How to use geotagging for photos on the Sony Ericsson C903

Equipped with a 5-megapixel camera and Cyber-shot branded photo gadgetry, the Sony Ericsson C903 is well equipped to deliver high quality cameraphone images.

But as well as offering a wide selection of shooting options to get the best imaging results possible, the C903 provides the facility to 'geotag' images – adding precise location metadata to image files. With information about where your images have been taken embedded in the file, you can use suitable applications – such as Google Maps on the phone itself – to view them superimposed on a ma

It's easy to use, and is a feature increasingly common on Sony Ericsson handsets. With A-GPS satellite location finding technology onboard, you can get an exact locations for your images.

Here's how to set up and use geotagging on the Sony Ericsson C903...

Setting up geotagging
Although the Sony Ericsson has the geotagging facility built in, initially you have to enable it in the photo application.

1. Slide down the back cover to activate the camera (Figure 1).
2. Holding the phone in landscape camera mode, press the softkey next to the Settings icon (it looks like a spanner) (Figure 2).
3. Press the right scroll part of the navigation rocker pad nine times until you get to the Settings list (Figure 3).
4. Scroll down to Add position (Figure 4). Press the central navigation Select button.
5. Scroll up to highlight On (Figure 5). Press Select.
6. A message appears informing you that an internet connection is needed, which may be expensive when not in your home network. Press OK (Figure 6).

Geotagging has now been switched on. Images you take will now have location metadata embedded in image files.

To ensure that you get exact location coordinates using A-GPS (rather than approximate cellsite positioning), when you're taking photos, make sure the small white satellite icon in the top right corner of the viewfinder has turned blue and green (for 'active').

Viewing geotagged images in Google Maps
Once you have enabled geotagging, when you've taken a photograph you can view it isuperimposed over a map or satellite image in the phone's Google Maps application.

1. Go to your image gallery. When the camera is activated, you can get to your image gallery directly by pressing the arrowed 'play' button, central on the side/top of the phone – next to the volume/zoom buttons. Alternatively, to get there via the menu system or to view albums, from the homescreen, press Menu (Figure 7).
2. In the main menu, scroll to highlight Media (Figure 8). Press Select.
3. Highlight Photo (Figure 9). Press Select.
4. Highlight whichever camera album you wish to view (eg: Latest photo or Cam album) and press Select (Figure 10).
5. If you've chosen Camera album, highlight the album you wish to browse (Figure 11). Press Select. Highlight the image you want to view and press Select.
6. You can scroll through your Latest photos or Camera album images using the navigation pad controls. When you find the one you wish to view on Google Maps, press Options (Figure 12) (you may have to click it twice as options are temporarily hidden when viewing images).
7. Scroll down to highlight View on map (Figure 13). Press Select.
8. In a few moments the phone launches Google Maps (Figure 14), connecting to the service to download a map of the image location.
9. The image is displayed in a small box superimposed over a map (Figure 15).
10. Press the central navigation Select button to zoom in on the image (Figure 16). Press Back to restore the original view.

As usual with Google Maps, you can change the map view to a satellite image, should you wish to do so. Press Options and scroll down to Satellite View (Figure 17). Press Select.

The photo is now superimposed over a satellite image (Figure 18).