Automaticially mapped pictures on a Flickr-map, based on geodata

Today we'll talk about something which is really usefull for several reasons: Geotagging.

In this post you'll learn about what it is, how you can do it and about the value it adds to your microstock photos.

So what is geotagging?

 It simply is the ability to write the exact location a picture was taken into the file itself, making it easy for programs and web services like Flickr to display them on maps. The data is written into the file either by your camera while taking the picture, or afterwards with some clicking around, placing your photos on maps and afterwards saving these locations into your image files.

What is it good for?

First of all it's great if you do a lot of travelling or just want to know not only when, but where a picture was taken. Even years later you just click on a picture and can see where it was taken on a map, satellite picture of a mash-up of you web-life.

From a microstock-sellers perspective you add value to your images. By giving more information to microstock sites, you'll be one of the first ones whose pictures can be searched on maps.

Imagine this: A client is searching for pictures from the middle of Hyde park, London, UK. So he browses to a map on a microstock site, zooming into the Hyde park in London. When he reaches his final 'position', all pictures taken at this very place are displayed, letting the client choose exactly what he wants, where he wants.

If your pictures already include precise geodata, all you have to do is: nothing! Due to standartized tags within the EXIF files, all programs, web services etc. can display the location of a picture. So while other microstock contributors will have to add these data later on, you'll be ready when the race starts.

In part two you'll learn how you can put geodata into your images, so stay tuned!