GeoTagging Twitter Text with iPhone & GPSTwit (#ISTE10)

Last Fall, Twitter began adding support for geolocating Twitter posts (Tweets). This is an opt-in feature of Twitter, that you must enable.  To enable this feature, log in to Twitter and select "Settings" in upper right corner.  Under the "Account" tab, check the box for " Add a location to your tweets". This will allow Twitter.com (image 1 - note the toolbar at top requesting to use my location) or third party apps to distribute your location with each Tweet.   More details, privacy info, and an F.A.Q about "geotagging" Twitter posts is available from Twitter.

One easy-to-use iPhone app for posting geotagged Tweets to Twitter (including photos) is GPSTwit (not to be confused with GPSTweet whch Tweets your position only). At $.99, this little app allows you take a photo, include a Tweet, optionally geotag, and post a Tweet to Twitter.  The image is displayed on GPSTwit.com, along with other images. Recently I posted a picture of downtown Denver during the ISTE 2010 conference (#ISTE10).

It's fast, simple and works great for geotagging text or text+pic.

Upcoming workshop: GeoTagging Media and Incorporating Multimedia into ArcMap

Learn to use and create geotagged media to facilitate classroom inquiry! This hands-on workshop will explore several web and desktop tools for geotagging images and media. ArcGIS Explorer and other tools will be used to create maps and visualizations of the media. Optionally, bring some of your own JPG photos on a USB drive.

Attend the ESRI Education User Conference, July 10 - 13, 2010 in San Diego, CA.  More info: workshop | conference.

Where are your #Twitter followers? GeoTweeters

Twitter is a micro-blogging website and data channel that allows users to post short (140 char) status updates.  Over time, most Twitter users gather followers, who read your posts.  With Twitter, users have the option of setting their location. 

Thanks to an ArcGIS Server application, you can take a look at where your Twitter followers are locatedt.  In the future, we'll explore Twitter geotagging, tagging each Twitter post with your current location.

-Tom on Twitter