Creating GPS encoded photographs for free - "GeoTagging"
- Thread starter AndyW
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A question came up but I've not updated the article yet.....
I think this is the answer - the two images attached should make all clear
1) If you have a SmugMug account and are logged in
# Select one of your photos and you will have access to 'Edit Geography' via the 'Photo Tools' menu or above the image the 'Map this!' button
2) If you don't have a SmugMug account browse/search for images, select an image of interest and assumming there is geo data embedded you can use the 'Map this!' button
SmugMug also uses Google Earth images
One last thing I forgot........with Picasa you can GeoTag images via Google Earth without the need for any GPS data....
......i.e. anyone can geotag images even if you don't own a SatNav or GPS Data Logger
Example........go to SmugMug.com and search on 'Wellesbourne' - of the images that come up you'll see a Vulcan Bomber, open that image and hit the 'Map this' button........zoom in!!!!!!!!!!!
Picasa (free from Google) - a great free application that integrates with Google Earth for geotagging, has great image/photo cataloging, a bunch of image editing/enhancement tools and even batch tools that enable you to, for example, resize a group of images in one go Picasa is one of the many applications Google offer for free, just choose and download which ones suit you
I think this is the answer - the two images attached should make all clear
1) If you have a SmugMug account and are logged in
# Select one of your photos and you will have access to 'Edit Geography' via the 'Photo Tools' menu or above the image the 'Map this!' button
2) If you don't have a SmugMug account browse/search for images, select an image of interest and assumming there is geo data embedded you can use the 'Map this!' button
SmugMug also uses Google Earth images
One last thing I forgot........with Picasa you can GeoTag images via Google Earth without the need for any GPS data....
......i.e. anyone can geotag images even if you don't own a SatNav or GPS Data Logger
Example........go to SmugMug.com and search on 'Wellesbourne' - of the images that come up you'll see a Vulcan Bomber, open that image and hit the 'Map this' button........zoom in!!!!!!!!!!!
Picasa (free from Google) - a great free application that integrates with Google Earth for geotagging, has great image/photo cataloging, a bunch of image editing/enhancement tools and even batch tools that enable you to, for example, resize a group of images in one go
Picasa is one of the many applications Google offer for free, just choose and download which ones suit youAttachments
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Found this on another bike related forum...
Make your own Egbert (creating GPS encoded photographs for free)
<hr style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Mike O's new toy Egbert (the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr) allows him to produce photographs from his digital camera containing latitude/longitude coordinates showing exactly where the photo was taken. This article is intended to explain how you can do the same using nothing more than your regular GPS and some free software.
The principle is really simple - Egbert (and GPS devices like it) logs its exact location and a timestamp into memory every 10-30 seconds. Digital cameras also record the time at which an image is taken, as part of the EXIF data in the JPEG digital picture. The software provided with Egbert takes the timestamps in the GPS track points and the digital image timestamps, finds a match and then encodes the latitude/longitude from the GPS track point into the JPEG image. This process is known as geotagging. What is neat about Egbert is that it is very small - about the size of a matchbox - and very simple to use (which is why it appeals to Mike O
). Its small size and lack of display means it uses very little power so a full charge should last 1.5 days or continuous use.
With your geotagged images you can do very nice things like load them into Google Earth, or submit them to geographically-aware photo sites such as Panoramio, Flickr, the UK Geograph project, or SmugMug. The latter automatically recognises geotagged photos in a folder and displays a little "Map This" icon which will show the photos in Google Maps. Once you have geographically encoded photos you can produce some great write-ups of your on-road or offroad trip.
You can however produce your own geotagged photos using your regular GPS and some freely available software. Most, if not all, GPS systems keep a track log. On some it is an option that you may need to enable, so check your setup menus. One possible disadvantage that some regular GPS devices have over Egbert-like devices is that they tend to record the track log less frequently. This can mean that an exact location may not have been recorded at the moment that you took a picture. In practice I have found this not to be a huge problem though.
Taking pictures
First ensure that your GPS and camera are set to the same time. A GPS receiver locked to a satellite is one of the most accurate clocks that you can get. Use the time displayed on your GPS to set the camera's time. Ensure that the date is also set.
Now you simply go out and take pictures. Obviously you need to make sure that your GPS is turned on and tracking your location.
Software setup
To get started you will need a couple of pieces of free software. The first enables you to get the track log off your GPS and into a format easily understood. The second does the timestamp comparison and lat/long encoding into the JPEG picture file.
To get your GPS log use free software such as EasyGPS. This will connect to your GPS and save the track log into GPX or NMEA format. If you have some other format of track log from your GPS software then simply google on how to convert it to GPX format. It should be straightforward as GPX is a popular XML-based format.
To match GPS log to photos you need to use GPicSync. There is a very useful getting started page for GPicSync. At its simplest you point GPicSync at your GPX track log file and you point it at the directory containing the digital pictures. Assuming your camera and GPS are set to the same time it will do the comparison and encode the lat/long coords into the photos. If you don't have the correct time set then you can tweak the software using the software's "Options --> Local time" correction feature and enter the time displayed by your GPS and camera. This will allow the software to get a better match of location to picture.
Using the encoded photos
So now you have a directory of geotagged pictures what do you do next? Within GPicSync you can simply click the "View in Google Earth" button. For your own amusement and benefit this is rather cool. You can also generate a KML file (what Google Earth uses) that you can share with others. You can upload a geographically encoded photo into a number of other sites (as listed above). If you have Google's Picasa software installed on your PC then you can highlight any number of photos in a folder and again display them in Google Earth. Picasa automatically detects a picture with coordinates and displays a little cross icon in the bottom right side of the picture.
I had some good success playing with my Magellan SportTrak Map which I carried in my pocket as I took the dogs for a walk. As previously mentioned Egbert would have been better as it records track points more frequently and is physically tiny, but I was still pleased with the results I got from and old GPS that has been sat unused in my panniers for the past couple of years. You may even be able to do this with old photos (maybe you took some on the rideouts at Princetown, for example) as some GPS receivers keep huge tracklogs in memory so a past trip where you took photos might already be logged.
I have attached a sample Google Earth KMZ file generated from Picasa which shows a short walk that me and Mrs Cheesy took around a local forest at the weekend. The sharp eyed may notice that the date stamp on the photos says 2006. This is because I am a numpty and set the camera to the right time, right day, wrong year. Some hacking was necessary to get a GPS track from 2007 to match up with pictures from 2006!
Geographic encoding without a GPS
Even if you don't have a GPS, you can still geotag your photos. Google's Picasa software has a very neat feature accessed by "Tools --> Geotag --> Geotag using Google Earth". This will launch Google Earth then display any photos that you chosen and allow you to drag the map around, zoom into a location then simply click "Geotag" to encode the coordinates into the photograph. It allows you to do this for just one picture or a whole series. Very nice.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions. And do heed this one bit of advice: Try it out first - even if you just take a photo in your back garden. It is easy to make mistakes the first time you try this and it would be a shame to lose the data from a whole trip because you had something setup wrong.
Make your own Egbert (creating GPS encoded photographs for free)
<hr style="color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Mike O's new toy Egbert (the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr) allows him to produce photographs from his digital camera containing latitude/longitude coordinates showing exactly where the photo was taken. This article is intended to explain how you can do the same using nothing more than your regular GPS and some free software.
The principle is really simple - Egbert (and GPS devices like it) logs its exact location and a timestamp into memory every 10-30 seconds. Digital cameras also record the time at which an image is taken, as part of the EXIF data in the JPEG digital picture. The software provided with Egbert takes the timestamps in the GPS track points and the digital image timestamps, finds a match and then encodes the latitude/longitude from the GPS track point into the JPEG image. This process is known as geotagging. What is neat about Egbert is that it is very small - about the size of a matchbox - and very simple to use (which is why it appeals to Mike O
With your geotagged images you can do very nice things like load them into Google Earth, or submit them to geographically-aware photo sites such as Panoramio, Flickr, the UK Geograph project, or SmugMug. The latter automatically recognises geotagged photos in a folder and displays a little "Map This" icon which will show the photos in Google Maps. Once you have geographically encoded photos you can produce some great write-ups of your on-road or offroad trip.
You can however produce your own geotagged photos using your regular GPS and some freely available software. Most, if not all, GPS systems keep a track log. On some it is an option that you may need to enable, so check your setup menus. One possible disadvantage that some regular GPS devices have over Egbert-like devices is that they tend to record the track log less frequently. This can mean that an exact location may not have been recorded at the moment that you took a picture. In practice I have found this not to be a huge problem though.
Taking pictures
First ensure that your GPS and camera are set to the same time. A GPS receiver locked to a satellite is one of the most accurate clocks that you can get. Use the time displayed on your GPS to set the camera's time. Ensure that the date is also set.
Now you simply go out and take pictures. Obviously you need to make sure that your GPS is turned on and tracking your location.
Software setup
To get started you will need a couple of pieces of free software. The first enables you to get the track log off your GPS and into a format easily understood. The second does the timestamp comparison and lat/long encoding into the JPEG picture file.
To get your GPS log use free software such as EasyGPS. This will connect to your GPS and save the track log into GPX or NMEA format. If you have some other format of track log from your GPS software then simply google on how to convert it to GPX format. It should be straightforward as GPX is a popular XML-based format.
To match GPS log to photos you need to use GPicSync. There is a very useful getting started page for GPicSync. At its simplest you point GPicSync at your GPX track log file and you point it at the directory containing the digital pictures. Assuming your camera and GPS are set to the same time it will do the comparison and encode the lat/long coords into the photos. If you don't have the correct time set then you can tweak the software using the software's "Options --> Local time" correction feature and enter the time displayed by your GPS and camera. This will allow the software to get a better match of location to picture.
Using the encoded photos
So now you have a directory of geotagged pictures what do you do next? Within GPicSync you can simply click the "View in Google Earth" button. For your own amusement and benefit this is rather cool. You can also generate a KML file (what Google Earth uses) that you can share with others. You can upload a geographically encoded photo into a number of other sites (as listed above). If you have Google's Picasa software installed on your PC then you can highlight any number of photos in a folder and again display them in Google Earth. Picasa automatically detects a picture with coordinates and displays a little cross icon in the bottom right side of the picture.
I had some good success playing with my Magellan SportTrak Map which I carried in my pocket as I took the dogs for a walk. As previously mentioned Egbert would have been better as it records track points more frequently and is physically tiny, but I was still pleased with the results I got from and old GPS that has been sat unused in my panniers for the past couple of years. You may even be able to do this with old photos (maybe you took some on the rideouts at Princetown, for example) as some GPS receivers keep huge tracklogs in memory so a past trip where you took photos might already be logged.
I have attached a sample Google Earth KMZ file generated from Picasa which shows a short walk that me and Mrs Cheesy took around a local forest at the weekend. The sharp eyed may notice that the date stamp on the photos says 2006. This is because I am a numpty and set the camera to the right time, right day, wrong year. Some hacking was necessary to get a GPS track from 2007 to match up with pictures from 2006!
Geographic encoding without a GPS
Even if you don't have a GPS, you can still geotag your photos. Google's Picasa software has a very neat feature accessed by "Tools --> Geotag --> Geotag using Google Earth". This will launch Google Earth then display any photos that you chosen and allow you to drag the map around, zoom into a location then simply click "Geotag" to encode the coordinates into the photograph. It allows you to do this for just one picture or a whole series. Very nice.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions. And do heed this one bit of advice: Try it out first - even if you just take a photo in your back garden. It is easy to make mistakes the first time you try this and it would be a shame to lose the data from a whole trip because you had something setup wrong.
And I know where 
Mike's a local GS'er and gave me permission to recreate that with some updating and I added images and new links.........there's a 'credit' to him at the top of my page
Mike's a local GS'er and gave me permission to recreate that with some updating and I added images and new links
.........there's a 'credit' to him at the top of my page Deleted account W
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And I know where
Mike's a local GS'er and gave me permission to recreate that with some updating and I added images and new links
Credit where credits due
Cheesy Mike rules Geotagging explanations
Deleted account W
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AndyW has asked me to add the following comment
The above article has recently been updated and a further article that ties in well with the original has been added:
Geographical Placement (GeoTagging) your Photos in Google Earth
The above article has recently been updated and a further article that ties in well with the original has been added:
Geographical Placement (GeoTagging) your Photos in Google Earth
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