Getting started

Getting started with GPicSync

1) Set-up your Camera

Set the local time and date of your camera precisely before shooting.

Alternatively you can set your camera time to GMT (http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/) which can be handy as you won’t have to set summer/winter time or when you travel through time zones.

2) Take pictures while recording a tracklog

Make sure your GPS receiver is recording a track log. Keep your GPSr ON during all the time you take pictures.

3) Back and sync

Put the pictures you want to geolocalize in a folder. Make sure the files names (and path and folder names) only have english characters.

Put your tracklog (.gpx) in the same folder (also use only english the file name characters).

• Launch GPicSync.
• Select your pictures folder
• Select your.gpx file
• Set your timezone or the UTC offset manually
• If you need to add geonames metada check "add geonames and geotags" but be aware there may be problems with non-english characters (more info here)
• Hit the "synchronize !" button. You can stop and adjust your setting at any time.

You should now see a line per picture with the file name found and the localization that has been written in the EXIF part of the picture (each geolocalization takes 1 to 3 seconds to process).

There's also an indication of the time difference between the nearest trackpoint and the picture (you should see a few seconds difference). If this difference is important (above a hundred seconds) there's probably something wrong in your time setting. In particular check that you've indicated the right time zone or UTC offset (and maybe add an hour if you are in a summer daylight saving zone).

By default GPicSync doesn't Geocode photos if the time difference is above 300 seconds but you can adjust this threshold in the interface ("Geocode only if time difference is less than (seconds)=").

You can directly verify your photos by opening your picture folder and double clicking on the generated kml file. It will open in Google Earth (be sure it’s installed).

You can also verify the metadatas picture on GPicSync by using the menu "Tools"->"EXIF Reader".

4) Use your geolocalized pictures

You can directly view your pictures and track log in Google Earth by opening your picture folder and double clicking on the generated kml file.

You may want to export your geolocalized pictures in a single kmz file for sharing or to put on a server ("Tools"->"KMZ Generator").

You can also use your pictures with any software or website which can read the latitude/longitude informations like Flickr, Picasa, Google Earth and maps, etc.

5) Configuration file and optional tools

A configuration file is available to set main preferences as default (like the UTCOffset, Google Map base URL, Geonames, etc). You can edit it and save it from "Options" -> "Configuration file". The "Quit and save settings" button of GPicSync will also write in this file.

A certain number of tools are available in "Tools" -> "Options".

WARNING: GPicSync is beta software. Please report any bug or problem and remember there's no guarantee : don't use it for critical missions and always check on maps if the results are correct.