Feb/March 2007

Anyone who needs location-stamped digital pictures that offer a bit more detail than you'd get with a mobile phone might be interested in an upgraded version of Ricoh's GPS camera, which is now available in the UK through mapping and geo-information specialist Korec.

When first launched, the 500SE was described as the world's first high resolution GPS-ready digital camera. Now resolution has been more than doubled from 3.24 to 8.13 megapixels. Both optical and digital zoom are provided.

The camera works by embedding GPS coordinate information automatically in captured images. The data is received through a WAAS/EGNOS-enabled detachable GPS module, which is now said to provide faster acquisition time through using the latest SIRF III GPS chipset.

Images can now be transferred to mobile devices via Bluetooth or, optionally, Wi-Fi, and the camera accepts NMEA data from external Bluetooth-enabled GPS devices.

The camera has also been ruggedised, and is now waterproof.