GPS-tagging your photos with EXIF

April 7, 2006 @ 12:00AM

GPS-tagging your photos with EXIF

By Haje Jan Kamps

You know how your JPEG files have information stored about shutter times, focal lengths, your camera etc? Well, all of that info is stored in something called Exif tags (Exchangeable image file format). If you are geeky enough to ever have looked at the EXIF data specifications (more easily digestible on Wikipedia), you will have noticed that there are fields for co-ordinates inside the JPG file, much like GPS systems store world-positioning details.

The fact that you can store EXIF data in JPEGs means that your photos can be tagged with very precise geo-positioning information. The first time I came across this commercially was Navman, with their NavPix system, allowing you to take a photo of your destination, and then navigate there (if it’s useful or not is a different question, but some publications have thought of some interesting uses for it…). Of course, in Japan, it has been possible to link JPG with GPS data for ages.

Either way, there are ways to make this whole setup more photo- and less navigation-specific. Tim, for example, has created a system which links his Nikon D200 directly to a G0PS system, tagging the photos as you take them, and then create a visual gallery through the power of Google Maps! Nifty.

Other tools:

RoboPhoto allows you to link photos to maps
Kenneth Hunt has a good roundup on GPS Exif and implemetations.

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Comments

Anonymous

5 years ago

Hi,

RICOH has build a camera which takes coordinates from a GPS and stores them in the exif header at the moment the photo is taken:
http://www.alta4.com/eng/products_e/gpsphotomapper/gpscamera.php

Ole

Anonymous

5 years ago

If you don’t have GPS, You can Try ImaGeoLoc : It’s a freeware, in french … sorry :o)

Anonymous

5 years ago

hi :)
just to warn that http://www.robophoto.com/settings8.html gives a 404
thanks for your blog i have a new rss feed ;)

Anonymous

4 years ago

hi:
Maybe you can check this website http://www.solmeta.com they have a GPS device for digital camera, Also they have the software

Anonymous

4 years ago

Here is some discussions about Solmeta’s GPS
http://www.flickr.com/groups/geotagging/discuss/72157603993326205/?searc...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bezdomny/sets/72157603997529380/

Anonymous

4 years ago

For some time now, higher-end Nikon DSLR cameras have had the ability to link with select Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers and record very precise information on the camera’s location at the time each image was captured. Nikon cameras equipped with this feature include the D200, D300, D2Hs, D2X, D2Xs, and D3, as well as the Fujifilm S5 Pro (a D200 derivative). The typical setup involved the camera with a Nikon MC-35 GPS adapter cord attached to its ten pin remote terminal while the other end connected to a PC interface cable connector that was in turn attached to the GPS.

Now, Shenzhen Solmeta Technology Co., LTD (Solmeta, for branding purposes) has produced a camera-specific GPS unit that is dwarfed in both size and weight by the typical hand-held GPS used for this type application in the past, and makes use of a single connection directly to the camera’s 10 pin terminal. For digital users who need or want GPS data for their images, things just got a lot simpler.

Design and Construction

Solmeta has three products in their line – the N1, which is the subject of this review, and the N2 and C1, both soon to appear on the market per a company spokesman. The N2 will feature a compass (heading) function for the D3 and D300, and the C1 will be for other brands of cameras and include the compass function.

The N1 is a light and compact unit, measuring about 2 x 1.25 x .75 inches and weighing in at 50 grams. Contrast that with the dimensions of a Garmin Geko 301 GPS, one of the smaller and lighter Garmins that have been operationally confirmed by Nikon for use with the D300 and D3: 1.9 x 3.9 x .96 inches and 96 grams. Keep in mind that the weight of the Garmin doesn’t include the Nikon and PC adapter cords necessary to complete that installation, while the N1 is ready to go as is. Obviously, weight is not really a major concern here, since the difference between the two systems can be measured in ounces, but it is part of the larger picture that makes the Solmeta system quite simple and easy to use.

For more details please visit
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3375

Anonymous

4 years ago

Photos can be geotagged without any GPS receiver with two marvellous apps: Picasa and Earth, from Google. You just select a bunch of photos in Picasa, click Tools / Geotag with Google Earth, the latter loads and lets you set each photo’s position on the Earth surface. The corresponding GPS tags are written to the photos’ EXIF tags once you click Done. Works very well and pleasantly.

Anonymous

3 years ago

Good article!

Sony now also has a snazzy little GPS unit that will work with all kind of digital cameras called Sony GPS -CS1.

The device does not hook up with the camera, but the bundled software will compare the data from the GPS unit with the date-time stamp in the EXIF tag and then add the data to the picture on your computer. The only thing to consider is that the coordinates are taken in intervals of 15 seconds, so don’t be too speedy while taking pictures!

The beauty is that it works with all cameras as long as you remember to adjust the date and time on the camera precisely! So if you travel a lot across the timelines you’ll have to make it a part of the procedure to also adjust your camera time. The GPS unit will log the precise time from the position satellites; so no adjustment there.

Anonymous

1 year ago

GPS are very useful on day to day travel if you do not want to get lost’”:

mansoor

1 year ago

Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.What do you think?
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