New GPS unit significantly changes the way photographers track a photograph’s exact location – right down to the actual country, city and street and points of interest automatically

Las Vegas, NV (March 2, 2007) – JOBO AG announces today the new JOBO photoGPS – a small and lightweight Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that fits directly on any digital camera’s hot shoe, just as if it were a regular flash unit, without the need for extra cables. This new device allows automatic geo-tagging – country, city, street – entered into the image’s Exif file.

“Today’s digital photographer shoots more images on a daily basis than they ever did using film. And the time they spend searching and sorting their huge collections of images is done by inspecting the so-called meta-data (EXIF and / or IPTC) information embedded in every single digital photo file,” said Johannes Bockemuehl-Simon, JOBO’s CEO. “Most of the time, an essential part missing from this search and sort process is the actual geographic location where a photo was taken. Some solutions currently exist that couple a photographer’s camera with existing (mostly organizer-based) GPS devices. These solutions can be both expensive and/or cumbersome. Our goal at JOBO was to automate this process, which we have accomplished with the introduction of our new photoGPS, and to make it possible for photographers to find specific images within seconds.”

Each time the camera takes a picture JOBO’s photoGPS will capture GPS time and location information and store this in its own internal memory. After the picture is taken photoGPS goes in a deep sleep mode, consuming almost no energy. It is the camera’s flash synchronization mechanism that quickly awakens photoGPS. Under normal working conditions GPS data is captured only a few seconds after shutter release. If a second picture is taken within 15 minutes, GPS capture is instantaneous.

photoGPS PC program and database
JOBO’s photoGPS comes with a PC and MAC compatible DVD that contains both the software and the database needed to post-process the information captured by the unit. Post-processing is highly automated: Users download the captured GPS data via the built-in USB interface and enter the directory name of the folder where the corresponding pictures are stored. The user’s computer can then compare the EXIF time recorded by the camera and the GPS time recorded by photoGPS. When a match is found, the software updates the Longitude and Latitude EXIF fields. Having Longitude and Latitude coordinates is ideal if a photographer wants to trace a specific photo’s location with Google Earth or any comparable program.

The software can also convert the GPS coordinates into more readable and searchable information. For each location the software automatically retrieves: Country name, Region and District, City, Postal code, Street name and the Point Of Interest (POI) which is closest to the captured location. POI can be important tourist attractions, beaches, mountain peaks, frontiers, museums, opera or theatre houses, concert halls, sport stadiums, parks, embassies and so on. Several image browsers exist that can search and sort files according to user selected EXIF fields. So, for example, users can instruct their image browser to retrieve all their photos taken on “Plati Yialos“ beach, “Mykonos”, “Greece” in 2006, and 3 seconds later all corresponding photos have been located.

photoGPS is expected to be available summer 2007 for a retail price of $149.

About JOBO AG
JOBO is a family-owned company now in its third generation of family leadership. Having been founded in 1923, it has built up a reputation for quality, professionalism, and commitment. These core values remain their keys for continuous success in times of vast technological changes, growing markets, and globalization.

Through innovation and ingenuity JOBO has created standards within the imaging industry. For example, JOBO created the product class of small-volume, high-quality photo processors. And NASA pictures of the first flight to the moon (Apollo 11) were processed using JOBO equipment.

JOBO is also one of the first exhibitors of the most important photo trade shows in the world – photokina, founded in 1950. Since then, close interaction with photo dealers and end users has been critical in making JOBO an indisputable market leader in the world of photography.