Geotagging with Android?

[Mike Yang]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anybody out there is using an Android phone to geotag. That could be either by taking tagged pics or by using an app to create a tracklog.  How has your experience been?  What apps are you using?

Cheers,
Mike

[peterkrogh]

Mike,
Does the Android geotag images you shot with it?
Peter

[Mike Yang]

Hi Peter,

I'm actually in the process of debating between an Android phone or an iPhone.  I know the iPhone will tag the geotag the images from your DAM book. I do not know if the Android phones will do that and I've heard conflicting statements from the various online forums.  Believe it or not this will significantly influence my phone-buying decision.

I was hoping that somebody in this forum has experience using an Android phone (e.g. Droid, Nexus One, etc.) to geotag images.  I actually think it would be more useful to have an app that creates a tracklog that can be sync'ed with the pictures later.  This would mean I don't have to bother taking a picture with the phone, which I could easily see myself forgetting to do.

Thanks very much for your response. If you know somebody that knows somebody that uses Android phones to geotag, I'd be very appreciative.

Cheers,
Mike

[Roger Spencelayh]

Hi Mike,

Don't know if you're still looking for some info about geotagging on an Android, but if so I have some info for you.

Firstly, just for reference, to get the images tagged, when in camera mode, select Menu, Settings, Geo-tag photos. You must have GPS turned on to do this.

I use a program called My Tracks to create a track log. Seems to work fine, producing a csv file (my choice, will also do a gpx or kml file - whatever they are). On a 20+ minute trip it wrote about 470 lines - samples seem to be taken at anything between 1 and 4 second intervals, probably based on speed of travel (it was a mixture of foot and car travel, and seemd to write based on distance rather than time).

Data provided was Time, Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Bearing, Accuracy and Speed. Time is in Zulu time (GMT). The accuracy ranged from 2 - 48, mostly around 3 and 4. The 48 was when I went into a building and probably lost the GPS signal.

The My Tracks app I found searching for Android Tracklog on the internet, and was available for download (free) from Android Market.

Phone is an HTC Desire running Android 2.1 on the Orange network in the UK

Hope that helps. If you need any more info, please ask.

Roger

[peterkrogh]

Roger,
Thanks for the detailed synopsis.
Peter