GPS
From Nikonians Wiki
GPS or Global Positioning System is a satellite based system for calculating the position of a device to within 20 metres, based on a constellation of satellites which are operated by the US government and free to use across the world.
GPS devices in common use include some mobile phones and all current Satellite Navigation devices, such as those made by TomTom and Garmin.
High-end Nikon cameras have been made GPS compatible since the D2X, which means that a suitable receiver can be attached through the ten pin terminal, and the data embedded in the IPTC image date. A number of dedicated Nikon units are now on the market.
Nikon cameras record three types of information from GPS
- The three dimensional position of the receiver
- The heading of the receiver if and only if it also includes a digital compass
- The exact GPS time, which may differ from the time on the camera's clock.
There are a wide variety of types of software able to exploit this information, for example in linking it to Google maps, or in associating images which were taken at the same location.
GPS takes a certain amount of time to locate the satellites, especially if the receiver has been moved a significant distance. Naturally, it cannot operate where there is no line of site to satellites, although some devices are able to retain the most recent fix if they are left on.
Some types of GPS receiver have a very heavy battery drain on the internal battery of the camera.
- This page was last modified on 31 July 2009, at 23:45.
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