Almost three years ago I got my first GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr. This is a product that I have totally enjoyed. Now I have been able to test out GiSTEQ’s great new product: The GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Mini for a couple of months.

In the time since then I have used my PhotoTrackr all over the place. I love it because I like having a geotagged record of my trips and travels as well as my photos.

Some info that you need to know (From the GiSTEQ Site):

“Photo Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to photographs. These data usually consist of latitude and longitude coordinates, as well as altitude, and place names. Photo Geocoding refers to the process of adding non-coordinate based geographical identifiers, such as a street address, to the photographs.

“GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr is a photo tracking solution that integrates digital photo with location information for online digital mapping and photo sharing. It also provides trip recording and playback function. If you are a sports enthusiast, you can also get the SportTracks upgrade to track your exercise progress with PhotoTrackr.”

FEATURES

• Share your photos with family and friends with location mapping in PhotoTrackr™ software. (With integrated Google Maps.)
• Integrated with Flickr™ / locr / Picasa Web Album / SmugMug for easy online photo sharing.
• Keep track of your digital photos with satellite precision.
• Display or playback trip routes with the PhotoTrackr software.
• Compatible with ALL digital cameras
• Light weight & low power consumption.
• Compatible with Mac
• Automated photo slideshow function.
• Geo-tagged function enables image-sharing in 3rd party Geo-photo sharing websites.
• Capable of writing GPS info to the pictures and exporting NMEA and GPX info from the GPS log files
• Google Earth support (PhotoTrackr program is able to export GPS log files and pictures to google earth format)
• Multi-language support (PhotoTrackr software now supports Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.)
• Support RAW (Windows|Mac) format – optional upgrade
• Built-in Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
• SportTracks Support – optional upgrade
• Battery Life: Operation Time: 17 hours in continuous mode
• Dimension: 3.05 (L) x 1.10 (W) x 0.70 (H) inch
• Weight: 0.53oz including battery

So those are the features of the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ device and software. I have started a few groups to help as resources for other users of the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™. You can go there to see photos that have been geotagged by the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ as well as learn more about the product.

Here are the groups.

• GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ Flickr Group
• GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ Zooomr Group
• GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ Blog Catalog Group
• GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ Facebook Group

GiSTEQ has their own forum for user support as well.

Here are some of my photowalks while using the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™.

• Falmouth Photowalk
• Falmouth PhotoBlading
• Shelburne Farms Photowalk
• Topsfield Fair Photowalk
• Las Vegas PhotoWalk

Here are my photos that are tagged with the words GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr

I also added my photowalks to Zooomr. The thing about the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ and Zooomr is that once you add the GPS data to your images and upload them to Zooomr they are automatically geotagged. Support for Zooomr is not officially specified but it is something that works.

Follow these steps..
1. – Edit your images
2. – Import your images into the GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ Software and add GPS data.
3. – Upload your images to Zooomr.

Here are my two Zooomr smartsets.
Falmouth Photowalk
Falmouth PhotoBlading

My Review of the PhotoTrackr Mini

The PhotoTrackr Mini makes some vast improvements over the original PhotoTrackr. For one thing the Mini has a built in USB so that it can recharge via the USB port in your computer so there is no need to bring any additional wires. You can also pop it into the USB car charger or a USB wall charger. It is very easy to keep this product powered. The other improvement is the size. The mini is smaller and lighter than the original. It is a perfect size to pop in your camera bag or in your shirt pocket. Portability is a great benefit of this product.

The software interface has also been improved and is much easier. There is MAC support as well. With the software each of your photo trips can be organized so that at any time you can look back over where you have been. Support for additional online services have been added. There is support now for Locr, Picasa, Flickr, SmugMug and AtlasPost. I’ve been using Picasa a lot because I went and bought tons of space on it. Also I discovered today that if I upload my photo from the PhotoTrackr software to Picasa and it is geotagged then I can then pass that photo directly to Panoramio which is a geotagging community by Google.

Here is what the Software interface looks like.

Across the top of the page are all the buttons you need in order to do everything. The software interface is very simple to use.

Geotag Wizard: This button walks you through step by step how to synchronize the PhotoTrackr Mini’s time and your Camera’s time. Then also download your trip record and geotag your images. This is a very easy way to do the simplest things with the trackr, it is easy.

Photo Management: This is basically the home button, this puts you back on the page where all the photos are. If you go to the trip records routine then you push the Photo Management button to go back to the home page of the software.

Trip Records: If you roll over this button you can go to routines to download trip records, view trip records, Waypoints Managment, Import trip info and export trip info. Sometimes you just want to take a look at the map of your trip. For me because I have the PhotoTrackr software from my previous versions and prior trips on other computers. I can take those old log files and import my old trips so they can all be in the same place.

User Management: You can track multiple users and trackrs with the same software. Suppose that you have a photography club and everyone in the club has the PhotoTrackr Mini and you want to import everyone’s trips you can manage these multiple users in one place.

Settings: With this tab you can determine which Photo Sharing Website you want to use as well as add in your Google Map API and which unit of measure you want as well as your language and your default hardware ports.

My Online Photo: This links out to the Photo Sharing Website that you decide to use in the settings folder.

About: With this button you can get to the help functions as well as GiSTEQ website. There is also a link to the upgrade site for the Pro version of the software (with the pro version you can use this software and device with RAW files.)

On the main page of the software you have your section where you can choose different trips as well as view the images and the map. The map is a Google Map and as you click on your photos you move right to that spot on the map. Here is an example of the map.

In the photo section of the software you can define the title and description of each photo before it is uploaded. You can also rotate images quickly and easily and view all of your images in a slideshow along with where that photo was taken.

On the sidebar you can choose form the different image groups as well as the Trip Records that you may have. You can name each set and each trip record as you choose so you can find them as quickly as you need them.

I use my PhotoTrackr Mini with Picasa and when I upload my images to Picasa as I click on each image I see a little map on the right hand side of the screen. You can click on View on Map and also View on Google Earth. Such very cool features.

The PhotoTrackr Mini is a great photo accessory. I love having one and because I love the product so very much I asked GiSTEQ if I could have 5 of them, one for me and 4 to give away to YOU. Yes I figure that my readers are interested in this product because my original PhotoTrackr review in 2007 is one of my most highly visited posts ever so I know people who are interested in Geotagging are coming here and if one of you really wants this product then this is the contest for you.

GIVEAWAY

MAIN RULE – Check out GiSTEQ.com and their geotagging products and tell me why in a comment you could use a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Mini. (remember if this rule is not followed then no others will count)
1 Extra Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed or by email (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Extra Entry – Follow me on Twitter (button in header) and let me know your Twitter name in a separate comment.
1 Extra Entry – Follow @GiSTEQ on Twitter.
1 Extra Entry – Tweet this giveaway. Copy and paste – “RT @BenSpark is giving away 4 @GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Minis. Check it out here http://bit.ly/aKUsrC“. Then come back and leave the direct link to your tweet (go to your twitter account, click on the words when your tweet was sent (ie. 5 seconds ago) and copy and paste that link a separate comment.
2 Extra Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog.
This giveaway will run through midnight on April 30, with winners being announced the morning of May 1. Winner will be chosen using Random.org from all valid entries and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me before another winner is chosen. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.