Inexpensive Geotagging

[David Gancarz]

I've recently acquired an Android phone and, in looking through available photography-related Android apps, I came across this: http://www.geotagphotos.net/en/. It uses the phone's built-in GPS to collect waypoint coordinates at preset time intervals into a standard GPX file on the phone's microSD card. Each wayopoint is time-stamped.

After a day of shooting with the app collecting coordinates in its belt holster I download the GPX file to my computer along with my photos (also time-stamped). I then use a freeware program GPicSync (http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/) which matches each raw image's time stamp with the nearest GPX time stamp and auto updates exif info.

If geotagging is your thing and you have an iPhone or Android, this is a nice solution.

Sample exif from exifTool is:

Date/Time Original : 2011:04:02 12:51:55
Camera Model Name : NIKON D300
Lens ID : AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED
Shutter Speed : 1/320
Aperture : 8.0
ISO : 200
White Balance : Auto
Focal Length : 300.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 450.0 mm)
Focus Distance : 11.89 m
Depth Of Field : 0.49 m (11.64 - 12.14)
Auto Focus : On
Focus Mode : AF-C
Shooting Mode : Single-Frame
AF Area Mode : Dynamic Area (21 points)
Exposure Program : Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Compensation : 0
Exposure Mode : Auto
Vibration Reduction : On
Flash Mode : Did Not Fire
GPS Longitude : 81 deg 25' 23.49" W
GPS Latitude : 28 deg 38' 47.64" N
GPS Altitude : 48.7 m Above Sea Level

[Christof Ruch]

"I then use a freeware program GPicSync (http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/) which matches each raw image's time stamp with the nearest GPX time stamp and auto updates exif info."

Hi David,

thanks for the hint! Definitely a killer app of those smartphones - I still carry my Garmin with me into the field (in *addition* to everything else of course :-))

I've used gpicsync also a lot, but then replaced it with the - also free - geosetter (http://www.geosetter.de/en/), which seemed much more powerful. I especially like the possibility to reverse lookup the places' names and auto keyword the images with it. More detailed information and some examples can be found in my blog post http://alpenglow.info/2009/06/03/geotagging-iii-how-to-associate-names-to-the-places-you-have-been-to/.

Greetings from Munich!
Christof

[David Gancarz]

Thanks, Christof! I'll take a look at gpicsync. Smartphones are taking over the world. The traditional camera manufacturers are going to be left in the dust if they don't pay attention.