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Author Topic: independent geotagging devices  (Read 2907 times)

lcastric

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independent geotagging devices
« on: August 01, 2013, 12:06:12 am »

Does anyone have experience with the current crop of geotagging units that
are independent of the camera and work well with the PC. There are several older threads, but conflicting
information on what are the critical features and software.
Thanks...
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Rhossydd

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2013, 05:11:36 am »

This has become a big subject and many older threads will be very out of date.
There are many different solutions to geotagging, what works best for you will vary with your specific requirements; What sort of accuracy you need, what software you use already, what OS you're using, what sort of unit you're prepared to carry.
Most smartphones with GPS can use an app to create GPS logs in standard GPX data format, whilst very convenient, battery life can be hit hard with the GPS enabled all day.
If you're not far from your car many Sat Navs will also save a GPS log of the route that may suit you.
Beyond that you're into either handheld GPS navigation units like the Garmin etrex or a dedicated data logger. The former have good battery life, but tend to be a bit big. The data loggers can be tiny, cheap and surprisingly accurate, but some need their own special software to get the data into standard GPX format.
There are also clip on units that fit onto your camera and will tag the images as taken. Convenient, but expensive and rare, but also not very helpful if you've more than one camera.
 
I now use a combination approach when travelling. Keeping the Sat Nav in the car on all the time to record a base track, I use a Garmin Nuvi. Then keeping a small data logger(an i747 from eBay) in my top pocket when walking. The Garmin saves the tracks internally and can just be dragged and dropped from Windows Explorer into a suitable folder. The i747 is more complex as the tracks need to be downloaded via it's own software and re-saved as a GPX file.
I really couldn't recommend the i747 now as the software uses an old Google map API that been cancelled and the software isn't 64bit, so it's a bit of a clunky workflow, but the unit is very accurate and compact and my travel netbook is happy running the software anyway. The final advantage for me with the data logger is that it can record waypoints and taking a photo of the unit whilst pressing the waypoint save button provides a good way of matching GPS and camera time later.
If I forget anything, my phone does pretty well.

With respect to tagging the images; The map module in Lightroom is very good and easy to use, I don't bother with anything else now.
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RFPhotography

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2013, 08:55:31 am »

Many of the apps available now for use with smartphones have been updated and amended to improve battery life.  I'm able to have the app I use running for an entire day and evening (e.g., 7:00 am till 10:00 pm) without problem.  Now, I don't spend the entire day texting and updating to social media every 30 seconds. ::)  So that helps with battery life too.  And I rarely talk on my phone which also helps with battery life.  Keeping the number of apps running in the background to a minimum will improve battery life as well.  Most people are oblivious to what may be running in the background on their phone.

The Map module in LR is good and works well.  If you're not a Lightroom user, then there's GPicSync for Windows which works well and PhotoPin for Apple which, as I understand from others, also works well.  PhotoPin has both the tracking app and the desktop app.  GPicSync is a free utility that takes .gpx tracklogs.

Whatever you use, don't expect pinpoint accuracy.  Some will be very accurate, some less so.  It's the nature of GPS tracking and satellites.  If the device loses contact with satellites for brief periods or drops to, maybe, 3 satellites from 8 or 9 due to temporary interference, accuracy will be impacted.  The strength of the GPS chip will, in part, determine this.  This is the case whether you use a phone or a GPS receiver like those from Garmin or others.
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jaapb

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2013, 09:16:24 am »

I use an i-blue 747 pro S for off camera GPS logging. It is much more accurate and quicker in acquiring GPS signal than my Android phone. But, as Rhossydd states, the included software package is less than impressive.
For a great software solution have a look at BT747 I briefly mentioned it here and it works on Mac as well as on PC.

Good luck

Jaap
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orchidblooms

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2013, 09:46:51 am »

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markmullen

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2013, 07:08:23 pm »

I use Houdah Geo on the mac to tag mine with logs from an AMOD GPS logger and also a Sony logger. Both work well but the Sony is better in batteries taking just one AA as opposed to 3x AAA like the AMOD.

The Houdah software works really well, on importing my raw files from a card I tag them which adds the location to the metadata. Resulting files from these raw files carry the information through.
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AFairley

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Re: independent geotagging devices
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2013, 08:03:29 pm »

I have used a Garmin eTrex and GeoTagr on the iPhone, both work well, though if you have time sync issues, watch out.  Garmin needs an intermediate step to convert garmin format tracks to the format (gpx?) most tagging programs (and Lightroom use), but the eTrex has way long battery life.  Only issue with the phone is sucking down the battery for long outings.  However, I prefer to use the Aokatec attached to the D800, only problem there is that is that it really sucks the camera battery down, reducing run time to around 4 hours or less.  You don't want to let the Aokatec GPS power down between shots for walk-around shooting because of the time it takes to reacquire signal when it wakes up (if you are working on a tripod and taking a while setting up each shot, no so much a problem).  Once the Aokatec has locked signal it's very accurate even in urban settings, possibly more so than the eTrex.
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