GPS - List of geographical features by GPS coordinates?

Author

List of geographical features by GPS coordinates?

Captain Dondo

2006-06-12, 11:48 pm

I am working on a 'travelcam' - a webcam that is mounted in a vehicle
and takes periodic pictures of the road as the car drives.

The basic platform has a GPS unit mounted, so I can get GPS (lat+log)
coordinates for each picture. It would be really nice to be able to tag
each picture in 'human-friendly' form - in other words, to say '10.7
miles SE of Boondocks, XX' rather than 33.445566, 77.889900 or some such.

I figure I need a database of cities, towns, and significant gegraphical
features - lakes, dams, mountains, so I can calculate the nearest one to
each picture, and then stamp the picture with it.

As I travel mostly throughout the Pacific NW (Oregon, Washington State)
all I really need is a database for that area...

Anyone know of a database that I can access to get this data?

Thanks,

--Yan

Jack Erbes

2006-06-12, 11:48 pm

Captain Dondo wrote:
> I am working on a 'travelcam' - a webcam that is mounted in a vehicle
> and takes periodic pictures of the road as the car drives.
>
> The basic platform has a GPS unit mounted, so I can get GPS (lat+log)
> coordinates for each picture. It would be really nice to be able to tag
> each picture in 'human-friendly' form - in other words, to say '10.7
> miles SE of Boondocks, XX' rather than 33.445566, 77.889900 or some such.
>
> I figure I need a database of cities, towns, and significant gegraphical
> features - lakes, dams, mountains, so I can calculate the nearest one to
> each picture, and then stamp the picture with it.
>
> As I travel mostly throughout the Pacific NW (Oregon, Washington State)
> all I really need is a database for that area...
>
> Anyone know of a database that I can access to get this data?

You already have a GPS (or are going to get one) if you use that to
record tracks you can save a track once a day or so that will detail
your location anywhere from every few seconds to a few times a minute.
Most cameras will record a time that can be displayed when the film is
viewed.

If you display your track over a map (the Garmin MapSource and Magellan
MapSend desktop applications will do it) you can see where you were and
the track data will give you the time, lat/long, altitude, and a number
of other fields of information.

I assume you are familiar with the EXIF tags that can be used on photos?

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

Stichting ST

2006-06-13, 5:48 am

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:16:43 -0700, Captain Dondo <yan@NsOeSiPnAeMr.com>
wrote:

>I am working on a 'travelcam' - a webcam that is mounted in a vehicle
>and takes periodic pictures of the road as the car drives.
>
>The basic platform has a GPS unit mounted, so I can get GPS (lat+log)
>coordinates for each picture. It would be really nice to be able to tag
>each picture in 'human-friendly' form - in other words, to say '10.7
>miles SE of Boondocks, XX' rather than 33.445566, 77.889900 or some such.
>
>I figure I need a database of cities, towns, and significant gegraphical
>features - lakes, dams, mountains, so I can calculate the nearest one to
>each picture, and then stamp the picture with it.
>
>As I travel mostly throughout the Pacific NW (Oregon, Washington State)
>all I really need is a database for that area...
>
>Anyone know of a database that I can access to get this data?
>
>Thanks,
>
If your digital camera uses the EXIF info-possibility for its pictures then
there will be in that field a date/timestamp.
If you make a track those positions will also have a date/time.
With the add-on for Ozi Explorer (Ozi Photo Tool) see
http://www.oziexplorer.com/
http://www.oziphototool.com/help.html
you can make automaticaly (raster) maps that have points on them when loaded
on the PC that - when clicked - will show the picture associated with the
position. Ready made digital raster maps 1:50.000 for your mentioned area are
'freely' available.
If you are in need of a name there are USA-namefiles with many geographic
names and their position. See also the Ozi page.

Piet

Holger Issle

2006-06-13, 5:48 am

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:11:03 +0200, Stichting ST wrote:

> With the add-on for Ozi Explorer (Ozi Photo Tool) see

With TTQV (www.ttqv.de) this is easier - photo support is in the
program, no addon needed. On the map you will see thumbs of your
pictures, once clicked you see the full pic.
--

Ciao,
Holger (GUS-KOTAL, GUS#1100)

90-92 Honda CB400 10 Mm | 93-95 Yamaha TDM 850 26 Mm
95-97 KTM 620 LC4 13 Mm | seit 97 BMW R1100GS 50 Mm (Die Renndrecksau!)

cu @ http://www.issle.de

Dan Anderson

2006-06-14, 5:48 pm

Captain Dondo

2006-06-14, 5:48 pm

Dan Anderson wrote:
> Captain Dondo wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Perhaps something like this:
>
> http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm
>

Yes! perfect.

Thanks,

--Yan

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