(excerpt from wikipedia)

The Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs), consisting of twenty-eight white marble steps, at Rome, near the Lateran are, according to Roman Catholic tradition the staircase leading once to the praetorium of Pilate at Jerusalem, hence sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus Chirst during his Passion.

The historians of the monument relate that the Holy Stairs were brought from Jerusalem to Rome about 326 by St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. In the Middle Ages they were known as Scala Pilati, the Stairs of Pilate. From old plans it can be gathered that they led to a corridor of the Lateran Palace, near the Chapel of St. Sylvester, were covered with a special roof, and had at their sides other stairs for common use. When Sixtus V in 1589 destroyed the old papal palace and built the new one, he ordered the Holy Stairs be transferred to their present site, before the Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies).

The latter is the old private papal chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, and the only remaining part of the former Lateran Palace, receiving its name from the many precious relics preserved there. The Sancta Sanctorum also contains the celebrated image of Christ, "not made by human hands", which on certain occasions used to be carried through Rome in procession. These holy treasures, which since Leo X (1513-21) have not been seen by anybody, have recently been the object of learned dissertations by Grisar and Lauer.

In its new site the Scala Sancta is flanked by four other stairs, two on each side, for common use, since the Holy Stairs may only be ascended on the knees, a devotion much in favour with pilgrims and the Roman faithful, especially on Fridays and in Lent.

Not a few popes are recorded to have performed this pious exercise; Pius IX, who in 1853 entrusted the Passionist Fathers with the care of the sanctuary, ascended the Holy Stairs on 19 Sept., 1870, the eve of the entrance of the Piedmontese into Rome. Pius VII on 2 Sept., 1817 granted those who ascend the stairs in the prescribed manner an indulgence of nine years for every step. Finally Pius X, on 26 Feb., 1908, granted a plenary indulgence to be gained as often as the stairs are devoutly ascended after confession and communion. Imitations of the Scala Sancta have been erected in various places, as in Lourdes and in some convents of nuns, and indulgences are attached to them by special concessions.

As a Canon's user, Nikon's high-end cameras have a function that I have admired for long time, Global Postioning System. They boast that they can be connected to a GPS nagivator via a special device(MC-35, usually?), recording the exact position of every photo into its EXIFs. It is extremely useful, especially for long time trips. For some very excellent landscapes outside big cities, I really wish I could see the exact position where I captured them. And it also can be used to record your trip, when and where, making a perfect sychronization among time, experience and photo. It's a pity that Canon cameras even the highest models don't have this function.
There are always some strange ideas emerging in my brain during trips, perhaps it's because there is nobody to talk with, I have to talk with myself. During my last trip, I thought this could mostly be solved by a simple method. Time can be used as a synchonization intermedia between position information from GPSs and picture from camearas, namely after the time of these two devices synchronized, the GPS records every position information during capturing and a pro-precessing tool combine position informatin into every photo according to time. This method need much more storage space, depending on the sampling rate of GPS. The main difference between Nikon's GPS-ready cameras and the aforementioned solution is whether these two seperated machines have a connection. This may be a probelm since the aforementioned method works if and only if the position of the moment when the picture is captured must be recorded by the GPS. Since I have no experience in GPS, I don't know whethere a GPS obtains position information continously enough. However, this don't need to be very frequent, since usually the postion is moving very slow comparing to the accuracy of a normal GPS.

Occationally, I found a site which provides positions of letter-similar buildings based on Google Earth.http://www.geogreeting.com/

Here is the link of my nickname