Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Hi Jacob, Just one last tip you might be interested in. The current iPhones have very good built-in GPS capability, less than 8m. I used this to do surveys of birds, and I took photos at each sighting. The extended info for the photos will show Lat-Long for each — and also altitude! Here is a weblink that explains quite well the GPS capability of the iPhone: http://communityhealthmaps.nlm.nih.gov/2014/07/07/how-accurate-is-the-gps-on-my-smart-phone-part-2/ Good luck, Elin Pierce, Ph.D. -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jacob Hadle Sent: Monday, May 04, 2015 6:18 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras Thank you all for the helpful replies. This gives me a lot to work with. It seems that acquiring GPS coordinates should not be that difficult to obtain on site, but we would prefer the accuracy to be 20m from were the picture was taken. Even course geo-references would be valuable as well. I have one more small question to ask: for those of you who have used PS cameras with built-in GPS units, were you able to view the lat/long in the display view right after you took the picture? Also, is it possible to convert among different geo-coordinate systems (i.e. degrees minutes seconds to decimal degree, etc.) in the settings view of some cameras? Thank you, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
I used this method and it worked well. http://tjhouston.com/2013/01/exporting-gps-data-from-a-folder-of-images-and-writing-to-a-text-file/ I compared an iPad and a PS Olympus GPS - I made me realize we need good quality GPS. Eva On Mon, May 4, 2015 at 6:18 AM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Thank you all for the helpful replies. This gives me a lot to work with. It seems that acquiring GPS coordinates should not be that difficult to obtain on site, but we would prefer the accuracy to be 20m from were the picture was taken. Even course geo-references would be valuable as well. I have one more small question to ask: for those of you who have used PS cameras with built-in GPS units, were you able to view the lat/long in the display view right after you took the picture? Also, is it possible to convert among different geo-coordinate systems (i.e. degrees minutes seconds to decimal degree, etc.) in the settings view of some cameras? Thank you, Jacob On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras (2)
Jacob I own a Canon Powershot S100 camera with built in GPS. I think it is not available anymore, but I assume the newer cameras have similar systems built in, Picture quality is excellent, setting options too. GPS accuracy is quite good (few meters, if I compare locations on GIS), once the camera finds its position. Status of the GPS locating is indicated on the screen. You can even set the camera to log your track, without taking shots - but see comments below. Two points on top of the comments of Malcolm are to be considered: - Finding a satellite fix for an accurate position can be painstakingly slow with the camera. I literally wait for several minutes, after having moved for long distances. That may have to do with resyncing the satellite almanach, but nevertheless slows your work. - GPS operation is power hungry. You may want to take additional batteries (plural) into the field. It will burn your charge considerably quicker, if you use the track-logging mode mentioned above. Regards Martin Am 04.05.2015 um 06:00 schrieb ECOLOG-L automatic digest system lists...@listserv.umd.edu: There are 2 messages totalling 165 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras (2) -- Date:Sun, 3 May 2015 14:52:48 -0400 From:=?windows-1252?Q?Jacob_Hadle?= jjha...@gmail.com Subject: Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot=20= digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired=20= this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and=20= dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture=20= of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude=20 coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that=20 geotags each picture would seem to work well.=20=20 The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much=20= how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick=20= up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and=20= calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera=20 would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little=20 information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS=20 units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh=20= G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units=20= in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts.=20 Most grateful, Jacob Dr. Martin K. Obrist^v^ ^v^ Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Biodiversity and Conservation Biology CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland MG D 52phone: ++41 44 739 24 66fax: ++41 44 739 22 15 E- mailto:martin.obr...@wsl.ch WWW http://www.wsl.ch/fe/biodiversitaet/
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Hi Jacob, If you normally use a Garmin GPS, you can geotag your photos using the Garmin Basecamp program. Just make sure your camera and GPS unit are set to the same date/ timezone/ time, and enable the tracking function on your GPS. Check out the instructions on this page: http://garminbasecamp.wikispaces.com/Photos I found that using the GPS function in my camera used a lot of battery power, and my Garmin has better accuracy than my camera. Karen G. Karen Golinski Postdoctoral Research Fellow Smithsonian Institution On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 2:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Hello Jacob, On the flip side to having the most expensive/best camera, you can always use your phone. There are lots of apps out there that allow you to take GPS tracks/way points/even photos and create maps via google earth or other GPS programs. And most of them are free. One of my favorites is GPS Essentials for android. It does all of the things I think you would need at a decent resolution. Most of the new phones these days take great pictures as well as has great satellite tracking (though of course you are still subject to the things others have listed for GPS quality). Depending on budget, photo quality and GPS accuracy that that is needed for the project it may be a great alternative for a better price. Just depends on what you are looking for. Cheers, Erin On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob -- *Erin Frolli, M.S.* Research Science Associate I University of Texas, Marine Science Institute 750 Channel View Drive Port Aransas, TX 78373 530.251.7172
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
We have used quite a variety of GPS equipped cameras for the last 5 years and the results have been quite mixed. Most of the cameras have been point and shoot Nikons (P6000, P510, P520, AW100, etc.) and two Panasonics. Also tried Nikon's GPS1 plug-in GPS on a DSLR and the relatively new D5300 DSLR with GPS built in. The bottom line for all the cameras is that all they all work, but they take a long time to get a GPS fix. The GPS also drains the battery. And the GPS is not all that accurate. We are now using a good quality Garmin GPS (like the GPSmap G2sc) and leaving it running during the entire field day. Then we download the tracks from the GPS and use the excellent free software, Geosetter, to geotag the photos. This method is much more accurate and reliable than the in-camera GPS. It is easy and works great - with all cameras. All you have to do is record the time offset between your GPS and your camera. That is a critical input parameter. You can take a picture of the GPS screen displaying the time with your camera to use for this time offset. Or you can set your camera time with the GPS so there is no time offset. This is much easier than it may sound. We resisted geotagging this way for years, but we finally realized that the camera GPS systems will never be that good. Peter Morrison Executive Director Pacific Biodiversity Institute PO Box 298 Winthrop, WA 98862 www.pacificbio.org -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jacob Hadle Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2015 11:53 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Jacob, Yes with the cameras I have used, you can view the lat/long when you preview the photo - as long as you are showing all the photo information. And 2nd, I don't think you have the option to convert between formats. Peter -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Jacob Hadle Sent: Monday, May 04, 2015 6:18 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras Thank you all for the helpful replies. This gives me a lot to work with. It seems that acquiring GPS coordinates should not be that difficult to obtain on site, but we would prefer the accuracy to be 20m from were the picture was taken. Even course geo-references would be valuable as well. I have one more small question to ask: for those of you who have used PS cameras with built-in GPS units, were you able to view the lat/long in the display view right after you took the picture? Also, is it possible to convert among different geo-coordinate systems (i.e. degrees minutes seconds to decimal degree, etc.) in the settings view of some cameras? Thank you, Jacob On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Thank you all for the helpful replies. This gives me a lot to work with. It seems that acquiring GPS coordinates should not be that difficult to obtain on site, but we would prefer the accuracy to be 20m from were the picture was taken. Even course geo-references would be valuable as well. I have one more small question to ask: for those of you who have used PS cameras with built-in GPS units, were you able to view the lat/long in the display view right after you took the picture? Also, is it possible to convert among different geo-coordinate systems (i.e. degrees minutes seconds to decimal degree, etc.) in the settings view of some cameras? Thank you, Jacob On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
[ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Built in GPS unit in Point and shoot cameras
Remember that you GPS signal is going to be affected by many things other than the internal electronics. Things like over-story, cloud cover, position of the satelites will all influence the data. This is why when people are doing stuff that requires solid datasets, they will place down the GPS and let it record a series of points without moving it. Then, you put the points into the GIS and you are able to get an idea of the precision. It is also possible for you to geocorrect the coordinates. I suggest that if you are seriously concerned about accuracy of less than a meter that you use a model comparable to a Trimble XM or higher. If your accuracy can be within a hundred feet, its less serious. I am not sure how good garmins are these days, but all the GPS units are increasingly better than only five years ago. One option you could use is to take the GPS camera and take maybe a dozen pictures of the exact same waypoint. Do this at each of your study sites. More pictures would be better. Then, you take the coordinates for each picture at each site, and average them. This will give you a mean with SD or SE. This way, you will know the actual accuracy and precision of the unit under the weather conditions at the site where you were collecting data. You can also check this against a better GPS unit if desiered. By doing this at one point, then moving about your site, you will know the error and can report some kind of confidence in regard to the location of each point where vegetation is photographed. It will probably have pretty consistent precision on any given day within a specific site. This is a fair assumption, but some testing at home or on campus should be conducted to verify it. one thing to also remember is that what is reported in the paperwork is best case scenario. The model will almost never reach this precision/accuracy in teh field. The high-dollar GPS units will be more consistently close than the cheap toy models. How important your accuracy and precision are in thsi study shoud be critical in deciding whether to go with one of these models or going with a genuine research grade unit. A geoexploer XM or higher is a few thousand dollars last Iooked. On Sun, May 3, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Jacob Hadle jjha...@gmail.com wrote: Hello, I have a question for those of you who are familiar with point and shoot digital cameras that have built-in GPS units. A project I have acquired this summer involves a plant inventory on a ~7,000 acres site (open and dense canopy areas). In part, the protocol requires us to take a picture of each plant species and document their latitude and longitude coordinates. To optimizes my time effectively, using a camera that geotags each picture would seem to work well. The main interests I have in the point and shoot camera in not so much how the quality the picture takes, but how accurate the camera will pick up coordinates. I have spent a considerable amount of time online, and calling local camera stores researching which point and shoot camera would have the best GPS quality; however, I have found very little information about the accuracy and performance in these built-in GPS units. I am currently looking into the Canon PowerShot D20 or the Ricoh G700 SE-M. If anyone has experience using digital cameras with built-in GPS units in the field, I would truly appreciate your thoughts. Most grateful, Jacob -- Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP Environmental Studies Program Green Mountain College Poultney, Vermont Link to online CV and portfolio : https://www.visualcv.com/malcolm-mc-callum?access=18A9RYkDGxO “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans.” -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 into law. Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive - Allan Nation 1880's: There's lots of good fish in the sea W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
