Aperture 3/Lightroom and GiSTEQ Phototrackr on MAC/PC

Getting the GPX file  for Lightroom or Aperture 3

Download Phototrackr Scripts for Perl modified for MAC Snow Leopard and works on PC too (if you have PERL installed, btw all Mac have it so no worries there).

Scripts are from  http://www.schimmelnetz.de/projekte/iTU4l/ – I’ve just modified them for Mac.

So now you use the commands

********* DISCLAIMER –  AT YOUR OWN RISK DON’T BLAME ME IF YOU LOSE YOUR GPS DATA ********

1. Get GPS RAW DATA
   perl iTU4l.pl -a -o gpsdata.sr
2. Convert data to GPX format
   perl sr2x.pl -z 1 -i PhotoTrackr gpx gpsdata.sr

3. Clear the GPS Device
   perl iTU4l.pl -e

That’s it.  If enough people comment on the blog, I might make a Mac Application in Cocoa for it. (Yes, in my other life I do these kind of things).

In Aperture 3 you can import the GPX file in the places view. For Lightroom check out – http://regex.info/blog/2008-10-29/979

Aperture 3 and using the Phototrackr Software

I don’t really blog about hardware or software, to me these things should just work without too much difficult. It’s probably why I stuck with Aperture 2 so long even with its bugs, now with the release of Aperture 3 along with a few updates its running wonderfully. Plenty of new features, preventing any Aperture user who was tempted to make the move over to Adobe’s Lightroom. As a landscape photographer I travel quite a bit, I prefer to photograph in a series or project format. Building images in a project or series requires that I research each place to provide a story, so GPS co-ordinates have become an important part of managing my images.
First thing to keep in mind when choosing a device for Aperture 3, it should be able to export its tracks and waypoints as an GPX file. This pretty much a standard format for Garmin devices while many other vendors will offer this as an export feature whether in software or hardware.

I found the PhotoTrackr made by GisTEQ on Ebay for about 30 Eur. from the U.S. An inexpensive lightweight unit, powered by a single AA battery. The software does a heap of stuff but for a professional or serious photographer it’s simply too much and cumbersome, plus there’s no direct support for Aperture.

Instructions to get the GPX files from the Phototrackr

• Open Phototrackr create a project, let’s call it ‘Test’. Note images are not import into the project, the project is required to access the ‘GPS Manager’.
• Open the ‘Test’ project, Click ‘Map’ on the top button bar, then ‘Locate Photo with GPS’.
• Click  the ‘GPS Log Manager’, on the top choose ‘GPS Importing’ and select ‘Down from GPS Logger…’
• Now you can export the tracks and waypoints a GPX files which you can use in Aperture 3.