Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: wolfnowl on February 07, 2012, 01:48:43 am

Title: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: wolfnowl on February 07, 2012, 01:48:43 am
A new blog post, for those who are interested:

http://www.wolfnowl.com/2012/02/lightroom-geolocation-and-gpx-files/

Mike.
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: RogerW on February 07, 2012, 05:59:44 am
 :)Thanks - great post!
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: francois on February 07, 2012, 06:24:02 am
Thanks Mike, very interesting article!
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: BernieKohl on February 07, 2012, 06:45:12 am
Thank you so much for this. I haven't had time to test LR4 yet and was wondering about GPX support for quite some time now. Do you know if it also supports KML? I am looking for a good GPS logger at the moment, but haven't found anything suitable yet.
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: Rhossydd on February 07, 2012, 09:13:40 am
Interesting piece Mike,

One trick that's useful for syncing GPS and camera(s) is to take a photo of the GPS logger whilst you record a waypoint. Then you can cross reference the photo's time stamp and track waypoint time stamp to work out time difference.
It's just a shame this isn't easier in LR4b because waypoints aren't displayed :(

It's also a right pain that LR4b is unduly pedantic about the GPX format and won't load the GPX files from my data logger's software. The tracks need to be ANSI encoded rather than UTF-8. It's possible to resave the tracks via a suitable text editor like Notepad, but it's an unnecessary PITA.

Bernie:
No, at the moment LR4b won't accept KML tracks.
There are loads of decent cheap high performance GPS data loggers on eBay. I use a http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-i-Blue-747A-Bluetooth-GPS-Data-Logger-Receiver-Fast-Post-/220859451790?pt=Car_Audio_Video&hash=item336c3fc98e which runs all day and apart from the problem mentioned above has been great. The MTK GPS module seems to outperform many of the cheaper units around.
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: BernieKohl on February 07, 2012, 09:44:42 am
There are loads of decent cheap high performance GPS data loggers on eBay.
Cheers for the link. I'm more looking for expensive and reliable though. Ideally with AA or AAA batteries, so that I can use my solar/wind field charger. That's why I wrote I've not found anything suitable yet. All products on the market seem to fall more into the technical gimmick category, in my opinion. I've now started looking for military GPS loggers since I expect them to be of a more robust design.
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: Rhossydd on February 07, 2012, 10:03:35 am
I'm more looking for expensive
Oh, not often we read of people actually seeking to spend more than they need to ;-)

The problem with GPS units needing pen cell batteries is size. The units start getting large and you end up not actually using them because they take up too much space and weigh too much.
Garmin seem to be the gold standard in this market.

The advantage of the 747 is that it uses a standard cellphone Li-Ion battery that lasts a very long time, at least a day, and is small enough to fit into a pocket. Recharging from a standard USB lead is also a plus. I've had no issues with reliability either, the MTK chip works remarkably well even in marginal reception conditions, it's also fast to 'hot lock' when signals are lost and regained. It's also discrete and unlikely to be a theft target.
Smartphones also work well and are very convenient, but turning on GPS seems to hit battery life far too hard in use away from a charger(ie they'll work OK plugged into a car charger if you never get far from the car when shooting).
Title: Re: Lightroom, Geolocation and .GPX files
Post by: wolfnowl on February 08, 2012, 02:24:09 am
Thanks for all of the comments, folks!  Glad to be of service.

Mike.

P.S.  Remembering that LR4 IS a Beta and Adobe IS looking for user input, if you want KML support or other features, remember to post them at: http://forums.adobe.com/community/labs/lightroom4/