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laura1814

Google Earth, anyone?

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Okay, he's a Ninja, hiding in the woods, getting ready to rob a bank. Thanks for clearing that up!

 

Teresa! File --> Save --> Save as Image defaults to jpg.

 

Tom, you are having way too much fun.

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I am going to jump in here on the subject of creating GPS data logs vs. location.

 

At this point in time many, if not most, small point and shoot digital cameras record time of exposure to the second. Assuming that the user has a reasonable clue to the actual time of day and time zone setting, this data can be useful many years later. Taking a picture of a clock or wrist watch (with a scribbled note of the time zone next to the watch) every now and then can go a long way toward establishing meaningful time comparisons at a later date.

 

Software currently exists to compare camera time hacks to GPS tracking logs within a couple of seconds to put time and place together.

 

But when it comes to logging and saving the gps tracks, the state of the art is not so good. This is particularly true for consumer grade handheld units. So anyone considering purchasing a handheld should do their homework first. Sony has just come out with a unit for that purpose, but broke no new ground that anyone on the camera forums seemed to be aware of.

 

Whatever standalone handheld GPS unit is purchased should have the capability of both downloading and uploading from a laptop to be useful. Cell phones will probably lead the way, but it may be a few years before everything comes together. Today's GPS units require much more battery power than either cell phones or digital cameras. Yesterday's hadheld GPS units are obsolete.

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But when it comes to logging and saving the gps tracks, the state of the art is not so good. This is particularly true for consumer grade handheld units. So anyone considering purchasing a handheld should do their homework first. Sony has just come out with a unit for that purpose, but broke no new ground that anyone on the camera forums seemed to be aware of.

 

Whatever standalone handheld GPS unit is purchased should have the capability of both downloading and uploading from a laptop to be useful. Cell phones will probably lead the way, but it may be a few years before everything comes together. Today's GPS units require much more battery power than either cell phones or digital cameras. Yesterday's hadheld GPS units are obsolete.

OK... I guess my research re: handheld GPS was incomplete. At the risk of seeming dense, isn't the goal to get a single GPS coordinate for whatever "it" is? Or are you suggesting that the goal is to generate a "track", say, from the cemetery entrance to the specific grave marker?

 

[it's likely that GPS units will always use a lot more battery power, as they have to track multiple signals (satellites); a cell phone only has to beacon, i.e. "any cell towers out there? I'm 212-555-1234", and it gets "handed" a single cell tower to talk to, so to speak...]

 

What caused "yesterday's" handheld GPS units to become obsolete?

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What caused "yesterday's" handheld GPS units to become obsolete?

.

 

Time marches on. If the genealogist in the cemetery remembers to write down the lat/long of each photo s/he takes, yesterday's standalone GPS unit is fine. Otherwise a running breadcrumb trail (waypoint log) referenced to real time can come in mighty handy a week later back home.

 

Taking an occasional closeup picture of the GPS LCD display (if any) and a timepiece is probably a satisfactory method for most of us.

Edited by John Moran

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If the genealogist in the cemetery remembers to write down the lat/long of each photo s/he takes, yesterday's standalone GPS unit is fine.

John,

 

Are you speaking in terms of locating each gravesite in a cemetery or just the location of the cemetery? I think I missed something somewhere. :wacko:

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John,

 

Are you speaking in terms of locating each gravesite in a cemetery or just the location of the cemetery? I think I missed something somewhere. :wacko:

 

I was thinking of the genealogist taking a long walk to a specific location away from the automobile with a portable gps unit capable of maintaining a lat/long vs. time log "in hand."

 

Edited

Edited by John Moran

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That is really cool! Do you ever pack up the placemarks and images into a kmz file for people?

 

 

Laura, would you please tell me how to export addresses from TMG to create a KMZ file. I've been struggling to figure out how to do this.

 

Thank you,

Jim

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Jim, I'm unaware of any way to do that. I was talking about packing up the placemarks and images created in/with Google Earth into a kmz file.

 

Exporting addresses from TMG to a kmz file for Google Earth would be a really great built-in feature for TMG or external utility. Hint, hint!

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