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07-21-2013, 01:29 PM   #1
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Pentax GPS01 question

Read the review by Michael Tansley on the website. He mentioned that you can save locations in a destination folder. If you have saved a location can you use the camera to get you back to that exact location? Trying to figure out why you would want to save a destination. Thanks for your reply!

I would contact him via PM but there was no link in his review.

07-21-2013, 01:47 PM   #2
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Short answer is yes. See page 12 of the manual. However, it is not going to give you directions or a map. The screen indicates a compass direction and a distance to the location you selected. I'm not sure how useful that would be in the real world but it is kinda cool.
07-21-2013, 02:00 PM   #3
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Yep. One of the cool features is that you can also pre-load coordinates as well. I do it all the time!
07-21-2013, 02:16 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by LaurenOE Quote
I do it all the time!
Lauren, how does this work? I mean what do you use it for? I looked at it when I first got the unit but could not think of a practical use so just forgot about it. Just curious to see what I'm missing. I have a GPS in the car I use all the time.

07-21-2013, 04:17 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
Lauren, how does this work? I mean what do you use it for? I looked at it when I first got the unit but could not think of a practical use so just forgot about it. Just curious to see what I'm missing. I have a GPS in the car I use all the time.
I was going to do a complex write up of this functionality, but I decided against it because I was scared of becoming the GPS queen.

In a nutshell, when you format a SD card, there is a default directory for images called DCIM. There needs to be another directory called GPS. The GPS directory will be created if you save a position. There are some default locations programmed in to the O-GPS-1, and as soon as you make a save, they are written to the GPS directory and file along with whatever you saved.

In more detail...

Once the GPS directory is created (you can make it manually), there will be other directories under the GPS directory, called DATA1 or DATA2 or DATA3 - depending on how many main directories you created. You only need DATA1, but you can make DATA2 and DATA3.

Under the DATA directories, if you saved a file, you will also have a TXT file called GPS_DAT1.TXT,GPS_DATA2.TXT and GPS_DAT3.TXT.

Each time you save a file in the main DATA1/GPS_DAT1.TXT, the default GPS Pentax locations will also be saved.

It will look like this (I saved my point/file as Lauren)

TITLE= Lauren

DATA= PENTAX_Itabashi JP, N35.765182, E139.691208
DATA= PENTAX_Shinjuku JP, N35.691746, E139.695465
DATA= PENTAX_Osaka JP, N34.676910, E135.507095
DATA= PENTAX_France, N48.933392, E2.240172
DATA= PENTAX_UK, N51.499111, W0.533009
DATA= PENTAX_Germany, N53.589733, E9.946554
DATA= PENTAX_USA, N39.756359, W105.219810
DATA= PENTAX_Canada, N43.604095, W79.734818
DATA= PENTAX_China, N31.199734, E121.444061

With that TXT file, you can then put in any coordinate and perform simple navigation.

Here is an edited version of the above file, pointing to Epcot in Florida and deleting all the other info.

DATA= Epcot_Disney, N28.375271, W81.549401





If you format the card, the GPS directory will be erased and any of your saved navigation points will be lost so be aware of that.

Last edited by LaurenOE; 07-21-2013 at 04:31 PM.
07-21-2013, 04:21 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by LaurenOE Quote
I was going to do a complex write up of this functionality, but I decided against it because I was scared of becoming the GPS queen.
LOL looks like you just did

Thanks for the info. Do you find it useful or just a gimmick?
07-21-2013, 04:24 PM   #7
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Because of the "non-friendly" use of this functionality, and the complexity of using it, it seems to have been lost as a feature. I suppose Ricoh is more interested in color combinations for their cameras instead of enhancing things like the O-GPS-1 functionality/use.

How do I use this?

Many times, I use Google Earth/Maps and there are features when I want to take pictures from. Many times what you see from the air, is lost from the ground.

I have used this technology, to find secret Iceni temples in England, where I am moving to a specific location across a field that is unmarked. Having my camera in my hand, and at the last second using it for taking pictures. The O-GPS-1 is an awesome tool and is easy to "Hack" locations.

07-21-2013, 04:29 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
LOL looks like you just did

Thanks for the info. Do you find it useful or just a gimmick?
I LOVE this functionality because I do complex GPS scouting of locations and sites.
I can't always have my tablet with me out in the field, and because the K5 is weather sealed, I have complex GPS functionality in my camera.

Because I fit into a demographic that sees the value of this, it's definitely not a gimmick for me.

This is the sort of genuine brilliance that has made me a Pentaxian and will be missed if Ricoh continues to "dumb-things-down".

07-21-2013, 05:03 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by LaurenOE Quote
I use Google Earth/Maps and there are features when I want to take pictures from. Many times what you see from the air, is lost from the ground.
I had not thought of that, I generally just use the GPS in the car to get close and then wing it from there. But that would save a lot of wandering around in the woods!

Thanks for the info.
07-21-2013, 05:52 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by LaurenOE Quote
I LOVE this functionality because I do complex GPS scouting of locations and sites.
I can't always have my tablet with me out in the field, and because the K5 is weather sealed, I have complex GPS functionality in my camera.

Because I fit into a demographic that sees the value of this, it's definitely not a gimmick for me.

This is the sort of genuine brilliance that has made me a Pentaxian and will be missed if Ricoh continues to "dumb-things-down".

Thanks. So it works with this format N35.765182, E139.691208 for locations. Ok. I see the utility for work in remote or difficult to find locations that a car can only get so close to. Between this utility and the astrotracking function its an amazing little gadget IMHO.
07-22-2013, 04:37 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
I had not thought of that, I generally just use the GPS in the car to get close and then wing it from there. But that would save a lot of wandering around in the woods!

Thanks for the info.
Yep. I love the Pentax that *did* think of stuff like this! The Pentax I am in love with.

QuoteOriginally posted by Docrwm Quote
Thanks. So it works with this format N35.765182, E139.691208 for locations. Ok. I see the utility for work in remote or difficult to find locations that a car can only get so close to. Between this utility and the astrotracking function its an amazing little gadget IMHO.
Yep. If the next models of Pentax DSLRs still use the O-GPS-1, I will probably be buying a few more. Since I shoot with 2 K5 cameras, I have always wanted to add a second O-GPS-1 to the second camera. I am holding off on getting a second O-GPS-1 because if the the O-GPS-1 is *not* used in the next generation of cameras, I'm sure the price of the O-GPS-1 will probably be "fire saled" and I will scoop up a few of them to "future" proof.

07-22-2013, 07:47 AM   #12
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Tried out the GPS unit on my K-30. I guess the compass and destination folder options are not available on this camera. I only have the Astrotracer feature. I have firmware 1.0. Is this all a K-30 will do or is there a newer firmware available the makes those features available?
07-22-2013, 08:24 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
The screen indicates a compass direction and a distance to the location you selected. I'm not sure how useful that would be in the real world but it is kinda cool.
When consumer handheld GPS units were introduced, they did not include maps - in fact they didn't include electronic compasses. You had to take a step or two and the GPS told you which direction you just moved. You had to carry your own (paper) maps. I still have an early Garmin unit. Granted I wouldn't want to go back to this level of technology, but such limited GPS capabilities were amazingly useful. I could orient across the countryside much easier than using the same paper map and an magnetic compass because I didn't have to pre-determine my current location or calculate distances.

In June of 2001, I hooked my Garmin GPS up to my Windows 98 notebook via a serial port connection for a family camping/road trip through the poorly (in my opinion) marked back roads in the mountains of Pennsylvania, down through Washington DC, across Virginia into the Blue Mountains. The notebook was using DeLorme's software. I used a power inverter to keep the notebook going for multiple hours. Today, you can pack all that, with a lot more sophistication, into either a dash mount GPS system, or a dinky smartphone.

I wish I could just hook my phone's GPS unit up to my camera. While I recognize the Pentax GPS01 can do additional things, for example, astronomy, I don't want to pay an arm, leg and other precious body parts to do simple EXIF geotagging of my pictures.
07-22-2013, 08:46 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by JimJohnson Quote
I could orient across the countryside much easier than using the same paper map and an magnetic compass
Grew up with a compass and a map. My dad wouldn't let us loose in the woods without knowing how to read a map and navigate by compass.

QuoteOriginally posted by JimJohnson Quote
In June of 2001, I hooked my Garmin GPS up to my Windows 98 notebook via a serial port connection for a family camping/road trip
Did much the same only I used Street Atlas USA with a GPS 'bug' hooked to my laptop for years. My wife and I would take turns driving or holding the laptop on our laps. I think I still have red marks from it getting so hot. Those were some fun days. I resisted getting a 'modern' GPS with maps for years because the detail on the laptop was just so much better.

QuoteOriginally posted by JimJohnson Quote
to do simple EXIF geotagging of my pictures.
If your phone can record a track then you can. Lightroom will import a track in .gpx format and match it to pictures in the database based on time taken. I would assume you would need the date/time in your camera to be accurate but other than that it looks simple. I've not done it though as I have O-GPS1 but if you already have the phone..........
07-22-2013, 09:17 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by CRMassart Quote
Tried out the GPS unit on my K-30. I guess the compass and destination folder options are not available on this camera. I only have the Astrotracer feature. I have firmware 1.0. Is this all a K-30 will do or is there a newer firmware available the makes those features available?
Question for Lauren: Do you also have a K-30? Can you weigh-in on the above question? I want to keep the thread from going off on a tangent. Thanks!
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