iPhoto 6.0.5 Hidden Google Maps Integration And Possible Apple GPS-enabled Device (Camera/iPod/PDA/Phone)?

[donlphi]

I would think gps information embedded in a photo would be a bad thing. So some kid posts a picture of him and his friends on Myspace and some creep downloads the picture, now they can look up where the picture was taken. Seems like a lot of invasion of privacy.

I don't know if it's a good idea... IF that is what they are planning on integrating.

Now on the other hand, if it is just a way of catagorizing the photos on iPhoto fine. I won't use it, but fine.

not exciting either way

 

[npflood]

This is a natural progression.

Microphone and cellular radio... sounds like a cell phone to me...
Add a camera, it's hard to find a cell phone without one these days...
GPS? Yep, most of them have that too, can't find a Sprint one without it.
Hmmm, sounds like a pretty standard cell phone complement, why not add the geo-coordinates to the EXIF data when taking a picture. I think this takes about 3 lines of code and makes sense... most cell phone makers could add this in a firmware update.

 

[benpatient]

This will just be a metadata field embedded in the EXIF data of cameraphone photos taken by iPhone users that have paid for the GPS service.

When you sync your iPhone up with you mac later on, the images will be put into iPhoto and through that will be able to link to GoogleEarth.

Since the "camera" will be the cell phone's built-in camera (with stunning 1/4" lens, I'm sure), the quality of the images will make this a novelty feature. Add to that the complexities of international cell phone access charges and GPS service, and the Mac-only limitation of the GoogleEarth connection (unless Apple also announces iLife for Windows, and it's free, or at least iPhoto is free).

Meh

 

[globalhemp]

iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

The Disney Mobile phone is a family-oriented phone service. Apple's upcoming "iPhone" will of course be marketing to the masses. However, some features will most likely be "borrowed" from Disney Mobile and of course built-upon / improved, such as Family Locator(TM).

After viewing the following, you should notice a that Apple's iChat and iPhone will be nearly one and the same! So, rather than locate your kids, your kids become your Buddy List. The Buddy List will be organized into groups: family, work, friends, etc. In addition, Apple could fairly easily implement more into the mapping feature, such as nearby Apple stores, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.

In additon, Disney Mobile has downloadable extras such as:
- Ringtones
- Images
- Themes
- Games -- think new iPod Games!
- Movies.com Movie Finder: $2.99/mo subscription service with movie info, times, locate theater, etc... all or which could be integrated with mapping service to actually locate the closest theater.. heck, even someday purchase tickets via your mobile phone or even make reservations at restaurants such as Chili's with your iPhone!

From Disney Mobile Web site:

Family Locator allows you to locate your kid's phone with GPS technology and display a map of the location.

First Select Menu
Then, select Family Center
Then press OK
Scroll to Family Locator
Then press OK

The first you you use the service, you'll be required to enter your PIN, then agree to the terms of service...

Select the kid's phone you wish to locate
Enter your PIN
Press OK
The application begins to search... the following results are displayed:

Joey is near:
1231 Any Streer
Los Angeles, CA
- Accuracy 10 yards

After receiving an address, you can access an area map to get a better view of the location of your child's phone.

From the location page... select Map.
An area map will appear with a shaded circle indicating the reported location and accuracy range.
Use the NAV KEY to view surrounding area.
Then you can zoom in and out... by pressing ZOOM.
Select a different zoom level by using the NAV KEY

This feature is also available on the web which allows you to locate your kid's phone with GPS technology and display a map right from your computer without using your phone.

Google Maps are already available for mobile phone: Just visit www.google.com/gmm on your mobile or desktop web browser.

 

[lmalave]

My roommate is taking a geography class in college right now. (Just an FYI, he is an older student in his 30's).

His teacher works for google on their maps. He has slipped in class several times saying Apple is working on putting GPS into the iPod. (He, the teacher, knows this because it is what he does full time for Google).

Anyway, this looks like the GPS in iPhoto is not related to the iPod, but eh you never know, iPhoto does work with the iPod in a way now as it is...

Yeah, that makes no sense. I mean, i guess the iPod could be loaded with GPS navigation software, but that's still much less useful than putting it in a device like the iPhone. Plus, in the context of this thread, an iPod can't take pictures, whereas an iPhone almost certainly will be able to.

Probably the professor was was told it's the iPod, which would set constraints on screen size, etc - but actually the GPS is going to be in the iPhone....

 

[sigamy]

Does every rumor point to the iPhone? Come one people...there's nothing to see here. More and more cameras are including GPS recievers. Especially high end digital SLRs that pros use.

This is just a natural extension of increasing the amount (and quality) of the metadata that is tagged and collected with digital images. The recent updates to iPhoto and Aperture allow for Aperture to use your iPhoto library as a source.

Aperture also has a new export plug-in API to allow for connection to third party services like Flickr and iStockphoto. Google maps will be next. Then, look for these same or similar plug-ins to make their way down to iPhoto in iLife '07.

I'm just as excited as the next guy for an iPhone but come on guys...this is getting a bit much.

 

[Maestro64]

iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

Yeah and Disney is shut down the service after 8 months with little or no interest in the service. And is going to cost them $30 million to shut it down. As a Disney and Apple sharehold I think it is a bad business model to be in.

 

[jettredmont]

Most (if not all) new cell phones in America have built in GPS as a result of an FCC mandate for Enhanced 9-1-1 capability in mobile devices. Apple may simply be taking this required expense and turning it into a way to get more value in their device by linking it with a built in camera/iPhoto/GoogleMaps. This certainly seems like one of those "why didn't anyone else do that?" sort of (in retrospect) obvious moves that Apple is great at.

Well, someone (or rather, many someones) else have done that on the device side already:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/03/hidden_gps_photo_feature_on_th.html

I actually thought this was more widespread (cell phones tagging GPS location), but the page linked above says that Sanyo was the first to offer this in the US, last March. So, hmm.

The other approach used for this purpose is to time-synch (within reason) a handheld GPS tracker and your camera's clock, then run software afterwards which plots the pictures on the GPS trail from the tracker. This has been around for ages, but is about five steps beyond what the average Joe would be able to do to enjoy space-mapping of pictures.

Still, aside from sites like Flickr that display the GPS data, there's not much use for it yet. This is where Apple's classic whole-widget approach would pay off: make it easy to get the data into your photos, make it easy to see the data visually, and make it easy to search for the data via Spotlight et al.

Anyway: has anyone tried entering the Latitude/Longitude EXIF info in a picture, import it to iPhoto, and see what happens?

 

[globalhemp]

Re: iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

Re: Yeah and Disney is shut down the service after 8 months with little or no interest in the service. And is going to cost them $30 million to shut it down and as Disney and Apple sharehold it think it is a bad business model to be in.

Yeah, this is like saying selling legal music downloads is bad since Wal-Mart has not been as successful as Apple.

Granted, I would most likely never purchase a Disney phone. However, I would certainly consider purchasing an Apple phone. Apple knows as well as its user base than an Apple phone has to work and have cool features either not available elsewhere or features that "just work." Google has been built on the Apple model of simple is better. Powerful features are available, but not placed front and center as akward apps made by less successful companies.

 

[dernhelm]

iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

Yeah and Disney is shut down the service after 8 months with little or no interest in the service. And is going to cost them $30 million to shut it down and as Disney and Apple sharehold it think it is a bad business model to be in.

You must be kidding. I first saw a commercial for this just yesterday during the baseball playoff. It seemed like a pretty cool thing to me. I hadn't heard about it before then, though...

 

[notjustjay]

I would think gps information embedded in a photo would be a bad thing. So some kid posts a picture of him and his friends on Myspace and some creep downloads the picture, now they can look up where the picture was taken. Seems like a lot of invasion of privacy.

I would think that would be easy to solve, by having sites strip EXIF (or maybe just that tag) before posting on public web pages. Or simulate the "selective availability" that was originally on civilian GPS and have the picture's lat/long tag be accurate only to within a few hundred meters, or some such.

Of course, it's not like the kids in question don't already post way too much information. Birthday, age, grade, school, teacher name, and a bunch of pics of themselves and their friends too... someone out there could have a field day. Literally.

 

[ariel]

iPhone to "borrow" from Disney Mobile's GPS Enabled Family Locator(TM)

Yeah and Disney is shut down the service after 8 months with little or no interest in the service. And is going to cost them $30 million to shut it down and as Disney and Apple sharehold it think it is a bad business model to be in.

I think you have that wrong - slightly - they're shutting down the ESPN thing...

"The Walt Disney Co. will spend about $30 million to shut down its Mobile ESPN wireless telephone services, but remains "excited" about its family-oriented Disney Mobile phone service, Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said on Monday."

 

[jettredmont]

could be. but honestly i don't think that's a good thing. it just makes the equipment more expensive, clunky and less capable than dedicated devices. after all you don't need that feat all the time. only once in a while and then you bring the extra gps. cramming a gps in nowadays small P&S or even DSLR's is just expensive and complicated.

my two cents.

Every cell phone sold in the US has to have a working GPS device in it, and the GPS has to be "on" at all times.

Cost and power consumption are hardly issues. The only extra cost is adding an interface to the GPS unit to get the latest location data (which might be the front door of the building you're in if you're inside). The only extra power consumption is that needed to initiate and react to that poll, which is negligible (obviously).

But, yes, adding such a feature on a straight digicam or DSLR wouldn't necessarily make much sense. However, compared to the cost of an external GPS, which records "breadcrumbs" constantly (instead of just when you take a picture, because it doesn't know when you take a picture) and has enough memory and battery to hold said breadcrumbs throughout a, say, two-day road trip, integrating a low-power GPS into a camera doesn't sound all that far-fetched. But, I don't see camera makers doing that until GPS-locating of photos shows signs of taking off, which it doesn't, yet.

 

[RichP]

Hmm.. Just remember that, while the technologies Apple may use in a cell phone will not be new or novel in themselves, their execution and use will be.

There were MP3 players before the iPod, it was the execution of the technology, not th technology itself...

 

[dernhelm]

I think you have that wrong - slightly - they're shutting down the ESPN thing...

"The Walt Disney Co. will spend about $30 million to shut down its Mobile ESPN wireless telephone services, but remains "excited" about its family-oriented Disney Mobile phone service, Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said on Monday."

Ah - this makes more sense. The ESPN thing always did seem a little over the top to me...

 

[dernhelm]

Every cell phone sold in the US has to have a working GPS device in it, and the GPS has to be "on" at all times.

Yes, but would be better if the GPS were not reliant on the Cell network being available.

 

[jettredmont]

Lookey here:

http://craig.stanton.net.nz/software/iPhotoToGoogleEarth.html
http://craig.stanton.net.nz/software/Geotagger.html
http://oregonstate.edu/~earlyj/gpsphotolinker/extras.php

Hmmm.

 

[bloodycape]

If it is a simple GPS device like the Garmin iQue(sp?) it won't do well as most cars these days can get equipped with them at a fair price. The place that this device might do well is Korea, seeing as many of their mp3/video player manufactures have included GPS integrated or as an add on on their player. Like the new Cowon P5, and N2.

Now if it is a gps system in a camera now that would be interesting but kind of pointless? Unless someone can give a reason why it maybe good.


And gps on a phone is nothing new as Nextel and Verizion already have this option. Unless it is google maps for a phone that isn't a pda things may get interesting.

 

[miketcool]

ive been saying it for awhile now, but my prediction is an apple phone with google. wap is complicated, open the phone to the internet!

 

[bloodycape]

Hmm.. Just remember that, while the technologies Apple may use in a cell phone will not be new or novel in themselves, their execution and use will be.

There were MP3 players before the iPod, it was the execution of the technology, not th technology itself...

That and plus the fact Apple knows how to market the hell out of their products.

 

[DillWaters]

As a software engineer myself, it seems conceivable... if not likely, that this button was put in for the developers of iPhoto to make sure they were correctly deciphering the GPS EXIF tags. Perhaps it was never made into a feature because Apple didn't explore the ramifications (security, advertising, competiveness, etc) of shuttling users from within iPhoto over to Google.

I think assuming this portends some future gadget or reading anything into it is rampant speculation about nothing.

-Dill

EDIT: I also note that my copy of iPhoto 6.0, released in January, has this hidden button as well... so it's been there for a while now.

 

[ariel]

Yes, but would be better if the GPS were not reliant on the Cell network being available.

Maybe some cell network genius should come on here to explain things, but my understandin is that GPS and the cell phone system are 2 different things.

The GPS system receives information from satellites orbiting the earth and cannot receive inside buildings - it is all line of sight stuff - must be within the range of at least 3 to triangulate. GPS units transmit NOTHING back to the satellites... they only receive.

The Cellphone system also triangulates your position but does it based on the nearest 3 antenna... not the same satellites, but ground based antenna. The phone constantly alerts the towers that it is turned on so that it can receive the calls.

 

[greg6028]

Spicyapple

Introducing Apple Galileo™. All-in-one PDA, digital camera, phone and mp3 player.

I nice to have models on here!
Nice name, great functions if true!!

 

[Bonte]

But, I don't see camera makers doing that until GPS-locating of photos shows signs of taking off, which it doesn't, yet.

This feature needs a iTunes like integration to really take off and i think Apple is in the best position to pull this off. iPhoto can be made to work with all GPS enabled camera's and why not a PC version, Apple only needs a business model to make this step and the iPhone can be it.

 

[GregA]

Using GSP and Iphoto only makes sense if the photo's have the GSP location information as part of the photo. So that mean that the Camera taking the picture has a GSP reciever in it, which is great outside, but GPS does not work indoors

My father has a map in his car. When he's in a tunnel or carpark, I believe it switches to using motion sensors to determine where he is. This is pretty accurate.

most new cell phones in the U.S. at least already have GPS built in so the location of the phone can be tracked by emergency responders. It's hardly something new being developed by Apple that will make the iPhone any more subject to governmental data-mining abuse than any other mobile phone.

Assuming apple's not making a camera ... perhaps Apple will simply make the iPhone record your location during the day. Then when you sync at night, it can upload where you were that day (integrated with google maps?). And it'll then optionally sync that data (your location) with the time your pictures were taken. That way we don't have to buy a new camera yet