Simple Europe GPS Geotagging

I'm taking a 2 week trip though parts of Europe in a few weeks and want to geotag my photographs. I've never dabbled in geotagging but my car has a gps so I have some experience (joke).

I've heard a lot about different ways to approach this with some different products; Jobo, Garmin, iPhone even. I'm trying to find a simple way to tag my whereabouts and integrate that data with Aperture and 'places'.

I like the iPhone idea, because it's cheep, but I'm worried about international data plans and such. Will using an iPhone app or something to log geo info use the data network? I'm not planning on having the data network on to cut down on international costs. I'll have my mac with me if I need it.

I'm looking for just a simple solution without too much additional software or having to move the data a bunch of places before into Aperture.

Thanks

Well, the iPhone has got a GPS, at least if you go for the new one. And that shouldn't need a data connection. You'd still need an app to log your track, and there's no telling what they'll really want until you try them. I had a similar app for my Nokia N95, but dumped it when I discovered it was connecting at all sorts of random times. It was also, and this might be the real killer for the iPhone too, burning through the battery at an incredible rate (around 1/4 or less my usual battery life), since running the GPS receiver does use more power than sitting idle.

Personally, I carry a separate GPS (I'm partial to the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx) which logs each day to a new file that's fully compatible with my download workflow (Downloader Pro), so it's seamless.

Yup, Jon's correct about the iPhone burning through battery life when it's using the GPS so you wouldn't want it running the app all day. However, if you only activate it for 5 minutes at a time, a dozen times a day, then it'll probably be OK. I'm not sure which app would be best for recording tracks - the one I use is almost certainly no good for what you want. But it shouldn't be that hard to find one.

As for data use: using the GPS system does not require a data connection. But a lot of apps will also use assisted-GPS, which does need a connection. Disable data roaming on the phone to make sure that doesn't happen.

Finally I agree with Jon that a dedicated unit is the best way. I like my Genius BGT-31 - mainly for the three-day battery life.

Thanks for the insight. Since I'll be moving around a lot and probably out all day and into the night, I'm going to need more battery then an iPhone. I like the thought of a dedicated GPS. Is the only thing you have to really worry about is syncing the times on your camera and on the GPS so they match up?

Right, and there are a couple of ways of managing that - some software (I use Downloader Pro from Breeze Systems) will let you use the GPS time to set your camera's clock. Or you can just photogeraph the time display on your GPS and use the camera time on the picture to figure the offset needed. If you're walking, or even driving at a moderate speed in towns, an error of a minute or so won't be a big deal; it's only if you're traveling at highway speeds or faster (from aircraft) that it becomes significant.

Here's what I do/use
an old Garmin etrex gps
When I begin a day of shooting; at the trailhead I usually take a picture of my gps.. this allows me to fix any time delta errors that happen because I can compare the time in the exif to the time in the picture as shown on the gps
I hike the day away; not worrting about anything
When I get home (sometimes after a week of hiking every day) I connect the gps to my laptop and extract the .gpx file showing where I've been and when
I use Gpicsync to manage the geocoding workflow:

In here I can adjust the difference between the camera and the gps if it's way off... and then I let the application do it's thing. It reads the time in the picture, looks at the .gpx file(s), figures out where I was, and puts that lat/long into my raw files.

This app also will make google .kmz files and put pushpins with thumbnails where I tool each picture.

And the best part of all; is all I have to do it turn on my gps before I go hiking each day.
Good luck!

As I'm a mac user, Downloader Pro doesn't seem to have a Mac version.

Gpicsync seems to have an OSX version but will it ingest and export nicely into Aperture. It seems like it will if it's changing the EXIF data.

casey487 wrote in post #10432301
As I'm a mac user, Downloader Pro doesn't seem to have a Mac version.

Gpicsync seems to have an OSX version but will it ingest and export nicely into Aperture. It seems like it will if it's changing the EXIF data.

I use a PC with GPicSync to tag my RAW pics with GPS data, but it should work fine with a Mac. I use GPicSync because it will tag RAW, as well as jpeg. I use the Qstarz BT-Q1300S Nano Keychain GPS Data Logger to log the GPS time/location data. It's about as big as a luggage tag. It creates a NMEA data log, but I save it as gpx format. It's great to click on the GPS field in Lightroom and have the location come right up in Google Earth.

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