US Patent 7797019 Shared image database with geographic navigation

There is disclosed a system and method for operating an image database shared by a plurality of users. In an embodiment, each image captured by a user and stored in a shared image database is associating with the geographic coordinates of the location at which the image was captured. A search engine for the image database is configured to accept geographic coordinates as a search criterion for locating at least one captured image stored in the shared image database. The search engine may be configured to accept as a search criterion user specified numeric geographic coordinates, or geographic coordinates generated by user navigation and selection of a desired point on a map. The search engine may also be configured to accept a range of geographic coordinates to locate a plurality of user-captured images within a certain range of a geographic location.