GPS Location Information on your Camera
18/03/14 09:18 Filed in: Industry
I miss having GPS Location information on my ‘proper’ cameras - here’s a solution how to add it...and it’s very cool.
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You know how photos taken on your phone have location information on them (Well, assuming your phone is capable of it anyway) - it’s kinda cool isn’t it?
For me it adds an additional layer to my photography - to remind me of the where the photos were taken. It’s not essential, but it’s certainly a cool add-on.
Now, adding GPS tagging to your traditional cameras can be expensive. For example, Canon do a GPS Receiver that works on my 7D - the GP-E2. It is however in excess of 200 quid - it’s cool, but in my opinion not 200 quid cool. Hell, that’s a night out at the Meat & Wine Company.
After some digging I stumbled on a very cool little application called GPS4CAM - available on Apple IOS and some other platform that I’ve never heard of called ‘Android’. What this app does is track your location via your phone’s GPS location, and then creates some data that can then be used to apply GPS information to your photos from your normal camera.
So, you start the tracking on your iPhone, and then go out for a wander and take your photos on your proper camera. When you’ve finished your trip, you take a photo of some QR Codes produced by the GPS4CAM app - these QR code(s) contain the location information for your trip. Now, once you upload the photos to your laptop, you run the photos through a desktop app (OSX or Windows), and the app processes the pictures of those QR Codes to extract the location information against time, and then tags the photos with the relevant location.
How very, very cool is that?
It works incredibly well. The app has different settings for accuracy - some of the more accurate modes produce more QR codes and seem to consume the battery more - it’s all a trade off I guess. For my trips, I was out for 6/7 hours and that was enough to take my iPhone 5S down to <20% charge. On the other hand, simple recharge packs (I used the Morphie Case) are cheap now, and easy enough to carry if you’re going to be out for longer than that.
Anyways, the video below shows you the process - check it out. Go have a look at the app over at GPS4CAM too - you can also follow the Team on Twitter here.
I’m impressed, top idea, and a great implementation.
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