Exif location data for attachments

[PeteCrosier]

Hi, bit of a problem with attachments.

Pictures taken in Collector don't have any associated location data, which isn't great.

I thought I'd be able to workaround this by attaching images from the device's gallery taken with the device's camera outside of Collector, but it seems Collector actively strips out lots of Exif data from the image including the location.

Is there anyway to preserve the location data of an attachment image?

[XanderBakker]

If you have an attachment, isn't that attached to a feature (location)? The image itself may not be aware of its location (through the EXIF header), but since it is attached to a feature, you can derive the location. Or not?

[PeteCrosier]

That is true, but the location of a feature isn't necessarily the location of the collector. Or if the feature is at the physical location of the collector, the image may have been taken at a different location to the feature. In a lot of cases it's not an issue, but I'm not sure I can convince auditors to trust people as much as me

[XanderBakker]

I suppose if I collect an object I can click on the location of the object and attach the picture to it, while the picture was takes at a certain distance.

If it is location and angle (direction of the foto) you need, you may need a GPS camera (but that wouldn't be connected to the Collector App).

If the App really strips EXIF data, you may want to suggest an enhancement (but there may be a reason why they do it).

[PeteCrosier]

I think you're right - I'll ask local Esri folk to have a look but I think it will be a working-as-intended or submit-an-idea response.

[PeteCrosier]

Couple of existing ideas seem to cover it..

http://shar.es/1bkVEy

http://shar.es/1bkVTg

[XanderBakker]

just added some points to both...

[JacobDarrah1]

One option is to use software called GeoSetter to apply GPS coordinates from a GPX file you can generate to the pictures (as the coordinates). Lookup GPX format, just change your trackpoints, then use GeoSetter to apply those coordinates to the pictures. Takes some time to figure out the software's quirks (my first time, editing 8 pictures, took 2 hours, I can now change/apply coordinates to 400+ pictures in just under an hour). The beauty is that it is a fully scalable, free solution, and it does a great job for being freeware.