Research team blends digital images and GPS

SeattlePI | at | by Mike

Digital cameras are pretty much standard equipment these days for amateur photographers. And hand-held global positioning devices, using satellites to pinpoint a spot on Earth, are also widely available. But by combining data from both, a group of Microsoft researchers thinks it is on to something new.

A Microsoft Research project has produced a computer program that uses digital mapping software and global positioning data to sort and present digital photos by precisely where in the world they were taken. Dubbed the World-Wide Media eXchange, or WWMX, the program is based on an ever-expanding database of photos submitted to the project by digital-camera users.