GPS location

Now that I'm outdoors more often taking photos, I'm realizing that it can get confusing to remember exactly where I've been over mulitple weeks period. Take beaches for example, after a while they all look the same. I have been taking notes, but even with having notes, I'm still vaguely confused about where the locations are from pic to pic. The more time that passes from when I took the photo, the more I forget. 

I saw two GPS for Canon online, but neither of them is for the 5D Mark II
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/849825-REG/Canon_6364B001_GP_E1_GPS_Receiver.html 



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/847538-REG/Canon_6363B001_GPS_Receiver_GP_E2.html


So now I'm wondering if there is some GPS recorder device that is independent from the camera, I just need it to record where I'm at and what time it is. Then I can just look up the meta data of the photo and compare. Anyone know of a suitable device. Or can recommend some other method of keeping track of locations? 

When i need the Lat Long, I snap a pic with my iPad.  iPhone works too, and I imagine other smart phones.


Of course there are handheld GPS units for hiking that record your path, but trying to find a specific point on that path based on time would proably be a pain.  Some car GPS units have a battery and can be used this way.

(Edited on 2012-05-31 16:47:32 by TexPhoto)

I only came across one situation where it was not allowed (any gps,even on camera) and that was on safari where white rhinos were located.  Other then that, you should be fine using one.

I use my smart phone for such things.

I use holux gpsport 260 pro cycling a lot just to track route etc... Great when used with Google maps afterwards. The software that comes with it is a bit rubbish but there are loads of free software and sites that can be used with it. I just signed up on MapMyRide website a few weeks ago, although not used it much. I use it with photos, it's quite easy to sync with photos using the software or in lightroom.I convert file format to gpx first.


http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_content.jsp?pno=403


 


Many smart phones have dedicated gps receiver chip built in and google map apps.

Would the smart phone work and record the GPS position if I have cell reception but don't have a data plan? For example when I traveled to Sydney, I turned data off and left the iPhone on for text messages. I would assume yes, but I figured perhaps one of you is more knowledgable about this than I am. 

Tracker app (free) for Android is what I use. Get it at Google Play. Only needs the GPS turned on (airplane mode while I was in a national park). I save out a .GPX file and send to the computer. Then use GEOsetter software to import the GPX data into each photo.

It is also possible to get a track/breadcrumb file out of some of the Garmin car units. I have done this with the NUVI series including the 765. You have to connect computer and Garmin and then go look for the current.gpx file as I recall.

GEOsetter software is free at http://www.geosetter.de/en/. It is a bit clunky so I had to write notes to follow every time I use it. But given I do the sequence correctly it works well.

I just looked at some random iphone photos I took while in Sydney, when I didn't have data turned on but had mobile reception on. The GPS data was embedded. 

I also looked at a few random iphone photos I took while on the airplane with airplane mode on. No GPS data in the photos. So it looks like with the iphone cell phone reception needs to be on for GPS data to be embedded.  

(Edited on 2012-06-01 12:00:24 by 4x6)

I know I'm late to this, but you may find this site http://www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/ very helpful because it makes it easy to correlate street addresses with GPS coordinates and vice versa.  I was amazed to discover that it even shows a fishing pier in Florida where I took some shots; not sure if it includes this level of detail for the entire world.


Regards

I don't know if this helps at all, but couldn't you put a location with time details into Google Earth on your phone, and then if you want to, later on put the co-ordinates into the exif, using something like ExifTool GUI?


http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=05fc4df90ffd7359a045496eb670e2b0&topic=2750.0


It will allow you to put the location data from Google Earth into the images.


Slightly clunky way round it perhaps, but it ain't a perfect world!