Geotagging Photos

Here is something for the nerds in the family.

I've always been interested in making photo maps such as this one that I made of all the gravestones of direct ancestors that I've been to:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=110621227674241327820.000001123a8b23bca9747&z=6

However, this was quite laborious because I had to go to each grave, place my etrex legend on the gravestone, write down the coordinates, and enter all of them one at a time into google maps.

There are a couple of options for streamlining this process.

1) You can buy a camera that will automatically geotag your photos. I had a hard time finding anything that wasn't for professional cartographers. Granted, I didn't search for very long because I already have a camera and can't justify spending money on another one. Here is one example though:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001DO15J2/ref=dp_olp_new_map?ie=UTF8&condition=new

2) You can get a gps device that will create a log of where you have been. Basically, you turn it on and leave it running whenever you are taking pictures and it leaves breadcrumbs about ever 15 seconds. Before you do that though, you make sure the clock on the gps and the clock on the camera are set exactly the same (usually gps units track in UTC, so it is important to set them to the same time zone). You then save the breadcrumb log (needs to be in gpx or nmea format as I understand it from reading the link below) and photos to your computer. From there you run it through software that synchronizes the photos with the log and geotags the photos. You can then upload the pictures to google earth or google maps or something along those lines and create a map with your photos. Google offers free software that will do all of this.

http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/

Option 1 would probably be easier if you can afford it. There are probably other options out there besides the Nikon above, but they aren't jumping out at me when I do a basic search.

Option 2 would be easier for me because I already have everything I need to make it work (a camera and a gps) and the software from google is free.

Also, if you happen to own a Garmin Nuvi 200 series, I know a way to hack the gps so it will create a track log for you. Normally they aren't designed to do this, but there are ways. That info would then have to be converted from Garmin's format to gpx or nmea, but there are free programs that will do that for you as well. If you are interested, just ask.

I let Caren borrow my camera, so unfortunately, I can't post an example, but I will see her this weekend and we will try it out around Moscow. Tonight I will post an example of a hacked track log from my Nuvi 270.

Joe