# Why Geotagging is Cool for Landscape Photographers



## mackguyver (Sep 15, 2014)

In this month's issue of Outdoor Photographer, I read an article (online version) about Art Wolfe's upcoming book. In the article, he talks about spending the last two years traveling the globe to recreate many of his old shots.

This is one of the secrets of landscape photographers - going back to the same place over and over to get new and hopefully better versions of your existing shots. I've done this for years but over the past 3 weeks, I've done it twice and in both cases, having the GPS coordinates made life so much easier. I was able to find both locations without any trouble at all, even though they are both somewhat hidden. I now have the GP-E1 module for the 1D X which makes it even easier to geotag, but a handheld GPS or your phone with a .GPX tracking app and LR or other software work equally well.

Here are the two recreations. They still aren't what I have in my head, but they're getting closer and I'll keep shooting them until I get the shot I really want:

*OLD - 8/5/2012*





*NEW - 9/13/2014*





*OLD - 9/4/2011*




*NEW - 8/30/2014*


----------



## tomscott (Sep 15, 2014)

Im going traveling for 5 months, I intend to geotag my images. I just wish the GP-E2 wasn't so big bulky and ridiculous. otherwise I would buy one. I think I am going to either buy a some kind of GPS watch or use my phone, but battery life apparently isn't great when using GPS via iPhone. Also a pain that apps such as geotag photo only sends the gpx file via dropbox or email, when your in the middle of nowhere with no internet how are you supposed to get the GPX to your laptop?


----------



## SoullessPolack (Sep 15, 2014)

Of course it's "cool for landscape photographers". I'm sure we've all been doing that in one form or another for a while. 

Back in the day before handheld GPS was available, if we came across a scene we liked, we drew two lines, in the form of an 'X', on a large piece of paper with contour data which related to elevation, called a 'map'. If we wanted another chance to take a picture of the same place, we would use that map and go back to the location.


----------



## AUGS (Sep 15, 2014)

I agree. I just spent 4 months driving around Australia (I'm Australian), and used the GP-E2 all the time. I find it useful to actually locate where the photos were taken. One day I must have photographed 6 waterfalls and they all start to look the same. To remember which is which is hard without writing down all the details as you go, but the GPS data just means I have to look it up. The battery in the GP-E2 (lithium AA) lasted about 10 days (100 hrs). I'm possibly going to start selling some of my landscape photos in the near future, so having a location is important - to me.

I also use a GPS tracker (Amod 3080 - US$50) and GeoSetter software (free last time I checked). The Amod device uses 3 AAA batteries (which last about 20-30hrs tracking) and creates a text file that you can download to your computer using a USB port. All you have to do is ensure you have the camera set to the correct local time to synchronise your photos in the GeoSetter software. It is especially useful to track how you got to that special location too. I used as a bit of redundancy on my trip.


----------



## lintoni (Sep 15, 2014)

SoullessPolack said:


> Of course it's "cool for landscape photographers". I'm sure we've all been doing that in one form or another for a while.
> 
> Back in the day before handheld GPS was available, if we came across a scene we liked, we drew two lines, in the form of an 'X', on a large piece of paper with contour data which related to elevation, called a 'map'. If we wanted another chance to take a picture of the same place, we would use that map and go back to the location.


 Thanks for the laugh!

And good work mackguyver, both images are excellent - definite improvements on the 'originals'. Thanks for the images, especially the trees/pool - there's some magic there!


----------



## DominoDude (Sep 16, 2014)

No one can pull the wool over my eyes like me, but I pretend that I know where I have taken most of my shots during the last 4-5 years. At least I know that once I get near a place, where I've shot before, I recognise it and can fine tune my location from what I see in the surroundings. It's neat...

But then I started thinking - yes, it does happens at times - and realised that I still grunt and complain over three places where I shot in the late 80's, and I have absolutely no clue where they were. One of them I might have found (to within 15-20 meters) but I'm not certain since trees have grown, some have been cut and so forth. The other two I don't think I could get closer to than some 20-25km's, and that certainly is not close enough to recreate any resemblance.
So seeing how I'm not exactly getting any younger, there is a risk that this Alzheimers light can turn really ugly and then a feature such as GPS would turn out handy.

Hmm, did I need to go and take a leak, or have I already done it? Oh well, time will tell...
Sincerely,
/ The hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 16, 2014)

tomscott said:


> Im going traveling for 5 months, I intend to geotag my images. I just wish the GP-E2 wasn't so big bulky and ridiculous. otherwise I would buy one. I think I am going to either buy a some kind of GPS watch or use my phone, but battery life apparently isn't great when using GPS via iPhone. Also a pain that apps such as geotag photo only sends the gpx file via dropbox or email, when your in the middle of nowhere with no internet how are you supposed to get the GPX to your laptop?


I'm still shocked by the size of the GP-E2 as well and that's exactly why I haven't bought one. I used a Garmin Dakota 20 for many years and it's a rugged little GPS that saves GPX files to an SD card. I have misplaced mine :'( but it was a great little GPS and got great reception even in the woods. I bet there's an iPhone app that allows you to save the GPX track to disk and has an interval setting to give you better battery life.



SoullessPolack said:


> ...if we came across a scene we liked, we drew two lines, in the form of an 'X', on a large piece of paper with contour data which related to elevation, called a 'map'. If we wanted another chance to take a picture of the same place, we would use that map and go back to the location.


You used pencils and those paper things??? That's just crazy  I still use them, too, as a backup, but since moving to the swamps of Florida, I've come to realize that the landscape changes so much from month-to-month and year-to-year that it's very difficult to find the same place sometimes. Landmarks are almost non-existent as well making GPS about the only way to find a place twice.



lintoni said:


> And good work mackguyver, both images are excellent - definite improvements on the 'originals'. Thanks for the images, especially the trees/pool - there's some magic there!


Thanks, lintoni - that's one I've been trying to shoot for several years. The water levels are often too high or too low and have made it quite difficult to get just right. I'm hoping to go back in a couple of weeks if we get a little more rain.



DominoDude said:


> No one can pull the wool over my eyes like me, but I pretend that I know where I have taken most of my shots during the last 4-5 years. At least I know that once I get near a place, where I've shot before, I recognise it and can fine tune my location from what I see in the surroundings. It's neat...
> 
> But then I started thinking - yes, it does happens at times - and realised that I still grunt and complain over three places where I shot in the late 80's, and I have absolutely no clue where they were. One of them I might have found (to within 15-20 meters) but I'm not certain since trees have grown, some have been cut and so forth. The other two I don't think I could get closer to than some 20-25km's, and that certainly is not close enough to recreate any resemblance.
> So seeing how I'm not exactly getting any younger, there is a risk that this Alzheimers light can turn really ugly and then a feature such as GPS would turn out handy.


Memory is a funny thing and mine's not getting any better, either. Also, as I said above, most of the places I shoot are off of ever changing paths with ever changing vegetation, making it hard to find the same place again.


----------



## DominoDude (Sep 16, 2014)

*nods @ Mackguyver* Yeah, I can easily understand how it can be tough in marshes and swamps when the changing water levels alter the entire landscape and forces new routes to be used for approaching the site. With firm ground under the feet and a map, one can at least count paces and get a general feel for the direction and location, canoeing in a swamp have to be quite different even at the best possible circumstances.


----------



## lintoni (Sep 16, 2014)

As a cheapskate, there's no way I'm buying a GP-E2, so I use Open GPS Tracker to record a GPX file on my Android tablet's microSD card. I then transfer the GPX file to a folder on my desktop, where I use GPicSync to transfer geotags to CR2s and jpegs from the camera, before moving the tagged Raws into my library and dropboxing the jpegs for whoever I've been hiking with.

https://code.google.com/p/open-gpstracker/

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


----------



## Skywise (Sep 16, 2014)

It may be cool for your posterity too.

My grandfather was big into photography using slide film (any family get together it was assumed he'd be pulling out the projector for the latest trips). After he died the slides got put into storage or distributed out among the family members. A few years back I decided to go through the effort of scanning them all.

I came across a photo of the golden gate bridge he had taken in the 60s looking south with a hill on the right side and a large "bush" on that hill.

I realized I had taken nearly that same shot almost 40 years later and checked it out and that bush was still there... except it was obviously a TREE and had grown several feet in that time!


----------



## AcutancePhotography (Sep 16, 2014)

SoullessPolack said:


> Back in the day before handheld GPS was available, if we came across a scene we liked, we drew two lines, in the form of an 'X', on a large piece of paper with contour data which related to elevation, called a 'map'. If we wanted another chance to take a picture of the same place, we would use that map and go back to the location.



Next you will tell us that you used a magnitized needle on a card to tell which way was North?


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 16, 2014)

AcutancePhotography said:


> SoullessPolack said:
> 
> 
> > Back in the day before handheld GPS was available, if we came across a scene we liked, we drew two lines, in the form of an 'X', on a large piece of paper with contour data which related to elevation, called a 'map'. If we wanted another chance to take a picture of the same place, we would use that map and go back to the location.
> ...


LOL, but that's kind of high tech compared to waiting until it gets dark to find the North Star, which is what I used to do when I was MUCH younger


----------



## dppaskewitz (Sep 16, 2014)

I agree, it's very cool. But, this geotagging business is hard work. When I turn on the camera in the morning, I go to the menu and turn on the internal GPS. Before I turn off the camera in the evening, I do the reverse. Then download the photos to LR5. Going to the "Map" module in LR5 shows the locations of all of my shots. On a Google Maps map, so I can zoom in, switch to "satellite" and so forth. I'm not sure why all cameras don't work that way. Can't take too much room, since they squeezed it into the tiny 6D. And it apparently can be put into a titanium body (isn't that what the new 7DII is made from?). And can't be all that costly (witness the 6D and 7D). Am I missing anything?


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 16, 2014)

dppaskewitz said:


> I agree, it's very cool. But, this geotagging business is hard work. When I turn on the camera in the morning, I go to the menu and turn on the internal GPS. Before I turn off the camera in the evening, I do the reverse. Then download the photos to LR5. Going to the "Map" module in LR5 shows the locations of all of my shots. On a Google Maps map, so I can zoom in, switch to "satellite" and so forth. I'm not sure why all cameras don't work that way. Can't take too much room, since they squeezed it into the tiny 6D. And it apparently can be put into a titanium body (isn't that what the new 7DII is made from?). And can't be all that costly (witness the 6D and 7D). Am I missing anything?


Hopefully all of the new bodies will come with GPS, but I imagine it will always be an accessory for the 1D series for a number of reasons, mainly related to the military and other government users.


----------



## Marsu42 (Sep 16, 2014)

tomscott said:


> Im going traveling for 5 months, I intend to geotag my images. I just wish the GP-E2 wasn't so big bulky and ridiculous. otherwise I would buy one.



With my 6d I've become lazy and use the internal receiver. But unless you need the electronic compass on a hotshoe receiver, a dedicated gps tracker is more precise and power-saving.

I've been using a €50 receiver for years along my 60d with the advantage that you can put in waypoints in advance or save waypoints when outdoors. Unfortunately, Canon didn't add even a minimal "car finder" mode to the 6d/70d, and neither did Magic Lantern (yet) as all the devs have 5d3 cameras.



dppaskewitz said:


> I agree, it's very cool. But, this geotagging business is hard work. When I turn on the camera in the morning, I go to the menu and turn on the internal GPS. Before I turn off the camera in the evening, I do the reverse.



Use Magic Lantern - after several requests of distressed 6d users with empty batteries it now has a "gps powersave" feature that turns off gps on camera off and re-enables it on power on.


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 17, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> dppaskewitz said:
> 
> 
> > I agree, it's very cool. But, this geotagging business is hard work. When I turn on the camera in the morning, I go to the menu and turn on the internal GPS. Before I turn off the camera in the evening, I do the reverse.
> ...


The 6D GPS stays on all the time? 

Also, one other GPS benefit I forgot to mention. Were I to say step on a rattlesnake or find myself a bit mangled after tangling with an alligator, having the GPS coordinates of where I am would be nice. Yes, my phone has GPS, but in many areas where I have 1 bar or SOS service only, GPS doesn't really work too well.


----------



## dppaskewitz (Sep 17, 2014)

mackguyver said:


> The 6D GPS stays on all the time?
> 
> Also, one other GPS benefit I forgot to mention. Were I to say step on a rattlesnake or find myself a bit mangled after tangling with an alligator, having the GPS coordinates of where I am would be nice. Yes, my phone has GPS, but in many areas where I have 1 bar or SOS service only, GPS doesn't really work too well.



It does. I haven't tried Magic Lantern. One of these days................

I personally have not had a problem with battery drain by the GPS. With a grip and two batteries, they last all day. With one battery and spare, I have only had to swap out once per day.

The biggest problem I have with the 6D GPS is that it struggles initially to find itself (hence, perhaps, why Canon has it programmed to remain on whether or not the camera is powered down). And, it sometimes loses itself even when I am out in the open, where access to satellites has to be about as good as can be. It sometimes blinks for a while, signifying that it is looking for a fix, then find itself again. Hopefully, Canon has done a better job with the GPS in the 7DII (and will with future models). Also, no way that I know of that the 6D GPS can tell you where you are until after the fact.


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 17, 2014)

dppaskewitz said:


> mackguyver said:
> 
> 
> > The 6D GPS stays on all the time?
> ...


That's interesting to hear. I've just started playing with the GP-E1 for the 1D X, but so far, it seems to acquire the signal in about 30s most times and is quite fast to reacquire if the camera has only been off a short while (I think the manual says 30 mins). I haven't tested it in dense forest/swamp yet, though. My Garmin was very good, but I still can't find the stupid thing. I was disappointed to learn that the GP-E1 doesn't have logging like the GP-E2 does, which means my 5DIII shots will still have to be manually tagged with something else unless I buy the GP-E2...


----------



## Marsu42 (Sep 17, 2014)

mackguyver said:


> The 6D GPS stays on all the time?



The upside is that it has a very quick gps hot start (since it didn't stop ) and - probably the reason for this "feature" - the camera keeps generating the track log you can later download from the camera. So all in all and with the little battery drain, I'm fine with the *option* of leaving gps on even on camera power off.


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 17, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> mackguyver said:
> 
> 
> > The 6D GPS stays on all the time?
> ...


That is interesting, but seems like it would run down the batter within a week or so of being turned "off". I'm sure the signal is nice & quick if it remains on like that, though. From what I can tell, the GP-E1 stays on for 30 minutes, which seems like a good compromise to me.


----------



## BL (Sep 18, 2014)

The GP-E1 is pretty nice, but I find that elevation readings can be totally bonkers in anything but the best conditions (outdoors with no trees or buildings). When I contacted Canon, they informed me the "3D" satellite icon must be present for elevation readings, but this icon is hidden beneath many menus and button presses and can't easily be checked every time you want to take pictures.

So even when the GPS indicator is solid and not blinking, one can't be sure if elevation readings will be captured. 

I'd actually much rather prefer no readings to incorrect ones.


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 18, 2014)

BL said:


> The GP-E1 is pretty nice, but I find that elevation readings can be totally bonkers in anything but the best conditions (outdoors with no trees or large buildings). When I contacted Canon, they informed me the "3D" satellite icon must be present for elevation readings, but this icon is hidden beneath many menus and button presses and can't easily be checked every time you want to take pictures.
> 
> So even when the GPS indicator is solid and not blinking, one can't be sure if elevation readings will be captured.
> 
> I'd actually much rather prefer no readings to incorrect ones.


I've noticed that it's off a bit, too, but so far it's been pretty close to reality and no less accurate than my other GPS from Garmin, which I found last night (tucked away in a dark drawer!). Also, if you take a photo, you'll see the elevation displayed in the Preview if you press the Info button to see the GPS details. From what I can tell, if the elevation isn't there, it means you are still 2D and not 3D.


----------



## BL (Sep 18, 2014)

Right, I've been checking for that in the preview occasionally.

It's just nuts though! I have 3 pictures I took in my backyard, across 30sec, and 1 has a reading of 6m above sea level, the other is -18m, and the last is 1350m


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 18, 2014)

BL said:


> Right, I've been checking for that in the preview occasionally.
> 
> It's just nuts though! I have 3 pictures I took in my backyard, across 30sec, and 1 has a reading of 6m above sea level, the other is -18m, and the last is 1350m


Wow, that is crazy! My readings have varied by 2 or 3m at most. Does it do the same in open areas?


----------



## BL (Sep 18, 2014)

No, in open fields it's solid - like you said +/- a few meters

But if I'm next to any multi-tier houses, in a downtown urban area, or underneath a canopy of trees, the readings are crazy.

I suppose elevation isn't a huge deal since I can always find my way back to a stop using long/lat, but I'm just OCD like that 8)


----------



## Marsu42 (Sep 18, 2014)

BL said:


> The GP-E1 is pretty nice, but I find that elevation readings can be totally bonkers in anything but the best conditions (outdoors with no trees or buildings). When I contacted Canon, they informed me the "3D" satellite icon must be present for elevation readings, but this icon is hidden beneath many menus and button presses and can't easily be checked every time you want to take pictures.



The upside is that you can add the height information later on with a program that interfaces to Google Maps. As far as I remember "GeoSetter" (windows) should work to fill in the height field if it's missing, probably even overwrite it if you know it's bogus. I haven't used the software though since LR has the maps interface, and where I live the earth is flat so a 3d gps fix is an optional extra


----------



## mackguyver (Sep 18, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> BL said:
> 
> 
> > The GP-E1 is pretty nice, but I find that elevation readings can be totally bonkers in anything but the best conditions (outdoors with no trees or buildings). When I contacted Canon, they informed me the "3D" satellite icon must be present for elevation readings, but this icon is hidden beneath many menus and button presses and can't easily be checked every time you want to take pictures.
> ...


That's true - I had forgotten about that. I have the Garmin BaseCamp software and it uses the (rather expensive) topo maps I purchased to correct the elevation. It does it on import so I had forgotten about it. Canon's map utility doesn't do it unfortunately.


----------



## Valvebounce (Sep 21, 2014)

Hi Tom. 
I use GPX Master for my iphone, I get the GPX file by connecting to the PC open itunes, open the device, select apps tab, scroll down and find file sharing, ( the apps below can transfer...) select GPX Master (in my case), get the list of GPX tracks, select 1 or more, scroll to bottom of list, select save to, browse to your folder on your PC and click select folder then find your selected tracks in the folder ready to use. 
The second time you use it it will appear to be in the correct folder but itunes (or is it windows) is too stupid to just allow you to hit select folder, you will need to back up one then select the folder to make it active (your folder name next to where it says folder at the bottom of the box). 
This bit I have mastered, where my tagging turns to s%#} is when I sync with Geo Setter, and the tracks come out miles off! I have set the PC time to the phone time then got the camera time correction box showing the correct camera time to the second, click sync and the pics are put on the map in completely the wrong place!?!?
Then when I try to adjust timings it gives me a you have exceeded the 2000 credits limit, use a commercial tool?

Cheers, Graham. 



tomscott said:


> Im going traveling for 5 months, I intend to geotag my images. I just wish the GP-E2 wasn't so big bulky and ridiculous. otherwise I would buy one. I think I am going to either buy a some kind of GPS watch or use my phone, but battery life apparently isn't great when using GPS via iPhone. Also a pain that apps such as geotag photo only sends the gpx file via dropbox or email, when your in the middle of nowhere with no internet how are you supposed to get the GPX to your laptop?


----------



## lintoni (Sep 21, 2014)

Graham, I have no experience with the tools you use, I avoid crApple like the plague, but you need to allow for the fact that the satellites from which you are getting the co-ordinates are reporting the time in UTC, ie equivalent to GMT. As you're in the UK, you need to _either_ remove 1 hour from the time recorded by the camera to allow for BST, or make allowance for that hour somewhere in an option in the software. 

**Edit**

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-geotag-images/

Okay, you've a pc, you've got your GPX tracks. The above link is is a tutorial on how to tag photos using GPicSync. You might get enough from it to work out where you're going wrong with Geo Setter, or decide to use GPicSync, it's freeware.


----------



## Valvebounce (Sep 21, 2014)

Hi lintoni. 
Thank you for taking the time, I was missing the take time zone in to account setting! It was the daylight savings getting me. I currently use Android GPX Logger, I had used an iphone (I refuse to capitalise the second letter in a name and if they don't want the first one done who am I to argue!) but got over it! ;D I tried GPicSync, but it refused to sync unless I told it to examine the GPX file then google maps couldn't find its file, so I gave up on that and went back to Geo Setter and delved in to the settings, it is very in depth software and has, in my opinion, a much better system for dealing with fools like me who only remember to sync the clocks when we get home! 

Cheers, Graham. 



lintoni said:


> Graham, I have no experience with the tools you use, I avoid crApple like the plague, but you need to allow for the fact that the satellites from which you are getting the co-ordinates are reporting the time in UTC, ie equivalent to GMT. As you're in the UK, you need to _either_ remove 1 hour from the time recorded by the camera to allow for BST, or make allowance for that hour somewhere in an option in the software.
> 
> **Edit**
> 
> ...


----------



## lintoni (Sep 21, 2014)

Glad you've got it sorted!


----------



## canon_guy (Sep 27, 2014)

new technologies make me cry, it's so complicated


----------

