Geolocated on Flickr
While tagging my latest photo on Flickr with the phrase UW I thought to myself, “Hey Self! I can do better than that!” So, I set out to do “better than that” by adding some context to where the photo was taken. I’ve heard of Geotagging but I’m not all that into longitude and latitude numbers as metatags on my photos. I just don’t find coordinates like that all that useful or interesting. Instead I decided to provide a link to a aerial/bird’s eye view of where I was standing when I took the photo.Want to see what I’m talking about? Check out the photo that started it all and click the View location link provided in the description. For the bird’s eye shots I used Windows Live Local since the photo quality is awesome and coverage is good in my area. For areas where this view was not available I settled for the aerial view. Interested in doing something similar? It’s really easy! After you’ve got your photo on Flickr just follow these steps:
- Locate where you were on Windows Live Local
- Choose the view (aerial/bird’s eye), zoom level, and direction that gives you the best perspective
- Mark your location by right-clicking on it. Choose Add Pushpin. (I’ve been titling mine “I was here”)
- Clear any other pushpins and mini-windows you don’t want showing up for other users
- Click the Permalink link near the top left and copy the URL it gives you
- Go back to Flickr and add the link to the description of your photo with this:
<a href="URL">link text</a> - Tag your photo for future reference (I used the tag “Geolocated”)
I’ve seen a few people doing similar things with Geobloggers and I’m sure there are people doing similar things with other technologies. There’s probably a more efficient way to do the same thing, but for now I think this is good enough for me. I like the extra bit of information it adds to photos and love the idea of using both technologies together to provide a richer experience.In the interest of gathering all similar photos together I’ve created a Flickr group called Geolocated. Feel free join and add your own Geolocated photos.