Author Topic: Photofusion troubles (Read 31521 times)

mtbikernate · « **on:** January 10, 2010, 02:11:05 PM »

I made use of photofusion to geotag a batch of photos and I found some problems with it.

The geotagging of the photos went fine. The problems I ran into are related to the GPS file. When photofusion put waypoints in my .gpx file for the photo locations, it worked absolutely fine in Topofusion. But when trying to view the file elsewhere, like Google Earth, errors abound. When I tried to put the .gpx file onto my website for viewing using the Google Maps API, the .gpx file crashed my website.

Upon converting the .gpx file to .kml, the waypoints remained, but the references to the photos were lost entirely. When trying to use TF to put those references back (using the "edit waypoint" dialog), Google Earth and other programs do not recognize it. The only way I was able to reinsert those file references was through Google Earth's waypoint properties dialog, where I had to insert

Code: [Select]

<img src=" "> html code to pull up the image. Doing that, it finally worked.

The error that Google Earth gave me when trying to load the .gpx file that Topofusion generated gave a pretty nondescript parse error, referencing the line and column of the problem. Photofusion seems to do fine when geotagging photos for exclusive use in TF, but it does some wild things that other programs really don't like.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2010, 03:48:38 PM »

Hi,

Thanks for the post on this. I haven't tried to load up a PhotoFusion'd GPX in GE recently. If there's a parse error it's likely a TF bug. I will test and see what I find. It might be a disallowed character in the full path name of your files. But it could be something more basic, too.

The problem of photos not coming up in a kml export was reported recently, and it'll be an easy fix. Next version, for sure.

Thanks again.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2010, 09:59:44 PM »

Thanks for the response. I figured it was probably some kind of bug and thought it'd be helpful to report it. You can see the results in Google Maps at my website: http://thegpsgeek.com In the final example, I used the .kml file. I would have preferred to keep the .gpx, since the maps add-on I use gives me charts of elevation and stuff. Would be nice to use my Edge 705 on a mtb ride, show some pictures, and still get HR, cadence, and other readouts along with the geotagged photos.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2010, 08:54:20 PM »

Hey,

Can you send me the GPX file that gave the parse error? I have tried a few of mine and they open up OK in google earth. smorris@topofusion.com

I have fixed the KML output so that it has some html code to display images. It'll be in the next version. Hopefully we can get the GPX to roll equally as well.

Thanks.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2010, 11:28:06 PM »

http://thegpsgeek.com/gpsdata/hike/2010-01-03_photofusion.gpx

ScottMorris · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2010, 04:37:43 PM »

Hey,

The GPX file passes GPX file (xerces) validation. My copy of Google Earth also loads it up just fine. Maybe you haven't updated GE for a while?

I haven't tried putting it into a google map -- there is no native support for loading GPX in the API, right? Is it the wordpress plugin that is doing that for you, and where it caused a crash?

I'll check out that plugin -- would be cool to set up TF GPX files so it meshes well with it.

Thanks.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2010, 04:59:13 PM »

That plugin looks like it has some really cool stuff. Did you have any trouble getting it to work? I tried four different GPX files, and none have worked. I have gotten an out of memory error and also Internal Server Error.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:25:09 PM »

I am using Google Earth v. 5.1.3533.1731 with DirectX 9 Windows Vista SP2

no updates available, so I appear to be current.

Yes, the plugin I use for wordpress allows the .gpx support. Writing the parse code myself looked awful daunting considering my capabilities. I didn't have any trouble getting it installed on my site.

I have a few .gpx files loaded on the site already with no trouble. For those, I exclusively went through Garmin's software to load from the GPS. On this occasion, I used TF to load the file from my GPS.

The only .gpx files I have not been able to load are this one and a .gpx from my Edge 705 from a trainer ride with the GPS turned off (no location data, of course. I was hoping for charts, but no map. I guess the plugin doesn't work that way).

http://thegpsgeek.com/blog/?p=25
http://thegpsgeek.com/blog/?p=19

I guess I only have two .gpx files loaded. At any rate, the ones I posted there both work.

Oh wait...I did have some trouble with my site. I was using a Windoze server package first, and couldn't get ANYTHING to work. I figured out that the server was the problem. Switching to a Linux server solved the problems.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:28:53 PM »

Hmm, I have:

Google Earth
5.1.3533.1731
Build Date
Nov 12, 2009
Build Time
11:59:29 am
Renderer
DirectX 9

I have gotten a couple GPX files to load with the plug in, but several that don't have PhotoFusion pics refuse to load. I'll keep playing with it.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:30:12 PM »

In the dialog that comes up after you open a GPX file in GE, are you changing any of the options? I am leaving them the same -- first box unchecked, the rest all checked.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:33:12 PM »

I'm using the default options, also.

Other .gpx files load fine in GE without trouble.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:40:57 PM »

I have actually loaded this .gpx file multiple times from my GPS and received the same result in Google Earth.

When I load the non-photofusioned version of the .gpx file, I don't have any problems.

Hmmmm....I may have stumbled across the problem inadvertently. I just loaded that non-PFed .gpx file into Garmin Training Center and it loaded a bunch of extraneous track points that apparently didn't get deleted when I edited my track in TF. They loaded in GTC as separate activities. I just deleted them. I will try to re-do the photofusion part and see if that fixes my problem.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:42:32 PM »

OK, yeah, I'm stumped on this at the moment -- if I'm loading up the same file in GE, it should give me the same error, one would think.

Let me know what you find. I'll keep looking at the plugin.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #13 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:48:12 PM »

No dice. I still get the same error with the new file that now lacks the extraneous track points that GTC displays.

If I try to load that file in GTC, nothing happens. No loading, no error, nada.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #14 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:50:05 PM »

Can you email me that file? I'll try it in GTC too.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2010, 05:58:20 PM »

I'll send the file.

I just pulled it up in MS Word and added line numbers to find the error GE is referring to.

Line 607 (the line number changed when I deleted the extraneous track points) is this:

Code: [Select]

<ele>60.219727</ele>
Column 21 is just before the </ele> tag. Not sure what that problem is.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #16 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:09:10 PM »

Very strange -- the file you emailed loaded up in GE for me too.

Maybe it doesn't like elevations for waypoints for some reason. I'll email you back the same file w/o the ele tags. There might be some setting (for locking on to ground?) that is different between your GE and mine.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #17 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:41:28 PM »

That file caused the same error in GE. Line 684, column 21.

It happened on this line now:

Code: [Select]

time>2010-01-03T19:06:55Z</time>
This time, that error references the spot just before the 03 in the date. I'm going to reinstall Google Earth.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:59:27 PM »

GE reinstall didn't work.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #19 on:** January 12, 2010, 08:10:15 PM »

That is certainly mysterious... there's nothing different going on at that line:

<trkpt lat="31.058779" lon="-94.273681">

<time>2010-01-03T19:06:55Z</time>
</trkpt>

It isn't the photofusion part either. I'll bet if we delete all the waypoints it'll still complain.

On the GMaps plugin side, I can't get it to load up GPX files that are very large. Smaller files seem to work.

What error are you getting with this photofusion'd file? Is it an out of memory error like I am seeing, or something else?

mtbikernate · « **Reply #20 on:** January 12, 2010, 08:54:18 PM »

Yeah, I'm suspicious that this GE problem is on my end only, but I haven't a clue why.

For the plugin, I don't get any error messages. Large parts of my website just don't appear. The right sidebar disappears and the main center field disappears on any page that displays the offending .gpx file. If I load a page that doesn't display that file, I have no problems. But the individual post's page is F'd and the main page (if there's not enough text to push the map off the preview that gets displayed) also gets hosed.

Post links to some .gpx files you are having trouble with and I can link them on my site to see if it's an install problem or something else (like file size as you mention).

mtbikernate · « **Reply #21 on:** January 12, 2010, 09:05:42 PM »

I tried loading the .gpx without the geotagged photo links in it, and it also screws up this plugin (but not Google Earth...I think these problems might be separate issues)

http://thegpsgeek.com/blog/?p=128

mtbikernate · « **Reply #22 on:** January 12, 2010, 09:14:18 PM »

I re-downloaded the data from my GPS using Garmin Mapsource, re-uploaded the file to my server, and it shows up fine.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #23 on:** January 12, 2010, 10:06:49 PM »

I ran photofusion and saved the .gpx file. I'm getting the same error as before.

I thought maybe it might be some trouble in the 'save' portion, but nope. I simply saved the .gpx file from TF without running photofusion and it loads just fine in GE. It definitely appears to be something that photofusion is doing. I will try using a different geotagging utility first...then possibly try reinstalling topofusion.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #24 on:** January 12, 2010, 10:36:21 PM »

Curious. Thinking about the parse error a bit more it could be caused earlier in the file, then when a max buffer size is finally reached, it (GE) throws an error. So it does make sense that GE can load the file w/o the photos in it.

Problem is that the file validates -- so I think TF is doing everything right. It may have something to do with the way a URL is stored. It's probably worth comparing how other geotagging software saves it (esp. if GE can load the photos correctly).

Here are a few GPX files I can't get to load with the gmaps plugin:

http://bikepacking.net/gps/GET-bike-v5.gpx
http://topofusion.com/GPX/CTR.gpx
http://topofusion.com/GPX/CLR/CLR09_v4.gpx

LMK if they work for you.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #25 on:** January 12, 2010, 11:17:03 PM »

These cause the same problem with the GMaps plugin that I'm getting with my photofusioned .gpx file.

The first and third ones load in GE just fine, but the second one gives me the same error I've been getting with my problem file.

I tried RoboGeo to see if a different program would make the .gpx file work, but I had a problem with it (not to mention the free version purposely screws up the locations so it's not actually usable) and the time stamp (that I was able to sort out in TF) so I couldn't get RoboGeo to work. Most other programs work in .kml files, which makes it tough.

Thing with the file I was trying to use is that I was telling TF to fetch the photos from my web link when it put the photo locations on the map. The files are not in the .gpx, simply references to the file locations.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #26 on:** January 13, 2010, 10:01:15 AM »

Well, we're figuring a few things out anyway. The second file (CTR.gpx) is the only one of the three that has photofusion waypoints, so that's definitely the cause of the GE error. However, it too loads up just fine in my copy of GE. Very strange!

Not sure why the plugin can't load those files -- they are all very long (distance wise) files -- perhaps the author has only tested shorter stuff?

My CTR.gpx file is the same as your photofusion file -- the pics are just http:// links to photos that are on topofusion.com.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #27 on:** January 13, 2010, 11:11:23 AM »

I made a .kml version of the CTR file (http://topofusion.com/GPX/CTR.kml) and it works just fine in the plug in. Probably has something to do with the graphs/charts. Maybe you or I should submit a bug report to the author?

That kml file is the new output from TF on the kml, with thumbnail html in the description.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #28 on:** January 13, 2010, 02:53:53 PM »

ahhhh...now we're on to something. I'd suggest we both submit bug reports to the author of the plugin, since we both are having trouble with our own files. I think that would go to show that there's something certifiable going on related to the plugin and our respective files.

As for the GE error showing up on me end, but not yours...I'm clueless. I'm glad to hear your fix of the .kml export was successful and everything is working in that respect.

Maybe I ought to contact Google in relation to this .gpx display problem. There is something going on at my end that is not happening on your end. Thanks for the help on this to narrow down the source of my troubles. I'll let you know if I turn up anything with Google or the plugin developer.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #29 on:** January 13, 2010, 06:45:36 PM »

Hm...I found this on the plugin author's website:

Quote

My gpx file shows an â€œout of memoryâ€-exception or even nothing!
This occurs on some webspaces if your file is too big and memory needed to parse the GPX file will exceed this memory limit (a file of about 1mb, already needs about 32mb of memory). Since version 1.12 there is an option to use an other algorithm to parse the gpx file (go to options and change parse mode to 2 for all files or use parameter gpxparsemode=2 for a single gpx file). This second gpx parse algorithm instead uses database to save the gpx file into. Your database will grow a lot!

I will change the parse mode and retry.

My troublesome file now works...though my geotagged photos don't appear in the dialog window when I click a waypoint. Photos appear in a new tab on my browser when I doubleclick them. Scrolling also appears to be wonky on the map. I'll have to dig through various options to see if I can modify some of this behavior.

Meh...I can't modify it to my satisfaction (showing thumbnails like a .kml file).

I also tried your .gpx files and they still won't work under the second parse method. It appears they are just flat too big. Looks like big files need to use .kml on this plugin regardless of whether they have included geotagged photos or are just long tracks.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #30 on:** January 14, 2010, 10:54:01 PM »

Good find on the other parse mode. I did get it to pull up the CTR.gpx file, that does have photofusion waypoints. I got the thumbnails to come up in the box that first appears after clicking on the waypoint -- exactly the same as the .kml version.

I'm getting a little weary of the plugin, though. I have to keep deactivating it just to edit the post and change the GPX/KML file.

I suppose if you stick to KML and/or keep the file size down it may work well enough. I do like the profile and extra stuff you get with GPX.

Any luck with the GE parse error? I'll have a new beta out with the kml adjustment pretty soon.

mtbikernate · « **Reply #31 on:** January 15, 2010, 11:12:20 AM »

I switched it back to the original parse mode. I didn't quite like how it handled the photofusioned .gpx file. I prefer the behavior of the .kml. So I figured if I run into troubles later, I can convert to .kml if I have a problem. Under the first parse mode, you don't have to disable the plugin if you change your GPS file. I noticed that it may not update immediately on the page, but it will eventually update. I figured it has something to do with the browser cache. I just didn't feel like clearing my temp files to get an immediate update.

No luck on the GE error yet. I've been searching the GE help, and nobody seems to be having the same problem. Others seem to be getting that error message under different circumstances, however. But all the responses involve validating the .gpx file and mine validates fine on your end. Maybe I ought to validate it on my end since that's where the problems are.

ScottMorris · « **Reply #32 on:** January 17, 2010, 10:57:39 PM »

BTW, new beta out with the kml change.

AndyR2000 · « **Reply #33 on:** July 31, 2010, 10:05:25 PM »

mtbikernate,

What was the resolution here? Would be interested to find out. Btw, playing around with the Basic version - very very sweet!

mtbikernate · « **Reply #34 on:** July 31, 2010, 11:03:41 PM »

The majority of the problem was the .gpx parsing plugin on my website. There was a minor issue in TF that Scott fixed (noted in the post just prior to yours).

The plugin I had been using on my website just crapped out on larger .gpx and .kml files. Changing the parsing mode allowed the use of larger files, but the .kml files coming out of Photofusion were too big even for that parsing method.

I am now using Gmap4 on my website, which uses an iframe tag and puts all the processing on the Gmap4 server (not mine). I haven't played with using it with a Photofusion .kml that includes geotagged photo references, but I will be soon.