14 DAY TRIAL // Although they were considered some sort of "exotic" accessories up until recently, the popularity of geo-tagging solutions for digital cameras seems to be on the rise, as several of the most important manufacturers of GPS devices have already rolled out such products. And the latest announcement regarding a product of this type comes from Pharos, who has just revealed (as a pre-CES announcement) the Pharos Trips & Pics, a geo-logger that enables consumers to record trip and photo locations and display them on a map quickly and easily.
By combining Pharos' iGPS-500 receiver with a sub-pocket-sized battery unit and easy to use geo-logging software, Trips & Pics offers a complete solution for GPS-enabled photo and trip tracking. To use Trips & Pics, a user simply carries the GPS receiver and battery unit along on a trip. At the end of the journey, the photographer removes the iGPS-500 from its sled, connects it to the personal computer via the supplied Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, and follows download instructions.
From this point forward, step-by-step instructions allow the user to easily export digital photo or location files and display them on the map of choice, such as Microsoft Streets & Trips, Google Earth, Google Maps or Pharos' own maps. Furthermore, Trips & Pics supports Geographic encoded Really Simple Syndication (GeoRSS) to allow blog sites to push location data feeds.
The Trips & Pics software allows users to track time, location, heading and speed, and pinpoints locations on the map. Users can select variable logging intervals from one second up to five minutes. Furthermore, the GPS receiver (built on a SiRF Star III, 20-channel platform) is controlled in the field with an on-off switch, meaning it logs only while activated, saving power and extending field life to more than 45 days (although the included 1100mAh Li-Ion battery provides a continuous functioning life of just around 24 hours).
"Over the years, Pharos has enabled consumers to add GPS capability to laptops, Pocket PCs and Smartphones, driving a wide variety of location-specific scenarios on those devices," said James Oyang, Ph.D. President of Pharos Science & Applications. "We're pleased to extend this expertise to the digital camera market and make precise location information more broadly available."
The Trips & Pics geo-logging solution will be available starting at some point in January for around $89.95, which makes it one of the least expensive products of this type available on the market.
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