Geo-tagging DSLR photographs using an Apple iPhone 3G S GPS data stream

^Google Maps satellite view of the course of an afternoon walk; downloaded from ImageMapper after recording the GPS data using their iPhone app.

This post summarises a method on Windows PCs for geo-tagging pictures from an ordinary DSLR (in this instance a Sony alpha 100) with data recorded from an iPhone’s GPS unit.

Software tools required are

• an InstaMapper account
• the InstaMapper GPS Tracker app for iPhone
• GeoSetter and Exiftool

The basic method is summarised here on Flickr: GPS tracks can be created with InstaMapper and their data synchronised with photographs using GeoSetter (which in turn utilises Exiftool to modify individual photographs’ Exif data).

Some care is needed to get the right data associated with the pictures – GPS files can be exported in GPX format and saved for convenience in the same folder as the source photographs. For RAW files (in Sony’s case, ARW files) are not modified directly but rather a sidecar XMP file is created with the EXIF modifications. Creation and modifications to these files are detected in Lightroom 3 beta (and, I assume, earlier versions), but the GPS data is not picked up in Picasa, a tool I use occasionally for organising files. Exports from Lightroom 3 to Flickr did contain the new Exif data.

Map data for the following pictures can be viewed by clicking on them and exploring the relevant page on Flickr.

One of the advantages of GeoSetter is that it uses Exiftool to modify a picture’s Exif data. It can also be used to create new Exif data even when a source picture has none (e.g. a scan of a film photograph).

^ Fuji Pro 800Z | Minolta Dynax 700si

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