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I do a lot of hikes and bike tours. On these tours I use a GPS device to track the route. I also use my compact camera to take some pictures.

Now I want to use geotagging software to enhance the picture information with the exact location where it was taken.

Can you recommend any free software? I found some good software, but I couldn't find any free.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Are you looking for free as in zero-cost, or do you want free / open source software? What operating system? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 15:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm looking for zero-cost software. Opensource would be a plus but it's not really necessary. The operating system isn't really important for me. I would prefer: Windows > Unix > Mac \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 15:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ I use geotag pro (geotagphotos.net/en).. it's an app for iPhone/Android (uses gps on the phone) and uses a OS agnostic java program to add the geotagging info to the pictures. Not free.. but costs only about $4. Worth every penny.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sridhar Iyer
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Sridhar Iyer Thanks, but how can I then geotag pictures that I haven't taken with the phone? Do I have to load the GPS track and the photos first on my mobile to tag them? \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 17:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Roflcoptr: geotag pro is not for geotaggging pictures taken with phone. I use it for geotagging pictures taken with SLR. All you do is to first sync the geotag clock with the clock on the camera and let geotagPro log your location every few seconds. Later the software geotags the photos on the computer based on the datafile from geotagPro and timestamps on your photos. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sridhar Iyer
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 21:00

7 Answers 7

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I use gpicsync to tag photos with GPS coordinates from my Garmin 60Csx. I just clip the GPS to my belt while I'm shooting. When I get home, I copy the GPX file from the Garmin to my computer and run gpicsyc. It matches the time stamps in the GPS data to the time stamps in the photos and writes the coordinates into the photo metadata.

Gpicsync is open source and supports Windows, Mac and Linux. Under the covers it uses EXIFtool to manipulate the image files, which allows gpicsync to work with numerous image file formats, including many raw camera formats.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks. This seems to be useful. But as a minor drawback, the latest version is from 2009. Do you know if the development was stopped? \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 16:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks. I tried it now, and it really looks ok. But I have a strange problem. If I want to view the result on Google Earth, all pictures have in the longitute and latitude value only one value behind the decimal point. But the log file says for example this: sed image IMAG0347.jpg : taken 2011-08-06-09:48:36, writing best latitude/longitude match to picture: N 47.280168 ,E 9.484683 : time difference (s)= 0. But in GoogleEarth the longitude is shortened to 47.2. This makes it useless. Do you had experienced the same problem? \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 18:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't see that problem here. Gpicsync is writing the full precision coordinates to the photo metadata and to the Google Earth KML file it creates - at least it is with the 2008 version I'm using. Obviously it's been awhile since I upgraded. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – juggler
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 18:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes I checked it again with another software that maps photos on a map. There it is correct. So I think it is a GoogleEarth Problem. \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 19:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ I accpeted this answer since it is a simple and all-in-one solution that hasn't too many optional features but does really what it should do for my purpose. \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 11, 2011 at 23:03
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Leonidas mentions Geosetter but doesn't elaborate. I cannot say enough good things about it. I've used it exclusively for all my geotagging needs. It allows you to manually assign positions by browsing a map, lets you save/reuse favorites, reads data from GPS tracks exported to GPX, allows full EXIF/IPTC editing, etc.

More importantly it has worked great and seems to be updated at fairly regular intervals.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Just used it now. Worked great for manual geotagging on the map, or batch automatic geotagging using my GPS track files. Nice! \$\endgroup\$
    – mikato
    Commented Dec 7, 2015 at 0:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ I use it too, however as a second choice after geotagging in Picasa seems to have finally been broken forever. Geosetter does a decent job, but Picasa was much faster and had a functioning search option. \$\endgroup\$
    – slingeraap
    Commented Jul 18 at 15:17
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I'm using a Holux M-241 and whole range of free software under Windows using Cygwin for Perl and Co.

  • Adjusting time (if I forgot to synch camera/gps): ExifTool (multi-platform) or XnView (Windows)
  • Downloading from device: BT747 (Java, writes to GPX or KML (latter for tracks in Google Earth))
  • Tagging the images: GPSphoto.pl (Perl, so Perl and ExifTool needed)
  • Checking: XnView (Windows: opens Browser-link to Geohack with coordinates)
  • Checking/Adjusting manually (eg viewing direction): Geosetter (Windows: uses ExifTool again)

ExifTool has the advantage that it writes about the best approximation of standard XMP/IPTC/EXIF to the files (and compatibility to file formats, as @gordoco mentions).

GPSPhoto is actually quite versatile for tagging/retagging with different time-windows and time-offsets and offers to write some other data with ExifTool while one already is on it.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks. This looks also really useful, but at least on my Windows machine I would have to install a Perl interpreter. \$\endgroup\$
    – RoflcoptrException
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 16:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, I'm using both worlds. Never could get away from Visual Studio and games but I prefer a nice xterm for stringing (for example exiftool-)commands together. So ... there is CygWin for me :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Leonidas
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 16:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ Don't think Geosetter requires either Perl or Cygwin. I've used it before for tagging Canon raws, and it works well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Conor Boyd
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 20:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Conor Boyd: No, it does not, that is true. That is also why Cygwin/Perl are not mentioned in the requirements in the brackets for Geosetter ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – Leonidas
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 22:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Leonidas: Wasn't saying you were wrong, I just thought it helpful to clarify, since your the first line of answer (to me) implies to some extent that the list is for software that runs on Windows under Cygwin. \$\endgroup\$
    – Conor Boyd
    Commented Aug 11, 2011 at 0:01
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GeoTag Ninja is a newer and promising tool for geotagging on Windows. It emerged after the GeoSetter project appeared to be abandoned. Unlike GeoSetter, it's open source, so you can contribute on GitHub.

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I use, and like, GPSPhotolinker for the Mac. This version is free, there is also a Pro version, but I have found the free version perfect for my workflow.

Workflow:

  1. Download GPS tracks, open them in GPSPhotolinker

  2. Download RAW images to a temp folder on my desktop

  3. Load images from folder into GPSPhotoLinker

  4. Associate GPS data with images...usually accept the generated associations

  5. Update images: yes, this is editing the RAW, but its metadata

  6. Import into Lightroom from the temp folder

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  • \$\begingroup\$ sadly, it does not work with mac os x 10.10 yosemite \$\endgroup\$
    – otmezger
    Commented Dec 1, 2014 at 18:43
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You can use ExifTool for that. Assuming the clock of your camera is correct, it is a simple command like this:

exiftool -geotag=track.log /Users/Phil/Pictures

See Geotagging with ExifTool

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darktable is a non-destructive image editing program that supports both JPEG and RAW. It has a "map" feature which will add geodata to exported photos, it supports simple drag and drop on a slippy OpenStreetMap map. I do not think it can add geodata to photos without exporting them; but most people want to edit their photos anyway.

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