I suspect that many travellers with digital cameras are unaware of the data stored by their cameras within each photo file and the value of this data in establishing exactly when each photo was taken, along with other details of the camera settings used for each shot.

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Microsoft Photo Info tool
Microsoft has released a new 'Photo Info' tool designed specifically for digital photographers. After installation, this tool provides a new option of 'Photo Info' on the Explorer context menu. The Photo Info dialog enables you to edit both EXIF and IPTC information in compatible image formats as either a single image or a collection. The Photo Info tool works on either Windows XP or Vista and is a free download.

Read about it here: Microsoft Photo Info tool: Digital Photography Review.

Download site here: Microsoft Photo Info.

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The software tool mentioned above enables you to not only read this data but to add data such as: Title, Author, Description, Location (City, Sublocation, State/Prov., Country, etc.) This information can be extremely useful when creating an album and/or journal of your tour.

You can enhance the value of this resource even more during your tour by snapping major highway or city/town signs as you travel. These shots may be of little photo value (perhaps blurred or out of focus) but in conjunction with the embedded EXIF data, they tell you exactly when you were in a particular location on your tour route. If you then refer to an internet mapping tool like Via Michelin, you can completely reconstruct your tour route.

One small trap for digital camera users is forgetting to change their camera time settings when they arrive in a new time zone. The Microsoft Photo Info Tool does have a simple cure for that: it enables you to apply a time correction to a family of photo files.

The next step in this technology is the addition of GPS data to photo files and a few high end cameras already have this capability. Another approach is the Sony GPS tracker for photographers which simply records the time/date and location of the device. The blending of this data with the time and date recorded in photos, enables you to pinpoint where each shot was taken. It is then possible to effectively attach these GPS-defined photos to Google Earth (or similar world mapping tools) and display your tour album in this manner.

phil

Phil,
Thanks for the Microsoft Photo Info Tool info! It looks like a great tool for people who like to be organized to the nth degree - such as myself