Before taking photos in a specific area, I often try to get a feeling of the area's characteristics and particularities by walking and driving its streets. This can happen quite a number of times before I pull out the camera at all.
Occasionally, I take paper notes, talk into a dictaphone or write notes into a map instantly on site. Occasionally, I don't write down these notes while on the road, but back at home, and occasionally, I don't write them down at all but keep them in my head where over time, my plan what photos to take takes shape.
But occasionally, I want a nifty little electronic helper with Tablet PC-like screen, GPS, moving map, and a snapshot still and video camera that lets me write and draw straight onto blank virtual paper, on the moving map, and on the snapshots taken. It automagically geo-tags the snapshots taken and, once connected to a PC, automagically fills my notes wiki. There, I can browse my notes in chronological and geographic/map views and connect them on click with existing notes.
A small slate Tablet PC similar to the 10,4" HP TC 1100 plus a PCMCIA GPS device plus a small camera could do the trick, but that would be a bulky, heavy, expensive, power consuming, unergonomic and certainly not ruggedized enough solution.
Enter the Pentax Optio T10, a 6 Megapixel, 38-112 mm compact camera with -- tadaa -- a 3" touchscreen and notetaking functionality and EUR 400 list price. I haven't seen this device yet, but it certainly looks good in paper form. I can image loads of use cases. Think of interior designers, painters, craftsmen, technicians, surveyors, accident assessors, anyone who has to work with and reports on physical things. Now, Pentax, please drop a (single-chip) GPS receiver into that box and you've got a killer device.
Technorati Tags: pentax camera workflow gps geotagging notetaking productdesign tablet+pc
Comments are closed at the moment. I will post a blog entry as soon as they are available again.
Somebody really needs to talk to their marketing department:
Der „richtige“ Spaß stellt sich jedoch vor allem beim Bearbeiten der gespeicherten Bilddaten ein. Über das Touch Display lassen sich persönliche Wörter und Skizzen auf dem Bild notieren – ideal zum Beispiel für persönliche (Erinnerungs-) Notizen zu dem aufgenommenen Motiv. Das Einbinden von lustigen Illustrationen und selbst gestalteten Bildfragmenten wie kreative Stempel oder Unterschriften ist möglich. Mit dieser Funktion wird die gute alte Sofortbild-Funktion wieder hergestellt. Bild machen, kurzen Kommentar notieren und Bild ausdrucken.
Absurd! I'd have 30 more interesting business use cases which would make it possible to sell the camera for 150% of its price. Add some software and you get... hm, do you know anyone at Pentax, Haiko? :-)
— Martin Röll, 2006-04-04 16:59