With many higher end cameras, you can now connect a GPS directly to the camera if you have the right equipment. With Nikon cameras like the D200, D300, or D2X, or D3 – a 10-pin port allows you to connect a GPS directly to the unit (provided you have the right cables). The problem is that this can be unwieldy, and it typically requires a high end SLR that not all of us have.

There are two slightly better solutions around this, which we’ll discuss.

Though extra gear is not always the answer, sometimes I like new gadgets. This one was recommended to me by a wildlife photographer I talked to a few weeks ago. It’s a wireless adapter from Red Hen Systems called the BLUE2CAN device, which plugs into most high end Nikon cameras and will pull the GPS data via Bluetooth. I’m not sure if something like this exists for other camera manufacturers, but if it does, let me know in the comments.

The second method, which I like, is through the use of software. It requires no extra gear, because it means only having to record waypoint at a regular interval on your GPS while you take pictures normally. All the legwork of matching those waypoints to your images is done after the fact, by a program.

Mac:

Although Mac users won’t have as many options as PC users for geocoding software, they ultimately have the single best choice with GPSPhotoLinker, which is simple to use, supports most RAW formats, can batch photos easily, and gives you a nice view of the best matching track point as well as the one preceding and following that point.

Windows:

For those who use Windows, the choices are more abundant than for Mac, but they are all slightly less stellar. The best, free solution that I’ve found so far is GPicSync, which is fairly easy to use and will insert all your geocode information into your pictures EXIF header by matching the tracklog date and time with the picture date and time. GPicSync will also support elevation and will create a KML file for Google Earth. It also supports popular RAW files like those from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Pentax.

Now, get lost…

Just remember to take lots of pictures.

Instead, I’ll just tell you about this little ATP GPS gadget that I stumbled across the other day.

If you like geotagging, but you don’t like the idea of paying a lot for a handheld GPS, or your camera doesn’t have a direct GPS connection, you can opt for this $150 device called the GPS Photo Finder.

How it works is you carry this device while you take shots. It records the time and GPS information. Then when you’re done shooting, you insert your card (SD/MMC or MemoryStick Duo) or plug your USB into it, and it will match the time from your JPEG’s with the time on the GPS track log and embed that data into your JPEG’s EXIF.

Some higher end SLRs (like the Nikon D300 or D2X) allow you to actually connect your GPS unit to the camera and automatically geotag your pictures with latitude and longtitude information.

However, this means having to attach the GPS to the camera, usually through the use of a specialized cable… and not every camera has this function. Though it’s handy (since the information is recorded “on the go”) there is another way which is a little more work, but a lot more flexible.

Geotagging can be done as long as you have the tracklog from your GPS and a program that will read it. In a Mac environment, GPSPhotoLinker lets you download your GPS track log, and then matches up your photos to the GPS data. It does that by comparing the timestamp in your photo’s Exif data to the timestamps in your GPS track log. Once done, it can create a GPX file. For a Windows machine, RoboGeo is your best bet, and it basically does the same thing as the GPSTrackLog application for the Mac, and also exports a GPX file.

The benefit of having the GPX file is that you can export these with many third party GPS applications. You can create Google Earth KML or KMZ files, or upload the pictures to Flickr where they will be automatically geotagged. Also, once you have a GPX file, you can then integrate that information into the metadata of the file as shown in Adobe Lightroom.

After you’ve run through and embedded that geocode information into the Exif, you want to Save Metadata to File in lightroom. This causes Lightroom to update the XMP file. You then select Read Metadata from File and Lightroom will pick up the updated Exif, which includes the Geotag information.

A good idea is to then add a keyword like “Geotag” or “Geocode” to those files that have the new updated GPS information embedded. That way you can easily see which ones have and have not been updated.