Simple controls rotate the world and zoom in, but not much closer than county level.

After the vacation of your life, all you have are your photos. With Geophoto, you can give your photos context by tagging them with global coordinates. The software displays a globe with photo thumbnails that are assigned to specific locations, and it's fun to spin and stop the globe and click to look at pictures...for a little while. However, Geophoto needs deeper integration with iPhoto to become a truly useful photo tool.

Geophoto works as a companion to (but independently of) iPhoto, Aperture, Flickr, and other photo-cataloging tools. Geophoto can import iPhoto albums, photocasts, and images directly from the Finder. You can pin photos to the globe, either with the search tool or by dropping them on the globe. We had difficulty locating a few of our favorite lesser-known landmarks and cities, but Geophoto recognized nearly all of our searches.

Once images are geotagged, users drag the globe to move and use a scroll-wheel to zoom in. This works well, and the map is somewhat detailed, although it goes nowhere near city-level. As a minor consolation, Geophoto can show a small Google Maps box that corresponds with the mouse position. However, we'd rather see street-level satellite images than a map, and this keyhole is nearly useless because photos are still pinned to the regular globe behind this street-level box.

Even if you don't geotag your own images, Geophoto can be useful for browsing other people's pictures. Its support for Flickr lets it pull in already geotagged shots and add them to your globe. Our favorite trick is to Control-click a blank part of the world and automatically import Flickr photos from that area. This level of Flickr support gives Geophoto more depth, but the app doesn't tie in tightly enough with any other tools. For example, users can import individual iPhoto albums but can't browse or import the full library. After locating a picture in Geophoto, why isn't it possible to jump back to it in iPhoto? Geophoto can update iPhoto pictures with geotags, but it only updates the JPEGs, not the original RAW files. And problems reach beyond iPhoto: Flickr users can't browse their own libraries, and can only add feeds based on search terms or member names.

The bottom line. Geophoto is a fun diversion, but it needs better integration with photo-management programs to reach its full potential.

COMPANY: Ovolab
CONTACT: www.ovolab.com
PRICE: $19.95
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4 or later, 64MB VRAM, Internet connection recommended
Fun diversion to browse strangers' mages. Visual way to skim personal photos. Universal binary.
Needs more features to better tie it to photo-management apps. Street-level details à la Google Maps not supported. More toy than tool.