Geo tagging images

[KeesC]

Hello,

I found your program while doing research for an article for a magazine I am writing on GPS and photography. PhotoFusion has my special interest, I used a track from my Garmin GPS and pictures taken by two different camera's and they show up fine on the map.

As I am looking as a photographer to your software, I have the following question.

Is it possible to add the coördinates to the exif data of the original photo's? (so not by stamping the coördintes onto a copy of the photos) I can't find any other software that is able to do this.
It would be a very usefull option for photographers. That way they always know where a photo was taken, and they don't have to keep the tracks forever (only until photofusion adds the geographic info into the exif). Photograohers are most interested in where the picture was taken ("show me all pictures taken within x miles from <coördinate>) and not in the track itself.

Regards, Kees
(Amsterdam - the Netherlands)

[Krein]

Hello,

Thanks for the interest.  Unfortunately TopoFusion can't add coordinate info into the EXIF headers.  I also don't know of any software that does this.

While you don't need the 'track' once the photos have been placed (the photos are simply waypoints), I see what you mean about many photographers just wanting the coordinates with the image file.

Several others have requested this.  I will try to take a look at how difficult it would be in the next few days.  I'll post an update if I make some progress.

Thanks.

It shouldn't be too difficult, although I'm not sure how you feel about modifying image files themselves. On one hand it is would be a nice feature for some to add useful information to their JPEG files. On the other, if TF screws up someone's original image file (whether it's a format change in the future or bug), there might be bad feelings on either side.

The specs for EXIF headers can be downloaded here

http://www.exif.org/specifications.html

It's not the official site, but I think the docs are accurate.

Steve
Tucson, AZ

[Krein]

Yeah, my biggest question was whether the Lat/Lon data could be added "in place", without rewriting other data, and w/o re-encoding the jpeg.

On cursory glance, it seems that the GPS headers are additional, meaning that space is not already allocated in a standard EXIF header.  It still might only be a matter of appending the data on at the end, but it doesn't look like it's going to be *that* easy.  We have some code now that reads the EXIF headers, but nothing that deals with the additonal GPS stuff.

[dumketu]

There is a program called RoboGEO that will add the coordinates to the exif header and will even stamp it on the photo itself. Interfaces with Google Earth, but I still like topofusion better. Would be nice if Topofusion included this feature. I use both programs in tandem.

Brian

[dumketu]

Krein,

I have another suggestion along this line -- how about adding the ability to read the geocoordinates off of a .jpg files that has been already been tagged by another program (such as robogeo). Additionally, I think we are very close to seeing cameras that automatically tag the coordinates to a photo(there is an accessory for the canon 40d that might do this, and I think there are a couple of cameras with internal gps or ability to connect to a gps) so the need for software to do it may diminish, but the need to read that data will increase. This would be a good way to get comfortable with geocoordinates embedded in the exif files and should be fairly easy to code.

Brian

[Krein]

Agreed, this is a good first step, and you're right that increasingly we'll just need to read the EXIF coordinates.

[nevadarambler]

I agree it would be good for TopoFusion to recognize geotagged photos, and great if it could add geotag information to photos.

A program called WWMX Location Stamper will conveniently geotag
the EXIFs of jpg photos based on times in a gpx file:

http://research.microsoft.com/researc....ls.aspx

Unfortunately, most photo editing programs do not recognize the
geotags and some even obliterate the geotags.

[dumketu]

Quote (nevadarambler @ Dec. 05 2007,9:12)

Unfortunately, most photo editing programs do not recognize the geotags and some even obliterate the geotags.

I have not had that experience. My geotagged photos work fine with Lightroom, Photoshop, Thumbs Plus and a few others.

[alimamo]

If this thread is still active, and geotagging photos with Topo fusion is an on-going process, you can have a look at these pages:

http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/

Other geocoding software:
http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/wiki/OtherGeocodingSoftware

Personally I like GeoSetter. But it might be nice to have the geotagging feature in TF, too.

alimamo

[Roach]

Looks like this is the future...or is already here:

A consumer/ recreational grade gps/camera all-in-one premonition, maybe:

http://www.gpsfix.net/garmin-oregon-500-photo/

and existing examples:

Consumer/rec grade: http://www.magellangps.com/products/product.asp?segID=425

Resource grade: http://www.trimble.com/junosb.shtml

I, too, am a fan of Geosetter, and the ability to read write an EXIF compatible jpg. What's attractive in Geosetter is the ability to assign coordinates using a drag and drop interface. It does not write to shapefiles, though as Topofusion does.

[ScottMorris]

Cool, yep.

By the way, TopoFusion reads and writes Lat/Lon EXIF headers, in the last few versions.  It functions somewhat like Geosetter, though I haven't tried the drag and drop on Geosetter yet.  Could be worth adding to TF, too.