As someone who likes to travel and has always been intrigued with maps, geotagging caught my eye a few years ago.  I would see images on Flickr that were mapped to the location where they were taken, and I wondered how that could be done, short of manually entering the data for each photo.  Thus began my research and adventures in geotagging.

A while ago (a year? maybe two?), after much research, I purchased a QStarz Travel Recorder, and more recently I bought a super-zoom Panasonic Lumix ZS7 digital camera that features built-in GPS.  After using both, I’ll share my thoughts about these two methods of geotagging photos.

QStarz Travel Recorder X

The QStarz Travel Recorder X* is a small GPS unit that tracks your location and then allows you to match up the positioning data with the exact times your photos were taken in order to geotag the photos.

Pros:

• Accurate.  The GPS signal is updated every 15 seconds, so even in a moving vehicle, locations are very clearly pinpointed.  Matching your camera’s date and time to your computer’s is essential during setup, but if you’re off by a bit, you can adjust the time by hours, minutes, or seconds after you’ve imported the photos.  I had forgotten to synchronize my camera before our most recent trip, but adjusting the photos by one minute put my “Welcome to Missouri” sign right where it should have been.
• Versatile.  The datalogger records all of the points along its journey as long as it’s on and charged, so when you get home, you have a map of exactly where you traveled.  It’s bluetooth-capable, so you may be able to use it with a cell phone (depending on the phone) or netbook (hmmm… I should try it with the iPad) to run locator or mapping software while on the road.
• Small.  The unit is small and lightweight and easy enough to throw into a purse or pocket.  It seems to get a decent lock on satellites even when obstructed from a sky view.
• Can be used with any number of cameras, as long as the times are synced.

Cons:

• Charging.  It’s one more device to keep charged.  After forgetting it in my purse several times and having the battery go dead, I now leave it plugged into the car charger most of the time so it logs as we drive.  The trick is then remembering to bring it in to download the information, and getting it back out to the car again.
• More steps.  Downloading the GPS track into the provided software and then matching up the photos with it is just one more step in the process of saving, naming, tagging, and sharing photos.  Some people will have no problem with this, while others will find it cumbersome.

Panasonic Lumix ZS7

I purchased the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7* for a trip where I didn’t want to take my bulky SLR and its accessories.  I wanted something with a good zoom, and this camera fit the bill at 12x; the GPS was a bonus.  So far I’ve been very pleased with this camera overall.  Today I’ll speak to its GPS capabilities.

Pros:

• Handy.  The GPS can be turned on or off or put in “airplane” mode.
• Specifies locations.  Not only is the latitude and longitude data stored with the picture file, but it will show the state, county, city, and specific location on its LCD screen while you’re taking and reviewing photos.  The lat & long will show your photos’ locations in Flickr and other programs, while you must use the included PhotoFun software to have the location-specific details spelled out for you on your computer.

Cons:

• Doesn’t update as often.  The default is to update every five minutes when the camera is on, although you can force an update whenever you want.  If traveling in a moving vehicle, or even on foot, a five-minute difference can mean you’ve covered a lot of ground since the last update.  If you set it before going into a building or attraction, it will remember your location for all photos while taken there.
• GPS not as strong.  I’ve forgotten to turn the camera on to get the GPS locked until we’ve arrived at our destination, and if I’m already in a building or in an area with tall buildings, the GPS update fails me.  At this point I usually turn the GPS off rather than have it imprint the photos with the incorrect information of the last location.

The Verdict

After using both of these devices, I can say for certain that I enjoy geotagging my photos.  Both methods allow the option of turning excluding certain photos from being located (for privacy reasons, etc.) but for a vacation when I want to remember where certain photos were taken, having the GPS information is useful.

I can’t say that I have a definite favorite, however.  I think that when we’re on a road trip, I’ll continue to use the QStarz Travel Recorder because of its accuracy and frequent updating.  When I’m on foot or away from the car, however, I’ll use the ZS7′s GPS (updating manually if necessary) to keep track of my photos’ locations.

Other Geotagging Options

A GPS datalogger and a camera with built-in GPS aren’t the only options for geotagging photos.  Many cell phones now have cameras on them, and if they’re also GPS-enabled, the geolocation data may already be embedded in your camera-phone photos.  If you’re concerned about privacy, be sure to learn how to turn the feature on and off.  Another option is an Eye-Fi card, which is an SD camera card that will attempt to determine location based on its proximity to known wi-fi hotspots.  In a city this may work well, but in rural areas it is less than perfect.  If you’d like to try the Eye-Fi, be sure to research the various cards available, as not all of them are capable of geotagging.

Examples

If you’d like to see what geotagged photos look like in Flickr, click through to these photos taken on the fly, while I was in the passenger seat moving through Iowa and Missouri.  There’s a map to the right of each photo in Flickr.

• Welcome to Missouri
• Rolling Hills in Iowa
• Iowa Windmill
• Old Shed

Have you tried geotagging your photos?  If so, what method do you prefer?

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