Geotagging* a (digital) photograph is the recording of its geographical location, by assigning at least a latitude and longitude to the image. Sometimes other fields such as altitude and compass bearing could also be included.
The old film pictures I had scanned in for my iPhone and iPad photo albums have no geotag information, and so I geotagged them manually.
I have been very fortunate to be able to travel to many places in the world.
Check out some of the more unusual geotags that I had added to my pictures, below.
*Geotagging is done automatically by today’s smartphones, and by GPS-enabled digital cameras. The method I am using for scanned pictures, is to use an obsolete picture editor from Google called Picasa. Inside Picasa, one can call up a desktop version of Google Earth, that allows searches for places all over the globe, and the geotagging of their coordinates onto the picture.
This sandstone rock formation near Asab in Namibia was called Mukurob (‘The Finger of God’). That’s my dad’s truck, and the year is 1987 as we stopped there for a picture or two. Barely a year later, in 1988, the rock fell over (reasons unknown). So it is there no more.Another picture from that 1987 trip shows my brother and I and mom and dad on the pier at Swakopmund in Namibia. So great to see the pier on Google Earth and go ding! tagged it! .. that’s where this picture is from!Here’s a picture taken on a ferry in New York harbor, with the Twin Towers at the back. The year is 1995, shortly after my arrival in the United States. The company I had started to work for, had offices in Port Washington on the north shores of Long Island.Here’s a very, very special place in Africa: a tiny island called Coetzer’s Island in Botswana. It is part of a game reserve, and named after my grandfather. The island is at the confluence of the Limpopo river (below) and Shasi river (sandy river bed at the top). That’s also where South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe meet. I have been there a dozen times, but not recently. The picture is from 1997.Finally, of course – the one and only Space Needle in Seattle. The souvenir picture shows me and my older brother, visiting in 2004, and had no geotag before I tagged it in Google Earth.
