Online photo-sharing service SmugMug has announced that subscribers can now associate their photos with global locations using Google Maps. Users can enter an address associated with any photo, or upload data embedded in EXIF data from Global Positioning System (GPS) devices integrated into some cameras, phones, and camcorders. Visitors viewing photos with mapped locations will be able to zoom in on those locations using Google Maps.
SmugMug integrates with Google Maps using Google’s published API (Application Programming Interface). Google does not currently charge other companies for tying into Google Maps using the API, but reserves for itself the right to put advertising on the maps accessed through the services by third parties.
SmugMug says it got the idea for tying into Google Maps by reading the captions users associate with photos: some users would write enormous captions trying to describe the locations where some photos were taken, rather than describing the significance of the photo.
