagging your photos

[mjs1973]

What do you think about geotagging your photos?

I really don't have any desire to geotag my images. I'm sure the technology will start to show up as a built in feature on digital cameras in the future, but I don't see myself tagging my photos.

Is geotagging something you are interested in? Would it be a feature you would look for in a camera in the future? Do you find the information embedded in your photos would be useful for you?

Thoughts, comments?

[Axle]

I geotag manually through Flickr.

Most are accurate, others, for certain reasons, are places in the general area, but not right at the location.

[danic]

I don't see the point really. Why advertise to others the great locations you shoot from?

[A.M.D.A.]

I really wouldn't be a big fan of adding GPS info to my shots. For one, if an image gets out on the web someone might discover where I shoot, etc., etc..

I can always add stuff afterward like the rough shooting location to a copy of the image and in the "caption section". No big deal and saves me money on fancy equipment...

[readingr]

So if you take photo's at home of all your prized possessions and upload it for critique then thieves will know where to come!

I carry a GPS with me on my walks so if I want to know where I was I would record it on paper or mark it on the map I carry.

Definately not as EXIF on the photo.

Roger

[Greg McCary]

I would use it if I had it. It would be nice years down the road to be able to pin point some of the areas I covered. Some of the subjects I have covered in the past are already gone.

[jetrim]

I think this could be useful for some, like news & wildlife photographers. I belong to a Flikr group called "City Parrots" and I do manually geotag shots I share there. For more artistic stuff, nahhh...

[Martin Brazil]

I would be reluctant to spend extra money and to have extra things on the camera that can go wrong for something I can see very few benefits from. When I go to a new area I usually take a couple of landscape shots and put them in the file with any relevant information and that is fine for me.

[Old Timer]

I could see where the feature could be useful, but it wouldn't be a sell point and I wouldn't spend extra money for it.

[xystren]

I consider it a feature. Something I would go out of my way to purchase? Probably not. Would it be a make or break on a camera purchase? Nope. If it was on a camera, would I use it? Sometimes.

To me, it seems more like a "badge" that someone can wave and say "look at me, look at me" (or where I took my picture.) I see it no more useful than having the date on the picture (which 98% of us will have turned off)

I can see it being useful for certain circumstances, especially for documentation or archival photography, but like the date option, I would have it turned off 99.9% of the time.

Just my thoughts

[drg]

I've been tagging for quite a while on certain kinds of documentary work. Reference points for comparison are very hand for underwriting/insurance/legal, documentary, and logistics purposes.

There is quite a move to this for location scouting in outdoor film work to get the camera back to the same location.

Since it is an option, it can be turned off or deleted from the camera files if needed, like all the rest of that information that once upon a time we just couldn't imagine needing!

You nature and wildlife shooters may find interesting a situation I had this year where a favorite location I go to just didn't seem the same. It wasn't. The creek I was along side of had shifted course. Enough that where I often shot from now was just into the edge of the stream. All the trees that had come down in bad weather were behind where I have often shot from and indeed it was different!

Also conservation officer of my aquaintance uses a form of geotagging along with photography to monitor beaver dam effects.

[Ubermind]

Hey all,

I just wanted to chime in on your discussion about geotagging your images...

We are testing Maperture Pro BETA currently which allows you to visually geotag your images, import tracklog data from a GPS device, reverse geocode location information, save location bookmarks, copy & paste location information as well as several others. If you are interested in testing it out and providing feedback...

Go to http://www.ubermind.com/beta, take it for a spin, and tell us what you think.

Thanks!

[f5fstop]

When traveling in the desert or in National Parks I tag all my photos with a Solmeta N2.
Would I mount the unit to the camera to log my GPS coordinates if taking photos of my guns, camera equipment, house, etc. NO.
Do not use the unit when I travel to local areas either.
It comes in very handy, but it is not for everyone.
If worried about giving away top secret locations where you shoot, just run the photo through PS and save for web, it strips the exif information off the file.

ViewNX does a great job of allowing you to select a photo or many photos and hit the GEO button and it takes you to google earth.

ViewNX runs the photos you have tagged down the right side of the frame. Here is a screen shot...

[Mr Yuck]

I do it manually for Flickr, not too keen on having a GPS built into the camera.

My map...not perfect, but gives an idea for some of my shots

[opus]

I was extremely embarrassed when I entered six photos of Paris into a contest, and had to label them. I basically guessed where I was for one of the pictures, because I was unfamiliar with Paris and had no real idea where exactly I was when I took the shot. I figured no one else would ever notice. Well, was I ever embarrassed when one of the judges took me aside and pointed to the label and said, somewhat accusingly, "that's not the Champs d'Elysee. That's the Rue de Blah Blah."

Had I won the contest, I would have won a trip around the world. As it was, I came in second. (Got nada for it except the bragging rights.) The triumph of the memory is tainted by how I was stung by the embarrassment of being called out by a judge for having gotten the place wrong.

Yes, I would be ALL FOR geotagging ability in my travel photography.

[WildlifeNate]

I'd absolutely dig an in-camera geotagging option.

I think I'd probably prefer the GPS receiver to be external to the camera, however, through the hotshoe or maybe a USB host port or bluetooth or something. I wouldn't use it for everything, but it would be a feature I'd use regularly.