Quickly on the heels of Phase 1, Phase 2 is now complete. I have merged the photos from the hike with the GPS data and loaded it into Google Earth (Google Earth file).. The end result is fun to play with: the photos transition from scenic vistas along the higher route into photos of streams and forest in the lower terrain.

GPS data by itself isn't ideal as there is a bit of "Guess which direction I was looking" game. With the Google Earth 3D terrain you can spin around and usually figure out which direction a single photo was taken, but after awhlie this does get a bit tiring. Perhaps next time I should bring a compass and further annoy my hiking companions.

Phase 3 will probably involve a Google Maps hack of some kind. Google Earth is fun, but it's not very Web-friendly. It would take at least a dozen screenshots to convey the route and photos together, and the end result would be flat and non-interactive. With Google Maps I would lose the 3D aspect, but I think it will allow people to actually interact with the route and photos.

Google Earth-loadable map, route, and photos (KML)

Overview:

More maps in the extended