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Which GPS for Photography needs --GPX/EXIF


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Hi all,

First time poster, With a co-worker we are trying to find which GPS unit would do what we need.

 

The goal is to get GPS waypoints WITH bearing information and date for photography.

 

The idea, set up the camera, take a photo and take the GPS points.

 

I currently have a Garmin 60Cx, but the waypoints stores the DAte/Time as a Note and the bearing/Heading information is not saved.

 

Is there any unit out there doing that ?

 

1. Save Waypoints

2. Waypoints have a dedicated DAte and Time

3. Waypoints have the unit heading information stored.

 

We know Nikon has some camera that save the GPS coordinate, but not the heading information.

 

Now if you think we are crazy, check this out, both EXIF and GPX defines that information.

For the GPX it's in the Waypoint as "magvar", and for the EXIF it's "GPSImgDirection"

 

Also on the side note, is it possible to load some custom programs onto Garmin Unit with the MicroSD card ? We could write our own code to do it.

 

Any help would be great!

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The problem you are going to keep hitting with Consumer GPS units is the bearing. A waypoint is a spot on the ground. Since you also want to know which way you are facing...You can manually annotate that by using a compass (or perhaps the GPS compass) or you may need to look at survey grade GPS equipment (which comes with a survey grade price).

 

You may be able to mess with the route function to get a bearing but that's not something I've ever looked at. I just now a route knows which way you are going from one waypoint to the next and that is a bearing which may (or may not) be saved in the waypoint data file.

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The problem you are going to keep hitting with Consumer GPS units is the bearing. A waypoint is a spot on the ground. Since you also want to know which way you are facing...You can manually annotate that by using a compass (or perhaps the GPS compass) or you may need to look at survey grade GPS equipment (which comes with a survey grade price).

 

You may be able to mess with the route function to get a bearing but that's not something I've ever looked at. I just now a route knows which way you are going from one waypoint to the next and that is a bearing which may (or may not) be saved in the waypoint data file.

 

Yea we understand that, but say using a 60CSX unit for example it's got an electronic compass, so the unit itself knows it's orientation. Granted it would be the user responsability to put the GPS in the right direction (IE mounting it on the shoe of the camera)

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Yea we understand that, but say using a 60CSX unit for example it's got an electronic compass, so the unit itself knows it's orientation. Granted it would be the user responsability to put the GPS in the right direction (IE mounting it on the shoe of the camera)

What I've done as a workaround is to rename the waypoint, using the bearing in the name.

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Just as a workaround until you find what you want, mark a waypoint where you take the picture then go a few feet in the direction that you took the picture and mark a secondary waypoint. That will give you a bearing. I don't recall if the 60 CSx records a time that a waypoint was marked. If it does the earlier time will give the location of the picture and the later the bearing.

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...Yea we understand that, but say using a 60CSX unit for example it's got an electronic compass, so the unit itself knows it's orientation. Granted it would be the user responsability to put the GPS in the right direction (IE mounting it on the shoe of the camera)

 

That's going to depend on the firmware. I know what direction I'm looking at all times, and I know how it relates to my world, where I am and where I'm going. I have no clue what bearing that is. If the GPS is programmed like that, it's never going to be the solution you want.

 

Aviation GPS's may be another angle worth looking into. Bearing is important in that universe.

 

I'd flat out call Garmin and ask. You need the experts on this one.

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Just to clarify terminology here, Garmin GPS units use the term "bearing" only when going to a waypoint or following a route. The bearing is the direction to the next turn or waypoint.

 

The term "heading" is used for the direction that the GPS happens to be traveling at any given moment. If you approach the camera directly from behind, perpendicular to the focal plane, the unit's "heading" will be the direction that the camera is pointed.

 

AFAIK, the unit does not store heading information when you mark a waypoint.

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I achieve the result you're looking for using RoboGeo, but the procedure is different from what you are describing/asking for...

 

I confirm that my GPSr and DSLR clocks are sync'd before hitting the trail or assignment. Once on site, the GPSr is turned on and left on for the duration of the shoot. After making each image, I either take a number of steps in the direction the image was shot, or if that is not possible, make a manual written note of the direction (note: I do not manually create a waypoint, though the previous poster's suggestion of creating a waypoint with the heading in the name is a good one!). Back at the computer I process the RAW images and load them, along with my GPS track log, into RoboGeo. It matches coordinates to each image and I add the headings manually from my notes or by looking at the track log.

 

This works well, but I am totally with you on the need to capture the heading info automatically somehow...

 

If you have Google Earth installed, you can see a good example by viewing my hike to Arrowhead Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Otherwise the trip report and pics are here.

 

Hope this helps...

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Just as a workaround until you find what you want, mark a waypoint where you take the picture then go a few feet in the direction that you took the picture and mark a secondary waypoint. That will give you a bearing. I don't recall if the 60 CSx records a time that a waypoint was marked. If it does the earlier time will give the location of the picture and the later the bearing.

 

This would probably be the easiest solution. You could even write a program on the pc side to match up each pair of waypoints based on their proximity to each other, calculate the direction, then output a gpx file that contains one waypoint for each pair that contains the date/time, location, and direction.

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Just as a workaround until you find what you want, mark a waypoint where you take the picture then go a few feet in the direction that you took the picture and mark a secondary waypoint. That will give you a bearing. I don't recall if the 60 CSx records a time that a waypoint was marked. If it does the earlier time will give the location of the picture and the later the bearing.

 

This would probably be the easiest solution. You could even write a program on the pc side to match up each pair of waypoints based on their proximity to each other, calculate the direction, then output a gpx file that contains one waypoint for each pair that contains the date/time, location, and direction.

Never mind, misread the comments.

Edited by geognerd
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This may be what you're looking for...

 

http://www.geotagger.co.uk/

Hmmmm. This set-up uses a Geko 301 and says it reports magnetic compass direction. The 301 has an electronic compass, which means that they are getting it to report the heading to the box. It has a serial port. Does anyone know if NMEA serial protocol reports heading? If so, you could probably do this with any GPSr that has a NMEA output.

 

 

Edit: It looks like NMEA sentences .RMC and .GSV would do the trick:

 

RMC 

$GPRMC,hhmmss.ss,A,llll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,x.x,x.x,ddmmyy,x.x,a*hh 

RMC = Recommended Minimum Specific GPS/TRANSIT 

Data 

1 = UTC of position fix 

2 = Data status (V=navigation receiver warning) 

3 = Latitude of fix 

4 = N or S 

5 = Longitude of fix 

6 = E or W 

7 = Speed over ground in knots 

8 = Track made good in degrees True 

9 = UT date 

10 = Magnetic variation degrees (Easterly var. subtracts from true course) 

11 = E or W 

12 = Checksum

 

GSV 

$GPGSV,4,1,13,02,02,213,,03,-3,000,,11,00,121,,14,13,172,05*67 

GSV = Number of SVs in view, PRN numbers, elevation, azimuth & SNR values. 

1 = Total number of messages of this type in this cycle 

2 = Message number 

3 = Total number of SVs in view 

4 = SV PRN number 

5 = Elevation in degrees, 90 maximum 

6 = Azimuth, degrees from true north, 000 to 359 

7 = SNR, 00-99 dB (null when not tracking) 

8-11 = Information about second SV, same as field 4-7 

12-15= Information about third SV, same as field 4-7 

16-19= Information about fourth SV, same as field 4-7 

 

Edited by Sputnik 57
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Thanks all, I had missed all these answers, and we'll be looking into the geotagger... Thanks!

 

BTW, Yea the NMEA Sentence do have heading.

 

Now the question, would it work with a newer Garmin Hcx which has the newer SIRF Chipset....

 

moonpup, thanks so much for the info...

Edited by crenninger
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