Addon - easyMap for pixelpost (photos on google maps)

[baerlichkeit]

Hi,
it's so much fun for me to work with pixelpost, so here is the next addon from me :-)

I have a geologging device (gps datalogger) to record my "photo-trips". Normally I geotag my photos afterwards, and it's my wish visitors can see this information right out of the box in my pixelpost installation.

I searched some time for something similar, and there are some google-maps integrations out there, but I had something different in my mind. An easy and simple link opening the map after a click!

easyMap provides two Template Tags (for your image_template file):

<EASY_MAP_LINK>: displays a link opening a google-maps overlay, or, if no geodata was found, a text message.
<EASY_MAP_LOCATION>: displays a link with the format: city/state/country opening a google-maps overlay, or, if no geodata was found, a text message.


You can see a demo here: Link to my photoblog (http://makrograf.com/index.php?showimage=30)
Click on comments&details to see the link.

The link opens a lightbox-style map overlay, with a marker on it, showing the photo-position (from the EXIF).

For Installation instructions and the download visit the pixelpost extend repository.

Download & Information (http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/easymap-simple-goolge-maps-addon-for-pixelpost/)


Geotagging
I wrote down some information in this thread here (http://www.pixelpost.org/forum/showpost.php?p=57785&postcount=11).
Software you can use to geotag:


Geosetter, my favorite app (http://www.geosetter.de/en/index.html)
Robogeo (http://www.robogeo.com/home/)
Gpicsync (free - http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/)
locr software (free - http://www.locr.com/clients/downloads.php)
geotag (free - http://geotag.sourceforge.net/?q=node/3)
MS Pro photo tools (free - http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/tools.aspx)
Geotagger (Mac, free - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22907)
Google Picasa (free - http://picasa.google.com/)

so,
feel free to tell me what you think, and if it works.
Well, are there any "geotaggers" at all? :D

Kind regards
Andreas

[Dennis]

Yeah, here is one. Have a look at my page: http://foto.schonhose.nl. If you open up the sidebar there is a link for the gmap view (last item on the info window)and it also uses the lightbox principle.

Also have a look at the map (http://foto.schonhose.nl/index.php?x=googlemap) which uses clustering and a nice flickr like plugin to show the thumbnails of the clusters.

Did I mention it can read GPS values from the EXIF and you can tag when you upload an image by placing a marker on googlemaps? No need for a specific PHP version though. I have been working on it for the last four months or so, completely rewriting the old Googlemaps addon.

Read more about it on my blog (http://www.schonhose.nl/tag/googlemaps/).

[baerlichkeit]

Hi Dennis,
didn't know this one... thanks. Looks more complex, but I did not try it.

Do you use/read Geodata stored inside the EXIF?

[Dennis]

Yes I do, for the last year in fact ;)

It is true it is more complex but real easy to setup and it has some nice configurable options as well.

I have been working for the gmap addon since 2006.

http://www.pixelpost.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6803
http://www.pixelpost.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5304

[floime]

hi baerlichkaeit- this sound really interesting but i have no gps tagging advice- i just use flickr to geotag my images there- how can i do this with your addon ?

bzw. ich finde die möglichkeit mit der integration durch lightbox sehr gelungen, nur kann man das auch irgendwie mit den, schon in flickr getaggten Bildern verbinden ?)

oder direkt in dem Fenster taggen?

bzw. ist das bei der VErsion von Dennis gut möglich?

[Dennis]

floime, my version allows you to place a marker on the map during upload and even after upload when editing an image.

[mkm]

If you want to add GPS EXIF info afterwards. (if you don't have a GEO tagger and your camera doesn't have one). Then there is a new (free) program available from Microsoft. It works fine. You can set location with a map and then save the Photo with this data.
for those who are interested:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3acbe51c-9d63-48ff-9614-5f30d76061b4&DisplayLang=en

[mkm]

First of all Thnx for the effort. I also looked at the http://foto.schonhose.nl. site. This is very great, but (at the moment :-) a littlebit too much for me.

Just the map is just what i was looking for and I have tried it immediately. When i upload the map to the addons folder the addon section is no longer visible (blank) when i remove it and refresh it works fine again.

(I have removed all extra addons like resize and defensio. Problem stays)

only extra installed addon is MediaRSS


Do you have any ideas?

ThnX again

[floime]

thank you Dennis, is it possible to have the same "lightbox" effect with your addon (like in the addon from bärlichkeit?)

- i checked your page and i wonder if i can modify it easy the it just shows the area, where the picture was taken( like baerlichkeits addon)

[Dennis]

The one on my homepage isn't public. The new version has all those features. I've decided not to make the new (and very much improved) version not available to the public.

The main reason is I've spend so much time on the Googlemaps addon and it has been installed by so many people. Only a few have actually taken the time to thank me in some way.

To answer your question: yes, I can set the zoom of the map in my adminpanel, ranging from 0 (wide) - 15 (detailed).

But let's not forget this thread is not about my addon but about the wonderful addon baerlichkeit has made.

[baerlichkeit]

Dennis,
thanks for the info. You made a very nice addon there, but as I use a geotagging device, this is just to much for me.

Geotagging

Ok, originally I wanted to write that down in the first place, but forgot it :o

There are many different options to add geodata to your pictures, I'll try to list them below.

Geotagging device/logger

I use a geologger/tracker or what you call it, to save the route I walked when shooting photos. I use a Royaltek RGM-3800 (http://www.royaltek.com/products_dtl.php?cid=2&id=23&argPage=1&argI=3) for this. It uses standard batteries and does nothing more than logging (no bluetooth etc). This is only one possibility, as there are many different loggers/bluetooth devices out there. If you already have some GPS-device, have a look, if it's possible to write a tracklog with it, or if you use a bluetooth device with your phone or similar, there are applications out there doing this for you.

After the trip I download the new tracks to my PC and convert the track to GPX-format. Normally I use the RouteConverter (http://www.routeconverter.de/online.html) here, works great! I do this to get a track-file for my blog. You can see a (german) entry with a map showing one of my trips, here: go to my blog (http://blog.makrograf.com/2008/05/04/project-wolverine-day-2/).

Than, this information has to become part of the images EXIF data. Normally, this is the first thing I do, before importing the files into Lightroom. It's up to you to do it this way, you can wait with the geocoding process until you finished your PP with the photo. Almost all programs write geoinformations to jpg files.
Geosetter (http://www.geosetter.de/en/index.html)is my favorite application here, the latest version supports some new RAW file types, with was important for me. The best thing about geosetter is, that it does not need any GPS-files for geotagging, you can do it by hand, too. (eg. if your logger lost the connection). Geosetter is capable to search for nearby Cities/places and writes their names to images ITPC data.
Other working programs (I tried) are:

Robogeo (http://www.robogeo.com/home/)
Gpicsync (free - http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/)
locr software (free - http://www.locr.com/clients/downloads.php)
geotag (free - http://geotag.sourceforge.net/?q=node/3)
MS Pro photo tools (free - http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/tools.aspx)
... and many more

Most programs also offer you to export the information to googles kml-format. KML files can include thumbnail images to show the photos you've taken and can be viewed with Google Earth or Maps.


NO Geotagging device/logger

Not everyone wants to buy a geologger, but don't worry, if your memory stores the information, you can place the photos on a map by yourself ;)
Progams that can be used and I tried in the past are:

Geosetter (again) (free - http://www.geosetter.de/en/index.html)
Robogeo (http://www.robogeo.com/home/)
locr software (free - http://www.locr.com/clients/downloads.php)
Google Picasa (free - http://picasa.google.com/)
...


Many webservices out there have their own webinterfaces to do that (as Dennis addon, Flickr, locr, etc), BUT, take care!
If they don't write the geodate into your original photo, but into a database or anything, this information is useless outside the service. For me, this is no opportunity. I tag them on my PC and know that the geodata is stored in a standard way.

I hope this short introduction to geottaging helps you, it's fun and not too hard, after getting used to the workflow.

Andreas

[Crossie]

Not to forget the Mac users ;), I'm using Geotagger (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22907) since a few weeks now and it works quite nice.

Regards
Uwe

[baerlichkeit]

hi baerlichkaeit- this sound really interesting but i have no gps tagging advice- i just use flickr to geotag my images there- how can i do this with your addon ?

bzw. ich finde die möglichkeit mit der integration durch lightbox sehr gelungen, nur kann man das auch irgendwie mit den, schon in flickr getaggten Bildern verbinden ?)

oder direkt in dem Fenster taggen?

bzw. ist das bei der VErsion von Dennis gut möglich?

I hope it's ok to double-post, I did not want to mix up the special answers with the short introduction...

As I said above, I don't know how flickr stores the geodata in their photos. If they write it to the exif-data, it should be fine. If not, tag them on your PC before uploading them. Flickr should read this information.

First of all Thnx for the effort. I also looked at the http://foto.schonhose.nl. site. This is very great, but (at the moment :-) a littlebit too much for me.

Just the map is just what i was looking for and I have tried it immediately. When i upload the map to the addons folder the addon section is no longer visible (blank) when i remove it and refresh it works fine again.

(I have removed all extra addons like resize and defensio. Problem stays)

only extra installed addon is MediaRSS


Do you have any ideas?

ThnX again

Hi,
you uploaded the whole _easyMap folder to your addons-folder and the addon section got blank?
I don't know, but does your webspace come with PHP version 4.2.0 (or above)? This is needed to read the exif data.

Does pixelpost write a log? I have no idea, perhaps you'll find some information in there?

The one on my homepage isn't public. The new version has all those features. I've decided not to make the new (and very much improved) version not available to the public.

The main reason is I've spend so much time on the Googlemaps addon and it has been installed by so many people. Only a few have actually taken the time to thank me in some way.

To answer your question: yes, I can set the zoom of the map in my adminpanel, ranging from 0 (wide) - 15 (detailed).

But let's not forget this thread is not about my addon but about the wonderful addon baerlichkeit has made.

Just to be clear. Dennis addon is great and much more complex than mine. I tried to provide a very lightweight way to show a map, the photos u upload need their exif-data already, and I will not change this ;)
And Dennis, 99% of internet users take but don't have time to say: thank you. This can be frustrating, but I think this is the way it works :(

Have a nice day :)
Andreas

[mkm]

Hi,
thnx for the reply and the effort.

I use PHP-version 4.4.4
General info => Addons Directory: OK
But the Addons section stays blank. If i remove the _easymap folder and refresh everything is back.
anyone else maybe a idea?

Have a nice day
Mike

[Dennis]

append &errorsall to your url when viewing the addonpage. That will show the errors.

[baerlichkeit]

Dennis: &errorsall was one hell of a tip :D

Well,
I uploaded version 0.2.

A new tag was born (for IPTC using people) and some changes/fixes were made.

Hopefully working now for everybody?

Download & Informations (http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/easymap-simple-goolge-maps-addon-for-pixelpost/)

[baerlichkeit]

Hi all, version 0.3 is out.

For compatibility issues, I changed the way the exif information is read. (uses Exifer now)
It runs without Javascript from now on and there is no ugly "Your Api-key is wrong"-Alertbox anymore. Instead a link to the google maps home, with the right coordinates of course, is shown.

Tell me if it works :)

thanks Andreas.

[mkm]

tested v0.3
and...

:)works fine now :)

happy happy joy joy

Thnx for the effort

[Dennis]

baerlichkeit, why would you use Exifer to read it from the JPEG while the EXIF is stored in the database.

A database call is faster then reading a file.

[Ginger Rich]

Thanks for all this Andreas! I've been trying out Geotagger with easymap and have noticed that it's not always showing the correct Lat/Long position when I open the map.

Checking the EXIF data and copy/pasting the coordinates into Google Earth gives me the exact position I tagged it in, but the Google Map overlay doesn't always display in the right place - one shot that was tagged in England was showing as being on the other side of the country!

Also, is there anyway of setting the map so that it automatically chooses Satellite view over Map view? And to disable the controls? And to set the height of the view where you like?

[Ginger Rich]

Update: I just tagged a photo in Lisbon and it's dumped it in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea!

[mkm]

That's strange.
The Photo's I uploaded tagged with GPS coordinates work fine. they are handtagged by map (MS Live) and differs only a couple of metres with the google map.
No problem at all.

[baerlichkeit]

Hi,
as far as I see it, a minus (for western latitude?) is missing here. Same for Longitude.
I'm working on it :)

Andreas

[baerlichkeit]

Uploaded 0.31.
Should work now with all coordinates. (here it does ;))

It was the the missing analysis of N/S/E/W...

Andreas

[Smartphoner]

my blog cant find the geo data. But Photoshop shows the GPS Data perfectly. Why ?

[baerlichkeit]

Hi Smartphoner,
you have a sample photo for me?

[Smartphoner]

Pls, send me an email at smartphoner at gmail dot com and I send you the photo.

I have this problem also:

Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/www/dae6f20f31415ca73b20394922f2ef9e/web/addons/_easyMap/easymap.php on line 100

Warning: file_get_contents(http://projects.makrograf.com/pp/easyMap/version.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/www/dae6f20f31415ca73b20394922f2ef9e/web/addons/_easyMap/easymap.php on line 100

Warning: file_get_contents() [function.file-get-contents]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/www/dae6f20f31415ca73b20394922f2ef9e/web/addons/_easyMap/easymap.php on line 101

Warning: file_get_contents(http://projects.makrograf.com/pp/easyMap/news.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/www/dae6f20f31415ca73b20394922f2ef9e/web/addons/_easyMap/easymap.php on line 101

[Ginger Rich]

Excellent - working nicely now, but I'd still like to be able to set the altitude of the map and have it display automatically in Satellite mode. I've seen this done before with Google Maps embedded in websites but how might you go about doing it here?

[baerlichkeit]

Hi,
smartphoner: email is out. The other errors should be caused by your servers configuration. This is for the update-checking inside the admin-area...

Ginger Rich: First, good it works now :D Second, sure you can alter these settings. Open the map.php inside the template folder and have a look at the code.

The interesting part is this one:
if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map"));
map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl());
map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl());
map.addControl(new GOverviewMapControl());
map.enableContinuousZoom();
map.enableDoubleClickZoom();
map.setCenter(new GLatLng({$latitude},{$longitude}), 13);
var center = map.getCenter();
var center_y = center.y
var center_x = center.x
GEvent.addListener(map, "mouseover", function(){
map.showControls();
});
GEvent.addListener(map, "mouseout", function(){
map.hideControls();
});
var infoTabs = [
new GInfoWindowTab("Standort"," <div style='text-align:center;'><img style='vertical-align:middle;' src='{$image}'><\div>")
];
var marker = new GMarker(map.getCenter());
map.addOverlay(marker);
var windowOptions = {maxWidth: "95"};
GEvent.addListener(marker, "click", function() {
marker.openInfoWindowTabsHtml(infoTabs,windowOptio ns);
});
}

The 13 in
map.setCenter(new GLatLng({$latitude},{$longitude}), 13);
is the zoom level.
I'm sure I will add this as options later, but as I said... later :D

The complete reference can be found here: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/reference.html

regards
Andreas

[Ginger Rich]

Nice one - cheers Andreas. The API docs has highlighted the code necessary to change the map into satellite or hybrid view but I can't see where to add it to the existing code. I'm sure I'll crack it after a bit of a play!

[baerlichkeit]

This one is the interesting part, I think:

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/introduction.html#MapTypes

Add/modify this code in the map.php und you'll be fine. :)

For example (without testing)

replace
var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map"));
with

var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map"));
map.setMapType(G_SATELLITE_MAP);

and a satellite view should be displayed.

The API is huge, take some time to explorere, it's fun I think :)

[buttermaker]

Hi.

Thanks for your work on this. I'd love to be able to geotag my photos.

I did everything right on the install... my Addons page seems to be giving me a "thumbs up"... but I can't get the thing to work.

I added some code to my page, but I get a "LOCATION NOT FOUND" even for photos that I geotagged in Aperture with Maperture. I double checked the image. to be sure the location data is in there and it is.

Ideas on my problem?

my site: www.the9clicks.com
the image with the location data is named "PLAYGROUND"

Thanks.

[Hector]

Thank you for this addon. it works fine :)
next step is to create a map with all the picture locations of a selected category for example :)
I'll try to investigate a bit how to do it...

[skpManiac]

I just get NO GEODATA FOUND :(

This is the only image I have added data to as of yet:
http://www.stephenprocter.co.uk/index.php?showimage=13

The Tags are showing up in TAGS under properties:
geo:lat=53.56358500; geo:lon=-1.88085079; geotagged; Holme; United Kingdom;

This is displyed on my Addin Screen
Google Maps API key is correct!
Exifer found and working!
This version of easyMap for Pixelpost (0.31) is up to date!

Any advice please guys?



Thanks

[skpManiac]

I am trying everything here and still not getting anywhere.

Is there only me having issues??

I have just tried to change the location of some pics and I get this error:

Warning: Invalid CanonCustom2 data - C:/Users/Steve/Desktop/Images for website/Wales in the Snow Feb 2009 19.jpg

Could this be the cause of the issue?

The geodata is definately saved in the tags though


I have just upload 2 images to Flickr to see if the data was there and ths is what shows up:

Country- Primary Location Code: GBR
Country- Primary Location Name: United Kingdom
Keywords: geo:lat=53.57008412
City: Holme
Sub-location: Holmbridge
XMPToolkit: Image::ExifTool 7.67
Country Code: GBR
Location: Holmbridge
Subject: geo:lat=53.57008412
City: Holme
Country: United Kingdom
GPSAltitude: 361 m
GPSAltitude Ref: Above Sea Level
GPS Latitude: 53 deg 34' 12.30" N
GPS Longitude: 1 deg 50' 22.28" W
GPSDate Time: 2009:01:01 13:26:59Z


It has the be the addon - doesnt it??

Thanks