Mac/Windows Software

Basecamp Windows Geotagging photos- photo time adjustment

This discussion has been locked.

You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Geotagging photos- photo time adjustment

Former Member over 12 years ago

Hi-

I'm new to the basecamp software, I'm used to MicroSoft Phototools. I'm running Basecamp 3.3.3- When I Geotag photos using a track, I note there is a dialog box that lets me adjust for any time offset between the camera and GPS.

Can thisbe made to allow this dialog to work interactively so I can see where the photographs sit on a map? I usually know exactly where I took at least one photograph in a set. I can think of two ways to do this:

The first is the way MicroSoft does it- move the time slider until the photographs are in the right location and save it.

Another method (I don't know if anyone implements this method) is to let me drag a picture to its correct location on the track (let me zoom in or out on the map, and pan it if needed!). When I'm satisfied with the location for that picture on the track, ask me if the time-offset should be applied to all the photographs that I'm importing. This may be easier to use than the way MicroSoft does it!

I'm also open for suggestions on how to better use the software as it exists now- perhaps there's something easy to do so I can determine the offset prior to tagging the photographs.

Right now, I use two programs- one for photo editing to get the time for a picture off the EXIF metadata, and Basecamp so I can see the nearest point on a track for a picture, which lets me then determine the offset. It would be nice if everything could be done in Basecamp!

Thanks for listening!

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

If your camera clock is set correctly, you shouldn't have a time offset. In future, if you forget to change your camera clock, an easy way to get the offset is to take a photo of the Date/Time screen of your GPSr. Also, it may help you to know that the time used for the tracklog geotag is Greenwich Mean Time (AKA UTC or Zulu). Time offsets from Zulu are positive going east and negative going west, so Mountain time is -7 hours. (Midnight in Denver is 7:00AM in London).

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

It seems that time zones do cause confusion for the track logs. On my recent ride through multiple time zones I saved each daily track log at the end of the day. The Zumo tags each time in that track relative the time zone at the start of the day's ride. Because I stayed in different time zones than where the day's ride was, but my camera was kept at my home city, I had to vary the time offset to match the time zone of the beginning of the day.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

If your camera clock is set correctly, you shouldn't have a time offset. In future, if you forget to change your camera clock, an easy way to get the offset is to take a photo of the Date/Time screen of your GPSr. Also, it may help you to know that the time used for the tracklog geotag is Greenwich Mean Time (AKA UTC or Zulu). Time offsets from Zulu are positive going east and negative going west, so Mountain time is -7 hours. (Midnight in Denver is 7:00AM in London).

I did a search for this issue in the forum before posting and there seems to be an indication that the camera's time zone should match the computer when using Basecamp.

I usually use an Android phone to generate the tracks because the battery life is better than that of my Nuvi, and the receiver is better than that of my Garmin V (old technology now); the phone only shows time to the minute. Of course, the GPS and phone clock should be the same since I understand they get the time from the same source (GPS satellites) so I could take a snap of the GPS and get the same results.

Good suggestion for a work-around- I hope the programmers read this thread and eventually make the software easier to use in this respect.

Thanks for the suggestion!

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

This thread may clarify things a little or add to your confusion.

Also, while BaseCamp does an excellent job of geotagging JPGs if you are looking for a more format friendly geotagger try Geosetter. In addition to JPGs it will add geotags to a number of other formats including CAMERA RAW.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

This thread may clarify things a little or add to your confusion.

Also, while BaseCamp does an excellent job of geotagging JPGs if you are looking for a more format friendly geotagger try Geosetter. In addition to JPGs it will add geotags to a number of other formats including CAMERA RAW.

Thanks for the help- I'll also look at GeoSetter too.

I appreciate the suggestions and also hope that the Garmin folks would consider creating some sort of visual feedback of the images on the map when adjusting the photograph time offset.

EDIT: Geosetter looks like a fine program and I'll certainly give it a try. However, it uses Google Maps for maps and needs an internet connection to see them. I'm in a surprising number of places without an internet connection (or a cheap connection). Basecamp uses the map(s) stored in the computer or GPS, so no internet connection required. This is also an issue with MicroSoft Photo tools.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I don't think either BC or Geosetter needs the maps to tag the photos. I'm pretty sure its just a sync of the timestamp of the photos to a time in the tracklog. Of course, if you want a map handy, BC will do that for you.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I don't think either BC or Geosetter needs the maps to tag the photos. I'm pretty sure its just a sync of the timestamp of the photos to a time in the tracklog. Of course, if you want a map handy, BC will do that for you.

No, they don't need the map. As you mention, it is simply matching the time stamp in the EXIF header to the nearest (or interpolated, depending on the software- BC will interpolate between points) point in the track with the same time.

For initially tagging photos, the map is a convenience to confirm I have the time offset set correctly so the photographs are tagged to the correct location. If the Garmin programmers could make it interactive in BaseCamp, it would be very helpful.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

For initially tagging photos, the map is a convenience to confirm I have the time offset set correctly so the photographs are tagged to the correct location. If the Garmin programmers could make it interactive in BaseCamp, it would be very helpful.

I wrote up a case for this a while ago, so this is definitely something we'd like to do. But I cannot say when we will fit it into our schedule.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I wrote up a case for this a while ago, so this is definitely something we'd like to do. But I cannot say when we will fit it into our schedule.

Thank you very much for your response!

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

Time stamps vs actual GPS info

I have used a GPS enabled camera for several years.

It has been a continued source of frustration that Basecamp uses timestamps by default and not the actual exif GPS location.

I have observed differences of kilometers between the Basecamp location and where I know the photo to have been taken.

My question is, why isn't the location data used by default?