GPS & Geotagging update
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 11:58AM Well as mentioned, I did give the Wintec GPS dongle and the Canon G10 a spin when over in the US recently. See previous blog posts here and here.
On the whole, the Wintec did a good job when it could acquire a GPS signal. It didn't pick up a tour I did around Hollywood, but then I did leave it in my friends car boot as we drove around, so no surprises there then!
My main issue was workflow - how to use the GPS tracking data from the Wintec successfully with getting the photos off the camera and into iPhoto. As it transpires, I missed a trick by not installing the supplied Canon software to retrieve the photos off the camera, before importing them into iPhoto. Once the photos are in iPhoto, it's a major pain to update them with GPS data as iPhoto won't let you update the photos in situ.
Unusually, I can't "see" the Canon G10 from the Finder, so I couldn't access the memory card directly and extract them natively, or point HoudahGeo at the files on the camera. I had to use iPhoto to get the photos off the camera.
Then I ended up having to export them from iPhoto, updating them with HoudahGeo and then re-importing them into iPhoto.
Not the most sensible way!
Had I installed the Canon software, I could have just imported the photos to a "staging" area, updated them with the tracking data from HoudahGeo and then imported into iPhoto.
HoudahGeo and the Wintec WBT-201 worked seamlessly together by the way. I just turned on bluetooth on the Wintec and HoudahGeo just sucked all of the track data across just fine. I didn't bother changing the timezone on either the camera or the wintec, I just left them as GMT.
I have to say though that I've started to wonder if Aperture isn't the way to go?
As far as I'm aware, you can update photos with GPS info directly in the Aperture library with HoudahGeo and there are a number of GPS plugins now available to display and manage your map data directly in Aperture itself. I've installed Aperture onto my MacBook pro to give it a spin and I'll let you know how I get on.
I'd be interested if anyone could share their proven workflow with updating photos with GPS tracking information using either iPhoto or Aperture. Please feel free to share via the comments!
Reader Comments (26)
Hi Don,
I actually have been using Aperture for a while now, and using some plugins it is actually possible to add the GPS information from a GPS track (GPX file) using the Maperture plugin for Aperture (http://www.ubermind.com/products/maperture.php).
As far as I could see, it wasn't possible to update the Images with the GPS info directly in aperture using HoudahGeo. What I had to do was relocate the files somewhere on my hard disk, bring the files into HoudahGeo and use that to add the GPS data, then reconsolidate the relocated files in Aperture. It works, but for me that were just too many steps.
Another approach I've used with HoudahGeo & Aperture was to copy the images of the Memory Card to my harddrive, add the GPS data to them using HoudahGeo and then import them into aperture. That was easier, and a more suitable workflow.
But currently I'm using the Maperture Plugin by UberMind, and my Workflow is a lot easier now. Plug the Camera in, import the images into Aperture, use the Maperture Plugin to link the GPS info to the images and that's it. All that without leaving Aperture.
If you want to go with Aperture, I would seriously suggest having a look at the plugin. I have been using it since the closed beta testing and it works great. Meanwhile there is even an evaluation version you can use for 2 weeks to see if it suits your needs.
Regards,
Stefaan
You oppinion, Don, of Maperture will be highly appreciated :-)
Stefan,
Well, I'm loving Maperture ! Wonder what Don's opinion will be.
Regareds,
Stefaan
I might be wrong, but the reason your Canon G10 isn't showing up in Finder could be because it uses the PTP protocol instead of USB Mass Storage. USB Mass Storage cameras show up in the Mac OS X Finder with no problems, but PTP only cameras don't.
I always remove the card from the camera and import from a card reader (Shows up as a volume). The act of removing and replacing the card also keeps the contacts clean. Finally don't erase the files from the card, reformat.
As far as I know if you use Maperture to write GPS data into your EXIF, that data will not be exported because Aperture won't allow data to be written to the masters. I can't get it to work, anyway.
So I drag my photos off my memory card, geotag them with HoudahGeo and the Wintec, then import them into Aperture. Couldn't you do the same with the SD card from your G10?
Chris,
Well, I should check that later this evening. I thought it worked perfectly. At least in Aperture I can see that the Country / City / Longitude and Latitude gets updated as well. Will let you know once I got home from work.
Your workflow is pretty similar to what I used before Maperture, and if you are right on the GPS Data not being exported I might have to switch back to HoudahGeo.
Hi Don,
I actually used HoudahGeo to update photos in iPhoto and it worked pretty well. I just selected the pictures from the media browser and told HG to go ahead updating iPhoto data. It warns you that the world might end if you go ahead, but well, what's life without sone risks (and a good backup strategy...).
Don,
I can definitely recommend Aperture, I have been using it for a while now. It's so much more flexible than iPhoto with a far superior catalog side to things. Only thing that missing at present is the face recognition that iPhoto has. You can access iphoto libraries from Aperture incidentally.
I recommend shooting in raw format if you can as it gives a lot more flexibility and leeway for corrections later on that can't be done in the same with with jpg files. Aperture handles RAW files very well. Your better to use a card reader rather than plug the camera in direct. Aperture would recognise the card an import all the latest images for with with minimal intervention.
I have Houdah Geo, which is very good. But I have recently moved over to Maperture as it's more integrated into my workflow. It will add geo data direct into the RAW image within the Aperture library. There is one fly in the ointment that was mentioned earlier. Although the geodata is encoded into the original within Apreture any exported version will not contain this data, at the moment. This is a fault with Aperture and not Maperture. The author of Maperture has been in contact with Apple and is hoping that this will be addressed in a future Aperture update. It appears that any metadata added after image import into Aperture, although displayed, is not taken into account when exported. Houdah Geo can tag the images before they are imported so Aperture is quite happy to go with that and will export with the geodata. I believe you can also geotag with Houdah after import within the library but that then has the same problem Maperture has. I believe it comes with a warning about this.
For now I will stick with Maperture. I don't useally need a geocoded version I am more concerned with a geocoded master. If I do need one I can export the version, re import it and recode it with Maperture and then export as original.
This lowly American had to do a bit of googling to figure out that the "boot" of a car is actually the "trunk".
;)
BOb
Rob, does it make a difference if you export the original vs. a version?
If you export original it is literally a copy of the original file stored in the database hence it will have any geocoding thats been added after import as it just simply takes a copy of the image file. A version will export a copy with any changes made to the image within Aperture. The original image is never actually changed as Aperture is non destructive. So when you export a version it exports an image file thats a copy of the original with any adjustments, crop, levels etc. applied to it. It just forgets to put all the metadata there as well!
Just to clarify that a little stefan. Yes there is a difference. Original is an exact copy of the original image. Version will always have some processing applied.
For anyone looking for a very good GPS logger the Columbus V-900 is worth consideration. http://tinyurl.com/pxmflh
I got one last week after recommendation by the staff at pocketpocketgpsworld website. Similar in size to a Ipod Nano with a nice chrome back. Takes micro SD cards (one supplied). Lasts well over 24 hours constant use on a charge. Has a very neat press button to tag something feature. An even neater press button to tag and make a voice recorded reference. Receiver is very sensitive.
I ordered from the US on a Friday and it was delivered the following Thursday.
Thanks Rob, I still don't get it.
GPS data added before import (via e.g HG / Camera)
Export original: GPS included / not included
Export version: GPS included / not included.
GPS data added after import (via e.g. Maperture)
Export orininal: included / not included
Export version: included / not included
Could you copy this grid and tell me your experience about inclusion and exclusion in the four cases :-)
GPS data added before import (via e.g HG / Camera)
Export original: GPS included
Export version: GPS included
PS data added after import (via e.g. Maperture ALSO POSSIBLE VIA HG)
Export orininal: included
Export version: not included
Simply put, although Aperture sees the added metadata, not just geo tag data either, it doesn't include it when you export a version. It knows it's there as you can inspect it within Aperture.
My experience. Or rather opinion. I prefer to use Maperture it's a lot nicer and suits my workflow better. I don't usually need to export a version with geo data. At the moment. But I am hoping the problems addressed soon. If I did have a batch I wanted to export with metadata. There are ways around it as mentioned earlier.
That's exactly my experience so I geotag before importing into Aperture.
Thanks :-)
Bookmarking this one!
HoudahGeo may tag images hosted by iPhoto or Aperture. Upon "Tag Masters/Originals" choose "Rescan for Location" in iPhoto or "Update Metadata from EXIF" in Aperture.
We are also working on a dedicated geocoding solution for Aperture.
Best,
Pierre Bernard
Houdah Software s.à r.l.
Hi Don,
Could you have used the built in Image Capture app to initially take the images off the camera?
I thought about using Aperture just before iPhoto 09 came out, but I'm liking the Faces feature too much.
Cheers, Ant
Wow, what a lot of comments! Thanks for the feedback and really useful information.
I need to play around a bit more.
I had to stop myself from calling it that. I already get enough stick for charging for ScreenCastsOnline in dollars!
As mentioned above Image Capture is an ideal way to get photos off a camera and saving them to a folder for further processing without going through iphoto etc first. I used it with my china photos for geotagging before eventually putting them into iphoto.
Thanks for the reviews guys! If you need further assistance, please contact us at support@ubermind.com
We also FAQ's up for common questions. And we just released new versions of each!
http://www.ubermind.com/products/maperturepro-faq.php
http://www.ubermind.com/products/maperturepro.php
http://www.ubermind.com/products/
Thanks!