About Ricoh’s GPS Camera

James and Dan are enthusiastic about Ricoh’s release of the 500SE GPS-ready digital camera, but I’m not sure how groundbreaking this is. (By which I mean that I’m confused and seek enlightenment; I’m not speaking rhetorically.)

For one thing, it’s labelled as GPS-ready, which usually does not mean that it’s built-in; Dan notes that the GPS unit is a $130 add-on to the $899 camera (which, for the record, is a ruggedized, 8-megapixel point-and-shoot model aimed at outdoor professionals). And it’s not like GPS modules for digital cameras haven’t existed before: Nikon’s high-end digital SLRs, for example, have had GPS interfaces for at least a couple of years. Is this a big deal — i.e., is this something truly different — or is it nothing really groundbreaking?

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