OEM Insights - November 2008
November 5, 2008 By: Stephen Colwell2008 Outstanding GPS Product Reviews, Part Two
Last month I outlined my picks for New Commercial/Industrial and Consumer GPS based products. In that column I chose Motorola's M75 GPS handheld data/cellular terminal and this month I will conclude with Ricoh's rugged new 500SE Digital Camera with built in compass and Sunnto's commercial outdoor GPS watch and trail manager. read more
Ricoh 500SE
GPS and digital cameras are nothing new, as both have been around for sometime. The combinations – yawn – incorporate stand alone cameras, cell phones that your kids carry, and smartphones. Throw the components in a bag and shake.
Commercial and industrial professionals in the fields of GIS, exploration, land use have long hoped for an integrated solution. Let's take a look at the technical side first.
The 500SE technical Specs :
- 8 megapixel digicam w/ 3X zoom
- Wi-Fi LAN and Bluetooth connectivity
- SD flash memory card (3.3V 32/64/128/256/512 MB/ 1GB) slot; MMC flash memory card slot; 26 MB of built-in memory compass
- A-GPS
- wide angle 28 mm-85 mm lens
- still mode (continuous, s-continuous, m-continuous), scene mode (high-sensitivity, fire, skew correction, text, zoom macro), motion mode, sound mode
- LCD screen, see through viewfinder and built in flash
The 500SE's compass is a great feature. Digital recordists have long hoped for the the added features of an internal compass that would show the orientation or direction of the image. Yet, multiple shots (as well as confusion) take place when the camera operator stands in one place and rotates in a 360 pattern taking images. The best example is of a city inventory specialist standing in the middle of a four way intersection and taking shots that show the various street poles, traffic signs, utilities, etc. The individual XYZ of the GPS does not change but with the orientation of the compass stamped on the image via the Ricoh camera, the user can identify the NWSE direction of the image.
The 500SE is also designed for rugged outdoor use. Forget the padded camera case. This is a professional camera designed to sit on the seat of your truck or helicopter and get regularly dumped on the floor, dropped in the water or mud, and keep on working. It's submersible to 1 meter, dust proof, moisture proof, can handle extreme temperature operations, and comes encased in a rubberized exterior with large buttons for use with gloves. It also has the ability to run on AA batteries if the rechargeable and removeable battery pack runs low.
The main market thrust for the 500SE is geo imaging and GIS applications. According to a Ricoh spokesperson the company designed the 500 SE with the following features most sought after by GIS professionals:
- geo-codes images as they are captured
- automatically stores GPS coordinates in the image EXIF header
- stores additional metadata with captured images through a user-configurable menu system on the camera
- allows image imprinting with GPS coordinates and any associated data
- can upload images, coordinates and captured data directly from the camera
- can send geo-coded images directly to a PC running ArcMap where a plug-in tool extracts GPS data from images and generates standard ESRI shapefiles
- automatically links images plus associated metadata to mapped points based on their GPS location
The sample 500SE I used lived up to its reputation as I put it through its paces. I found it easy to use, feature packed, and just downright rugged. It's not pretty but it delivers what it promises.
Sunnto X 10 GPS Wrist Computer
The guy on the TV show Man vs. Wild would do well to invest in the new Suunto X 10. He could lay out his course on Google maps, avoid the swamps and active lava flows, and go around the desert, vs. going through it. The X10 combines virtually every feature for getting there and getting home, then showing your friends where you have been.
With more than 10 years now in the development of these types of devices Sunnto has packaged together the right set of features for the wilderness professional. The X10 also incorporates a new high sensitivity GPS chip for better tracking through dense foliage and tree canopies. The feature set is impressive for a device so small:
- improved GPS with stronger signal and quicker fix for safe navigation
- hands free operation with the smallest, lightest outdoor GPS wristop computer
- ability to monitor altitude, barometric pressure, up to 50 routes, 500 waypoints, and tracks, as well as speed, and distance with precision
- ability to record the journey and share it on Google Earth
- longer lasting battery life
- altimeter, barometer and compass functions
- water resistant up to 100 meters.
Each Suunto X 10 comes complete with their Suunto Trek Manager software, which trains the user and utilizes the data stored on the watch. According to the manufacturer: "You can create routes on the maps you have uploaded, edit and erase existing routes, visualize the altitude profiles for your routes, analyze and plan your training, and keep a training diary. You can also create your own activity reports by adding photos and text to the profiles. On the download side it allows you to export tracks from your Suunto X10 to Google Earth, where you can view your adventures anywhere on the globe with real satellite imagery."
The X 10 unit the company provided me lived up up to its claims. The downside is that it was little bulky on my wrist and the display was sometimes hard to read. I used it several time, once in the desert and at the 7,500 hundred foot level of Mount Bachelor in Oregon. Both areas see their share of stranded and lost hikers and snow enthusiasts yearly. The X 10 could save a lot of misery for those types of folks, or provide a more robust hiking experience to the casual user.
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