E-Media Tidbits

I've been pushing for the tagging of GPS coordinates to news content for years now. The reasons include precision searching, localized advertising, and future-proofing news content. Imagine being able to search Google News for all the stories referencing your immediate area, wherever that might be.

Grazer now has an application that allows photographers to add GPS coordinates to the IPTC field in digital pictures. The software is an affordable $15 and can be downloaded here.

It works by syncing the time on the photos (make sure your camera time is precise) to a portable GPS device (like a Garmin), a Pocket PC with GPS, or a PC with GPS. I use the 1.5-inch square Microsoft GPS connected to a Tablet PC.

Grazer is currently working on combining its software with Magic Maps to allow you to virtually fly through your photos based on area. Microsoft is also working on a similar initiative, and there are currently a host of products that will tag GPS coordinates to videotape.

Sadly, this is probably going to be another example of consumers blowing the doors off media companies followed by years of catch-up, and that's too bad because some killer new-media applications could be developed with our existing content.