Eye-Fi ExplorerThe folks at Eye-Fi have done it again with their next iteration of their brilliant memory card/wireless uploader combination.  This time, with the release of the Eye-Fi Explore, they’ve added geotagging to the pictures you’ve taken.

At first glance I thought they’d managed to cram in a GPS unit into the super small card, which would have been an amazing feat given the fact that they’ve already got 2GB of memory crammed in there AND a wireless device.

But upon further inspection it appears that when you’re in range of one of 10,000 hotspots located across the nation, the card will connect, geotag the images, and upload them to the various services you’ve selected.  So, if I get this correct, it’s sort of only semi-geotagging.  I can see this being pretty sweet if you’re out and about taking pictures in a city that has heavy hotspot coverage, as your geotagging would be more accurate.  

They claim that 70% of the populated areas in North America have been mapped using these hotspots.   This is very similar to the Place Lab project I worked on in college which used people’s wireless access points (be they “hotspots” or just broadcasting a signal) to provide location information.  Given most people move their hotspots infrequently, and when they do they’re just relocating within the house or office, the mapping is suprisingly accurate.

I’d like to give this a try, but it’s not currently worth the money for me to upgrade my existing card…although my Grandfather’s birthday is coming up soon… 

 


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