The “Geotagging and the Mac” review series is about comparing applications on common ground. Therefore, we will use the same test scenario for all the reviews and expect the same results, no matter what fancy features an application may offer on top. The scenario is independent of the operating system, so you could likewise use it for Windows apps.
Application Requirements
We are only looking at stand-alone applications that run on a local machine, in our case an Intel-based Mac with Leopard installed. As batch jobs may have to tackle several gigabytes of data at once, online tools are not included. Also, the applications should run independently from any other commercial product, hence we do not include plugins in this review.
Metadata Handling
Essentially, we are looking at what an application does to an image’s metadata: inserting longitude, latitude and altitude into the EXIF header, additionally populating the IPTC location fields. This should be done without corrupting other metadata in the process.
File Integrity
The result should be stored into the image file itself or – in case of RAW files – into XMP sidecars. It will be zero points for having to convert or otherwise modify an image in order to get it tagged properly.
Workflow Support
In order to score, the application has to support log-based and manual insertion of geotags (or at least do either of it exceedingly well). Of course, we will probe for the nine requirements defined in the “Basics” post.
Smoothness and Reliability
Smoothness certainly has to do with good usability, but also with the time spent on the way. Intuitive one-click actions, various previewing options (map types, details, metadata), intelligent interfaces (e.g. for reverse geocoding) give credits here.
Reliability concerns mainly the output quality: the ability to continously achieve exact and complete results with a degree of influence from the user. Crosshair tagging and batch time shifting are some of the possible criteria for this, but mainly it is about lossless and accurate metadata handling.
Admittedly, those are by some degree soft criteria. But it is all important that you do not waste your time on clicks in sub-menus of sub-menus or enervating workaround setups, and that you can rely on the output being of archival quality.
Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera
Test Files
We use a set of RAW files from a Canon EOS 50D (extension CR2) that has not been through any image processing application yet. If the tested software does not support CR2, we will use DNG or JPG files instead. The Canon SLR does not have an in-built GPS receiver, so I get my track logs from a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx unit by simply copying the GPX file to my Mac.
Garmin GPSmap 60CSx
There is on modification, though, that we apply to the CR2 files before we set out to the test: we adjust the timestamps so that EXIF and IPTC values will indicate the local timezone the image was taken in, while the GPS timestamp will be strictly UTC (the necessary Automator script can be found in my “Timestamps and Timezones” post).
A Final Word Before We Start
Zawinski’s law says: “Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail.” This is still a valid observation – the enthusiasm of application developers will not stop at just doing their job.
But it is not feature bashing that we are after in this review series. The test score will depend solely on the criteria mentioned above.
It is important to note that a bad result from this review does not mean that an application is useless or badly coded. In fact, it is highly likely that it is a perfect match for somebody else’s requirements.
Related Posts
- All posts in “Geotagging” category
- Geotagging and the Mac (1) – Basics
- Geotagging and the Mac (3) – iPhoto ‘09 “Places”
- Geotagging and the Mac (4) – HoudahGeo
- Geotagging and the Mac (5) – Google Picasa
Updates
- March 16th, 2009: added reference to timezone adjustment in “Test Files” section
- April 3rd, 2009: added “Related Posts” section
Tags: Geotagging, Review
Hi!
I to day febr 12th 2010 installed the ExifTool 8.10 and went through your Automator. Well I am the photographer (using Mac), but wnt throught the Read all the metadata, with Growl….
The question is:
We use Nikon (D3) with the GP-1 gps and run the NEF files through dxo.com, to fix lens faults. When the dng file is ready the gps info is gone! How to set up a Automator Script file to get the info back again and maybe into the IPTC?
When selling to stock agencies I know that they want to know exactly where the image is taken. I had the question a two years ago with an image taken in Tivoli, Copenhagen. (I sold the image)
Maybe you can have a look at it?
from Norway
Trond Hillestad
Hi Trond,
DxO changes when outputting DNG are destructive, i.e. they will actually modify the content that your original NEF image had rather than simply adding processing instructions. Thus, the resulting linear DNG is actually a totally new file, just like you were exporting to a TIFF or JPG. This may be the reason why your metadata is not fully preserved and it may well be that your geotagging information is lost on the way.
However, there is a way to use ExifTool to fix it. Look at the copying instructions at the ExifTool documentation page and simply transfer the metadata from your original geotagged NEF files to the DxO-created DNG files.
I have not tried this with your setup, but I trust Phil Harvey’s work. Try it on a set of test files first, to be sure. And let me know if it worked :-)
Klaus