MyGuide announces the m.icatcher at IFA in Berlin and the product is expected to be available in store October. Companies like DXG, Geotate and Rakon have collaborated closely with MyGuide to build a video camera that automatically tags videos with date, place and time; enabling content creators and consumers to tag, share and discover their films.
from http://www.myguidegps.com/main/geotagging/micatcher/
As usual the technical information is somewhat limited. In particular it's not clear if they mean continuous geocoding (e.g. every frame of the video would have a geographic location attached) or if they mean the entire video will get a single location attached.
A fragment of a press release available indicates it is "based on DXG's DVH586 platform and Geotate's Yuma geotagging".
Geotate Yuma is reasonably documented, it's "Geotate's auto geotagging solution for digital cameras" and you can read the product brochure (PDF). Geotate has taken a unique approach to addressing the challenges of GPS for digital cameras, I have a previous posting that gives more information.
DXG is a digital still and video camera company. I can't find anything on the DVH586, so it may be OEM gear for manufacturer use only. I don't think they meant the DVH566, the image on Pocket GPS World looks like the DVH598 or the DVH808.
The mention of Rakon is presumably due to their combined offering with Geotate
LAS VEGAS, USA, 31 January 2008: Geotate, a software GPS-company which delivers location based solutions for consumer devices, announced that it has successfully collaborated with Rakon Limited (Auckland, New Zealand, NZX:RAK), to develop a solution using Rakon’s GRM 6510 module. This module, that includes all the required GPS RF hardware (excluding antenna) to capture raw GPS data, can be combined with Geotate’s GPS software to provide a geotagging solution that can easily be added to consumer electronics devices such as digital cameras.
or I suppose it could be some custom work specific to the MyGuide video camera.
Pocket GPS World says the specs are
The m.icatcher is a video or stills camera which is based around Solid State media (SD/HDSD) it has 32Mb of onboard memory, a 3" High res monitor, it has a f2.6 7mm fixed lens with digital zoom capabilities. The output is Jpeg for stills and either MOV (Mpeg4) or MP4 (H.264) for movies. It can be connected to a TV supporting both NTSC/PAL and HDMI formats. Weighing in at 350g it is fairly light but this does not include the batteries.
Rather puzzlingly, Navigadget is showing a completely different photo, of what looks like a standard digital camera, not a video camera. I don't know whether MyGuide is doing two devices under the same brand, I will let you know if I find out more.
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