Aperture 2.1 – ‘Update EXIF from Master’
It looks like Apple added yet more yummy goodness to Aperture with the 2.1 update. New to the Metadata menu is the ‘Update EXIF from Master’ menu item. You may ask why anyone would want to do this- unless you’re geocoding your images.
I use HoudahGeo to geocode my images. HoudahGeo is a great and efficient application that allows you to assign GPS coordinates to images based on aligning an image’s timestamp to a GPS tracklog or to a GPS waypoint. Getting the GPS waypoint or tracklog is easy if you have a GPS that you can connect to your Mac (which, of course, I do). I’ve got a lot of waypoints saved up and will be busy integrating them into my master images over the next while, but that’s for later.
For now I’ll show you how easy it is to geocode an image when you’ve got a waypoint ready to use:
Step 1- find your image. Here I have an image taken near home and I’m showing the pertinent locational metadata.
Step 2- Run HoudahGeo and set your position. It is much simpler using a waypoint than a track, but tracklog-based positioning works great, too.
Be sure to tell HoudahGeo to write the GPS locational data into your master image’s EXIF metadata.
Step 3- Tell Aperture to update the EXIF metadata: Metadata menu > Update EXIF from Master
Step 4- Verify that the metadata got updated properly
Step 5- View your image on the map: Metadata menu > Show on Map…
Step 6- Enjoy!
Technorati Tags: Aperture, Geocode, GPS
This post has 6 comments
April 1st, 2008
Now could you share which GPS device you have (that works with a Mac)?
April 1st, 2008
I have a Garmin StreetPilot 2610 that works with my MacBook pro via USB. The Garmin Mac software is in beta, but it works to load maps and HoudahGeo works fine to pull waypoints and tracks.
I also have an old Garmin GPS V which works similarly but requires a Keyspan Serial-USB adapter. The adpater is probably older than all of my current Macs and was used for a PalmPilot. Still works even under 10.5
May 1st, 2008
Hi,
Is the geodata still there when you export the image? It’s gone when I try it.
May 1st, 2008
Yes, the GPS metadata is still in there when I do an export of versions. I really need to work on my workflow, though. I am really sure I can do better.
Now that I have my new GPS (Garmin eTrex Legend HCx) I’ll be playing with this a lot more.
August 24th, 2008
I have the Longitude location shown up on the Metadata tab, and show on map works fine. but my exported photos still don’t have the gps data, any idea?
April 25th, 2009
Thanks for the article, I was wondering how to write metadata without actually reimporting photos.