How can I use an Android phone to geotag photos with GPS track logs?

Question

I want to use my Android phone’s built-in GPS to add location data to my photos. What’s a practical workflow for this, including GPS logging apps, file formats, and how to match the track to photos later? If there are alternatives, such as using the phone as a Bluetooth GPS for a camera, I’d like to know about those too.

gpx geotagging android gps workflow

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

user7718 · Accepted Answer

I use OpenGPS Tracker. It is free and open source and doesn't steal your data. You can get it at the link, on Google's Appstore, or through FDroid.

I then start tracking, it will ask for a name of the track, and at the end of the day/journey, I will stop tracking and then go on share.

On clicking share, a tool comes up, where you can choose between KMZ (Google Earth, etc), GPX, or Text (speed and distance). I choose GPX and either send it via email, or store it on the SD card.

I then open it up in Digikam and apply it to the photos. I'd image, you are not using Digikam, so you might want to pick a different format although GPX seems to be prevalent.

More open source GPS apps: 3

Digikam:
Go to the appropriate album, select all images and then go to: "Image>Geo-location". In the dialog, go to the Tab "GPS correlator". Open a GPX file and click correlate. Apply, and you are done.

EDIT:

Settings

The settings I use depend on the situation. I would recommend to se the default settings. And change it as you see fit.

You can also set a minimum time and distance to be covered between waypoings.

It really doesn't matter too much. I haven't changed settings much, as I never saw the need. The only thing fancy I can see yourself trying to achieve is long battery life. But I couldn't tell you how to achieve that other than to by a dedicated GPS unit.

Battery life

Battery life really depens on the phone, not on the software (although I've heard software can be blamed sometimes). On my Motorola Defy, I have enough battery for a full day tracking. If you want long battery life, get a dedicated GPS unit (Garmin, etc), they have significantly better chips.

Accuracy

The largest problem with accuracy will be in the GPS signal. It really isn't very good. You can get sudden jumps, and your phone thinks you are 100m to the side. Over time, the results actually get better, as I imagine some sort of filter is used.

The interpolation that Digikam does is quite good. I haven't got a complaint.

For me the use is simply to tell me what town and street I was in (i.e. what building could that be), and in the country side, to tell where I was, 100m is good enough for me there.

The most useful time, I used geo-coding was during a sailing trip. We moored in a river, and it gives a nice feeling to be able to say exactly which river we were in.