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.

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

Recently I have had some great emails:

Michael emailed me with the report of PhotoGPSEditor crashing. This was the new release (version 1.5.3 – read the post) that was causing the problems, and as he sent the ‘crash log’ I could easily locate and solve the problem (took all of 30 minutes) and a new version was posted this evening (version 1.5.4 – read the post). Thanks Michael.

Tony emailed to say how useful he found PhotoInfoEditor and sent in a few suggestions for changes. What was spooky was 75% of the changes he suggested have already been added to the new version of PhotoInfoEditor, which is currently undergoing testing. Again, thanks Tony.

Kim from Korea emailed to report that PhotoGPSEditor would not display DNG images produced by his camera. We have had a long email chat about the problem and he really helped me chase the problem by providing examples of problem DNG files .

As Kim said: “The kids wear Korean traditional clothes and shoes. Shape of Hair means my hometown symbol pine tree.”

First, Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) supports DNG (or so it claims) ‘out of the box’. And indeed it seems to. However, the DNGs Kim sent would not open in Preview, and would not display in PhotoGPSEditor (they reported a formatting error in the debugger). Some digging in the code of PhotoGPSEditor showed that the things really weren’t working as expected. The files were being loaded, but would not translate to an image. Some more work, and a change in the code, and the files Kim had sent (plus some photos from other users), now worked. As a final test I asked Kim for one more example of the type of DNG file his camera produced. And guess what? It wouldn’t load in to PhotoGPSEditor. This was odd… I thought that maybe the file had been damaged ‘in transit’ as Preview also couldn’t open it, but when I tried Photoshop, success! An image! Great! The file was OK, but PhotoGPSEditor didn’t work!

I then tried the file again with PhotoGPSEditor, and it showed a preview image…. odd…. After some ‘experiments’, using an unopened version of the file, I discovered that the act of opening the DNG file in Photoshop, and then closing the file WITHOUT A SAVE ‘fixed’ the photo so it could be displayed by PhotoGPSEditor. How, or why this happens I have no idea!

What was also interesting was that even when PhotoGPSEditor could not display an image from the DNGs, it could still write the meta-data (location information etc.) to the file when it was saved. Therefore, I have now added a ‘feature’ to PhotoGPSEditor that states that the image can’t be viewed, but that the program should still be able to write the meta-data.

If PhotoGPSEditor encounters a file that it can write meta-data to, but can’t display an image, it now states the fact!

These improvements in image handling, and the reporting of ‘problem’ images, will be added to the next version of PhotoInfoEditor.

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:

The geocoding article on Wikipedia is an interesting, however, I would take issue with one point and that is the use of GPS data.

The piece seems to suggest (in its present form – you just know how these Wikipedia pages can change!) that you have to use GPS data to geocode a photo, you do not, you can assign geocoding data, i.e. latitude and longitude, as well as city, region and country, manually (which they do state in the second half of the entry), and this is where PhotoInfoEditor comes in. With PhotoInfoEditor it is possible to assign the geo-location of a photo by simply dragging and dropping a pointer on a map. There is no need to use a GPS unit, you just have to remember where you were when you took the shot, and find it on a map. The ‘bonus’ if you use PhotoInfoEditor to do this is the program will then automatically fill in the city, region and country information for you.

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:

Under some rare circumstances if a photo file did not have a thumbnail icon and was using a ‘generic’ system JPEG/TIFF type icon then PhotoGPSEditor would save the file with a low resolution version of the icon. This was not really a problem and in no way affected the file, but it was annoying! Hence the release….

If you have used PhotoGPSEditor and have a number of files with ‘low resolution’ generic icons then you may wish to use PhotoIcon (download) to replace the icons with a thumbnail of the photo.

PhotoGPSEditor is freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores. (PhotoIcon is free (more information))

The program is available for download:

PhotoIcon is a small freeware program that was written to address a problem which occurred under some rare circumstances when using PhotoInfoEditor or PhotoGPSEditor, namely the creation of ‘low resolution’ generic file icons on saved photos. (This bug has been corrected in subsequent releases of the programs.)

For this problem to occur a photo file would have to be using a ‘generic’ system JPEG/TIFF type icon, as opposed to a thumbnail image. If these files were used with PhotoGPSEditor or PhotoInfoEditor then when they were saved a low resolution version of the icon was used. This was not really a problem and in no way affected the file, but it was annoying!

With PhotoIcon the file icon can be replaced with a full sized thumbnail image derived from the file. The program is very easy to use:

1. Double click the icon to start the program.
2. Click the button labeled “1. Load Images”.
3. Select a folder containing the images (the program can handle JPEG2, TIFF, JPEG, PICT, BMP, PSD, and PNG) or select individual or multiple images in the file dialog window.
4. Add or remove additional photos as required (use the “1. Load Images” to add, and to remove select the photos to remove and click “Remove”)
5. Click the “2. Save Images” button and select the location to save the images (PLEASE NOTE: The program will not overwrite existing files. If it encounters a file of the same name it will increment the file number, e.g. file, file_1 etc.)
6. When done, quit the program!

PhotoIcon can be downloaded here

PhotoGPSEditor: In this program the function of the marker is to help match the GPS data to the photos. Moving the marker will not update the information in the picture, it is just to help do the match, and then confirm that the match has worked.

The initial positioning of the marker is used by PhotoGPSEditor to match the selected photo with the GPS data. The program then calculates the difference in time between when the photo was taken, and when the GPS data was recorded.

A ‘map marker’ on a map!

PhotoInfoEditor: The function of the marker in this program is to show the location the photo was taken and moving the marker will update/change the information.

I tend to use PhotoGPSEditor to do a match between GPS data and the photos, and hence add latitude/longitude and location data. I then export the photos for import in to PhotoInfoEditor for ‘fine-tuning’ of position and to add additional information.

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:

The data made for some interesting reading… I had a look at the data for March, and the first half of April.

Downloads of PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor for March and the first half of April

So what is this telling me? Well, PhotoGPSEditor had a lot of downloads in March and is heading for slightly less downloads in April (about 75% of the March figure). This kind of fits in with PhotoGPSEditor receiving a couple of nice write-ups in blogs in March and the release of a significant update at the end of the month.

PhotoInfoEditor had roughly half the number of downloads of PhotoGPSEditor in March, is already 50% up on its March figure, and may finish April 2.5-times up on its March figure.

Basically, total downloads of both programs was just over 3,000 in March and should come out around 4,000 in April (currently at 2000+). During the same period the donation pages (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation) were viewed 500 times in March and 500 times, so far, in April (so maybe we will hit 1,000 at the end of the month?).

What would be nice is if each download of a either PhotoInfoEditor or PhotoGPSEditor brought in some cash for MMISoftware, but it doesn’t. It would be nice if each visitor to the donation page made a donation, but they don’t. Actually, over the March and April a total of 18 donations were received (7 for PhotoInfoEditor and 11 for PhotoGPSEditor), with an average donation of about $10. This works out at roughly one donation per 350 downloads. (Yep, you can live the high-life on your earnings from ‘donation-ware’ development.)

An interesting statistic is that the ’shareware industry’ estimates that roughly 1% of downloads result in a purchase (MMISoftware sees a similar ‘rate-of-return’ on its ’shareware’ downloads). So, 7,000 downloads equals, ~70 sales, say the programs were priced at $25 each, do the maths, $1,750. Still not ‘big-bucks’, but it helps pay the mortgage!

Now it could be argued that most of the people download the program, use it once, and then don’t use it again. However, both programs occasionally request a map update from the servers (PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor load the initial map page, and associated javascript, from the servers and this is only requested about once per day, and only when the program starts. It is also possible to estimates the number of times a program has been used more than 5 times as on the sixth run of the program a ‘nag’ screen is displayed instead of a map (BTW, making a donation makes the ‘nag’ go away as MMISoftware sends out an ‘anti-nag’ code to donators)). The number of ‘map’ requests made stands at roughly 8,000, so this will most probably hit 10,000 by the end of the month (this suggests that the 5,000 copies of the program that are out there have been used more than once), and of this 8,000 roughly 3,000 are ‘nag’ requests (4,000 by the end of the month). So, clearly there are large number of people regularly using the program and not donating… That is a bit disappointing… I feel depressed….

P.S. I forgot to say, no press releases have been issued for PhotoInfoEditor or PhotoGPSEditor, and all the traffic reported above has resulted from posting the programs on Versiontracker and MacUpdate, plus a couple of posts on other blogs which had picked up the programs from either Versiontracker or MacUpdate.

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:

As part of the ‘privacy’ controls at Flickr the extraction of ‘geo-location’ from photos is OFF by default, therefore if you are uploading photos with latitude and longitude meta-data, and you wish to use Flickrs’ map facility you must turn the feature on.

To turn on the Flickr ‘geo-tag’ feature you need to go to ‘Your Account’ page (link at the bottom of the Flickr page).

The link to ‘Your Account’ can be found at the bottom of the Flickr page

Next, go to the ‘Privacy and Permissions’ tab in your account section

Select the ‘Privacy and Permissions’ tab

In this section you need to change two setting (to change the settings click on the ‘edit’ link near the setting you wish to change and follow the on screen instructions), one is in ‘Global Settings’ and the other in ‘Defaults for new uploads’.

In ‘Global Settings’ change ‘Hide your photos’s EXIF data’ to NO

Change ‘Hide your photos’s EXIF data’ to NO in ‘Global Settings’

In the ‘Defaults for new uploads’ you need to change ‘Import EXIF location data’ to YES

Change ‘Import EXIF location data’ to YES in ‘Defaults for new uploads’

Once that is done you should be all set.

As a proof that this works I have uploaded some thesnowsite.com photos and they can be seen at: photos.

In putting this article together I also came across a comment on a post at geobloggers.com in which the same problem was raised.

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: