System and method for obtaining and sharing content associated with geographic information

A method for associating an item of content with geographic information relating to the item of content directly within an integrated unitary device, comprising:

• a. receiving an item of content in an integrated unitary device, wherein the integrated unitary device includes a smart phone, videocamera, still camera, or microphone;
• b. receiving geographic location information relating to the item of content in the integrated unitary device;
• c. associating the item of content with the geographic location information within the integrated unitary device, wherein the associating is performed by attributing metatags or metadata containing the geographic location information to a file associated with the item of content and wherein the associating occurs in a manner selected from the group consisting of:
• every time an item of content is stored, periodically, upon user input, or a combination, whereby the integrated unitary device can perform the association while the device is at or moving from one geographic location to another, and wherein the associating is configured for hybrid control by the user, the hybrid control such that the user can control when to attach geographic information with items of content, the hybrid control further configured to allow user control of granularity of the items of content, such that the user can define an area to be associated with a geographic location determined by the location detector, and further comprising performing automatic association of the item of content with the user-defined area associated with the geographic location information as well as subsequent items of content related to the same geographic location, according to the user-controlled granularity of the location data;
• and
• d. wirelessly uploading the associated item of content and geographic location information to a remote system on the Internet, wherein the uploading occurs in a manner selected from the group consisting of:
• every time an item of content is stored, every time a network connection is established, periodically, upon user input, or a combination of the above.

In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of providing and selecting from a menu on the display, the menu organizing and displaying content items having related geographic location information, the method comprising:

• a. retrieving a set of menu entries for the menu, each of the menu entries including data about a geographic location;
• b. causing a display of the set of menu entries on the display of a system, the system being a smart phone, videocamera, computer, or computing environment with a web-based browser, and wherein the displaying the set of menu entries on the display includes displaying the set of menu entries on a map, with each menu entry disposed on the map at one or more user-defined areas automatically associated with locations within geographic location information, the user-defined areas associated with user-controlled granularity of the geographic location information as well as subsequent items of content related to the same geographic location, wherein the display of the set of menu entries indicates a time sequence of when the content items were obtained;
• c. receiving a menu entry selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing at a selected menu entry from the set of menu entries;
• d. in response to the signal, causing a display of a set of content items corresponding to the geographic location;
• e. receiving a content item selection signal indicative of the selection device selecting a content item from the set of content items;
• and
• f. in response to the signal, causing a rendering of the selected content item on the display.

A method of sharing an item of content with a group, comprising:

• a. defining or creating a share group prior to a sharing event having a set of members by inputting contacts into a share group list or analyzing a personal information manager to determine contacts;
• b. receiving an item of content in an integrated unitary device, the device being a smart phone, videocamera, still camera, or microphone, receiving geographic location information relating to the item of content in the integrated unitary device, and associating the item of content with the geographic location information in the integrated unitary device, whereby the integrated unitary device can perform the associating while the system is at or moving between geographic locations, and wherein a user can define an area to be associated with a geographic location within the geographic location information, and further comprising performing automatic association of the item of content with the user-defined area associated with the geographic location information as well as subsequent items of content related to the same geographic location, according to a user-controlled granularity of the geographic location information;
• c. uploading the associated item of content and geographic location information to a remote system on a network;
• and
• d. notifying each member of the share group about the uploaded item of content, wherein the notifying is accomplished by sending each member of the share group an instant message or an e-mail about the uploaded item, wherein the instant message or email contains a clickable link which when clicked initiates a display of the item of content.

A method of sharing an item of content with a group, comprising:

• a. defining or creating a share group prior to a sharing event having at least one member by inputting at least one contact into a share group list or analyzing a personal information manager to determine contacts;
• b. receiving an item of content in an integrated unitary device, the device being a smart phone, videocamera, still camera, or microphone, receiving geographic location information relating to the item of content in the integrated unitary device, and associating the item of content with the geographic location information in the integrated unitary device, whereby the integrated unitary device can perform the associating while the system is at or moving between geographic locations, and wherein a user can define an area to be associated with a geographic location within the geographic location information, and further comprising performing automatic association of the item of content with the user-defined area associated with the geographic location information as well as subsequent items of content related to the same geographic location, according to a user-controlled granularity of the geographic location information;
• c. wirelessly uploading the associated item of content and geographic location information to a remote system on the Internet;
• d. notifying each member of the share group about the uploaded item of content, wherein the notifying is accomplished by sending each member of the share group an instant message or an e-mail about the uploaded item wherein the instant message or email contains a clickable link which when clicked initiates a display of the item of content;
• e. and when a member of the share group attempts to access the uploaded item of content, then:
• i. retrieving a set of entries, each of the entries including data about a geographic location;
• ii. causing a display of the set of entries on a display, the entries displayed on a map according to geographic location, wherein the display of the set of menu entries indicates a time sequence of when the content items were obtained;
• iii. receiving an entry selection signal indicative of the selection device selecting an entry from the set of entries;
• iv. in response to the signal, causing a display of a set of content items corresponding to the geographic location and corresponding to the selected entry;
• v. receiving a content item selection signal indicative of the selection device selecting a content item from the set of content items;
• and vi. in response to the signal, causing a rendering of the selected content item.