Work is progressing PhotoInfoEditor, and it is now called PhotoInfoEditor2….

In the last post I mentioned that work was progressing well on the new version of PhotoInfoEditor2. Things have slowed a bit due to some problems encountered with some web-services that are used.

New look data entry in PhotoInfoEditor

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoInfoEditor2 both use Google Maps for geocoding / geotagging the photos, and there were some problems in getting Google Maps working in PhotoInfoEditor2 – so this has slowed development down.

PhotoInfoEditor used a web-service called http://terraservice-usa.com/ for finding location names based on latitude and longitude. However, for some reason, that service no longer seems to be working (or I couldn’t get it to work in PhotoInfoEditor2 even though it was using the same code as in PhotoInfoEditor), so in PhotoInfoEditor2 Google’s system is being used. Again, this has taken some time to get working.

So, watch this space… I hope to get a beta version out for testing later in the week.

Work is progressing well on the update of PhotoInfoEditor for Mac OS X 10.6 – Snow Leopard.

An update to PhotoInfoEditor, to version 2, was already in the works before 10.6 came out. Now that 10.6 is out, and the current version of PhotoInfoEditor doesn’t work, the question was to whether or not go back and fix PhotoInfoEditor, or push on with the new version of PhotoInfoEditor. It was decided to push on.

So, the new version of PhotoInfoEditor has a whole new interface (see below), and an increased level of functionality.

New look data entry in PhotoInfoEditor

In addition, the program now also handles images from a bigger range of cameras than before, including (and these have been tested): Canon EOS 20D, Canon EOS D60, Canon IXUS 300, Canon IXUS 400, Canon IXUS v2, Canon IXUS v3, Canon IXUS, Canon PowerShot A20, Canon PowerShot A40, Canon PowerShot A70, Canon PowerShot A80, Canon PowerShot A85, Canon PowerShot G2, Canon PowerShot S30, Canon PowerShot S40, Canon PowerShot S230, Canon PowerShot S300, Canon PowerShot S330, Canon PowerShot S400, Canon PowerShot SD100, Casio EX-S1, Casio EX-Z3, Casio QV-3000EX, Epson PhotoPC 3000Z, FujiFilm DS-7, FujiFilm DX-5, FujiFilm DX-10, FujiFilm FinePix A303, FujiFilm FinePix40i, FujiFilm FinePix1400Zoom, FujiFilm FinePix2650, FujiFilm FinePix4900Zoom, FujiFilm FinePix6800Zoom, FujiFilm FinePixS1Pro, FujiFilm FinePixS2Pro, FujiFilm MX-1200, FujiFilm MX-2900Zoom, FujiFilm MX1700, FujiFilm SP-2500, HP PhotoSmart 318, HP PhotoSmart 735, HP PhotoSmart C812, JVC GR-DC2000, Kodak CLAS Digital Film Scanner HR200, Kodak DC210, Kodak DC240, Kodak DC3400, Kodak DX4330, Kodak DX4900 Zoom, Kodak ProBack, Konica Q-M100, Kyocera FC-S3, Minolta DiMAGE 5, Minolta DiMAGE 7, Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi, Minolta DiMAGE A1, Minolta DiMAGE EX, Minolta DiMAGE S304, Minolta DiMAGE S404, Minolta DiMAGE X, Nikon CoolPix 775, Nikon D1X, Nikon D70, Nikon D100, Nikon E775, Nikon E900, Nikon E950, Nikon E990, Nikon E5000, Nikon E5700, Olympus C40Z, Olympus C860L, Olympus C960, Olympus C2040Z, Olympus C3030Z, Olympus C4040Z, Olympus E-10, Olympus E-20, Olympus X-2, Panasonic DMC-LC33, Panasonic DMC-LC40, Panasonic DMC-LC70 (Lumix), Panasonic FX7, Panasonic FZ5, Panasonic FZ20, Panasonic LZ2, Panasonic NV-GX7, Pentax ist D, Pentax Optio 330, Pentax Optio 430, Pentax Optio S4, Pentax Optio S4i, Ricoh DC-3Z, Ricoh RDC5300, Sanyo SR6, Sanyo SR662, Sanyo VPCSX550, Seiko Epson PhotoPC 3000Z, Sony Cybershot, Sony D700, Sony DCR-PC110, Sony DigitalMavica, Sony Mavica, and Traveler SX330Z

Even, if your camera is not listed above, the chances are the program will be able to open and edit the meta-data. (If not, send me the file nick@mmisoftware.co.uk, and I will see what can be done).

Still left to do:

Complete the interface integration (pretty much done)
Improve/complete map integration
Finish the output procedures for writing the meta-data back to the files

There is a good tip over at Apple on how to view the exif (meta-data) of a photo that you have tagged with PhotoGPSEditor or PhotoInfoEditor. Such a simple tip, and something I do everyday without thinking about.

Basically, it takes two clicks to view the meta-data (exif) of a photo.

1. Click the photo’s icon to select it.
2. Press command-I (that is, get info for the file)
3. Read the info (you may need to click on the small triangle next to ‘More info’ – that is your second click)

Here are some examples. The following photo was taken in Les Deux Alpes, France:

Les Deux Alpes, France
(if you save this photo to your desktop and then open it with Preview you can read more information stored in the by using the ‘Get Info’ command in Preview’s Tools menu.)

Before the file was processed with PhotoGPSEditor or PhotoInfoEditor the above ‘get info’ method would show:

Before addition of data – note that ‘get info’ for the file shows only the camera details.

After processing the file with PhotoGPSEditor or PhotoInfoEditor and using the ‘built-in’ mapping functions of the programs, the saved file now shows:

After the addition of the meta-data – the data was added by positioning a marker on a map at the location the photo was taken, and then the program ‘added’ Les Deux Alpes, France

The great thing about this is once the data is added it stays associated with the photo, and is searchable via Spotlight.

The Apple Tip: link

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

An update of PhotoInfoEditor has just been released (download), and just like with PhotoGPSEditor a ‘nag’ screen has been added (see earlier post).

PhotoInfoEditor is free. It is a fully functional program with no time or ‘registration’ limited features. However, support for PhotoInfoEditor through donations, has been very poor (the same was true for PhotoGPSEditor – see earlier post). Therefore it was decided that a new ‘nag’ screen should be added to the program. This decision was not taken lightly.

The new ‘nag’ screen, unlike the previous version in the program (which was clearly not have the desired effect), does not have a ‘Do not show again’ setting (it, along with the ‘service’ buttons on the main view only appear after the program has been used a number of times).

The PhotoInfoEditor ‘nag’ screen – to make it go away just make a donation (via PayPal) or use TrialPay

Now, the ‘nag’ screen can be made to vanish, and not appear again, by making a donation (via PayPal) or by using services, or purchasing goods at TrialPay (see earlier post on TrialPay).

How does this work? Well, if you do make a donation (via PayPal) or use TrialPay then MMISoftware will send you an ‘activation code’ that will stop the ‘nag’ screen displaying when you launch the program. As an added bonus you will also get a nice warm feeling as a result of helping to support the development of the program!

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

Well, earlier today (2 April 2007) a new version PhotoInfoEditor was released (download). So, what is new?

Added drag and drop support:

• this feature was requested by a surprising number of users. Photo files (any of the supported photo formats (ps, epsi, epsf, epi, eps, iff, xbm, hdr, exr, cr2, dcr, dng, srf, nef, crw, raf, orf, mrw, icns, jpg, jpeg, cur, fax, tif, tiff, jpe, and pef [please note, not all have been tested due to a lack of available photos in the correct formats]), can now be dragged on to the program icon, or into the window, to be loaded in to the program

Added ‘completion’ indicator:

• as you complete the geocoding process the indicator shows the amount done. A white ball, no data assigned; one-quarter green, description or summary completed; half green, latitude and longitude added (plus city and country – added automatically), or summary and description completed; three-quarters green, latitude and longitude added (plus city and country – added automatically), plus summary or description completed; fully green, all data added. It should be noted that you do not have to add all data for the photo to be available for export.

Added improved sorting function:

• Photos can now be sorted by name, date taken and ‘degree’ of added meta-data

In addition to the above major changes support was added for PEF files, the latest version of the excellent exiftool was incorporated, the ability to import photos from multiple directories can was added, ‘double-click’ zooming for the map (control-double-click to zoom out) and support for TrialPay was added (visit the PhotoInfoEditor Store at TrialPay – more info on TrialPay)

Besides the new features a number of bugs were fixed:

• Dealt with a number of user-interface inconsistencies reported by users
• Resolved a bug that was causing Google Maps not to display correctly
• Tracked down a really nasty and sneaky memory leak

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

An update of PhotoInfoEditor has just been released (download).

More details to follow in later posts…

PhotoInfoEditor – new features, and bug fixes (read post)

PhotoInfoEditor – new ‘nag’ feature, and how to make it go away (read post)

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

A new version of PhotoGPSEditor has been released. This is a very minor update to address a couple of small problems. There was a last minute bug introduced in version 1.5 that urgently needed to be corrected, namely, the ability to show an enlarged version of a photo.

The other change was the result of some feedback from users. A number of users were kind enough to send GPS data files that were not importing correctly and causing PhotoGPSEditor to ‘hang’. The program will now report the problem and not ‘hang’.

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

An update of PhotoGPSEditor has just been released (download), and one thing that had to be added (regretfully) was a ‘nag’ screen.

PhotoGPSEditor is free. It is a fully functional program with no time or ‘registration’ limited features. However, support through donations has been very poor. Therefore it was decided that a new ‘nag’ screen should be added.

This ‘nag’ screen, unlike the last one, does not have a ‘Do not show again’ setting (it, along with the ‘service’ buttons on the main view only appear after the program has been used a number of times).

The PhotoGPSEditor ‘nag’ screen – to make it go away just make a donation (via PayPal) or use TrialPay

Now, the ‘nag’ screen can be made to vanish, and not appear again, by making a donation (via PayPal) or by using services, or purchasing goods at TrialPay (see earlier post on TrialPay).

How does this work? Well, if you do make a donation (via PayPal) or use TrialPay then MMISoftware will send you an ‘activation code’ that will stop the ‘nag’ screen displaying when you launch the program. As an added bonus you will also get a nice warm feeling as a result of helping to support the development of the program!

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

Well, earlier today (26 Mar 2007) a new version PhotoGPSEditor was released (download). So, what is new?

Added a ‘step-by-step-tagging’ wizard for new users

• A number of users had commented that they found the main window confusing. The original idea was to produce a tutorial, but in the end it was decided that a ‘step-by-step’ walk through approach to matching GPS data to photos (geotagging) may be a better approach. The user now has a choice of using the ‘advanced’ view, or the ‘wizard’ view. There are some more details in this post.

Added drag and drop support:

• This feature was requested by a surprising number of users. Photo files (any of the supported photo formats (ps, epsi, epsf, epi, eps, iff, xbm, hdr, exr, cr2, dcr, dng, srf, nef, crw, raf, orf, mrw, icns, jpg, jpeg, cur, fax, tif, tiff, jpe, and pef [please note, not all have been tested due to a lack of available photos in the correct formats]) and GPS data files – GPX (gpx) and NMEA (txt or log), can now be dragged on to the program icon, or into the window, to be loaded in to the program

Multiple GPS files can now be selected and imported

• Another ‘popular’ request. The previous version of PhotoGPSEditor only allowed data from one GPS file to be loaded. I found that when using the Sony GPS CS1 (which stores GPS data in multiple files) I couldn’t get the correct data in to the program (the Sony GPS CS1 now works with Macs if you are using 10.4.9 on an Intel based machine – see earlier post).

Added support for PEF image files

Incorporated the latest version of the excellent exif tool

Photos from multiple directories can now be loaded

Added ‘double-click’ zooming for the map (control-double-click to zoom out)

• This is a great new feature. The map display (powered by Google Maps) now uses the Google map controls and can be double clicked for zooming (see this earlier post for more details).

In this release a number of bugs were fixed, including:

• dealt with a number of user-interface inconsistencies reported by users
• resolved a bug that was causing Google Maps not to display correctly
• fixed a problem with offset time format stepper
• Fixed problem that was preventing altitude from being recorded correctly with the photos
• GPS track and point data now sort correctly
• tracked down a really nasty and sneaky memory leak
• resolved a problem in which picture data could not be ‘temporarily’ saved between editing sessions

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

An update of PhotoGPSEditor has just been released (download). This release includes a new feature, which I have called a ‘wizard’…

So, what is this ‘wizard’?

Well, it is section of the program that allows a user to ‘walk-through’ the process of geotags to photos.

When PhotoGPSEditor is started for the first time it uses ‘the wizard’ (it is easy to switch to the ‘advanced mode’ which uses just a single ‘view’). The user is then walked through the process of loading the photo files, loading the GPS data and then finally matching the GPS data to the photos.

The first screen gives an introduction, and also an opportunity to switch to the ‘advanced’ mode.

Next – import the photos. Fairly easy and straight forward, use the ‘Load Pictures’ button to open the standard Mac ‘open file’ dialog box, and select either a single, or group, or a folder full of photos to load… Alternatively, the photos could just be dropped on the window, or the application icon…

Once the photos are loaded the user can move on to the next screen, loading the GPS data, by clicking on the ‘Next’ button (now active as the photos have been loaded), in the bottom right-hand corner.

Loading the GPS data is similar to loading the photos, that is, click on the ‘Load GPS file’ button and use the standard Mac dialog windows. One, multiple, or a folder full of GPS files (in the NMEA or GPX format) can be loaded, or alternatively, again, the GPS files could just be dropped on the application window or icon…

After the GPS data the ‘offset’ needs to be calculated. The ‘offset’ is a measure of the difference between the time setting on the camera and the time setting in the GPS data. For example, if you took a photo and the camera recorded the time as ’26th March 2007, 10:15:12′, and yet the real time (or GPS time) was ’26th March 2007, 11:20:15′, then there would a time ‘offset’ of 1 hour, 5 minutes and 3 seconds.

There are three ways that PhotoGPSEditor can calculate this offset.

1. By placing a pointer on a map at a known location for one of the photos taken
2. By using a known latitude and longitude for a photo in the set (this is easy to do if you have taken a photo of the GPS screen)
3. By knowing the ‘offset’, that is, you know that the difference between camera time and GPS time.

Calculating the ‘offset’ using the map – place the pointer and click the ‘Offset’ button

Calculating the ‘offset’ using a known latitude and longitude – type in the latitude and longitude (the program will take DD.DDDDDD, DD MM.MMMMMM and DD MM SS.SSSS, where D = degrees, M = minutes and S = seconds)

Setting a known ‘offset’

Once the ‘offset’ has been set the user can move to the next screen and match of the GPS data can be applied to all photos by clicking on the ‘Apply to all photos’ button.

Once the photos and GPS data have been matched the location data, that is, town, area and country, are added automatically and additional information, such as a description of the photos etc. can be added by the user. This information can be added to one photo at a time, or to multiple photos by selecting them and typing in the information.

Finally (and on the last screen), the photos can be saved…

And that is all there is to geotagging your photos!

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download: