We’ve recently returned from a trip to India. Back home, I generated a Google My Map to document our visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra. This is what it looks like:
Tag: GPS
Geotag your photos automatically – part 3
In part 1 of this blog post series, we discussed how you can use reference photos to speed up your geocoding process. The easiest, fastest and most precise way to geotag your photos, however, is to provide HoudahGeo with a so called track log file. While there are smartphone apps which record track logs (as discussed in part 2), these may drain your phone’s battery if left running over a prolonged period of time. Therefore, you may want to consider investing in a GPS track logger.
Part 3 – Geocoding using a GPS track logger
Geotag your photos automatically – part 2
In part 1 of this blog post series, we looked at how you can use your GPS enabled smartphone to get geotags on your regular camera pictures. There is, however, a more sophisticated way to put your smartphone to use. It’s an app called gps4cam pro.
Part 2 – Geocoding using the smartphone app gps4cam
Geotag your photos automatically – part 1
Vacation time is coming! Wherever your travels will take you: You will, for sure, be taking a lot of pictures.
But: If your camera is not equipped with a built-in GPS, your pictures will lack location information. You could geotag these images by hand. This can be a lot of work and quite time-consuming. So, how can you add geotags more easily to your photos?
In a three-part series of blog posts, we will explore three options HoudahGeo offers to automate your photo geocoding process.
Part 1 – Geocoding from reference photos
Geotag photos for the Apple Photos application
This post no longer applies to Apple Photos 2.0 under macOS 10.12 Sierra. HoudahGeo 5.1 can now add location information to photos in the Photos library.
The most common workflow for geotagging photos with HoudahGeo is:
- Import photos into iPhoto or Aperture
- Geocode the photos using HoudahGeo
- Write geotags to the original image files
- Notify iPhoto or Aperture of the newly added geotags
The new Apple Photos application lacks the programmatic interface needed for HoudahGeo to notify it of changes made to geotags.
Until this issue is resolved, we recommend that you geotag your photos before importing them into the Photos library.
Continue reading Geotag photos for the Apple Photos application
View your photos in Google Earth
Geocoding photos serves two main purposes:
- Geotags provide extra information that can be used to catalog and find photos. Years from now, you may not remember when you took the photo you are looking for. But you will remember roughly where you took it
- Geotags add to the “story” of a photo. With the photo pinned to a map, you can see the exact spot where it was taken. Add a GPS track log to see how you got there
One way to view and show geotagged photos is to create a Google Earth file with both the photos and the GPS track log. Now you have a bird’s eye view of your trip and the spots where you stopped to take photos.
Automatic geocoding: Camera clock setup
Digital cameras record the exact time each photo was taken. HoudahGeo relies on this information to match photos to a GPS tracklog. Unfortunately, most digital cameras fail to specify which time zone the recorded time is expressed in. I.e for a photo taken at noon, HoudahGeo cannot tell if it was noon in Los Angeles, or in Luxembourg, etc.
HoudahGeo thus needs a little help to make sense of the camera timestamps. Getting camera clock setup right is essential for automatic geocoding to work.
Save Aperture / iPhoto Places geotags to EXIF
Apple has announced plans to cease development of Aperture. Corel and Adobe have already started courting photography enthusiasts and professionals with their respective photo management and editing products.
Before moving away from Aperture you will want to safeguard geotags currently stored with Aperture Places. HoudahGeo can copy these to industry-standard EXIF / XMP tags embedded within your JPEG or RAW image files. There geotags will be available for other photo management and editing tools to pick up.
Continue reading Save Aperture / iPhoto Places geotags to EXIF
Geotag photos managed by Adobe Lightroom
HoudahGeo integrates with iPhoto, Aperture and Lightroom. This makes it easy to geotag photos that are managed by your favorite photo library.
Geocoding using iPhone reference photos
HoudahGeo offers several options for geocoding your photos: automatic using GPS track logs, using GPS waypoints, using built-in maps, using Google Earth, etc.
One of the lesser known options is geocoding from reference photos (aka. gap fill geocoding). The basic idea behind this technique is pretty simple. Your iPhone creates geocoded photos. You may however find the camera lacking when compared to your regular digital camera. Your preferred camera on the other hand lacks a GPS chip. HoudahGeo can match up geocoded photos from your iPhone with photos taken around the same time using your regular camera. It can thus assume both were taken at the same location.