Geotag your digital photos with GPS coordinates...

I always blog about all these gadgets and gizmos that I wish I had. Today, for a change, I am going to talk about a new item that I have actually had the opportunity to try. I recently read an article about a little GPS device that will let you tag your digital photos with GPS coordinates. Then when you upload them to Picasa, Flickr, or wherever you post your pictures online, they will be placed on a map exactly where you took them. I saw this on eBay earlier in the week and couldn't resist.

The process is pretty simple. The ATP Photo Finder comes ready to work right out of the box. If your digital camera uses SD cards (most do), then you are more than halfway there. Follow these steps to start tagging your photos based on where you took them:

1. Turn on the GPS Photo Finder. The display will tell you that it is finding a satellite lock. this took 3-5 minutes for me.
2. After the satellites are located, you must change the time on your digital camera to match the satellite time. This is how the Photo Finder will match your location to the time your photos were taken.
3. Leave the Photo Finder on and near you as you take your pictures.
4. When you have finished, the camera card is inserted into the Photo Finder. The photo finder will automatically tag each photo based on your GPS location at the time the photo was taken.
5. When you upload the photos to Google Picasa, they will show up on the map where they were taken (video example from my pictures below).

Although the idea is a clever one, I don't think this device is quite ready for prime time. I took 6 pictures during my test run this afternoon. Of the 6, 3 of them didn't really put the pictures right where I took them. One was off by about 100 feet (forgivable) and 2 were off by a good quarter mile (weak). Considering the fact that Picasa lets you drag and drop your pictures onto a map with the same end result, it probably isn't worth spending the extra money just yet. When they start including GPS chips inside digital cameras (they already have) at a reasonable price (not yet), then the fun of automatically tagging your pictures with latitude and longitude will be realized.

In the meantime, I have a GPS Photo Finder for sale on eBay. It was only used once. Any takers?

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