Inexpensive Digital Camera with a GPS

Until recently the only lower end digital camera with a built-in GPS that I was aware of is the Ricoh 500SE, which is still rather expensive. But there is now a less expensive alternative.  I've acquired a Nikon P6000 which has a built-in GPS.  I've just taken it along on a trip to Las Vegas and other destinations. 

The camera embeds WGS84 lon lat coordinates in the image files which you can upload to MyPictureTown, which recognizes the embedded coordinates and displays the locations in Google Maps and allows you to click on a marker and see the picture(s) at that location and vice versa.  I managed to find enough satellites with strong signals over southern Utah to take a few pictures with embedded GPS coordinates.

Comments

[Mojmir Macek]

The great news are, that big camera manufacturer: Nikon is going directly into GI services market and taking it this year seriously! They are using GPS functionality also in advertisements as differentiator from competitors. There exists for long a lot of software tools, which directly supports coordinates in Exif etc.
Another way how to get coordinates with Nikon D90, D200 and others is to attach into flash connector new external module: http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Photography-Accessories/Miscellaneous/25396/GP-1-GPS-Unit.html
Nikon Coolpix P600 is great in supporting RAW files and built-in LAN connector inside camera with price bellow $499.95!
Future will show us which photo storing services will win on the market... :-)

[mpg]

One thing I've always wondered about is the fact that the GPS records where the camera was, not where the object in the picture was. Not a problem for taking pictures of my cat, but something to consider when taking pictures of scenery, bridges, etc.

-mpg

[John H]

The embedding of the coordinates in the Ricoh 500SE (with the SE-1 or SE-3 GPS/Compass Unit) is into the JPEG header. It also captures other GPS and information from the digital compass, including True or Magnetic North, pitch, tilt, UCT, etc. As spatially referenceable content in GIS/CAD/content management systems, this information can be "watermarked" onto the digital photograph and Shape/TAB/Excel/KML files of the photo location and other data can be generated. GPS Photo-link from Geospatial Experts does all this and can also transform the WGS84 lat/long to many other systems. I don't know which chipset the Nikon uses, but GPS chips are heavy on power. And in terms of using them in leisure photography, it can take some time to first GPS fix.