Geo Tactical Solutions, Inc

Currently my camera shows the direction in cardinal directions. N, E, W, NW, NE, S, etc. How do I get it to read out and display in compass degrees?

The latest "M" firmware v3.66 provides the user with the option to select either CARDINAL or DEGREES as the heading display. You may download the current firmware on the Support page along with the supporting procedures to update your camera(s).

Older versions of “M” firmware only display the 16 cardinal headings in the camera’s LCD mostly as a direction of reference for the photographer. However, when the images are processed and brought into the various mapping environments, Google Earth, FalconView, TiGR, ArcGIS, etc., the actual heading is displayed to the hundredth of a degree. For example, the camera may display “NW” during image capture, but will actually display a heading like 335.25 degrees.

Buzzbomb wrote:
Currently my camera shows the direction in cardinal directions. N, E, W, NW, NE, S, etc. How do I get it to read out and display in compass degrees?
Additionally, is it possible to plot the compass points within the field of view?
For example;
A shot is taken of a series of targets of interest within the FOV, while the camera is directly focused on a primary target.
To be able to grab a compass point, on all targets of interest points within the FOV, would be both time saving, as well as less exposure time.

I definitely see the immediate benefit of such a capability. While the current 500SE-M Tactical Camera systems do not support that workflow, there are a couple of options/work-arounds that will not change or add significant exposure time.

1.) The camera is capable of acquiring the grid location of the "Object" and displaying it's location on the camera's LCD and within the image footer following post-processing with FoxView. This is accomplished when coupled with our LRF to calculate the required distance from camera to object. While this doesn't solve your multiple bearing-to-target needs, it does add a significant piece of info that can be easily referenced when moving between POI's within the same image.

2.) When an acquired image containing multiple POI's is processed within FoxView-Google Earth Edition and automatically placed within GE, the analyst/operator is able to use the line and ruler tools and native to GE to acquire the additional bearing, range and locations of the addition POI's.

Thank you for your questions and feedback; we will look into the ability to implement such a capability for future versions.