Acquiring Satellites..

I’ve been asked a couple times so I figured I’d explain how I geotag my photos. I tried out a ton of programs with varying degrees of success.

I settled on Geosetter since it’s pretty easy to use and works well with my setup. It also lets me be pretty lazy.

So here is my setup:

Getting your GPS to log in a usable format is the first step. I have a Garmin 60CSx and there is a setting to make it log your tracks to a GPX file that it saves on the microSD card. It can basically log forever if you have a 2Gb card even with the full North America maps loaded.

The second step is to set the time on your camera as close to the time your GPS shows as possible. The time stamp on your photos will need to be reconciled with the time stamp on your GPS track for the software to figure out where it was taken. Under 30 seconds difference you’ll probably never notice unless you’re moving really fast.

The last step is to copy the GPX from the GPS and the pictures to the computer. Then Geosetter comes into play. Load the group of photos you want then just choose the option to Synchronize with GPS data files, point it to your GPX, and it’s done.

There are lots of other ways to geotag, the easiest for a couple photos is probably to use Picasa and just drop a marker on the map. This assumes though you remember the location the photo was taken.

My method lets me geotag really accurately without much hassle. I just turn on the GPS and stick it someplace it can get a signal then I don’t have to think about it again till it’s time to turn it off or check the batteries. It usually rides in my jacket pocket or even in a dry bag tucked away inside my kayak. That’s the great thing about using the 60CSx, it can get signal pretty much anywhere unless it has something pretty substantial blocking the sky.