Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: Jeremy Roussak on July 19, 2009, 06:11:42 pm

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 19, 2009, 06:11:42 pm

I don't have a GPS gadget for my 5d2. I do, however, have an iPhone. So my "clever" idea was to take one shot with the iPhone, then lots of shots with the 5d2, then copy the GPS location from the iPhone picture's metadata to the metadata of all the 5d2 shots.

However, I can't make LR cooperate.

Is it possible? Or do I need some other program?

Jeremy

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Geoff Samuels on July 19, 2009, 08:41:25 pm

Quote from: kikashi

I don't have a GPS gadget for my 5d2. I do, however, have an iPhone. So my "clever" idea was to take one shot with the iPhone, then lots of shots with the 5d2, then copy the GPS location from the iPhone picture's metadata to the metadata of all the 5d2 shots.

However, I can't make LR cooperate.

Is it possible? Or do I need some other program?

Jeremy

Greetings, Jeremy.

I may very well be wrong (as I often am) -  I'm sure you've noticed GPS positions are stored in the EXIF metadata for an image file. I think that theoretically EXIF metadata
is supposed to be "read only" - in any case I don't think there's any way to sync EXIF data in LR (although adding a 'Sync GPS location' to the Sync Metadata option would be
really be nice).

I think you'll have to use an outside program to get the location from your iPhone into your image file EXIF - try searching this forum for 'geotagging' for various programs
that will manipulate the GPS data in EXIF. I use a program called "HoudahGeo" to geotag my images, however you need to purchase it but I think there are a number of
free programs out there that will also work. If you can save your iPhone locations in a format called "GPX" you should be able to add the GPS data to your images -
still it's a "clunky" way of doing things. Maybe the Lightroom Engineers will add a "Sync GPS Position" option in Lightroom 3.x in the future.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: OnyimBob on July 19, 2009, 09:07:33 pm

This site may help you.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_11/lr-11-gps.htm (http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_11/lr-11-gps.htm)

Bob

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 20, 2009, 06:54:28 pm

Quote from: OnyimBob

This site may help you.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_11/lr-11-gps.htm (http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_11/lr-11-gps.htm)

Bob

Thanks - I'll follow the pointers, which may be useful. However, at first sight the applications mentioned do far more than I want (reading GPS tracks from GPS devices) and don't do the very simple thing that I need (reading a single location from a photo). I may have to resurrect my ancient programming skills, such as they were.

Jeremy

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Geoff Samuels on July 20, 2009, 09:21:18 pm

Quote from: kikashi

Thanks - I'll follow the pointers, which may be useful. However, at first sight the applications mentioned do far more than I want (reading GPS tracks from GPS devices) and don't do the very simple thing that I need (reading a single location from a photo). I may have to resurrect my ancient programming skills, such as they were.

Jeremy

One free application that you might find very useful is ExifTool by Phil Harvey (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/) - many of the GPS routines out there use this as their core.
It runs on both Mac and Windows - you may be able to program a script that reads the GPS locations from
you iPhone image (using ExifTool) and that then writes that metadata into other images (again using ExifTool).

Best of luck on this.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Thomas Krüger on July 21, 2009, 12:08:06 am

Another application is http://www.geosetter.de/en/index.html (http://www.geosetter.de/en/index.html)

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 21, 2009, 03:09:41 pm

Quote from: geoffsamuels

One free application that you might find very useful is ExifTool by Phil Harvey (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/) - many of the GPS routines out there use this as their core.
It runs on both Mac and Windows - you may be able to program a script that reads the GPS locations from
you iPhone image (using ExifTool) and that then writes that metadata into other images (again using ExifTool).

Best of luck on this.

Thanks! I'd found ExifTool: as you observe, it forms the foundation of several other GPS routines, including GPSPhotoLinker (which is described in the article Bob mentioned). I've sent an email to the GPSPhotoLinker people, but they haven't replied.

Looks as if I'll have to learn PERL. I expect it will do me good, in the long run.

Jeremy

PS: ThomasK, thanks, but I'm using a Mac.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: john beardsworth on July 21, 2009, 03:32:07 pm

To be honest, learning Perl or whatever is overkill here. For Mac, get yourself HoudahGeo (I also recommend Geosetter on PC).

John

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 22, 2009, 03:45:11 am

Quote from: johnbeardy

To be honest, learning Perl or whatever is overkill here. For Mac, get yourself HoudahGeo (I also recommend Geosetter on PC).

You're right, of course, although it would be an entertaining exercise (I used to be able to pick up new programming languages pretty quickly, so it will be interesting to see how much my brain has deteriorated over the last 25 years!).

If I could find a ready-made application that did what I want to do, I'd use it. As far as I can tell, HoudahGeo doesn't fit the bill: it doesn't seem able to read a GPS location from an existing JPEG and then stamp that onto other images, which is all I want to do.

Anyway, I have a feeling that I may be able to get it done using AppleScript and ExifTool, which will be rather easier. If I get anything working, I'll report back.

Jeremy

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Thomas Krüger on July 22, 2009, 04:07:52 am

Ian Wood is the programmer of GPS2Aperture:
http://aperture-assistant.com/gps2aperture (http://aperture-assistant.com/gps2aperture)

And here is another application for Java:
http://geotag.sourceforge.net/ (http://geotag.sourceforge.net/)

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 23, 2009, 03:55:45 am

Quote from: kikashi

Anyway, I have a feeling that I may be able to get it done using AppleScript and ExifTool, which will be rather easier. If I get anything working, I'll report back.

ExifTool will in fact do it in a single step, when run in Terminal as a command (thanks to the author, Phil, who replied immediately to my query).

exiftool -tagsfromfile iPhone.jpg -gps:all FILES

Now all I need to do is to write some code (probably AppleScript) to wrap around it, and find a way to persuade LR to re-import the EXIF after it's been altered. As ever, the work will be in the gui.

Jeremy

ThomasK: Ian Wood also replied immediately, pointing out that if LR were scriptable, he'd be supporting it. It's a shame that LR doesn't provide even rudimentary support for AppleScript, but I suppose that there's less incentive to do that with a cross-platform application than with one (Aperture) that is going to run only on a Mac.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: nicsut on July 29, 2009, 08:55:46 am

Quote from: kikashi

I don't have a GPS gadget for my 5d2. I do, however, have an iPhone. So my "clever" idea was to take one shot with the iPhone, then lots of shots with the 5d2, then copy the GPS location from the iPhone picture's metadata to the metadata of all the 5d2 shots.

However, I can't make LR cooperate.

Is it possible? Or do I need some other program?

Jeremy

I have been using Jeffry Friedl's Lightroom plugin for quite some while now, as long as you can export a GPX file from whatever GPS logging device, this "just works" ...  http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps (http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps)

Nick

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: john beardsworth on July 29, 2009, 09:05:13 am

Quote from: kikashi

ExifTool will in fact do it in a single step, when run in Terminal as a command (thanks to the author, Phil, who replied immediately to my query).

exiftool -tagsfromfile iPhone.jpg -gps:all FILES

Now all I need to do is to write some code (probably AppleScript) to wrap around it, and find a way to persuade LR to re-import the EXIF after it's been altered. As ever, the work will be in the gui.

Jeremy

ThomasK: Ian Wood also replied immediately, pointing out that if LR were scriptable, he'd be supporting it. It's a shame that LR doesn't provide even rudimentary support for AppleScript, but I suppose that there's less incentive to do that with a cross-platform application than with one (Aperture) that is going to run only on a Mac.

Lightroom can, to a certain extent, be scripted - sufficiently for your requirement here. Its Lua scripting engione can run command lines. My Open Directly plugin does it.
 
John

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: wcwest on July 29, 2009, 10:34:48 am

Quote from: nicsut

I have been using Jeffry Friedl's Lightroom plugin for quite some while now, as long as you can export a GPX file from whatever GPS logging device, this "just works" ...  http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps (http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/gps)

Nick

With the iphone you need the app "Tracks". You simply sync the time code on you iphone with the camera time. When you start shooting you start Tracks and let it run until you are done shooting. You then email the GPS file created by Tracks to yourself and use the plugin mentioned above. Select your photos in LR and run the plugin and it will add the GPS metadata to your pics.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 29, 2009, 03:33:25 pm

Quote from: wcwest

With the iphone you need the app "Tracks". You simply sync the time code on you iphone with the camera time. When you start shooting you start Tracks and let it run until you are done shooting. You then email the GPS file created by Tracks to yourself and use the plugin mentioned above. Select your photos in LR and run the plugin and it will add the GPS metadata to your pics.

Thanks, all, for the tips. Sounds even better than I was looking for. I'll investigate.

Jeremy

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 29, 2009, 03:53:34 pm

Quote from: wcwest

With the iphone you need the app "Tracks". You simply sync the time code on you iphone with the camera time. When you start shooting you start Tracks and let it run until you are done shooting. You then email the GPS file created by Tracks to yourself and use the plugin mentioned above. Select your photos in LR and run the plugin and it will add the GPS metadata to your pics.

Nick,

I can find a few apps at the store which seem to do vaguely similar things (Trails, for example), but I don't see one actually called "Tracks". Do you have a direct link for it, or was it perhaps called something slightly different?

Jeremy

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: wcwest on July 29, 2009, 05:18:55 pm

Sorry for the misinformation on the iphone app. It is "Trails" not Tracks.

Title: Syncing GPS location
Post by: Andy Barnes on November 19, 2009, 10:40:51 am

I have been reading this thread with interest, as I have a related GPS issue which I hope I can pick your collective brains about.

I have recently been using a Jobo photoGPS unit in the hotshoe of my 5D. It is a great little device, but I think it is greatly let down by its software.

The main drawback is that the Jobo software will not work without an internet connection. This is quite a problem when you are staying somewhere with no telephone and very patchy mobile phone reception, as I was last week.

So, rather than sync the GPS data with my photos prior to editing in Lightroom, as I have done in the past, I had to just get on with editing and hope that I could incorporate the GPS data later. Fat chance. Now that I am back home I find that I can't add the Jobo GPS data to Lightroom without losing all of my Lightroom development settings (i.e. the Jobo XMP will overwrite the Lightroom XMP), and there is no way I am losing those.

So, could someone please suggest a way, perhaps using Exiftools, of extracting the GPS data from a number of Jobo-generated XMP files and inserting it into the corresponding Lightroom-generated XMP file without losing any of the Lightroom settings?

Here is the GPS data extracted from the Jobo-generated XMP file:

<exif:GPSAltitude>1085104/6253</exif:GPSAltitude>
<exif:GPSAltitudeRef>0</exif:GPSAltitudeRef>
<exif:GPSLatitude>50,29.450526N</exif:GPSLatitude>
<exif:GPSLongitude>4,30.110615W</exif:GPSLongitude>
<exif:GPSMapDatum>WGS-84</exif:GPSMapDatum>
<exif:GPSTimeStamp>2009-11-13T10:13:01</exif:GPSTimeStamp>
<exif:GPSVersionID>2 2 0 0</exif:GPSVersionID>

I have tried using exiftools and the examples quoted in the previous posts, but I'm afraid my brain just isn't very good at macros, scripts, command lines and the like.

Meanwhile, I have also been using Jeffrey Friedl's "Geoencoding Support" Lightroom Plugin, which is excellent: quick, easy, does the job. Highly recommended.