Geotagging

papaross

I am looking for recommendations for:
1. A GPS Photo tracker
2. Software that loads the data onto the computer.
3. Software that loads the data permanently into the meta-data of the appropriate photo.
4. Software that translates the photo onto Google maps.

2,3,4 may be one piece of software, but in browsing the web, it does not always seem to be the case. I have looked at numerous equipment on the web, but there always seems to be something about it that is not clear to me or the comments on the equipment make me leery. I would feel much better if someone on this forum has had personal experience with using a photo tracker. software, etc and can highly recommend its use. (For what it's worth, I am a windows user)

knapph

You can do this if you use a Garmin as the gps logger. From there, RoboGeo can do the rest. Look at the documentation section of the RoboGeo website. I do not know of a dedicated photologger that can do what you want.

papaross

knapph wrote:

You can do this if you use a Garmin as the gps logger. From there, RoboGeo can do the rest. Look at the documentation section of the RoboGeo website. I do not know of a dedicated photologger that can do what you want.

Thanks. I have a Garmin for my car, but I have never been able to see the log, much less get it transferred and translated so it can be read by (and I'm not sure what would read it). Do you have a particular Garmin model you are referring to?

knapph

Car Garmin

papaross wrote:

Thanks. I have a Garmin for my car, but I have never been able to see the log, much less get it transferred and translated so it can be read by (and I'm not sure what would read it). Do you have a particular Garmin model you are referring to?

I am referring to a non-Nuvi type Garmin. We have a Nuvi 350 in our car and I do not know of a way to read the track from it. But it might be possible. I found this article about it but, I have not tried to do it yet (http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/page6.htm).

What I have used in the past for my photo tagging is a Garmin GPSMAP76CS. This is more than you need to use for tagging photos (I got it for kayaking). Look at http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/onthetrail/ for the current models. Even the eTrex model will give you a tracklog you can upload to a computer. A base model such as this does not contain a map but if all you want is the tracklog, something like this will do it. If you want maps also, you will need to look at the Legend series. One problem with most of the gps companies is that you have to pay extra to get anything but a base map. Take a look at one of them; maybe the basemap is all you would need. The only exception I know of to pay extra for the maps are the gps units from DeLorme (http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10460). However, they start around $300. I write about the Garmin units because that is what I have used and know about.

papaross

knapph wrote:

I am referring to a non-Nuvi type Garmin. We have a Nuvi 350 in our car and I do not know of a way to read the track from it. But it might be possible. I found this article about it but, I have not tried to do it yet (http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/page6.htm).

What I have used in the past for my photo tagging is a Garmin GPSMAP76CS. This is more than you need to use for tagging photos (I got it for kayaking). Look at http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/onthetrail/ for the current models. Even the eTrex model will give you a tracklog you can upload to a computer. A base model such as this does not contain a map but if all you want is the tracklog, something like this will do it. If you want maps also, you will need to look at the Legend series. One problem with most of the gps companies is that you have to pay extra to get anything but a base map. Take a look at one of them; maybe the basemap is all you would need. The only exception I know of to pay extra for the maps are the gps units from DeLorme (http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10460). However, they start around $300. I write about the Garmin units because that is what I have used and know about.

Thank you. So once I get the tracker, does the RoboGeo: 1. upload the log data to the computer, 2. cross reference the time in the metadata of the photo and load the coordinates into the metadata?

Art Scott

it would be much simpler I think to just have it all done in camera, with something like this:

at B&H.............
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/564655-REG/Red_Hen_Systems__Blue2CAN_Adapter_with_Holux.html

knapph

Art Scott wrote:

it would be much simpler I think to just have it all done in camera, with something like this:

at B&H.............
http://whtml ww.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/564655-REG/Red_Hen_Systems__Blue2CAN_Adapter_with_Holux.

As Art wrote, the simplest way to go is with something like the Holex and Red Hen combo if you have a Nikon. (I forgot to ask what kind of camera you have). I use Nikons and I do not know about using attached gps with other brands. I was having a brain cramp with my original post.

Using the Holex as a stand alone will also be an option for you. You need to check to see if the software that comes with it can sync the photo files (I think the software requires Windows). If you can not attach a gps to your camera a hand held gps will work, RoboGeo combined with a Garmin gps will do what your want; if you have Windows on your computer.

papaross

knapph wrote:

As Art wrote, the simplest way to go is with something like the Holex and Red Hen combo if you have a Nikon. (I forgot to ask what kind of camera you have). I use Nikons and I do not know about using attached gps with other brands. I was having a brain cramp with my original post.

Using the Holex as a stand alone will also be an option for you. You need to check to see if the software that comes with it can sync the photo files (I think the software requires Windows). If you can not attach a gps to your camera a hand held gps will work, RoboGeo combined with a Garmin gps will do what your want; if you have Windows on your computer.

Whoops. I did fail that my camera is a canon 5D Mark II

Art Scott

papaross wrote:

Whoops. I did fail that my camera is a canon 5D Mark II

Wel forget my suggestion....Nikon is the only one that puts a GPS connection on their cameras......one reason I switched from Konica Minolta BACK to Nikon..........
With the KM's I used a Garmin yellow Etrex.....along as I had the clock on camera set to match the GPS it worked great......my logging soft ware was some like "WMMX" (world wide media exchange) ....it was an open source group of Microsoft......the site seems to have disappeared........

Here is a list of geotagging software that might be of interest at
this URL: http://tinyurl.com/yfm2sz3

knapph

Logging with Canon
Although you can not use the Holex with a Red Hen bluetooth receiver to write directly to your image files, you can still use a data logger such as the Holex or a Garmin hand held to write to the files after the shot is taken. First you sync the camera's time to the gps unit time (or take a picture of the time on the gps display to get the offset between your camera and the correct time).

• Take your pictures,
• upload them to your computer,
• upload the gps data from the gps unit (you can use the gps unit mfgs software or use RoboGeo if you have a Garmin)
• you might have to convert the gps track to gpx file format depending on the software used to upload the track
• use RoboGeo (or if you are using Lightroom you can use Jeffrey Friedl's Geoencoding plugin) to write the gps info into the image files.
• that's all there is to it

To get started, why don't you see if you can borrow a gps from a friend and download the RoboGeo demo and see how it works.

Kyle D

What would be really nice is if there was a way to utilize the gps in a BlackBerry to do this.

papaross

knapph wrote:

Although you can not use the Holex with a Red Hen bluetooth receiver to write directly to your image files, you can still use a data logger such as the Holex or a Garmin hand held to write to the files after the shot is taken. First you sync the camera's time to the gps unit time (or take a picture of the time on the gps display to get the offset between your camera and the correct time).

• Take your pictures,
• upload them to your computer,
• upload the gps data from the gps unit (you can use the gps unit mfgs software or use RoboGeo if you have a Garmin)
• you might have to convert the gps track to gpx file format depending on the software used to upload the track
• use RoboGeo (or if you are using Lightroom you can use Jeffrey Friedl's Geoencoding plugin) to write the gps info into the image files.
• that's all there is to it.

To get started, why don't you see if you can borrow a gps from a friend and download the RoboGeo demo and see how it works.

I will! And if every things works, you have solved my problem and/or answered my question. Thanks so much.