Location matters!

[ShaneS]

I have embarked on a photo essay based around a neighborhood and I want to keep track of where I take my photos for future reference as I expect this project to take a while to complete. I went out to shoot a couple of times this weekend and made a point of shooting a few street name signs at crossroads and even a couple of addresses on homes to mark my location. I am wondering if there is a more precise way to do this without getting too technical but better than paper and notebook?

I have thought of using the Map my Walk AP on my phone to track where I went and hopefully be better prepared to tag my shot locations. I also considered using the voice memo feature on the iPhone but I'm not sure if it would accurately record the time so that I could then sync that with my photo files.

The combination of street sign shots, my memory and Google Street View saved me this time but there has to be a better way

I would really appreciate any and all ideas...

[Stagecoach]

Hi Shane,

Here's a rather clever one I started using but it's backfired totally on me

I was carrying around my small handheld GPS here and logging shooting locations in the interior of the island, and was then able to transpose those onto Google maps (no street view here). I could also use the hand held when out to show me how far and where locations were.

Alas, having subsequently updated to Windows 7 to allow use of Photoshop neither my Hand held GPS, Boat chart plotter or b****y Autocad software is compatible with the new OS

So rather than being out taking photos I have spent two weeks fiddling with my computer and getting nowhere my best advice to you is;

USE A NOTEBOOK AND PEN !

Grahame

[Shadowman]

Hi Shane,

I agree with Grahame, a notebook and pen. Nice to record your thoughts as well as locations visited, next up on the techie ladder, use the recorder on your phone; perhaps you'll capture some of the sounds as well.

[dubaiphil]

Well you must remember where you were shooting during the day, at the end of the day. It's the future reference that's key here.

So why not use a panoramio account and map your photos each day you shoot. Date stamp in the title of each image file and you'll have a complete record. Then over time you'll build up a map of your images and have easy reference to what was shot where, and when...

[george013]

When you're able to make a log based on the GPS locations and time, it's only a matter of synchronize the camera time with the datalogger. Comparing the time you can tell the place the camera was when shooting.
There are also GPS-loggers for sale that include the software to do it automatical on the pc. The coordinates are then iadded to the photo.
George

[IzzieK]

I totally agree with Grahame and John's comments. A pen and paper plus some shots of the place will be crucial when you put things together at the end of the day and you can record your notes on a word processor or notepad to file on that particular place's folder's shot later on when you got home.

[Mark von Kanel]

I have a sextant for sale

[FrankMi]

I like Grahame's idea, particularly as you can link it back to Google Earth and for residential areas, even get a street view in many cases. I think if I were to take this approach, I'd carry a hand held GPS or Smart Phone with GPS built in, and after taking an image I am interested in, just photograph the GPS or save the Smart Phone GPS screen.

[Manfred M]

If you have a bit of cash; do like I did and get the Nikon GP-1 for your camera. The GPS information is embedded right in your image file and this data will pop up for you in Lightroom; embedded on a Google Map. The unit can sit on your camera's hot shoe or be mounted on your camera strap. It uses the same camera socket as your cable release, so you can't use both at the same time.

There are a couple of caveats.

1. You have to wait for the GP-1 to connect to the satellites, which means you may have to wait a minute or so after turning on your camera to take the first shot; and

2. You are going to have to live with the GPS resolution, so the spot marked could be out a few dozen feet. This would be the same as with any GPS, not just the Nikon unit.

I believe there are third party units out there too, but have no experience with them.

[ashcroft]

Location matters!

That's why you need to move to Wales! Or perhaps you prefer Hawaii?

I would use my smart phone voice recorder. Just speak the name of the location together with the shot number from the camera.

[pnodrog]

I use a $120 GPS adapter on my Nikon D800 and I find it invaluable for my real estate photography and when travelling. Lightroom map facility shows me exactly where I took the photo from to within about 5 metres. Often I only take one or two shots with it switched on at any particular location and then turn it off to save the camera batteries.

It takes about a minute for the green light to come on that indicates it has the location info captured.

[Geoff F]

Something very simple which I have done, depending on how close the lens focuses, is to write on paper - then photograph it.

But for including information like location etc on a single photo and retaining the information for evermore; I enter it into the exif data during editing. You do have to make sure you are saving in a format which retains exif though.

[loosecanon]

One more for GPS and Lightrooms map function.
Only Lightroom (or Canon's Map software) will tag Canon raw files and then show them on a map, in lightrooms case Google Earth.
Once you have used this you will always want to use it, it saves so much time. A cheap garmin unit will be accurate to 5 metres, often less, just make sure the camera time is set accurately so they sync correctly.

[george013]

One more for GPS and Lightrooms map function.
Only Lightroom (or Canon's Map software) will tag Canon raw files and then show them on a map, in lightrooms case Google Earth.
Once you have used this you will always want to use it, it saves so much time. A cheap garmin unit will be accurate to 5 metres, often less, just make sure the camera time is set accurately so they sync correctly.

Nikon ViewNx is doing the same, NEF and JPG. Even JPG made from a scan. And in batch.
George

[terrib]

I use GeoTagr which is an app on my iPhone. Not sure if they have an Android version. Start the app when I get to a location and stop it when I'm done. Then just send the gpx file it creates to my computer and save it in my "Maps" folder. Then just sync it in Lightroom. I've found it to be pretty accurate and it's a lot cheaper than the GPS attachment for my camera. May sound complicated but it is not at all. Only downside is that I have to remember to turn it on and it does use battery on the phone so you have to be aware and not just leave it running when you stop for a sandwich.

[Richard Lundberg]

One of my sons went all over Utah visiting ancestral grave sites, taking pictures and recording GPS into his Magellan. A year later his new dog ate the GPS. Really.

[ShaneS]

First off I had to chuckle "the dog ate the GPS" in the case of Richard's sons. Grahame came in second with his b*****y problems. Mark, a sextant...really? Rob, is that an invite to visit Wales...because it is on my list of places to visit

Seriously, it seems that you folks are pretty evenly split between old school (pen & paper) and new school (some type of GPS). The problem the the GPS units built specifically for the camera is the cost ($200-300) which is a cost that I would prefer to avoid given that I still haven't replaced the lens that the rock broke

So far I like Terri's idea the best (her app is $4.99) and I found an article talking about various other iPhone apps that do the same thing with GPS Tracks ($17.99) being recommended. Using iPhone GPS to Tag Photo Locations

It seems as if all of you who use some sort of GPS (and the articles above) refer to using Lightroom to embed the data but I don't use Lightroom. I have Photoshop CS5 and I'm not sure the process would be automated with that program. Can anyone help on that front?

Thanks everyone!

[george013]

First off I had to chuckle "the dog are the GPS" in the case of Richard's sons. Grahame came in second with his b*****y problems. Mark, a sextant...really? Rob, is that an invite to visit Wales...because it is on my list of places to visit

Seriously, it seems that you folks are pretty evenly split between old school (pen & paper) and new school (some type of GPS). The problem the the GPS units built specifically for the camera is the cost ($200-300) which is a cost that I would prefer to avoid given that I still haven't replaced the lens that the rock broke

So far I like Terri's idea the best (her app is $4.99) and I found an article talking about various other iPhone apps that do the same thing with GPS Tracks ($17.99) being recommended. Using iPhone GPS to Tag Photo Locations

It seems as if all of you who use some sort of GPS (and the articles above) refer to using Lightroom to embed the data but I don't use Lightroom. I have Photoshop CS5 and I'm not sure the process would be automated with that program. Can anyone help on that front?

Thanks everyone!

I understood you have an app on your phone Map my Walk. If this app creates a logfile containing the GPS-coordinates at a certain time, then you need only a piece of software that compares image-time and your log-file., and off course add the coordinates to your image. I think that peace of software is to be found on the net, free. It only consumes your phone battery as mentioned here before.
A separate GPS-logger including the software to do the job costs less then 100 euro. And works on simple penlites. I had a Gisteq for about 70 euro a couple of years ago.

George

[GeoBonsai]

If you have a Windows PC, you can download and install Microsoft Pro Photo Tools version 2 (it's free). Drag your JPGs image files (for raw files, you'll need to download and install a codec for your camera brand) into the app and then click the "Load from file" button to auto-tag Lon,Lat coordinates from your NIMEA, GPX, LOG, or KML data file. There are options to manually geotag images too. You can drag the images to a specified location on a visual map.

[mrinmoyvk]

I like Grahame's idea, particularly as you can link it back to Google Earth and for residential areas, even get a street view in many cases. I think if I were to take this approach, I'd carry a hand held GPS or Smart Phone with GPS built in, and after taking an image I am interested in, just photograph the GPS or save the Smart Phone GPS screen.

Perfect, just make sure that you have a mobile signal where you are going or download the complete map at home on WiFi. Being in India, I have noticed at many remote locations there is no signal for mobile phone and hence it fails to get the map of that place.