Freesound Forums

Some of you might have already seen it, ... We've added a new feature to freesound, called Geotagging. Geotagging is adding location information (longitude and lattitude) to something. On the web there are image geotagging sites and geotagged blogs, but sound is something new.

From now on you can geotag a recording (we kindly ask you only to geotag field recordings)! The result can be seen in Google Earth, or in a special Google map right here on the site.

Have a look: http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/geotagsView.php
You'll find all details there. Using Google Earth is Highly Recommended!!

and let us know what you think right here!

- bram

Hi all,

please excuse if this is a stupid question but, how can I listen to the sounds within GoogleEarth? I mean, I can navigate around and see all the sound icons. Then, a window with the wave profile and info opens each time I click an icon. .. and that's all.
I mean, shouldn't I see a play button or something?

Cheers
Dob

nope.

the problem is that google earth doesn't alow the use of flash code in the message boxes.
if you want to hear the sound you have to click "view all details"

- bram

hey, its a cool idea ...fine information, thanx...cya

tro

hi all
I´d like to know how I geotag a sound I uploaded to freesound? I downloaded google earth and I can see the samples already geotagged. But how can i goetag my own samples?
thanxs
fernando

Go to the sample afte ryou have described it. There there is a "Geotag this sample" link almost on the bottom of the page of the sample.

Oh btw, only geotag field recordings please

I would like to suggest that people provide the time and date with the field recordings they geotag. In this way we can use the freesound project to track the changes to the sound environment over time. If we assume the freesound project goes on for a reasonable length of time then having a sonic record of the environment as things like global warming change the ecosystem may prove valuable. An interesting example of this is the use of sound to track the expansion of the cane toad into new territory in northern australia http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~ctchou/

So it is not just the aesthetic but also the scientific value of field recordings that can be part of freesound

gsh

It would be nice to have time info (and date) with them agree. I am a bit sceptic about the scientific usability of the recordings on this site though. For eco-system recordings there needs to be a certain standard of microphone with a known reference signal. Otherwise there it isnt really possible to compare data (what if person x uses a more sensitive mike, and person y uses a lot more gain etc.)

hi Anton - I think that variation in recording will limit the possibilities for interpretation rather than preclude all of them. For example species recognition is possible across microphone choice (or sample rate). Similarly something like the spectral crossover between urban and 'wild' sound can be measured using a 'within microphone' methodology. Not perfect, but usable.

adding the "recorded date" I'm not going to do, as it would add an additional field to the "descriptions". However, all files have an "upload" date, which could easily be used. Also, some file formats have in their headers the date of the last edit, or even the recording date (depends on the recorder) which could be used.

However, if anyone ever wanted to use freesound for a scientific study like this, I applaud the usage of date-related tags, or date-related extra descriptions in the description field.

- bram