There is a race to collect data and digitize in a form that can be used as information. In the same context, year 2009 was the biggest year in terms of collecting the data from analog world so far in the history of mankind.
Irrespective of domain on which data has been collected there are few Meta attributes which are always needed while collecting data i.e. date-time, Geotagging. Of these, date-time is universally known to all and more importantly it has been feasible solution so far; while in case of Geotagging situation is different. Normally Geotagging consist of latitude and longitude coordinates optionally it can also include altitude, bearing, distance, accuracy data, place name etc. Coordinates can be attached with many types of data like photographs, video, websites and any type of data where geographic location is involved.
Early days: – In earlier days; as compared to timestamp, Geotagging was not in serious consideration. It has become popular & has gained acceptance through GPS and Google Map. It gives new way to visualize the information. That was a good start indeed and very good platform for Geotagging. Even almost after 5 years and many other parallel solutions, it is marginally better. There are many other factors which influence the promotion of Geotagging.
Role of Smartphone: – Introduction of smartphone really changes the direction of Geotagging information collection. Majority of Smartphone are GPS enabled. The real benefit of GPS enabled device is, you can track all the activities using Geo tagging. Following are the different applications of Smartphone which helps to collect Geotagging enabled data.
- Smartphone Browsing: – As device capabilities improve, increase in screen size along with availability 3G/4G network, more & more people will start accessing the internet using mobile devices. Now technically each hit on any site could have Geotag submitted to server which csn help monitor trends like internet access using a smartphone. That means, more and more Geotag enabled data.
- Smartphone App: – Unlike other electronics gadget, there is one special attribute Smartphone have is its App. It allows users/developers to use their Smartphone in a way they want to use. Geotagging capabilities add one more arm to improve the usability of such devices for example success of apps like Around Me, Foursquare, Gowalla etc… Indirectly they collect, store and distribute information based on geographic location. All services available on web are being ported on smartphone, which allows service providers to collect geo information as a metadata.
- Crowd sourcing/Social Networking: – emerge of Smartphone allow people connect with various crowd sourcing and social networking platforms where ever s/he is. Each platforms collects and distributes information along with geographic location which improve user experience to a good extend. Best examples are Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Buzz and few others.
- Using Camera: – Now a day all Smartphones have a built in good resolution camera which also supports video recording as well. So each snapping/video recording can have Geotag as a metadata. Which can be used anywhere for various purposes.
In current era, Geotagging is an important aspect of information. That is applicable on large set of data from different domain. Smartphone users are continuously adding/consuming information from different location 24 hrs a day 365 days in a year. Ultimately that includes one more important aspect in data.
