Cool GPS-enabled Camera

For anyone who takes digital photos of vegetation, environmental features, structures, fishing spots, whatever - this is the must-have techy toy!

http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/support/brochure/pdf/500se.pdf

http://www.geospatialexperts.com/download/Bundle Brochure.pdf

For those of you who don't already know - I only do tree care part-time. In my full-time job, I'm a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordinator for a large county in SD. We use these cameras for collectiong photos of emergencies, structures, infrastructure, etc with location information and attributes included captured for each photo taken.

You can either watermark your photos with the location and attribute information and print them out with that info on them or, for a few more bucks, buy a software that enables you to map your photos to a GIS or to a free mapping application such as Google Earth or create a web interface.

Imagine taking photos of trees on a residential, commercial or reclamation work site, entering info about each tree right into the camera's database, then mapping and printing out those photos for your crews to see exactly what trees/work areas they will be working on and where each is located within 3m (10') positional accuracy - (accuracy depends on the gps used).

My county has three of the 500 SE model with a gps module that attaches right to the top of the camera. I don't know if that model is still available or not as I see the company's new brochure (follow link) only shows the ability to wirelessly connect to your own gps unit.

Pretty neat tool if you think about the possibilities! If you can't follow the link above, just google 'Ricoh 500se' and you should find some web pages to check out.

Hey arbor pro,
What does that camera cost? And what's the cost for the software ?

Price as of 05/2007:
(bear in mind that this is govt pricing so, private sector may be higher)

Richoh 500se camera w/WIFI and Bluetooth: $909
GPS module that fits right on the camera (3m positional accuracy: $169
PhotoLink software for mapping photos to GIS, Google Earth or web: $299 (not necessary to simply collect location information and watermark your photos with such. You only need this software if you want to map out photos to a GIS or to Google Earth or the web)
1GB SD Card for additional photo storage: $30

Total of Base Package: approx $1400

We bought it as a package deal with car charger and carry bag for $1450

We then bought an extra battery and extended warranty for $130 extra so, total package was right close to $1600. Considering what you get, I think it's a great tool - just like a good chainsaw or rigging system.

We have had a couple of issues with a gps module not wanting to 'lock on' to satelites right away - taking as much as 10-20 minutes to get a location locked on. Usually, once the initial base location is accomplished for your area of the world, it takes 5 minutes or less for the gps to get a lock. I usually throw the camera on the vehicle dash while driving to a site. By the time I get there, the gps is locked on and tracking.

I also forgot to mention - the camera also does video and voice recording as well as barcoding. It can also bluetooth to a laser rangefinder.

It's not a 'perfect' camera/gps system - it has a small learning curve to learn the settings; howver, it's really not that tough to learn and our folks who use them love them (except for the few times when the gps won't lock on). Then, like anything else that's not working like it should - they curse and cuss until they start working again - and then they love them again...

One last thing - for those of you who aren't familiar with how gps devices work: the gps device has to have direct line-of-sight communication with at least 4 of the 24 revolving satellites in order to achieve a 'lock' or 'fix'. If the gps is used indoors, in close proximity to buildings, or under very dense vegetation canopies, it may be difficult to achieve a lock or, at the very least, fewer satellites will likely be communicated with resulting in lower spatial accuracy.

What this means to the lay man is this:

- the more open the area, the more satellites you can communicate with = higher positional accuracy
- the more dense the cover around the gps module, the fewer satellites you will likely communicate with = lower accuracy if you can achieve a lock at all.

If you've ever used your own gps in a densely covered area and have gotten location information ok, then you probably will have good luck with the camera's add-on gps module. If you have had poor success with your gps in such areas, you probably shouldn't expect much better luck with this one. However, you get what you pay for - a higher-end gps might have better luck when bluetoothed to the camera. Simply put, I can't speak for how the add-on gps module will work in coastal areas that are densely forested. I am speaking in regard to the midwest where we can see open spaces for a long, long ways...

What is the accuracy of the GPS (sub meter?)?

Can you blue tooth the camera with the gps to a field laptop, such as a Toughbook? That would be slick. Have your baselayer as an air photo, then have your gps bluetoothed to the laptop so you get real time location on the air photo and then download and link your photographs immediately.

I've worked with laptops that were bluetoothed to a gps receiver and were able to mark locations in real time and then gather field information connected to that spot, but any photos couldn't be automatically linked.

The gps module that attaches to the the camera has a positional accuracy of 3-10 meters. In most cases, I have been getting 3m (10') or better accuracy. A month ago, I took 5 pictures with each of our 3 cameras from the exact same location. Each camera's grouping of 5 photos was well within 3m of each other - most within 1-2m. The entire grouping (15 point locations) for all 3 cameras were within 3-4 m of each other. The three attachments show the results of that test in Google Earth. When the photos come into Google Earth, they 'stack' up if their locations are in close proximity to one another. When you click on a 'stack' of photos, they 'web' out with leader lines to each of their locations. If you then click on an idividual photo, the attribute window and a thumbnail of the original photo opens up. The attributes are whatever you set them up to be within the camera's software. You can change them after the photo is taken but it is easier and faster to have them set up propertly before you take the photo.

In a web application, the software pulls USGS aerial photos from its library and creates a map of the photo points on top of that aerial. It then puts the photos as thumbnails on the side for you to click on. It works good except, it doesn't allow you to upload your own aerial photos if you have better ones that that of the USGS 1990s black and white photos. Obviously, if you use the 1990 aerials, things in the photo are probably a bit out of date from today.

If 10-15' accuracy is good enough for your application(s), the add-on gps module should be quite sufficient. If you need meter or sub-meter accuracy, you'll need an external gps with that kind of accuracy such as a Trimble Pathfinder ProXH or XT or one of many other brands of gps units.

I've talked with the vendor who sold us the cameras and we've discussed briefly the idea of bringing photos directly into the laptop using ArcPad or GPS Analyst (both GIS software extensions to ArcGIS). It might require some programming to get photos to upload and map automatically as they are taken. I'm not a programmer so, that's a good question but, one for the software guys.

We typically upload photos at day's end or after we've collected information for a large site. The transfer from camera to computer takes only seconds using the camera's software - just like downloading any other digital photos. The difference between the photos taken with the gps camera and any other digital camera is that the gps camera photos have the location information and attribute information imbedded in their digital memory. To watermark the photos with information or to map the photos to GIS, Google Earth or a web interface, takes just a few short stems and only a minute or two. There are a number of customization options; thus, the small learning curve to figure out how to use the software.

Doesn't fit my needs, but nice to know about.

The company has been around a long time, and the meter drop rating indicates durability.

I may read the literature in greater detail. Maybe it's more useful than it seems at first introduction.