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Geotagging

A "wouldn't it be nice" idea that's been around a while is the ability to tag a map with images that are linked to more information about the site. Kelly C suggested it as a way for students to share knowledge about a cultural/historic site or the geographic area they live in with classmates. (right, no addresses!)

There are now cameras and even storage media that embed latitude and longitude into images as they are shot. But you don't need fancy new toys to do this. I tried Flickr's geotagging map and it's fun and supereasy.

Want to try it? Log in to Flickr http://www.flickr.com
Sign in as "techedine" password "wist101" yea, corny.
Click the "You" tab then the "Your Photostream > Map" or Organize > Your Map links.

Click the Satellite link in the upper right. Cool view! (you may need Google Satellite downloaded).
Images along the bottom of the screen with colored dots have already been dropped onto the map already. Click any image to see where it was positioned, move it around on the map. We could have a course account so students upload their pictures, then place them on the map.

Zoom out or in as needed.
Try the Hybrid view mode too. Cool!
Choose any untagged image and drop it somewhere on the map.
Double-click it to view its Flickr page.

But that's the easy part of the task. The tricky part is getting the image to link to page of information and images that the student has created. The best Flickr can do is link back to the Flickr page the image came from. But there, a paragraph of explanation and a link (me not done this yet) can lead to more info.

Another approach is to work off a website and from there, link to the geomap. I tried a Wordpress blog (free). I envision having a page per student using a template into which they can drop their information and images.

I used one of their templates so its a very crude attempt, but there certainly are possibilities. And the price is right.

http://jmats.wordpress.com

The images in this example link to the Googlemap and some fake category pages. Individual students or student groups could have subcategory links (posts) on their category page.

Picasa 3 has geotagging but I haven't tried it yet. Some of other features are awesome though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskC6c_5L1M&feature=related

What can you see as possibilities, good and bad?

Comments

Christy said…
Mahalo Joan for looking into the geotagging concept more. With people from all around the world in our virtual programs, it would be nice to have an image that connects everyone together on a personal level. I explored the map and also added images. Since I'm not too familiar with Flickr it didn't seem intuitive on how to access things but it probably just takes time. I also viewed your Wordpress site and liked the linkage. Having the integration between both tools is useful for building meaningful content.
Komarey said…
Thank you for taking the time to research geotagging. I was able to go into the account you created and play around with it a bit. I can see the potential for students to share their work. More importantly, for them to connect visually to each other through products created from the course. This concept provides a central location in which their work can be displayed and see where each of them are located geographically. I think this is a great concept. If it were to link to a page with information in addition to pictures that would be ideal. I tried to explore this, but had no luck.

I was also able to take a look at the blog site you created. This may be the way to go if flickr cannot link to information. I could see this as potentially replacing the discussion boards. It makes the interactions more meaningful instead of posting just to post. I may explore this in the spring.

Thanks again;).
Anonymous said…
Hey Joan, This is kind of like what I was thinking of, just minus the log-in. :) I think it's a great way for students to connect to their classmates with a visual, especially since they're each off in their own little cyber world. Like you said & so did Komarey, it would be nice if more than just a picture could be added. It would definitely make the tool more versitile. Now, if we can just get rid of the "log in". Actually you blog idea was a nice work around, just need to figure out a way to contain it and ideally (but not likely), keep it in Blackboard. Thanks!
Clinton said…
Mahalo Joan for diving in deeper into this concept. I was thinking that it would be a lot easier if the camera or mobile phone automatically tagged and uploaded the image right after it was taken. I wonder when they will have geotagged audio and video files that would be useful in creating quick virtual tours and field trips. Thanks.
Dorothy said…
Mahalo e Joan for sharing about "geotagging" and creating a sample for us to view. I enjoyed clicking on the photos and can only imagine these types of tools continually being improved upon in the upcoming months and years. Lots of potential for integration with our VSDL programs as we work out the minor kinks as mentioned by you and others. The geotag feature in Picasa 3 also looked interesting. So much to dive into and explore, yet so little time. :)
Kelly D. said…
Mahalo for sharing Joan! Place based identity is a theme that is prevalant in many of our courses in both `Ike Hawai`i and A`o Makua because it is such a foundational component of Hawaiian culture. Being able to share where you are from, in creative ways, would be very motivating as both programs now have students who are not only from Hawai`i. I'm thinking it would be good to integrate in
HPL1A with their Ku`u One Hänau project where a lot of what they share are pictures of where they live. The map could give the pictures a geographic framework so students could make a bigger connection, again especially if students are spread across the continent. I liked your blog site, too. I'm thinking if we can integrate that kind of tool, that's fairly easy to use, we could start creating kind of online portfolios where students have a place to share their projects and could tie in to the virtual hö`ike concept, but instead of sharing only one project they'd share their best work from the entire semester.
Thanks again for sharing,
Kelly

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