Why I Want a GPS-Enabled (Real) Camera

Just back from a trip to Yosemite. Used my MMM cameraphone with separate HP iPaq GPS device (along with my regular Canon A-80 camera). Had problems, but nevertheless got firsthand experience of what it would have been like to have a reliable camera/GPS combo. Images below (1 and 2) show what MMM GPS does when it works right - I love it! And I'm itching to have a good, working combo.

Here's how I would like to have used it if all had worked (and, below, what went wrong).

1. Which waterfall is this? This being an extremely high water spring, even the minor falls in Yosemite were spectacular. So I have numerous photos that I can't quite identify. If they (more accurately, my shooting location) were geo-located, I would be more likely to be able to identify them.


2. Is this the view from Glacier Point or Washburn Point?
Two places near one another, similar but different views. Again, what is this a photo of?


3. Look at how high the river was! Of course, what we really want is a comparison -- not (just) how high is the water now, but how high was it -- this time last year, last fall, last time I was here, etc etc. So comparing co-locating photos at different times.


4. Where were/at what altitude were -- the lowest/highest poppies, the best dogwood, the snow line...Driving to and through the Sierra at this time of year, I went from summer in the valley to spring wildflowers and dogwood to snow. I drove through a spectactular fire area full of blooming dogwood (didn't stop for pictures; now I'm sorry). If I want this info for return visits -- where am I likely to find the spring flowers at this time next year, where did I find that hillside full of dogwood -- geolocated photos so that I can plan my trip, find the places I liked, know where to find different blooming flowers.


5. Which town had that motel/restaurant/etc that I want to stay at/eat at/avoid? On the western side of Yosemite, I stay in either Oakhurst or Mariposa. Oakhurst is a collection of strip malls, Mariposa has an old downtown with a little character -- but I forget which is which. I've stayed in various motels in each place, and it would be useful to remember which ones I liked so that I could, for example, call ahead for a reservation. (Or remember the nice one last year that had bedbugs, from which I came home covered with bites!) Sometimes I mark up my AAA hotel guide...but then I get a new one.


6. Have I driven that back road before? Did I like it? Should I drive this way or that way? I enjoy driving California's back roads, and enjoy it most when I stumble across someplace lovely that I didn't know about. But I've driven a lot of roads and some aren't worth a revisit. Again, a geo-located photo would provide useful info about prior experiences.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK

• The iPaq GPS device runs out of juice in no time. I didn't take car charger thinking that charging it every night would suffice - it didn't. I had to turn it off and on to preserve power, reducing serendipity.


• I had to keep re-pairing the GPS and cameraphone. Not clear to my why, of two pics taken back to back, one would have GPS, one would not.


• Nokia 7610 is only fair as a camera. So I could have GPSed images, or good images, but not both.


• I had a glitch in the cameraphone that corrupted the memory card and ended the whole experiment. !!! Fatal errors not welcome during travel.

THE REAL THING IS COSTLY
I've found online a Ricoh with integrated GPS but the complete system is about $1300.