How can I geotag hundreds of photos without a GPS track log?
Asked 5/18/2015
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2 answers
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I have several hundred photos with timestamps but no recorded GPS track. Is there a practical way to batch geotag them by manually placing a few key photos on a map and then interpolating positions for the photos in between? Ideally, I’d like to mark the start/end and major bends of the route, then refine any photos that are obviously off and repeat as needed.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
5
Not an ideal solution, but following is the quickest and most reliable solution I found:
First, geotag a handfull of photos at critical waypoint (first and last on the track, as well as at the major bends). I prefer using GeoSetter for this, but there is a number of good applications.
Next, create a GPS log out of these few geotagged photos using ExifTool, following these instructions: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/geotag.html#GPX.
Load the GPS log into the geotagging application, and apply to all photos, but DON'T save the coordinates in the photos. Check the track, and drag some photos that were too far off into correct positions. Save the geotagging ONLY for these corrected photos.
Repeat these last two steps, creating a new GPS log and checking the quality in a geotagging application, until satisfied. After that, all remaining photos can be geotagged.
In my situation, I was happy with the result after 3-4 iterations, and the likelyhood for mistakes was very small.
Originally by user11397. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11397
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There doesn’t seem to be a common tool that does exactly this as a built-in feature, but you can get close with a manual/interpolation workflow.
A practical method is:
- Manually geotag a small set of key photos: start, end, and major turns/waypoints.
- Use a tool such as GeoSetter to place those images on a map.
- Create a GPX/GPS track from those already-tagged photos using ExifTool.
- Load that GPX track into a geotagging application and match the rest of the photos to the track by timestamp.
- Review the results, drag obviously incorrect photos to the right place, save those corrections, then regenerate the track and repeat if needed.
Another option is to draw a track manually in something like Google Earth, export it, add timestamps if necessary, and then use a geotagging app to assign coordinates from that track.
If all you need is to apply the same location to many photos, GeoSetter is often recommended for batch editing a single location.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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