Category: HoudahGeo

HoudahGeo – Photo Geocoding & Geotagging on the Mac.
“Pin” your photos to the locations where they were taken.

Create Custom KML Templates for Google Earth Export

When you export your photos for viewing in Google Earth or Google Maps, HoudahGeo creates a KML file from one of two templates: “Default” or “Extended Track Info”. The later includes more details and thus produces larger files. This makes the “Default” template the better choice for use with Google Maps.

There are occasions where you may want to customize these templates:

  • Modify the appearance or contents of the photo “balloons”
  • Modify the appearance of the track logs or photo pins
  • Change the Places folder structure within the KML file
  • Add your own branding or contact information

Please note that KML template customization is not an official feature of HoudahGeo 5. It is very much a work in progress and still has rough edges. Moreover, the template system is subject to changes. The intrepid may read on and learn how to create custom templates for KML output in HoudahGeo.

You will need a basic understanding of HTML, XML, the Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language as well as the Mustache template system.

Please let us know if you use custom KML templates. But do understand that we cannot provide support for template customization. Malformed templates may produce unexpected results or cause HoudahGeo or Google Earth to crash.

Continue reading Create Custom KML Templates for Google Earth Export

Export Geotagged Photos for Viewing in Google Earth

Google Earth can be a great tool to explore – and show off – your photos: as “balloons” pinned to the locations where they were taken. Add a GPS track log and you get a bird’s eye view of your trip and the spots where you stopped to take photos.

Photo viewing in Google Earth is not limited to holiday snapshots. A real estate agent, for example, can create a Google Earth file with photos of a particular property. Buyers can download this file. It lets them explore the property and neighborhood – and see the exact vantage points from where the photos were taken.

Google Earth: Leopard in a tree
Google Earth: Leopard in a tree

With HoudahGeo, it is easy to prepare your geotagged photos and GPS track logs for viewing in Google Earth. Continue reading Export Geotagged Photos for Viewing in Google Earth

Drag-and-Drop Photo Geocoding

When you remember where you took a photo, wouldn’t it be great if you could geocode it by simply dropping it on a map?

In HoudahGeo 5, you can do just that. In the video demo, I am geocoding a series of photos taken at Taj Mahal. I distinctly remember walking from bag check to the great gate. On the way, I took a few photos as the majestic site revealed itself.

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Adjust Photo Times to Match Local Time

This summer, we travelled to Florida. I did not bother to adjust the clock on my camera to match local time. I left it set to my home time zone: Central European Summer Time (CEST).

When the time came to geotag photos from the trip, I just had to tell HoudahGeo that the camera clock was set to CEST. With this extra bit of information, HoudahGeo was able to figure out at what exact time each photo was taken. It then matched these times to GPS track logs to find where the photos were taken.

This photo of a Key Deer was indeed taken on Big Pine Key, Florida.

Key deer at 4 PM EDT. Or as the camera had it: 10 PM CEST
Key deer at 4 PM in Florida. Or as the camera had it: 10 PM European time.

According to my camera, the above photo was taken at 10 PM. This is at odds with what we see in the picture: broad daylight.
Continue reading Adjust Photo Times to Match Local Time

What is the difference between geotagging and adding locations in Apple Photos?

The Places maps in Apple Photos is a great way to find and explore photos.

Geotagged photos taken with iPhone or another GPS-enabled camera are automatically added to the map. To add other photos, you can assign them locations in Apple Photos. You will, however, also want to geotag these photos.

How is geotagging different from assigning locations in Apple Photos?

Continue reading What is the difference between geotagging and adding locations in Apple Photos?

Geotagging for Apple Photos 2.0

The newly released macOS 10.12 Sierra includes a major update to the Apple Photos application. In Photos 2.0, the Places feature makes a comeback. The Places album lets you explore your photos on a beautiful world map. The new Memories feature also includes a map showing where the photos in the collection where taken.

Being able to organize and find photos by location is one of the best reasons to geotag all your photos.

Starting with Photos 2.0, it is now possible for HoudahGeo to update places information in the Photos library. This allows you to use the many options HoudahGeo offers for geocoding to add locations to photos in your library.

Continue reading Geotagging for Apple Photos 2.0

Fill Geotagging Gaps Left by Slow-to-Start GPS Camera

In order to save battery, many GPS-enabled cameras power their GPS receiver only once you turn on the camera. It then takes anyhwere from a couple of seconds to several minutes for the GPS to know where you currently are.

If you take a photo during this power-up phase, the camera is left with the option to use a previously recorded GPS location or forgo geotagging the photos.

At the end of the day, you will have a set of photos where some images lack geotags. This can easily be fixed with HoudahGeo.Geocoding gap left by GPS camera

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Incremental Photo Geocoding Using Maps

Manually geocoding a long list of photos can be daunting. With HoudahGeo it’s a snap. Follow the workflow outlined below and you’ll be done in no time.

The workflow takes advantage of the fact that the distance travelled between two photos is often rather short and easy to retrace. Once you have determined the location of the first photo, you just need to make incremental adjustments to geocode subsequent photos. It takes but a nudge to the map and a click for each photo.

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Efficient Geotagging: HoudahGeo’s Places Feature

The Places feature introduced in HoudahGeo 5 allows you to save frequently used locations as favorites. This makes manual geotagging – picking locations from a map – way more efficient.

Places can be used in two different ways: as presets for location coordinates and names or as map bookmarks. Continue reading Efficient Geotagging: HoudahGeo’s Places Feature

Publish Your Photos on a Map

With HoudahGeo 5, it’s now even easier to create and share a map with your photos. HoudahGeo publishes photos and track logs on Dropbox. You can then view these in Google My Maps.

This is what your results can look like:

Click on the thumbnail images in the map to see the photo and additonal information. The red line is the path we travelled – recorded on a GPS track logging device.

Continue reading Publish Your Photos on a Map