Difference between revisions of "Geotagging"

Revision as of 18:33, 22 August 2010

Geotagging is the process of putting items on the map. I like geotagging and use it as one of the primary ways of categorizing my photos. Over half of my photos on Flickr are geotagged, with most new ones being geotagged.

Ways

There are 2 ways to geotag.

Manual - Drag items on to the map on your computer. Jet Photo Studio and Flickr allow you to do this. I tend to drag a cluster of 5-6 photos on to their approximate locations. Sometimes if I am very lazy, I will just put all the photos from one building in one spot. For example, I might pictures taken in a museum in a single point, even though I could spread the points out to correspond where in the museum an item is.
Using a logger - I own an AMOD GPS Logger which automatically records geolocations. I then use Jet Photo Studio to link the geologs and photos. You could also use a camera with a GPS. These are currently expensive add-ons for expensive cameras. The AMOD logger works with any camera (see its page). Newer cell phones with GPS are starting to geotag. This is how geotagging will be done going forward.

Results

See my Flickr photos on the Flickr map
I am developing Geoov which uses cluster based mapping to better provide an overview of my geotagged photos. [1]
Still looking for a good way to display tracks.

Best Practices

Here is some of the best software and hardware I have found for geologging/tracking. Please add to it.

Hardware

AMOD GPS Logger - Only GPS logger I have tested and used. Visit its page for more info and how it works.

Web

Flickr - The best photo sharing site. Supports Geotagging. $25/year for the pro account (I have it). I don't like the new maps however. They don't show everything on there.
- Tip: Add /map to the end of a set URL to get a (new, ugly) map of that set
Flickr Gmap Show GreaseMonkey Script. Works in Firefox 3 with Greasemonkey installation. Allows you to see nice Google Maps. But only you.
Loc.alize.us - Allows you to share Public maps of your public Flickr photos.
GPSed.com - Allows you to upload tracks (need to convert in GPSBabbel or JetStudio) so you can see and share the track of where you went. Can link with Flickr or Picasa to attach photos to your tracks. They will do the linking and geotagging for you - no program needed. Can also track from a GPS enabled smart phone (?must pay for the app to do this) instead of uploading AMOD tracks.
AdamFranco's Flickr Set to KML Quick utility to make a set into a KML (Google Earth) or Google Map.
Geoov My experiment with cluster based mapping to better provide an overview of my geotagged photos.

PC

JetPhoto Studio Free version and pay version $20 or $25 - Came with my GPS device. Photo manager software and also includes a log manager. Can import, geotag, write geotag to JPEG, and upload to Flickr. Can convert GPS tracks to KML and display tracks (with photos) in Google Earth. I bought the pro version - but I don't know if I had to.
Google Earth - Displays tracks and photos in a nice graphical interface to the globe. Almost everything works with this program (by offering KML). Good way to view things on the desktop.
GPSbabbel - Free program to convert GPS tracks between formats. I don't use it. You may.