(+) Geotagging Photographs

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

This may not help much with old family pictures, but geotagging can be a major addition to digital photographs. In short, geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification to digital photographs, video, websites, or even RSS feeds. The information added typically consists of latitude and longitude coordinates, but it can also include altitude, bearing, accuracy data, and place names.

With photos stored in JPEG (or JPG) file format, the geotag information is typically embedded in the photograph's metadata. The metadata is typically invisible to anyone viewing the image unless special software is used that displays the embedded metadata. Such software is widely available, and much of it is free of charge. However, when looking at a JPEG image in a typical web browser, the viewer does not see the metadata.

If you switch to a search tool that looks at metadata, however, the capabilities are greatly enhanced. For instance, are you looking for photographs taken at or near the old family farm? A search for JPEG photographs taken near the latitude and longitude of the farm may find exactly what you are looking for.

In a more dramatic example, hikers and bikers planning to spend time in the mountains of Alaska or hiking in remote parts of Asia and elsewhere can plan their trips online. Web sites offer dozens of tourist routes through remote parts of Asia that have been recorded by hikers actually walking, running, or biking along the trails. Before you embark, you can visit a web site and see photographs of the places you plan to travel, often detailing difficult or even dangerous parts of the trip. A prepared traveler is a safer traveler.

Geotagging is a new technology.

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