Automagisk blog

I want as much meta data as possible in my image archive, and I geotag all my images when possible. I recently bought the Nikon GP-1 GPS unit, which has made geotagging a lot easier.

Nikon GP-1 attached to the D300’s strap.

Old geotagging workflow

1. Carry the Garmin GPSMap 60CSx GPS unit when planning to geotag. Remember to charge it’s batteries, which only last about a day.
2. Always make sure the clock on the camera and GPS are in sync, and remember the time zone too.
3. Take pictures.
4. Copy images from CF cards to MacBook.
5. Copy GPX file from the Garmin GPS. The GPS can automatically create an XML log for each day, that’s the GPX file.
6. Use GPSPhotoLinker to add GPS information to the images.
7. Import image files into Lightroom.
8. Delete temporary image folder.

Current workflow

1. Take pictures with the GP-1 attached
2. Import image files directly into Lightroom

Much better! See also: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: Workflow and tips.

The GP-1 in normal use

The GP-1 connects to the D300 using the standard 10-pin socket and the supplied GP1-CA10 cable. This also works for D3, D3X, D700 and D200. It also comes with a GP1-CA90 cable for the D90’s special GPS socket. It is not possible to use the 10-pin socket for something else when the GP-1 is connected.

Power is supplied by the camera, so it needs no batteries. There is no on/off switch either, but it can be set to turn off after a while.

There are no buttons on the GP-1, but it has a small light:

• Red blinking (GPS data not recorded)
• Green blinking (GPS data recorded utilizing three satellites)
• Green solid (Four or more satellites detected, GPS data are more accurate)

The GP-1 needs about a minute to find the current location if it has not already been used there. After the initial positioning, it takes 3-5 seconds. I have started to turn on the camera a little earlier than I used to because of this. Because the GP-1 works automatically, there is nothing to remember or do. It doesn’t even have a button. Just shoot as usual.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Saves a lot of time when importing images
• Always attached to camera, impossible to forget
• Idiot-proof (so far)

Cons

• GP-1 is not as accurate as the Garmin in places with poor reception (it does sometimes work indoors, though)
• Even when attached to the strap it is sometimes a little in the way.
• I can no longer wrap the neck strap around my hand and use it as a one-hand grip, because the GP-1 and the cable is in the way.
• Software related: No way to interpolate GPS coordinates when some images have not been geotagged. Suggestions?

Why geotag

In general: The more high quality meta data, the better. I currently have 60,000+ images in my archive, and being able to search for pictures taken with a specific camera, lens, keyword or location saves me a lot of time.

A few years ago, EXIF was new and not widely used, and maybe regarded as a bit of a curiosity. Now I even have a Firefox plug-in (EXIF viewer) allowing me to view the EXIF data of images I see on the web.

Several online services can display images on a map. Here are two examples: Hemsedal and on Cape Town, South Africa. Flickr does this automatically based on the GPS information embedded in the image file, along with the other EXIF data.

Lightroom recognizes geotagged images, and I have a smart collection of all geotagged images. Lightroom automatically displays a link to Google Maps when viewing a geotagged image, and I expect Adobe to add more geotag/positioning/map features in newer versions. My wishlist includes (some of this is already possible in other software):

• Option to “fill gaps” when importing geotagged images, with settings for interpolation, timeouts, etc.
• Automatic lookup of geographical names based on GPS information in images during import, like GeoNames.
• Automatic sorting of geographical names in hierarchy: Country, county, city, place, etc.
• Search for geographical names.
• Show selected images on a map, integrated in Lightroom.
• Built-in proximity search (see below).

Jeffrey Friedl has created a nice Lightroom plug-in that makes it possible to search for images near each other: Jeffrey’s: GPS Proximity Search Lightroom Plugin.

More images

Nikon D300 with GP-1 in the hot shoe:

GP-1 attached to the strap:

See also: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: Workflow and tips.

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