SCO0186 - Geotagging via the iPhone 3G [Extra! Members Show]

Update for MacBreak Weekly listeners: As promised on MacBreak Weekly #128, I’ve made a specially modified version of this Extra! members show available, The full members show is available in HD with video chapter marks for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy this weeks show!


Following on from last weeks show about iPhoto '09, I've been playing some more with Places. There is something fascinating about being able to see the exact place on a map where you took a photo. Surprisingly, it also makes it so much easier to organise and find your photos as well.

I was so impressed, I seriously started to consider how I might geotag photos in the future, especially with my forthcoming MacMania9 trip to China, South Korea and Japan in the summer. Yes, I could manually geotag my photos when I get back but I'll probably be taking lots of photos (hundreds?) and I won't really know where exactly I am at any particular time.

No, I thought I'd have to bite the bullet and consider a GPS enabled camera!

But after a flurry of questions and answers via Twitter, it became apparent that there is a much less expensive solution to allow me to accurately geotag my photos. That's to use a GPS Data logger to capture my GPS location and just carry on using my existing camera, combining the GPS data and the images on the mac. Super!

Things got even more interesting when it was pointed out that there is an application for the iPhone 3G that enables it to act as a GPS logger - all for the princely sum of £1.79!

Well I downloaded the app Trails - A geologger for iPhone (geotagging) - App store link - and gave it a whirl and was thrilled with the results.

Basically, you use Trails on the iPhone 3G to track your position whilst you're taking photos with a normal digital camera. Email yourself the resultant GPS waypoint file when you're finished and use an application called HoudahGeo* to combine the GPS date with your photos and you're done! Import the photos into iPhot '09 and they appear in your Places section with accurate positioning information.

So this week, I couldn't resist sharing this little gem with you, and went out on a mini ScreenCastsOnline roadrip to take some photos of two famous Liverpool landmarks. In the show I take you through the complete process from start to finish demonstrating Trails, HoudahGeo and iPhoto '09.

There is also a little tip to enable you to switch on scroll wheel and multitouch support in iPhoto '09 plus a quick pointer to some recommendations for dedicated GPS Trackers if you want to do some serious Geotagging.

* There is a special ScreenCastsOnline discount available up until the end of February 2009. Just use the coupon code SCO0186 to get 20% off HoudahGeo.

The terminal command to enable the scroll wheel and multi-touch support in iPhoto is:

defaults write com.apple.iphoto MapScrollWheel -bool YES

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