So here is my funny story…

I download all of my pictures to my Picasa account so that my family can see them whenever they get a moment. Sunday night I was uploading som of my stuff for my husband to get at work. I noticed a small map at the bottom of my account. For the first ten minuetes or so I ignored it.

Finally it occured to me that the map had dots of places I had recently been, so I clicked on it. A google map came up with three squares on it. One was on a highway near my house and the other two were in Galveston, which is about an hour from my house. I clicked on the first square and a picture of a wasp that I took popped up. It was taken at my house, but the square was located on a nearby highway. So, I clicked on the next square in Galveston. It was a picture I had taken in Galveston the weekend before. The third square right next to the second was another picture from Galveston.

I was stumped. How did the computer know I took the pictures in Galveston? I called in my husband who is also a computer guy. He too was stumped! I called my brother who works for Dell. “Bill, how does Picasa know where I took my pictures with my camera?” I clicked again and tried to look at the details hoping it would provide information.

Was it picking the closest beach? No, I have one down the street from my house. Was it analyzing the pictures… surely we aren’t quite that advanced yet for public use. Hmmm. So I went back to the wasp pitcure which was not located in the right place. Just as I opened it, I remembered we were on the way to the nursing home which is right down that highway. As I flushed through all of these thoughts, I remembered these three pictures were all taken with my iphone. The phone hones in on your coordinates and plugs them into the pictures details.

Wow, I have found an amazing new toy! How cool would this be for classroom use. Oh my goodness! My mind is spinning. I am trying to find cool things to add to the Green180 project and I have just found one of the coolest new tools in picture taking. Am I the only one that thinks this is cool. Imagine a global project (Green 180) that allows each student to not only incorporate cool pictures from different locations, but the coordinates as well.

It just added a whole new element to the project. Now I just need to figure out if all phones do this. Technology is so darned cool!