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Tag: GPS

How-to: Correct an Incorrect Camera Time on Photos

When you import photos into HoudahGeo, it asks about your camera clock settings. HoudahGeo needs accurate time information so it can match photos to GPS tracklogs. Thus HoudahGeo needs to know what time zone your camera clock was set to and if the clock was going slow or fast.

Let’s look at an example. You traveled to Croatia but left your camera clock set to UK time. The camera had been left unused for a while and the clock is going 5 minutes fast.

Camera clock settings. Camera was set to UK time going 5 minutes fas
Camera clock set to UK time. Going 5 minutes fast

Continue reading How-to: Correct an Incorrect Camera Time on Photos

Photos & Track Log: Documenting an 8-day Kilimanjaro Trek

We’ve been dreaming about trekking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro for quite some time. Last October, we finally made the trip. Climbing Africa’s highest mountain, crossing its different climatic zones and finally reaching the summit was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. We documented this unique vacation by taking hundreds of photos – and by recording a track log.

Snow-covered peak of Mount Kilimanjaro
Looking through rainforest foliage at the snow-covered peak of Mount Kilimanjaro

Continue reading Photos & Track Log: Documenting an 8-day Kilimanjaro Trek

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

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

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

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

Why Geotag Photos?

Geotags are metadata information added to a file, in our case an image file. They usually take the form of GPS coordinates. Additionally, location names like city, state and country can be written to metadata.

By adding geotags to your photos, you basically “pin” them to the places they were taken. There are good reasons to consider geotagging your photos: Continue reading Why Geotag Photos?

HoudahGeo 5.0: Photo geocoding got even better

We’ve just released HoudahGeo 5.0, and we’re very excited about it! We added features you have been waiting for, and refined many of the existing ones.

With HoudahGeo 5.0, the premier photo geotagging tool for Mac got even better. Continue reading HoudahGeo 5.0: Photo geocoding got even better

Find Images With No GPS Coordinates

In a previous post,  we searched for files with no Spotlight comment or tags. Today,  we are looking for photos with no GPS latitude or longitude information.

The technique we used last time works for any metadata attribute containing text. For example: subject, author, album, etc. It does not work for number or date values. HoudahSpot won’t let us use the “*” wildcard character in the criteria editor. It expects us to enter a number or a date.

Since latitude and longitude are both numbers, we need to use a slightly different technique. We will make us of some of the more advanced features of the HoudahSpot search field. This is located in the toolbar of the search window.

Continue reading Find Images With No GPS Coordinates

Keeping Geotags When Dragging Images From Apple Photos

If you’re dragging geotagged images from Apple’s Photos application, there’s a setting you need to enable if you wish to share your photos’ locations. Otherwise, your pictures’ geoinformation will be stripped from the files. Continue reading Keeping Geotags When Dragging Images From Apple Photos