Where did I take that photo?

[Chet18013]

Have you ever looked at a photo and tried to remember exactly where you took it? The EXIF data your camera records with each photo has a place for the GPS co-ordinates of the photo location to be entered.

If you don't know what EXIF is see:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/exif_01.htm

If you have a GPS unit that will log data points, it's a simple matter to get your computer to take the data log and enter the co-ordinates. See:

http://www.robogeo.com/home/

If you don't have a GPS data logger, there is one that has just been introduced that will fill this need nicely.  See:

http://www.deluoelectronics.com/customer/product.php?productid=174&gad=CLDqwMECEggmWgxwi0Q3EBj2k8D_AyCsrqUg

SmartMug, the photo sharing online photo data base has a routine that will let you post the photo and link it to Google Earth so all your photo locations will come up on either a street or satellite map. I haven't investigated Google yet, but I bet that they either have or will soon have the same capabilities.

Check out this to see what you can do.

http://www.redphoto.co.uk/Travel/254130

Chet18013

 

[Ned]

For those of you that don't know how to access the EXIF data, in Windows XP you right click on the image file, select Properties, then on the Summary tab, click on Advanced and you'll see all the data stored about the image by the camera.

 

[Ron from Big D]

Chet:

      What is the process to link this to a photo?  I see that the reader logs continuously, but can it be used to simply input a photo location on command, and how does that link to the camera?

 

[Chet18013]

Here's how you do it.

If you have a GPS unit that will log data points, it's a simple matter to get your computer to take the data log and enter the co-ordinates. See:

http://www.robogeo.com/home/

This program does the linking.

Chet

 

[Chet18013]

Here's a better explaination of what you have to do.

I guess that my first post could have been a little more detailed. First, the clock in your camera must synchronized with the data logger clock.The data logger is never connected to the camera. When turned on and put in your pocket, the logger gets a fix and records a GPS position every 15 seconds. It will store 25,000 to 50,000 (depending on the model/brand) of fixes. This works out to 8.6 days of fixes stored at 15 second intervals--if the logger is on 100% of the time. The positions are then down loaded to a computer as a data file. The photos are downloaded to the same computer. The program then sorts the photo times and GPS data logger times and writes the GPS co-ordinates of the position with the time that is the closest match to the photos' time to the exif data for that photo. Some Garmen GPS units will log way points and let you down load them for this application. I don't know which ones, though.

Go to the site I posted:

http://www.robogeo.com/home/

or

http://www.vipros.com/photo/gps2Photo/

These sites will tell you how the time of the fix and the time of the photo are matched and the resulting position is "assumed " to be the location of the photo--at least within 15 seconds.

If you do the photo/logger downloads at the same time, it only adds a couple of minutes to your workflow.

Chet18013

 

[vermilye]

Although the cost of Robogeo is inexpensive - around $35.00, there are a couple of free software packages that can be used to sync GPS data to EXIF camera data.  Check out http://oregonstate.edu/%7Eearlyj/gpsphotolinker/index.php for Macintosh OS X and http://wwmx.org/ for PCs.  A web page that gives some useful information (and where I found these links) is at http://www.naturescapes.net/092006/dc0906.htm