Is it possible to transfer GPS data between photos?

[s3rg10]

Hello everyone,
I've just purchased a Sony alpha 550 which unfortunately doesn't have a geotagging function. Of course I could buy a GPS Unit for geotagging photos, but I find most of them too inconvenient and too expensive.

My mobile phone however, despite taking pictures with an awful quality, allows you to geotag photos. So, I thought I'll take a picture with my mobile phone whenever I move to a new location. Then later, I'll transfer the geotag information from the photos taken with my mobile phone to the photos taken with my alpha 550. The problem is I can't figure out how to do that...

Has anyone already done something similar? Are there any software out there which allow you to do this? Thanks.

[inkista]

I know how to do it on a command line... If you've got a version of exiftool that runs on your OS, it's:

exiftool GPStags -tagsFromFile sourcefile destinationfiles

There are a bunch of exiftool-based GUIs (like ExifTool GUI) that can probably do this without all the dreaded typing/scripting.

[s3rg10]

Thanks for the reply, however a command-line utility is not an option for me. I tried ExifTool Gui instead but it doesn't quite work as expected.
When I try to import the GPS data (import XMP Metadata->select a picture->click XMP tags only+check GPS data) and try to apply it to the selected picture it always says "1 image file updated" but actually, nothing changes! If I import ALL the metadata information instead, it will work and copies the GPS data along. But of course, I don't want to copy the whole thing... I tried other import/export options without success.
I couldn't find any help in the official homepage either, so I guess I'll try something else. Could you name me another exiftool-based GUI utility, please?

[inkista]

Sorry, as I said, that's why I use the command line version: more control. And I'm on a Mac. I think the exiftool page itself might list a bunch of guis for all the platforms.

[Chr0meD0me]

Are you on Mac or PC? Aperture does it quite painlessly. Don't know if that's an option for you.

[s3rg10]

I'm using Windows Vista, thus Aperture is not an option for me either. Actually, the very first thing I did was to import the pictures into Lightroom an then sync the metadata between the pictures. You can sync all kinds of metadata information between photos, it appears however, for whatever reason that it is not possible to copy the GPS data between files under Lightroom... At least I couldn't figure out how to achieve that feat and believe me, I tried!!

I searched for other software similar to ExifTool Gui but I couldn't find anything useful. Actually, I found a way to copy the GPS data from one picture and paste it into another using ExifTool Gui.

1. select the picture containing the GPS data and export the xmp information into a xmp file.
2. open that xmp file with Wordpad (or Dreamweaver)
3. remove all the information you don't want, just keeping the GPS data and save!
4. under Exif Tool Gui again, select the pictures you want to apply the GPS data and chose import xmp metadata, chose the xmp file you've just created and NOW click the "all xmp metadata" radio button.

It's time consuming, but it works. For now, I guess I'll have to stick with this method... until I buy a Mac!

[theArchitect]

I came across a geotagging plugin for Lightroom a while ago. Can't remember the name but might be worth searching for...

[s3rg10]

Originally Posted by theArchitect

I came across a geotagging plugin for Lightroom a while ago. Can't remember the name but might be worth searching for...

After reading your post I did a quick search and found a plug-in called "Jeffrey's Lightroom GPS Support". You can download it here: Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey’s “GPS-Support” Geoencoding Plugin for Lightroom

I'm using Lightroom 3 Beta 2 and this plug-in works perfectly. I was able to copy the GPS data from one picture and then paste it into several pictures. This is what I was looking for!! THANK YOU! I owe you a beer! Or a glass of water if you prefer!