EveryTrail.com & "Geotagging"

Posted by S.J. Owens | | Posted On Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 11:11 PM

The technology of "Geotagging" imagery has come across my brain and I have to say it is very intriguing. What is Geotagging? Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata. These data usually consist of latitude and longitude coordinates, though they can also include altitude, bearing, distance, accuracy data, and place names. It is commonly used for photographs, giving geotagged photographs. How is this intriguing or even helpful?? Let's say you are are a Shrimper contracted by BP to patrol the Gulf waters in search of any oil plumes and report the findings. Simple, take a photo of the image, Geotag the image, and Email, MMS, SMS the info to Headquarters for use with additional mapping aids, reports, etc. Simple and effective. How is it fun? Well, take for example you are a Field Journalist for National Geographic Explorer and you have been sent out to study & document a rare plant species in the rain forests of South America. You have planned for the trip and have a good idea of the general areas you will be in, etc. Head out with camera in hand, find the plant species, GPS the waypoint, Geotag the image and move on within the study area. Once back at the office you can then construct a route based on the geotagged photos & GPS data; plot them on a map such as Google Maps, Google Earth, etc. add field notes, descriptions, and you now have a viable, documented, & proven geographic tool which can tell a story or figure out a problem, etc. 


EveryTrail.com is just one service out there amongst many. Geotagging can be done several different ways, one, is to use a GPS and set waypoints with names of the images in which you take. Two, Companies are now making what is called Geotaggers; a small GPS gadget that records waypoints and routes differently from conventional GPS devices. Once all the images are taken, you can sync both the GPS data from the Geotagger and the images via the time stamp, as both have recorded data fixed within, third, you can enter coordinates in manually by visiting say Google Maps, drive to the actual location where you took the photo, copy and paste the coordinates and set the images. I have done some extensive research on "Geotagging" and the process of which; if you would like consultation on a system & workflow to best fit your needs and experience level, shoot me an email, I would be happy to help.


Here is my first and very quick attempt at a Geotagging Project. Many of you have seen my images of the Mt. Olive Photo Expedition, but not with the Geotagging spin on it. I chose to us the third route mentioned above, manual plugging of the coordinates; as I did not have a GPS that day, nor had I known about Geotagging yet. Two of the images I could not find precisely. Once at the link given below, Check out the options in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. The application uses a flash-based slideshow, as each image changes, you can see where the image was taken on the map as the push pin highlights. You can also pause the slideshow in the bottom left-hand corner and manually click on either the images or the red push-pins. You can even change the Google map view in the top right-hand corner of the screen and zoom in and out. Give it a try by clicking on the text below!

Mt. Olive Photo Expedition
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