GPS tagging on Lightroom using iphone tracklog

gad-westy

gad-westy

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This is something I fancy doing but I've never tried it. Can I ask what iphone app is best to use and roughly what the process is in terms of syncing the tracklog info with lightroom catalogue?
 
In Digikam (free and open source) you select the pictures to geo-tag, and select the GPS track and it will correctly tag them according the the time. It works with the open GPS formats. If there is a time difference between the camera and the GPS device, you can enter the difference so it still correctly correlates them.
 
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Thanks Chaps. I haven't got around to giving this a go yet as I've barely left the house but off out tomorrow so I'll have a play and see how I get on.
 
Lightroom works well - you just need an app that can write GPX files. Then it will be able to sync the photos with the track and guess for interim location (e.g. if you are on foot and only taking a fix every 5 mins to save battery on the phone).

One thing to watch out for is any time offset between the camera clock and the GPS clock. One useful way to calibrate this is to go to the settings of the app which often shows the time according to the GPS satellites and then take a picture of the screen - instant comparison between the GPS and camera time!
 
Cuchulainn said:
Lightroom works well - you just need an app that can write GPX files. Then it will be able to sync the photos with the track and guess for interim location (e.g. if you are on foot and only taking a fix every 5 mins to save battery on the phone).

One thing to watch out for is any time offset between the camera clock and the GPS clock. One useful way to calibrate this is to go to the settings of the app which often shows the time according to the GPS satellites and then take a picture of the screen - instant comparison between the GPS and camera time!
Click to expand...

Cheers and point noted on the time stamp. I'm sure I'll find this out for myself but how do I get a GPX file from my iphone? Just plug it in and let lightroom find it? Or is there more to it?
 
I've not used an iPhone for tracking, but on any of the android apps I have used, they offer the ability to sync with dropbox, so I have them write the file to there and then it's easy to grab it when I'm at the computer.
 
The app ought to have a "share" like option that can send it direct to your computer if you are on the same wifi network. These days expect information exchange to be almost transparent.
 
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I don't use an iPhone, I use Android. But this is what I do.

Before I leave the house, I start the tracklog app - I use GPSLogger. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mendhak.gpslogger&hl=en_GB

I travel, take a bunch of photos and then return home. In the GPSLogger app, I stop the logging and upload the GPX file to dropbox (the app supports this).

I import the pictures into Lightroom, go to the Map module, load a tracklog, select all the images (using the film strip) and then choose 'auto tag photos'.

The key obviously, is that your camera and phone have to have the right time settings (and have the time timezone set). You can manipulate them afterwards, but it's much easier to get it right first time.

It's not 100% accurate, the GPS jumps around a bit, but it's good enough for me, since I use it for general locations. If I was a wildlife photographer who wanted to know exactly where they were for a specific shot, I might do a bit more due-diligence on the data.
 
I use RunKeeper on my iPhone. When I get back import from the card into Lightroom; download the GPX track log from the RunKeeper website and that loads straight into Lightroom (just need to tell Lightroom to show the whole log).

You then need to drag one photo from the import onto the track on the map (I usually take a photo of the car or the phone when I start RunKeeper), and the rest are tagged based on relative time ... you don't need an exact correlation between the GPS clock and your camera's clock (works even if the camera is still on BST and its past the end of October!).

I doubt its cm accurate but it works well enough for me.

For one off photos I often just take a photo on my iPhone at the same time and copy the position information from there.
 
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I use an app called GPX Logger, but have also used the track feature in the Memory Map app too.
 
I used an app on my phone called Geotag Photos and it worked as described above. My Mrs bought me a Garmin GPS watch for Christmas and it also has the ability to produce a gpx file so I'm going to give it a try the next time I'm out.
 
As others have mentione, a run / bike tracker may be best. I know Endomondo has a low power mode that reduces battery usage so that may be beneficial.

I think this function is free on many of the fitness apps, so try a few and see which is the best for you.

Take a look at
Strava
Endomondo
Run keeper
Runtastic
Mapmyrun

Ps I've just realised I can geotag using my Garmin watch. D'oh!
 
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