9 posts were split to a new topic: Cheapest and easiest methods for geotagging photos
Bringing this topic back up with a question: I’ve been using the Android app GPS Waypoints to collect GPS tracks and then Adobe Lightroom to geotag my photos (like presented in the original video). It works perfectly, but has one down side: it does not associate GPS accuracy/precision with my photos. This results in observations with no accuracy/precision circle, which might not be the best practice).
Does anyone know a way or workflow that allows to associate GPS accuracy/precision with photos, in order to have that data associated with iNaturalist observations?
If you import your photos to a computer at any point in this process, you can use the web uploader and manually add an accuracy circle to each observation.
I select all the photos in the web uploader, and give them a precision based on how fast I’m going. For walking/hiking 15 metres seems to be enough in my experience.
For faster travelling (e.g. taking photos while on a car trip on the highway) I try to judge by comparing landscape features in the satellite map with the photos, but there seems to be enough lag that 300 metres up to a kilometre radius is sometimes necessary at those speeds. I guess the lag is because the app doesn’t record a location every second.
Yes, that is what I usually do (although not always, due to lack of time). But I was wondering if there is a less time consuming method? For instance, a geotagging program or proccess that also associates GPS accuracy to the photo?
It only takes a couple button clicks to apply the precision to all the observations in the uploader at once, so I haven’t looked into it. However I imagine there would be a similar way to batch edit photos and add the precision to the EXIF data if there’s a field for it.
It would be cool to have a more complex program that formulates a custom precision for each photo based on information from the app such as the time between GPS points obtained etc., but that sounds pretty complicated. I haven’t heard of anything like that but maybe it exists?
Does iNaturalist read EXIF GPS precision/accuracy tags? There was discussion of that a few years ago:
https://groups.google.com/g/inaturalist/c/IPQEKOj3J58/m/ThzD0-o2BQAJ
And here’s how to add gpshpositioningerror to your pics. I’m assuming iNat reads it, otherwise, why would this person be doing it?
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-photos/66/5?u=pfau_tarleton
[edit added] @ joaolemoslima
I tried this…and it worked very well! I’m using a Windows machine, so, I downloaded exiftool (you have to rename exiftool(-k).exe to exiftool.exe in order for it to execute) and put it in a folder called exif directly under C: (just to reduce directory path name in the command). Then put some pics in the same folder (again, just to reduce the directory path name). Then executed this command in the command prompt (cmd):
C:\exif\exiftool.exe -gpshpositioningerror=10 C:\exif\
The 10 is 10 m. You can save this command in a text file for use when you need it. Move your pics to this folder, copy/paste the command in the command prompt window, then move the edited pic files back to where you want them. If you don’t want to move the pics into this folder, you have to edit the command to include the directory path to where the pics are located. Choose which is easiest for you. Exiftool keeps a copy of your original file (renamed to include ‘original’ at end of file name). This is super easy, and just takes a few seconds.
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Ken-ichi added the feature a few posts into that discussion (see associated github issue and commit).
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Thanks for the video @tiwane
I use LR and will try the tagging the next time I’m out with camera. I never realized the Map tab was there in LR and I just joined the 21st century by purchasing a smartphone 
For me, not sure it will be worth the time to use it since I can generally remember where I took each photo but it would be nice to have the locations all inserted automatically - especially when I have 25 or 30 observations to post.
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I just noticed this response now! Thank you very much for the help, I’ll try exiftool when I get the chance
I’ve been using the GPSWaypoints app (on Android) to gather a GPS track in order to geotag my photos later. However, it is not that accurate.
Does anyone recommend another free Android app that can collect GPX files?
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I use GPS Essentials. Perhaps not a particularly intuitive interface but excellent for recording tracks, waypoints and geotagged images as you travel. Tracks etc are initially stored in a proprietary SQLite database but can be exported to several other more familiar formats including GPX and KML. I subsequently load a GPX file into Garmin’s Basecamp and use it’s geotagging facility to tag images acquired with my Lumix compact camera. Works very well. 
Thank you for the suggestion! Is the track the app records faithfull to the actual path you walked? That is my main issue with the one I’m using
IMO the track is very accurate. You can adjust the frequency or distance of acquired track points in the settings. I use the default settings. Just be sure to turn off any power saving options on your device before setting out. Unless I do this on my Samsung tablet the GPS receiver is shut off when I close the cover. Occasional spurious track points, generally at start or end, can easily be removed in Basecamp.
If people is still looking for recommendations GPS Logger seems pretty promising, it’s free and open source. I tried today and worked great, it doesn’t let you see the track right in the app (you need a GPX viewer), I then synced the path and pics in Lightroom and I think everything ended well (accuracy is not recorded).
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Right on! The peregrine falcon I photographed from 480 ft. away would be mislocated by 1.6 football fields if I didn’t manually correct its location as I uploaded the observation.
Manual curation of location is going to be necessary for the great majority of bird photos, for marine animals photographed from shore, etc. etc. etc. Even many of my insect photos (e.g. butterflies) are shot from a distance.
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Olympus has a phone app called OI Share that can be used to geotag your TG6 images - no accuracy.
I use OSMTracker, usually as a backup to one of my Garmins or the on-board GPS in the OM-Tough. It’s designed for capturing traces for OpenStreetMap, but they are perfectly adequate for geotagging. Also if you have an internet connection you can view your trace on a background OSM map.
There are a number of other free tools in the OSM ecosystem which will also capture GPX tracks.
I generally still use Geosetter to do the geotagging.
I spoke too soon about Geosetter. It now has lost a lot of functionality (the API it used to show maps reached end-of-life). It’s had a good run, I must have been using it for 12 or 13 years now, but I don’t expect it to be updated.
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I recommend komoot ( Komoot | Finde, plane und teile deine Abenteuer mit komoot.) to navigate and track while hiking (or biking) and discovered just yesterday Garmin: BaseCamp Updates & Downloads for geotagging of the pictures.