Finding your way using a map, based on addresses and numbers, is just one way. Most of us know even better how to navigate by using visual descriptions. How many of us remember what the address of, say, Eiffel Tower is, but we all know how it looks like? Navman seems to be the first (?) GPS navigator manufacturer to put the concept of photo-based navigation into use. Two Navman in-car navigators now come with in-built digital cameras, and the Navpix concept enables people to use pictures for navigating. GPS coordinates are attached to the pictures you take, or alternatively you can use the Navpix library to download GPS-tagged pictures to your navigator, and then build your route based on the pictures. So when driving, the navigator will show you the way with pictures of what you should see on the way instead of, or in addition to, showing the map.

With new GPS enabled digital cameras coming from, for instance, Ricoh and other manufacturers, and GPS + digital camera phones like the Nokia N95, for example, I’m sure this concept won’t soon be limited to Navman and its Navpix thing. Flickr already allows users to GPS tag their photos with fairly simple equipment, and most likely other in-car navigator manufacturers, like TomTom, are coming up with similar solutions as Navpix. In the web world, I wonder when are sites like Igglo or travel sites like IgoUgo really gonna start offering GPS coordinates and GPS-tagged pictures? Lonely Planet has already teamed up with Navpix.

Karri Ojanen