How to copy Geo Location data among photos - possible? Best Practices?

[RobOK]

Lightroom Version Number

LR Classic, current version

Operating System

1. macOS 12 Monterey
2. iOS

I shoot with a Nikon Z6 and have never gotten the geo data sync to work (always afraid it would run down camera or phone battery).

I do often take iphone photos which i sync to LR Mobile on my phone, those carry geo spatial data.

1. Is there a way, or is it even a good idea to try and copy this data if pictures are generally in the same location?

2. What are the best practices for setting location data after the fact? If I set City and Country, will Lightroom Maps pick that up? I understand it won't be EXACT location, but I do sometimes like using Maps.

I guess those are my questions... in general, i have not done a lot with geo locating my pictures, so any other comments or advice is welcome for this feature set in LR.

(I tried to search in the forum, but the word "location" is used in a lot of different contexts).

Thanks!
Rob.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Yes, you can do this with Synchronize Metadata. Check only the GPS coordinates.

 

[Califdan]

You can also use the map module to just drag images (or groups of images) from the filmstrip onto the map. Usually when I return from a trip I can recall pretty much where each photo was taken on a map.

You are correct that leaving the GPS logging turned on in many cameras drains the battery dramatically. At least in my DSLR that has that feature if it's on, it is constantaly updating its geolocation so that it can apply the GPS coordinates as soon as you shoot and not have to wait for it to find sattelites. In addition, I need my phone for more important things like the potential of needing to make an SOS call, so I tend not to use the traklog apps on the phone either.

To get around all of this, I use a little device (about the size of a small box of matches) from Wintec (Model WBT-202). I just attach it to my camera strap and let it run all day. Here's their website but you can order on Amazon as well as many other sites https://www.win-tec.com.tw/portfolio-item/wbt202/. On a full charge, I can get about 18 hours of logging which is about 1.5 shooting days. I usually turn it on when I leave the hotel in the moring and turn it off when I get back to the hotel for the evening. and then charge it overnight. Although, I do have to admit, that the SW that comes with it has a very poor user interface and it takes a bit of trial and error to figure out the right settings but once you get it set, you're good to go from then on. For photography, I have it save a GPS reading every 10 seconds which is close enough (about +/- 10 feet when on foot) especially when the SW I use that puts the GPS coordinates onto the images extrapolates postion if the image was shot inbetween GPS entries.. It Can produce a GPX file that LrC can read and use to add GPS coordinates to photos - assuming your camera date/time is set accuratly. Even though LrC can tag the photos from the GPX track log, I use a product called GeoSetter (https://geosetter.de/en/main-en/) before I import, I just find GeoSetter easier to use and more full featured than the one in LrC. I use it add the GPS coordinates along with country, country code, state/province, city, and sometimes sublocation. I don't always take their suggested city and sublocation but it's simple to override it.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If you have an iPhone, then you can use an app called ‘Arc’ for this. It is an activity tracker with good privacy, but what it can do as well and what I use it for is automatically save a daily .GPX tracklog to your iCloud drive. Works very well and you can never forget to turn it on because it runs 24/7.

 

[RobOK]

Good suggestions, thanks!!
Since i don't have the tracking logs, it seems I should just copy the general location (i.e., not sync the actual GPS coordinates)? I guess it couldn't hurt, it would just look like they were all in one place, but for the broad view of the map it would be okay.

 

[John R Ellis]

you can use an app called ‘Arc’ for this. ... you can never forget to turn it on because it runs 24/7.

How does its battery usage compare to other apps, as seen in the phone's Settings > Battery? Years ago I tried a couple of these apps and they were huge battery hogs, but one assumes the chips have gotten much better.

When I'm hiking on day or multi-day trips, for navigating I use Garmin Foretrex that I wear on my wrist, and its batteries can last for 8 days or so, and it also creates a GPX log. But for non-hiking, the iPhone app sounds more convenient modulo its potential battery drain.

 

[BobT]

For a time I was photographing native plants in bushland. I thought it a good idea to geolocate each image. I bought a geotracker to do just that. Frankly, it was a PITA. Firstly, it was not accurate enough to locate individual plants and often it was wildly inaccurate but I didn't know till I tried to find the plant again. I stopped using it and found I haven't missed it at all. Where I really want to locate sites, I use the Map Module. It's easier and more reliable because you can see what you are doing. The other consideration is that GPS locates the camera, not the thing being photographed unless it's a macro and then it's only accurate within 3m at very best, usually less.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

How does its battery usage compare to other apps, as seen in the phone's Settings > Battery? Years ago I tried a couple of these apps and they were huge battery hogs, but one assumes the chips have gotten much better.

When I'm hiking on day or multi-day trips, for navigating I use Garmin Foretrex that I wear on my wrist, and its batteries can last for 8 days or so, and it also creates a GPX log. But for non-hiking, the iPhone app sounds more convenient modulo its potential battery drain.

Arc is very good at detecting when you are moving and when not, and it’s using a combination of cellular towers and GPS to determine your location at minimum battery costs. It uses about 12% of the battery, both in the last 24 hours as in the last 10 days view. I can easily keep it running all day, but I do charge my phone each night.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

For a time I was photographing native plants in bushland. I thought it a good idea to geolocate each image. I bought a geotracker to do just that. Frankly, it was a PITA. Firstly, it was not accurate enough to locate individual plants and often it was wildly inaccurate but I didn't know till I tried to find the plant again. I stopped using it and found I haven't missed it at all. Where I really want to locate sites, I use the Map Module. It's easier and more reliable because you can see what you are doing. The other consideration is that GPS locates the camera, not the thing being photographed unless it's a macro and then it's only accurate within 3m at very best, usually less.

Yes. GPS is not that accurate. The new European Galileo system is supposed to be better in this respect. And indeed, I have photos where I used a telephoto lens to shoot a coastline about 1 km away from where I stood. Obviously, the GSP data were 1 km off as a result, because they showed the location of the camera, not the scene.

 

[RobOK]

I used a combination of the Map module -- locating a spot on the map and right clicking to add that location to selected images -- and also copying the GPS location from iPhone images taken at roughly same location. For my current purposes that worked. I may try Arc in the future. I wish I had done that more consistently over the last 10 years!

A couple of small notes:
* in the meta data view, there is a field called Location. It seems to be referencing actually the EXIF field called SubLocation. I was trying to filter ones that had no location, but it was going off of SubLocation which for me was not filled in a lot (the iPhone does fill it in when it has something of interest). I ended up using the field "GGPS coordinates" to filter on.
* the iphone was putting Paris in the Exif field for State.
* at some point during a lot of Metadata (location) copying and pasting, LR freaked out a bit. It was displaying that many of my Nikon Z images were taken by the iphone and were of type HEIC. I was mildly panicked. Took a deep breath and restarted LR and all was back. Probably some sort of memory issue or something.

I had one other glitch but at the moment can't remember it.

Thanks,
Rob.

 

[stevedo]

Yes. GPS is not that accurate. The new European Galileo system is supposed to be better in this respect. And indeed, I have photos where I used a telephoto lens to shoot a coastline about 1 km away from where I stood. Obviously, the GSP data were 1 km off as a result, because they showed the location of the camera, not the scene.

I use the GPS coordinates to determine where the photo was taken from, not necessarily what is actually in the photo. To complement that I have a keyword hierarchy which identifies what is actually in the photo and where it is. I then combine those with Title and Description. For me, the key is to separate in my mind the location where the photo was taken from and the location of the object in the photo.

 

[John R Ellis]

In practice, there's definitely ambiguity in whether the EXIF GPS field is meant to be the location of the camera and or the location of the subject shown in the pic. Ditto for the location fields shown in LR's Metadata > Location panel.

The metadata standards have distinguished the camera location from the location shown for about 15 years, allowing GPS coordinates and textual descriptions for both. But the standards haven't been widely adopted by apps and web services.

The EXIF standard, as interpreted by the Metadata Working Group's guidelines, allows for GPS coordinates for both the camera and the location shown ("GPS" and "GPSDest"). The IPTC standard allows for textual descriptions of location created (the camera) and location shown.

LR doesn't support the second set of EXIF GPS coordinates. And it provides three sets of textual location descriptions:

- The legacy IPTC "Location" fields are shown in the Metadata > Location panel. These are the fields containing LR's address suggestions and where most people enter their textual descriptions.

- The modern IPTC locations created and shown are shown in the Metadata > IPTC Extension panel. These are part of the core IPTC standard now but were called "Extension" when they were first introduced in 2008. I think these are generally much less used by apps and web services than the legacy IPTC location fields.

 

[stevedo]

Hi John, some interesting background information. Thanks for that. For me, I don't need to adhere to any standards. As long as I'm consistent in the way I distinguish between where the camera was and what is being photographed then all is good. I suspect it's the same for most users. However, if I was a professional and submitting my images to photo agencies then things would likely be different. I can see where the ambiguity you mention could cause some challenges.

 

[John R Ellis]

I'm pretty inconsistent in my own use of the location fields. Where our usage of standard fields matters is when we share our photos to other apps and web service, where it's important to know how they're going to use (or not) those fields.