GPS Loggers Take Travel To A Whole New Level

旧金山,2007年7月22日 今天，对于大多在Alcatraz的游客来说，除了像往常一样把他们旅游的照片传到互联网上之外，就是上传他们的GPS坐标定位。他们用的是一种新型的装置，像打火机一样大小。这种新型装置会记录你走过的每个地方。这就是GPS的新一代潮流，旅行记录仪。

这个旅行记录仪就是GisTeq公司生产的无线装置。这种数据记录仪是一种相对来说比较新的电子产品，叫做GPS记录仪。这个90美金左右的记录仪没有方向和地图；它只是追踪并且记录你所到过的地方以及时间。

但是你也可以用一个记录仪记录你所拍的每一张照片，这样大家就会知道这些照片是在何时何地拍的。下面是它的工作原理。

数码相机拍下照片，同时GPS记录仪记录下每时每刻的地理位置。有一种特殊的软件，像GisTeq公司的图像处理软件， 可以把照片和当时拍摄的时间相搭配，这样就可以把图片和地点联系起来了。

在50英尺，15秒之内拍摄的照片都成为真实照片的一部分。这种软件甚至可以找出当时离你最近的街道的地址。

Richard Hart说道，这叫做地理追踪，或者地理解码。现在，你不会再常常自问‘天啊，我到底在哪拍的这张照片。’不过做地理追踪还有别的理由。

现在你可以通过在线照片服务上传照片，这些照片都有地理位置的信息。像Flikr, Locr和Panoramio这样的网站会把你和你的照片放在地图上，每一个人都可以看到。这样互不相识的人就可以共同分享同一个地方拍出来的美丽照片。

例如，我在游乐场拍了很多火车和我女儿的照片，其他人也拍了这些照片。

在一个很受欢迎的旅游景点比如Alcatraz岛，上百人聚集。即使在水面上，这个软件也会追踪出他们的地理位置。 这对于垂钓爱好者来说无疑是发现一个钓鱼的好地点。

学术界们可以用这种仪器追踪历史踪迹，比如标志和建筑名字的改变。

有了这个仪器就意味着你会一直知道你在哪-甚至当你忘记拿开镜头盖拍照的时候。

SAN FRANCISCO, Jul. 22, 2007 - Today, many tourists on Alcatraz are not just posting their pictures online, they are posting their GPS coordinates! They're using is a new kind of device, the size of a cigarette lighter, that records everywhere you go down to a few feet. Here's the newest trend in GPS: trip loggers.

The voice is in this wireless device from GisTeq. The Datalogger is a relatively new category of electronics called a GPS logger. For around $90 dollars, a logger gives no directions, no map; it just tracks you, recording where you've been and when. If you leave one on every dashboard, for example, you could spy on a fleet of trucks.

But you can also use one to tag every photo you take, so that everybody will know when and where that picture was taken. Here's how it works.

A digital camera produces a picture and a time. A GPS logger produces a location and a time. Special software, like Photo Trakr from GisTeq, can match the times, and, thus, merge the image and the location.

Location within 50 feet, and time within 15 seconds becomes part of the actual photo. The software even calculates the nearest street address for you!

Richard Hart: "It's called geo-tracking, or geo-coding. Now there won't be many occasions when you ask, 'Gee. I wonder where I was when I took that picture.' But there is another reason you might want to do geotracking."

Online photo services now let you upload pictures that contain this location information. Sites like Flikr, Locr, and Panoramio put you and your photo on a map, for anyone in the world to see. People who don't even know each other are sharing photos of the same place.

For example, I took photos of a train and Willie Mays at the ball park, and so did these other people.

At a popular tourist spot, such as Alcatraz Island, hundreds of people gang up, and the software knows where they are even out on the water. A great way for fisherman to share a newly discovered spot.
Academics will use this to track history, such as changes in signs and building names.

This means you'll always know where you were--even if you forget to remove the lens cap.