Two recent articles on geotagging, both of which describe it as an emerging trend, mainstream acceptance of which is just around the corner. This Associated Press story describes its potential and its utility, along with current methods, but notes that its uptake isn’t high — it notes Flickr’s estimate that five percent of its photos are geotagged. Which, depending on how you look at it, is “only” or “as much as” — I’m of the latter view, given the relative youth of the geotagging trend.

And this entry from Stephen Shankland’s Underexposed blog on CNet focuses on the current state of geotagging technology, with a clear any-minute-now take on cameras with built-in GPS:

Geotagging will be built into cameras, said Steve Haber, senior vice president of Sony Electronics’ digital imaging and audio division. “It has to be,” he said. “We keep hearing, ‘My PC is this black hole for my photos’ … People (need) as much metadata on their pictures as possible — date, location, event — which allows for easier search and for eliminating the black hole.”

“There’s no doubt we’ll see cameras with built-in GPS within the next two years, possibly sooner,” said Chuck Westfall, technical adviser for the professional products marketing division at Canon, the world’s largest camera maker. “The desirability of that feature is quite clear.”

I take all tech prognostications with a grain of salt; I think geotagging is too much on the bleeding edge for wide-scale consumer adoption, but I do expect to have more all-in-one geotagging options than we currently have. Just don’t expect a GPS in every compact camera.

Via All Points Blog and Richard’s Tech Reviews.