Tuesday 5 July 2005

OK... I spent the last few days on playing with Google Maps, Flickr, Geobloggers from an end-user perspective... My findigs so far:

USE FIREFOX!!!!! The Java extensions that can be added to Google Maps and to Flickr make the whole process so much easier!!!

Now, assuming you use Firefox and have an account with Flickr (and managed to upload some pics that you would like to Geotag) the process is relatively simple....

What you need is:
Greasemonkey (a tool enabling the Java scripts on your Firefox)
Greasemonkey SCRIPTS written by Yuan.CC (mainly :

Google Maps in Flickr,

Tags for Geobloggers

Geo lat/lon info on Google Maps

(Once you have GReasmonkey up and running, installing the scripts themselves is simple - you click on the link, see some code on-screen, go to Tools/Install User Script, click OK and that0s it)

Another useful Script is the one that lets you jump from a location in Google Map directly to Geobloggers... It's to be downloaded here. (provided by Steeev, see here.)

Once all the scripts are in place, the process is relatively simple.
1. upload your picture to FLickr.
2. go to Maps.Google:com and locate the spot to which the picture is to be linked (preferably on a separate tab . )
3. double click on the exact spot - you should see it's coordinates (preceded with "geotagged", in a box titled Tags for Geobloggers on your right) - copy them to clipboard
4. go back to the Flickr and paste the coordinates in the box you see after selecting "add tags" command
5. reload the picture (refresh) and press the Gmap button on top of your picture... wait a moment et VOILA... you see Google Maps fragment with a pin indicating a precise location of the picture above...
6. (you could also add the following: geotagged to a picture comment (Add your comment) and the click on it - by doing so your picture will be sooner added to the geobloggers register)

X. This link (from MAKE) gives a prescription on how to add similar functionality to Google Earth - a standalone application "replacing" and "enhancing" Google Maps... But the only thing there is to do after going through all the above is to open this in Google Earth....

Y. if you go back to google maps and click on Check for GeoTagged Images. you should be directed to geoblogger in which you will see ALL the pictures (not only yours) which have been geotagged to the chosen location....

UPDATE: I discovered only now that I "reinvented the wheel"... Oh well... Here's a link to Steeev's blog explaining all this - only much better :)

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