The Photo Find Story
Hi. I'm John, the creator of the Photo Find.
Photo Find is all about exploring and finding your way.
GPS is pretty amazing. It's only been around since 1995, and allows us determine our location and reference any exact place on Earth with a simple coordinate system.
Even though any location can be represented by just two decimal numbers, it can be annoying to keep track of coordinates or save and share pins.
Photo Find lets you easily save, return to, or share an exact location without sending around map pins or coordinates.
I think it's the simplest way to get back to the exact location on Earth where a photo was taken using GPS.
First for Foraging
So why did I create this app in the first place?
The idea originally came about while I was hiking with Casey Inman, who is into foraging wild foods. He had taken some classes about identifying different types of edible plants and mushrooms that are around the Northeastern United States (specifically where we live near Syracuse, NY).
After a few weeks of going on hikes with Casey, we had started to find some awesome mushrooms growing out of trees (not the trippy kind!).
Many were big enough to snag right then and there. But some were not big enough yet, even though they might be in a few weeks or months.
I knew that every photo I took since I got my my iPhone 3G had GPS coordinates saved in it. So I started taking pictures of these small mushrooms hoping we’d be able to get back to them later.
Can't I already see my photos in a map?
I knew I could see all my photos on a map in the Photos app included with every iPhone, so I thought that would be helpful. In practice, though, this wasn't useful.
First of all, the map inside the Photos app didn’t show MY current location. So, I’d have to switch back and forth between that and the Google Maps app that showed my location and a small compass arrow to indicate the direction I was facing.
This was still difficult, since we were in the middle of nowhere, so there weren’t many landmarks to look at when comparing the maps and satellite images.
We were also hiking somewhere that didn’t have designated paths. We were just in the middle of the woods. This would sometimes become a problem when we were done hiking and wanted to head back toward the car, since we wouldn’t know exactly what direction to go.
I found myself trying to track our hikes with RunKeeper, then see where we started and try to get back to the car. It worked OK for getting back to the car, but wasn’t a great system for marking spots.
So, I thought, wouldn’t it be useful to have a giant arrow that would point to the location where a photo was taken?
Vision for the app
Photo Find is for explorers everywhere. Take a picture then go get lost, because now you can find your way back easily.
I want this app to be on everyone’s phone, because I think there are times when it’s indispensable.
I know it’s not the kind of app people will use throughout the day every day, but it’s the kind of app you can keep tucked away on the 4th page of a folder and search for when the time is right.
If you like it, please tell one person!
I made this app free so everyone can use it. If you like it, I ask you to "pay" by telling one other person about it! Just use the big “Share Photo Find” Button on the settings screen of the app, or show someone how it works in person.
This app was made in Upstate NY. It's a beautiful area of the world with nice hiking spots, great water, and food from local farms. I want to hear from you. Come visit the area and say hi!
