Latest iPhone 2.0 beta adds geo-tagging to Camera photos

[AppleInsider]

A new beta of Apple's iPhone Software v2.0 Update released privately to a select group of enterprise partners this week adds a few new preferences and the beginnings of geo-tagging support for the handset's Camera app.

People familiar with the release, reportedly labeled build 5A292g, say location-aware services such as "Maps" and "Camera" now ask the user's permission before transmitting data used to identify their current geographical location.

The addition as it applies to the Camera application is interesting in that it suggests Apple is actively working on adding support for geo-tagging photographs, those people say.

Essentially, geo-tagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to media files such as latitude and longitude coordinates -- or even names of places -- so that those files can later be referenced, searched, and grouped based on their origin.

In addition, Apple is also reported to have added a toggle under the iPhone's general preference pane that will allow users to enable/disable Location Services on a system-wide basis.

Although the new beta prompts users for permission to use Location Services in the Camera application, those people familiar with the software say it appears that location metadata is not yet embedded in new photographs.



iPhone Software 2.0 is due next month alongside the company's much-anticipated next-generation iPhone that will boast support for so-called 3G networks. However, it will also be made available for existing iPhone owners.

One of the most highly anticipated features of the software is the App Store, which will allow users to purchase a wide variety of native third-party applications that are currently under development for both generations of the touch-screen handset.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[anantksundaram]

1472 songs in an 8GB iPhone?! Wow. No jazz or classical there.......

[Right_said_fred]

Interesting that right smack in the middle of Washington DC, the signal strength is not exactly saturating is it?
I know it could be inside a building, but even with the (few) limitations of existing iPhone software - the coverage compared to Verizon is just awful, I don't care that much - but I sometimes still feel guilty about dumping Verizon - each time I feel I'm somewhere in the 'burbs - and get little or no signal

[b16a2]

Maybe I havent seen enough iphone beta test screenshots, but does anyone find it curious as to why the model number on the phone is obscured? Is it possible that its running on a beta 3G iphone, and they dont want to out the model number just yet? It looks kinda like it reads MA748A?

What do you guys think?

[AmmoniaD]

Anan, keep in mind there are also 1,400 pictures on that iPhone, taking up space...

Seems to me geotagging photos would be pretty useless without GPS...

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by AmmoniaD

Anan, keep in mind there are also 1,400 pictures on that iPhone, taking up space....

I.e., the songs must be even shorter, nursery rhyme length....

[webfrasse]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I.e., the songs must be even shorter, nursery rhyme length....

Guys, these screenshots might just be screen captures from the simulator in the SDK. I think they are...

/Mikael

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by AmmoniaD

Anan, keep in mind there are also 1,400 pictures on that iPhone, taking up space...

Seems to me geotagging photos would be pretty useless without GPS...

The triangulation system might be good enough for photos. If you were grouping by location, say a national park for example, being accurate to the tree stump might not matter that much. This assuming cell tower triangulation worked in that national park.

[fabsgwu]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

The triangulation system might be good enough for photos. If you were grouping by location, say a national park for example, being accurate to the tree stump might not matter that much. This assuming cell tower triangulation worked in that national park.

I agree, especially since having GPS turned on takes extra battery juice, and you have to have a clear line of sight to the sky to allow the receiver to 'see' 4 satellites that allow the phone to determine its location.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Right_said_fred

Interesting that right smack in the middle of Washington DC, the signal strength is not exactly saturating is it?
I know it could be inside a building, but even with the (few) limitations of existing iPhone software - the coverage compared to Verizon is just awful, I don't care that much - but I sometimes still feel guilty about dumping Verizon - each time I feel I'm somewhere in the 'burbs - and get little or no signal

I don't mind a thread jack—I'm guilty of it myself from time to time—but usually there is a catalyst in the thread that warrants it. Where is this coming from? Did you post on the wrong thread?

Originally Posted by AmmoniaD

Seems to me geotagging photos would be pretty useless without GPS...

Not as accurate, but certainly not useless. If i were on vacation knowing the approximate location of snapshot could easily help me determine what part of a city I was in when I took it.

Originally Posted by webfrasse

Guys, these screenshots might just be screen captures from the simulator in the SDK. I think they are...

That or they are photoshopped version to give us a graphical representation of the new v2.0 beta code. Either way, we shouldn't be concerned with the media count.

[PG4G]

Originally Posted by webfrasse

Guys, these screenshots might just be screen captures from the simulator in the SDK. I think they are...

/Mikael

No, they most definitely are not.

This is because the Maps applications and Camera applications are not included in the SDK simulator.

Only the Contacts, Safari, Photos and Settings applications are on the iPhone simulator. I know, because I am looking at it right now, next to this window.

[momoe]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I.e., the songs must be even shorter, nursery rhyme length....

Actually, I have 1234 songs (by chance), 5 20-minute TED videos, and 650+ photos on my 8GB, with 1.5 GB to spare. This includes SOME jazz, dub reggae, and acoustic live numbers by several singer/songwriters (e.g., Damian Rice, etc)... it just requires smart media management of a large, diverse iTunes Music Library (READ: Smart Playlists, with limits to song length, etc.)

momoe 

[PG4G]

Originally Posted by webfrasse

Guys, these screenshots might just be screen captures from the simulator in the SDK. I think they are...

/Mikael

Originally Posted by b16a2

Maybe I havent seen enough iphone beta test screenshots, but does anyone find it curious as to why the model number on the phone is obscured? Is it possible that its running on a beta 3G iphone, and they dont want to out the model number just yet? It looks kinda like it reads MA748A?

What do you guys think?

Why is the model number obscured? Because Apple tracks each and every iPhone by serial number and UDID (user device ID) and they are tied together in the user account.

If the Serial number is shown, they know who the iPhone or iPod touch that is running the beta software belongs to.

They would be prosecuted for breach of NDA.

[b16a2]

Originally Posted by PG4G

Why is the model number obscured? Because Apple tracks each and every iPhone by serial number and UDID (user device ID) and they are tied together in the user account.

If the Serial number is shown, they know who the iPhone or iPod touch that is running the beta software belongs to.

They would be prosecuted for breach of NDA.

The serial number being obscured I understand, however both the serial and model number are obscured. My curiosity was regarding the model number, not the serial number.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Not as accurate, but certainly not useless. If i were on vacation knowing the approximate location of snapshot could easily help me determine what part of a city I was in when I took it.

I have never not known where I took a photo. Even a week or two or three later I always know. I mean, I was there. I took the photo. The pictures are downloaded in chronological order. You guys must smoke a lot of weed.

[schmidm77]

All this is nice, but I really just want to be able to view MMS messages without having to log into a website.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I.e., the songs must be even shorter, nursery rhyme length....

Yeah, or someone really likes highly compressed, low bit rate, pop music.

I have almost the same number of songs taking up twice as much space on a 16 Gig.

[allstaruk]

Originally Posted by schmidm77

All this is nice, but I really just want to be able to view MMS messages without having to log into a website.

How often do you use MMS? I never use it, not least because it eats up 4 sms credits. It's such dead technology that I am surprised there's any noise about this at all.

Thoughts?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by paxman

I have never not known where I took a photo. Even a week or two or three later I always know. I mean, I was there. I took the photo. The pictures are downloaded in chronological order. You guys must smoke a lot of weed.

I take a lot of photos and I often don't remember the area the area I took them. As time passes I may not even recall with city that was in. I'm usually not taking pictures of skylines or streetsigns so the recall can be tough.

And no, I don't smoke weed, though there is nothing wrong with those that do. Still, this won't help me as I use a real camera and it doesn't have GPS or BT to pair with a GPS to create metadata. But that would be damn cool if it did.

Originally Posted by schmidm77

All this is nice, but I really just want to be able to view MMS messages without having to log into a website.

Or at least have it supply a an inclusive hyperlink so you aren't having to remember the cryptic username and password.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by allstaruk

How often do you use MMS? I never use it, not least because it eats up 4 sms credits. It's such dead technology that I am surprised there's any noise about this at all.

Thoughts?

Oh no! You are about to feel the wrath from the EU sector who still use it and SMS heavily.

[PG4G]

Originally Posted by b16a2

The serial number being obscured I understand, however both the serial and model number are obscured. My curiosity was regarding the model number, not the serial number.

that would probably have to to with the UDID also incorporating model numbers, so someone messing with it just to make sure its impossible to phone can be identified.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by allstaruk

How often do you use MMS? I never use it, not least because it eats up 4 sms credits. It's such dead technology that I am surprised there's any noise about this at all.

Thoughts?

I agree with you. SMS and MMS are so early-2000s. But, for people with only basic functionality on their mobile phones, I suppose it is still necessary.

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

..... so-called 3G networks.

What does this statement mean exactly? There are no 3G networks or there is doubt about their existence?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by sapporobaby

What does this statement mean exactly? There are no 3G networks or there is doubt about their existence?

I think you are reading into it too much. As you are aware, "3G" is a generic naming convention that states absolutely nothing specific about the network architecture or data rate. I think 3G is just referring to the definition that so-called is "used to show that something or someone is commonly designated by the name or term specified."

[csimmons]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Oh no! You are about to feel the wrath from the EU sector who still use it and SMS heavily.

Actually, MMS is not so widely used in Europe as some of the EU posters here would have you believe.

In fact, in many countries in the EU stuff like 3G (UMTS) just within the last 2 years or so got down to a price point to where using it actually made sense to use. I know that here in Germany, all of the telecoms had to drastically reduce their 3G rates, because people simply weren't using it.

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I think you are reading into it too much. As you are aware, "3G" is a generic naming convention that states absolutely nothing specific about the network architecture or data rate. I think 3G is just referring to the definition that so-called is "used to show that something or someone is commonly designated by the name or term specified."

Sounds good to me. Okay.

Thanks

[allstaruk]

Originally Posted by csimmons

Actually, MMS is not so widely used in Europe as some of the EU posters here would have you believe.

In fact, in many countries in the EU stuff like 3G (UMTS) just within the last 2 years or so got down to a price point to where using it actually made sense to use. I know that here in Germany, all of the telecoms had to drastically reduce their 3G rates, because people simply weren't using it.

MMS & SMS don't need a 3G network to operate, they run through the standard GSM networks. The problem I have always had, especially now that all-you-can-eat data tariffs are ubiquitous, is that why pay for an sms or mms when you can achieve the same results with email?

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by csimmons

Actually, MMS is not so widely used in Europe as some of the EU posters here would have you believe.

In fact, in many countries in the EU stuff like 3G (UMTS) just within the last 2 years or so got down to a price point to where using it actually made sense to use. I know that here in Germany, all of the telecoms had to drastically reduce their 3G rates, because people simply weren't using it.

True enough. Even here in Finland which is arguably very advanced, MMS has not taken off with a big bang. We did use it to purchase our apartment though. Other than that, I have not used it. Email and VoIP are the big hits here. Some vid conferencing as well, but no very much.

As far as actual 3G usage, the operators here had to start "all you can eat" plans for reasonable prices (14€ gets you guaranteed 1 meg) 5€ for the basic plan before people started to really jump in it. Hell, we enabled all of the embassy phones with mobile data services (3G) because of the good rates.

[Jashue]

Originally Posted by allstaruk

How often do you use MMS? I never use it, not least because it eats up 4 sms credits. It's such dead technology that I am surprised there's any noise about this at all.

Thoughts?

I never use it either-- because I can't.

And it's downright embarassing when someone sends me an MMS and I have to explain to them that I can't view it on my oh-so-advanced iPhone. I'd like to tell them, "just email it to me" but then I get that blank look on their faces.

Dead technology? Dying, perhaps. But not quite dead.

And to get this thread back on track-- I wouldn't be at all surprised if the upcoming iPhone didn't come with GPS. Why the hell not? So GPS eats battery life? Turn the feature off when ya don't need it!

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by Jashue

I never use it either-- because I can't.

And it's downright embarassing when someone sends me an MMS and I have to explain to them that I can't view it on my oh-so-advanced iPhone. I'd like to tell them, "just email it to me" but then I get that blank look on their faces.

Dead technology? Dying, perhaps. But not quite dead.

And to get this thread back on track-- I wouldn't be at all surprised if the upcoming iPhone didn't come with GPS. Why the hell not? So GPS eats battery life? Turn the feature off when ya don't need it!

Good point. GPS would probably put the iPhone over the top. I have a Nokia N82 and use the GPS pretty often. If my iPhone had 3G (for VoIP) and GPS, I would be set. On my Nokia, I turn on the GPS when needed, and off when not. Pretty simple.

[junkie]

Originally Posted by AmmoniaD

Seems to me geotagging photos would be pretty useless without GPS...

Maybe the 2.0 iPhone supports onboard GPS.

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by junkie

Maybe the 2.0 iPhone supports onboard GPS.

Hopefully they won't rely solely on A-GPS.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by paxman

I have never not known where I took a photo. Even a week or two or three later I always know. I mean, I was there. I took the photo. The pictures are downloaded in chronological order. You guys must smoke a lot of weed.

Haha ... not weed but good ale. Actually after filling a 2 GIG card on my Canon and having toured half of northern NH and Vermont, I would have loved to have been able to ask Aperture to sort by a location. Having said that the sort by event worked pretty well.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by allstaruk

MMS & SMS don't need a 3G network to operate, they run through the standard GSM networks. The problem I have always had, especially now that all-you-can-eat data tariffs are ubiquitous, is that why pay for an sms or mms when you can achieve the same results with email?

There is a now a class action lawsuit against US carriers for that very thing. 1MB of SMS data averages nearly $1000 if you make out the character usage each time. The Hubble telescope costs only $40 to send 1MB.

The outrageous cost of SMS/MMs among carriers who offer much cheaper rates for unlimited data could be construed as an oligopoly.

Originally Posted by Jashue

I never use it either-- because I can't.

What carrier do you have? AT&T will send you an SMS with a weblink and cryptic username and password to retrieve your MMS. I real pain in the ass, so I never look at them.

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by solipsism

There is a now a class action lawsuit against US carriers for that very thing. 1MB of SMS data averages nearly $1000 if you make out the character usage each time. The Hubble telescope costs only $40 to send 1MB.

The outrageous cost of SMS/MMs among carriers who offer much cheaper rates for unlimited data could be construed as an oligopoly.



What carrier do you have? AT&T will send you an SMS with a weblink and cryptic username and password to retrieve your MMS. I real pain in the ass, so I never look at them.

Do you have a link to this? This is funny as hell that the operators are getting class actioned. About time. SMS's for the most part are free to send as they are sent in the D-Channel. Anyway, the operators here use the same technique to retrieve MMS's as well. A royal pain in the ass.

[cameronj]

Originally Posted by paxman

I have never not known where I took a photo. Even a week or two or three later I always know. I mean, I was there. I took the photo. The pictures are downloaded in chronological order. You guys must smoke a lot of weed.

Even a week or three later! You must have an amazing memory!









What about 10 years later?

[NasserAE]

Originally Posted by Jashue

I never use it either-- because I can't.

And it's downright embarassing when someone sends me an MMS and I have to explain to them that I can't view it on my oh-so-advanced iPhone. I'd like to tell them, "just email it to me" but then I get that blank look on their faces.

Dead technology? Dying, perhaps. But not quite dead.

And to get this thread back on track-- I wouldn't be at all surprised if the upcoming iPhone didn't come with GPS. Why the hell not? So GPS eats battery life? Turn the feature off when ya don't need it!

Maybe the iPhone will support GPS, even the current model. This can be achieved by iPhone Mac OS X software update which allow you to attach (using bluetooth) a GPS antenna.

Originally Posted by allstaruk

How often do you use MMS? I never use it, not least because it eats up 4 sms credits. It's such dead technology that I am surprised there's any noise about this at all.

Thoughts?

Actually I have seen some third party MMS applications (for Jailbroken iPhones). I think we will see MMS Applications in the App Store when released.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by sapporobaby

Do you have a link to this? This is funny as hell that the operators are getting class actioned. About time. SMS's for the most part are free to send as they are sent in the D-Channel. Anyway, the operators here use the same technique to retrieve MMS's as well. A royal pain in the ass.

Oops, it appears I have misinterpreted the lawsuit by combining it with a recent comparison of the SMS data cahrges Apparently it about the US carriers trying to get extra SMS charges out of you, not the high price of the charges themselves. That seems to be the wrong end of the stick to shake at them.

• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05...ts_r_v_pricey/
• http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-switches.html

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

1472 songs in an 8GB iPhone?! Wow. No jazz or classical there.......

Isn't a jazz track equivalent to an album anyway?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by NasserAE

Maybe the iPhone will support GPS, even the current model. This can be achieved by iPhone Mac OS X software update which allow you to attach (using bluetooth) a GPS antenna.

Not unless Apple is working directly with a company. So far the SDK has no BT support.

Actually I have seen some third party MMS applications (for Jailbroken iPhones). I think we will see MMS Applications in the App Store when released.

I'd expect that we will if Apple doesn't add this feature. It makes no sense to me why it hasn't been added and why I can't email a pic in any resolution I see fit (though i guess that may be a stupid requirement of AT&T to cut down on data usage, which I doubt makes any real impact).