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Geotags are geographic coordinates added to media such as photos, videos, and websites. They help users find location-specific information and can improve search engine results. Geotagging is based on GPS and can be done through various sites and devices. Retail and tourism websites benefit from geotags, but privacy concerns exist. Limiting the amount of information revealed can mitigate security issues.
A geotag is geographic information added to various types of media such as photos, videos, websites, and Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds. The data included is usually latitude and longitude coordinates only, but may also include elevation, bearing, distance, or place names. A geotag helps web users find specific location information.
Items that have geotagged information can produce more targeted results in search engine queries. For example, an Internet browser can find images taken near a location when the coordinates are entered into a search engine. Web surfers can also use geotagging to find location-specific news, websites, and other resources.
Geotagging is based on location information. This metadata, or additional information about a file, is usually derived from the Global Positioning System (GPS) and based on latitude and longitude coordinates. Many cell phones come with built-in GPS that allows for automatic geotagging. Some digital cameras also have this feature.
There are several sites online that make the geotagging process easier. Social networking site Twitter allows users to geotag their posts and pictures. Some photo sharing websites allow users to add geotag metadata information when uploading photos from a digital camera.
Blogging and social networking sites cater primarily to mobile users. Geoblogging adds geographic information to blog posts using geotags. Tagging social networking sites with geographic information allows friends to track each other. Users can even use it to keep a record of their daily activities.
Positional information can be incorporated into a web page via meta tags, which are HTML elements that provide site-specific information to a search engine but are not displayed to users. The meta tag can include coordinates. The region, place name and altitude can also be encoded in the tag.
Retail and tourism websites, as well as other e-commerce sites that have physical locations, can benefit from using geotags. They help customers looking for items or services to find what they are looking for in a specific location. Having geotag information can also elevate a site’s ranking in search engines.
Some internet users are concerned about the privacy implications of geotagging. Providing specific location information can open users up to unwanted interactions. For example, a blogger who posts on a controversial topic and geotags her location could find themselves receiving threats or being followed. Someone blogging from a coffee shop and including a geotag in her post could alert burglars that she’s not home.
One way to mitigate these security issues is to limit the amount of information revealed. Some bloggers have chosen to include location information without being too specific. They can include a city name in their geotags but not the exact coordinates of their location.
