Got an app for that?

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kepPNW
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Got an app for that?

Post by kepPNW » August 10th, 2014, 1:27 pm

I'd like to find an app that let's me pick a photo, then pick a spot of a map, and the app then injects the coordinates into the photo's metadata. Seems basic enough.

Alternatively, is there an app that makes it drop-dead easy to enter coordinates for a photo? Assuming I've found them already. I've used exiftool, and that's just a royal PITA from another century.

Normally, I georeference my photos from a GPS track, but sometimes I'll stop to take a few while driving to/from a hike and no position recording happening. Would like to get the coords into the photo, before I forget where I was.

I suppose I should just write an app, if one doesn't already exist. Seems it'd have an appeal to more than just me.

Thanks!
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Lumpy
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by Lumpy » August 10th, 2014, 1:59 pm

My smart phone does this automagically. I'll bet that many do. It's a limited ability camera, but it does what it can do very well.
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kepPNW
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by kepPNW » August 10th, 2014, 2:04 pm

Yep, my phone does it too. So I got those ones covered. But my main camera doesn't have a built-in GPS, and the one that does isn't all that accurate. Hoping to find the "easy button" answer for any random shot.
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Lumpy
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by Lumpy » August 10th, 2014, 2:10 pm

So I guess you don't want an "app", at least as it is used as referring to smartphone apps. You're looking for something to add the tags on your computer? I wonder if Google Earth might do something like that somehow?
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kepPNW
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by kepPNW » August 10th, 2014, 3:05 pm

Good point, Lumpy. Yeah, something to run on Windows. I definitely should've been more specific, as "app" is so closely linked to smartphones nowadays.

I can definitely retrieve the coordinates with a variety of apps (Google Earth, Basecamp, TopoFusion, etc). Was just looking for a one-step tool. Point & inject. Haven't found anyway for GE to write into a JPG.
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jdemott
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by jdemott » August 10th, 2014, 4:39 pm

Adobe Lightroom will do what you want. You can show a map with flags locating your photos. You can also select a photo without GPS coordinates and right click on a location on the map to "Add GPS Coordinates to Selected Photos." Lightroom is a great program for editing and cataloging photos--the GPS capability is a very small part of what it will do. Price is a little more than $100 which may be more than you have in mind if GPS is all you want.

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kepPNW
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by kepPNW » August 10th, 2014, 4:56 pm

I had no idea Lightroom would do that, John! I'd never seen any sort of mapping within it. What map source are they using? I'll have to poke around in there, to see how that works.
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RobFromRedland
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by RobFromRedland » August 10th, 2014, 4:57 pm

Picasa will allow you to geo tag your photos as well and it will display the location in a sidebar if you want. Pretty simple to do, and free is a very good price.
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kepPNW
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by kepPNW » August 10th, 2014, 5:22 pm

Seems like I tried Picasa once, and got frustrated with it. Maybe for the very same reason I never took to Lightroom. They both attempt to "manage" your photos for you, right? As I recall, Picasa wanted to catalog everything before I could do anything, which seemed very presumptuous.

But, I do have it, and I think I'll fire it up again, too, just to be sure I'm not misremembering. :)
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Re: Got an app for that?

Post by jdemott » August 10th, 2014, 6:55 pm

Lightroom maps are from Google. I think the mapping functions were added to Lightroom in the current version or maybe the version before (Lightroom 5 is current).

All of the photo management programs somehow want to control you, rather than the other way around. Lightroom isn't too bad that way, but you have to know what it is doing. iPhoto is the worst. Picasa wants to import everything automatically, which is a bit creepy, but at least it doesn't try to dictate where you store things like iPhoto.

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