It’s What We Do

This entry is part 1 of 22 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #10

A post popped up on the advridermag.com.au forum a few weeks ago, and it gave me cause for a great deal of thought – something I’m not good at.

Anyhoo, rmhrc628 asked, “Is there a way to embed digital GPS locations for a certain number of the pics in your mag?”

Believe it or not, this was something I’d been considering, and I think it’s a great idea.

For readers who may not know about geotagging, it’s the process where images have their exact position embedded in the image when the the pic is taken.

This information, called EXIF (exchangeable image file), is stored by most digital cameras these days. Usually the camera records a heap of technical info about the exposure value, lens length, settings, time and date the image was shot and a heap more. On top of that, upmarket cameras can be programmed to include things like the photographer’s name and contact details, and, becoming more common all the time, the latitude and longitude of the camera’s position when the image was taken.

This last one is geotagging, and I thought it’d be great if we could make that information available. Then, any reader who wanted to experience the amazing location seen in the mag could punch it into his GPS and just go there. Or, if he’s on a ride in the area, he could include the location as a waypoint. Most phones geotag their images automatically, but none of my cameras could, so I bought one specifically for the job.

“Start with this one. Where was I when this image was shot?”

It’s new technology to me, but I know it’s been around for a while. Some GPS units will let you take a pic, then wirelessly send that pic to another GPS. The second GPS will than navigate you to the spot where the image was shot.

I phoned John Hudson, the most fullbottle GPS person I know, and he shook his head and explained there were difficulties.

He thought it was unlikely I could get the idea to work the way I’d described it to him.A simple lat-long can be pinpointed on a topographical map for instance, but who has topo maps on hand? And the lat-long given by GPS can apparently vary according to the ‘format’ the GPS uses.

My blank response to this tipped John off to how hopeless it would be to try and explain it to me.

Still, I want to give it a try, and I’m counting on you readers to help.

From now on, whenever I can geotag, I’ll put a map pin in the corner of the image with the lat-long information I have.

There’ll also be a section on the website where you can download the image, along with its EXIF information. Since I started looking at this a couple of knowledgeable readers have shown how easy it is using the web. So far, the easiest way I’ve found is to log on to the AdvRiderMag forum, download the image that’s caught your eye, then upload it to www.geoimgr.com. The location will appear on the map, and you can zoom right in close to see where it is and how to get there.

I haven’t had anyone jump in and say the lat-long is usable yet, though.

I reckon with so many of us working to make it happen, we’ll get it sorted out.

Start with this one. Where was I when this image was shot? There’s a lat-long and the format with the map pin in the bottom corner, and I’ll put the image on the forum under GEO TAG images. See if you can work it out, then email and let me know how you got on.

That’ll get us started.

Images marked with the map pin in this issue will be on the forum ready for you to import into geoimgr.

Series NavigationToby Price >>