With the latest version 3.5, Google’s Picasa for Mac has finally emerged from Beta. As Google is renowned for visionary solutions and as the program very much mirrors the functionality of iPhoto, it is worth having a closer look at its geotagging capacity. At first glance, it looks very well integrated, but – as with our previous posts – we are looking for a proper workflow support and future-proof metadata handling.
Google Picasa
A noteworthy geotagging application is HoudahGeo by Houdah Software. It has an extraordinarily tidy user interface that comfortably leads you through the three main steps of geotagging: picking images, merging geodata and creating output files. But is ist just tidy on the outside? We tested the latest version HoudahGeo 2.2.5, released only yesterday.
HoudahGeo
In the first review of geotagging applications for the Mac we will look at Apple’s iPhoto. Even though serious Photographers will prefer Aperture or Lightroom, iPhoto is very popular and has its merits in terms of usability. And its geotagging feature called “Places” has made a notable appearance when released with iLife ’09 recently. Does it do a good job, though?
Apple iPhoto '09
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.
Apple has just released iLife ’09, introducing geotagging as an iPhoto feature called ‘Places’. As usual, Apple is not so much a pioneer of new technologies but rather adapts to popular trends that have reached a serious momentum. So it is worth having a closer look at geotagging and the available software for the Mac.
Apple's iPhoto displays locations of images as pins on a map.