blog: show JPG on map where it was taken

[nikos]

here's the comment area for today's blog post found at
http://zabkat.com/blog/show-on-map-explorer-menu.htm

[lank]

Nice. I just tried on some photos I'd taken with an actual camera (remember those?) and had embedded GPS info. Works nice.

I'll leave it installed but not sure how much I'll use it. It is faster to use than loading my DAM and then going to its map/GPS pane.

[neko]

Nice, thank you Nikos.

[tresorier21000]

Hello

Thank you Nikos for this little utility very interesting.
I have a suggestion to improve this utility.
Since it is not possible to save a trace in google maps, I use My maps. This allows me to save my route and send it to friends.
If in addition, I could decorate it with photos, it would be great.
Would it be possible to have a version that directs the photo on My Maps instead of google maps?
At the extreme, a solution that would choose one or the other, it would be the top. But it's abusing !!

[johngalt]

Hello

Thank you Nikos for this little utility very interesting.
I have a suggestion to improve this utility.
Since it is not possible to save a trace in google maps, I use My maps. This allows me to save my route and send it to friends.
If in addition, I could decorate it with photos, it would be great.
Would it be possible to have a version that directs the photo on My Maps instead of google maps?
At the extreme, a solution that would choose one or the other, it would be the top. But it's abusing !!

You can already import Geo-tagged photos onto My Maps - See https://support.google.com/maps/forum/A ... ZCWFcRZesE

[tresorier21000]

You can already import Geo-tagged photos onto My Maps - See https://support.google.com/maps/forum/A ... ZCWFcRZesE

Great
Thank you JohnGalt, I did not know this very interesting possibility and I retain it.
It works well, but it requires to have his pictures in Drive or Photos.
The Nikos tool is more versatile since it allows you to import photos from your computer.

[nikos]

the way this tool works is passing the GPS coordinates of the picture in a specially formatted google maps URL
http://google.com/maps/place/39.73920278,-104.99036944
where the highlighted numbers are latitude and longitude

if you can find me the equivalent format for "my maps" I could add it to the tool as a parameter

[Robert2]

There is information about (Google) My Maps at My Maps Help and My Maps.
Note that there is something like Bing Maps. Detailed information can be found at Create a Custom Map URL

[johngalt]

Indeed. I tried using the upload function, with several .jpg and jpeg pictures from 2 different cell phones I have owned, which were backup up to my computer, and I continued to receive the following message:

Conversion from this document type is not supported. Supported file extensions are: csv, tsv, kml, kmz, gpx, png, jpg, jpeg, jpe, gmp, gif, ods, xls, xlt, xlsx.

In looking at the help pages, the only way it actually accepts pictures is if the pictures are already in your Google Drive.

I think I'm going to file a bug report for them because the error message when trying to upload seems to indicate that it should, in fact, accept local pictures in a direct upload, but the help pages say the pictures need to be in a Google Drive account - an obvious contradiction.

[tresorier21000]

the way this tool works is passing the GPS coordinates of the picture in a specially formatted google maps URL
http://google.com/maps/place/39.73920278,-104.99036944
where the highlighted numbers are latitude and longitude

if you can find me the equivalent format for "my maps" I could add it to the tool as a parameter

Thank you for the answer.
Given that the images are in a layer, I think it will be more complicated than with Maps!
We must already remove the doubt that images can only be imported from Drive.
(See the last message from johngalt on this point)

[tresorier21000]

Indeed. I tried using the upload function, with several .jpg and jpeg pictures from 2 different cell phones I have owned, which were backup up to my computer, and I continued to receive the following message:

Conversion from this document type is not supported. Supported file extensions are: csv, tsv, kml, kmz, gpx, png, jpg, jpeg, jpe, gmp, gif, ods, xls, xlt, xlsx.

In looking at the help pages, the only way it actually accepts pictures is if the pictures are already in your Google Drive.

I think I'm going to file a bug report for them because the error message when trying to upload seems to indicate that it should, in fact, accept local pictures in a direct upload, but the help pages say the pictures need to be in a Google Drive account - an obvious contradiction.

Yes, well seen!
I let you join google. There is indeed a bug on this point.
We will know more after the correction for the parameters of adding an image in a layer. Perhaps ?

[johngalt]

@Nikos - would there be a way to allow direct importation into Google Drive?

No, wait, that would require adding access to their API, which would then (possibly) throw up security warnings for users because a so-called "unknown" app had access to Drive (currently dealing with that with KeePass2Android). Plus, it would not work with people (like me) who have Advanced Security enabled, as that breaks Drive access by locking it down hard.

Hmmm.

I *do* know that this might work, though - with the Backup & Sync (formerly called just Google Drive app lol) for Windows, you can have it sync to and from the computer, and monitor folders to sync up to the Google Drive account. So, an added option to simply move selected pics to a particular folder (and have it save the folder location history, limited to just a handful of folders, if possible) would allow the user to have them synced to Google Drive without actually having to have access to Drive (and thus the API), and the user could then easily import them into My Maps.

How about that?

I currently use the B&S app to sync files to / from my computer to / form Drive, and I have a file I use on my desktop, which gets saved to a folder that B&S is synchronizing, and as soon as I update the file in that location, it propagates it to my Google Drive account - with any direct access to my Google Drive account. Basically, I'm already doing (with another file) what I propose above, so I know for a fact that it works - even for folks with locked-down Drive access due to Advanced Protection.

[nikos]

isn't google drive already accessible from xplorer2? don't use the browser, they have some special sync tool you can install and that makes google drive a "local" cloud folder like onedrive, no?

[johngalt]

The Backup & Sync tool (formerly just called Google Drive for Windows) for non Enterprise accounts, and Drive File Stream for Enterprise accounts.

And once you have it set up, the files / folders you sync from cloud to computer are accessible via Xplorer².