The latest smart phones and digital cameras have terrific capabilities these days, among which is geotagging. Geotagging would seem to be a boon for archaeological studies: you can take a photo in the field and the camera will automatically record the geo-location, providing specific GIS data for the archaeological record. Very useful. However, that information is stored within the metadata in a photo, and it is not automatically stripped out when you upload it to social media sites like Flickr and Facebook.
Antique Camera: Geotagging probably not an issue with this camera. Photo by Svadifari
Concern about privacy issues involved with geolocation--do you really want the world to know where your house is?--was voiced by Kate Murphy in the New York Times in August of last year. And, as CRM archaeologist and blogger Chris Webster warns us, specific site location data is sometimes unwittingly transferred by public-archaeology minded archaeologists when they upload photographs to their websites.
What can you do? In his blog entry on Random Acts of Science called Geotagged Photos or "Hey, Dig here!", Chris describes the perils to archaeology, and how you can turn off the geolocation reporting in your phone or camera temporarily. That way, you can create appropriate photos for your web presence, while keeping the geolocation information for your site record private. To help, Chris posted a CNET video which has instructions for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
In addition, there are several great articles about the subject, like I Can Stalk You, a scary place to visit, but very useful information indeed. Also, Australian MacWorld points out that in photo galleries like Flickr, you can block geotagging data by using Geo Privacy features (under Your Account, check "Hide your EXIF data").
Mapping is a part of every archaeological excavation or survey, anyway; so it may be prudent to simply turn off the geolocation recording feature while using cameras in the field.
- Geotagged Photos or Hey Dig Here!, Chris Webster in Random Acts of Science
- What your geotagged digital photos reveal about you, Australian Macworld, September 2010
- Raising Awareness about Inadvertent Information Sharing, I Can Stalk U.
- Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live, Kate Murphy, New York Times article, 11 August 2010.
- Maps and Mapping in Archaeology
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