Geo Tagging in simple terms is adding geographical information to photos, videos etc. Usually this information is represented in longitudes and latitudes, but sometimes is also expressed in altitude as well.

Geo tagging your photos has many benefits such as showing your albums on a map, and remembering the places where they have been taken. These photos when uploaded on services like Panoramio, Google Earth or Locr, will show up on respective locations on the maps.

Usually there are GPS (Global Positioning System) devices that you can attach to your cameras, which will record this information directly on the photos taken. While the information will be very accurate, that comes at a cost. GPS devices of Sony and Nikon are in the range of $160 to $280.

GeoSetter, the application I am talking about, helps you set the Geo Tags, at no cost. Well the level of accuracy is a little less and you might perhaps set the nearest location, but it is definitely better than nothing. In fact if you have a bit of patience you can actually navigate to the actual location and set the position.

GeoSetter presents a very easy to use and intuitive interface to do this. It uses Google Maps to find the locations, and then lets you transfer the locations to photos, as shown in the picture here:

Steps to Geo Tag:

1) Start the application. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, please use “Run as Administrator” option.

2) Select the folder containing the images

3) Point to the map, search for the location using the search box.

4) Select the location and click assign location button on toolbar.

5) Save… and you are done!

Sounds simple, isn’t it? Yes it is simple. Why don’t you give it a try? You can download GeoSetter from here.

Popularity: 22%

ISRO chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair introduced “Bhuvan” at the Indian National Cartographic Association (INCA) International Congress in Ahmedabad earlier this week. Bhuvan was created by ISRO’s Space Applications Center and is a satellite mapping tool similar to Google Earth.

As per Dr. G Madhavan

Bhuvan will use the data recorded by the Indian satellites only. The prototype of Bhuvan will be ready by the end of November and ISRO is hoping to officially launch the service by March next

True to Vikram Sarabhai’s vision, he added

With Bhuvan we will be able to produce very local information which will be specific to only to our own country. This information available from this mapping system will be useful in addressing very local problems like floods, famines, infrastructure development, education and much more

The best part is that Bhuvan will zoom upto 10 metres against a Goole Earth’s 200 metres view. Also, Bhuvan will be upgraded every year (it means you will have new maps every year) as against Google’s  four  year old mapping.

Bhuvan will also have multilayer information – this means you can get specific information based on filters.  The entire imaging will be done using Indian satellites only and there will be options to view the information on different dates.

Though we won’t chart the world for now, I see this as yet another way we are slowly but steadily reaching out to the remote corners of our nation and it is even more wonderful to see this initiative coming from one of India’s finest Government  programs.

PS: For those who would like to know a little trivia,  Bhuvan means Earth. Also try out Wikimapia – it is another tool similar to Google Earth.

Popularity: 21%