Yesterday I wrote about a solution for location-rich photo albums and maps. Today, I'm writing about a different solution I like even better.
The Ricoh 500se is a GPS-Ready digital camera. When you take a photo, a geocode is embedded in the EXIF metadata.
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Yahoo's Flickr is one photo-archiving site that stores and uses the embedded geocode. To see this in action, visit the Flickr Map. I tried it today and really liked the results. First I searched for Los Altos, where I live. The map showed me little clusters of pictures that must correspond to the other towns named Los Altos, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It also had a big cluster for my Los Altos in the San Francisco Bay Area. As I zoomed in, the cluster kept breaking apart until I could view individual albums for specific locations within Los Altos.
Next I searched for Yosemite and found a big cluster for Yosemite Valley and little clusters for the other attractions around the park. Finally I searched for Kennedy Meadow and then it got really interesting. Kennedy Meadow is a trailhead north of Yosemite where I plan to start a backpacking trip later this summer. I was able to find pictures from a lake along the trail and examples of some of the vistas that await me.
This is pretty good. Here is how it could be even better. First, I need a new map view that shows the hiking trails. Second, I need to filter by date so I can only view pictures from the same time of year I am going. Third, there should be a lot more pictures. I'm sure that last problem will solve itself over time.
There are three components to this. Flickr, Yahoo Maps and armies of outdoors people with GPS-Ready cameras. On top of all this, the Flickr API has enough power so developers can write their own applications that query albums and display results based on picture location. This could enable a new generation of tour guides for all types of activities. I can't wait!
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