# Geo-Tagged photos --> Google Earth file



## PeterSt (Apr 23, 2012)

Hi, I'm just curious how people are handling the creation of google earth KMZ files for batches of geo-tagged photos?  Basically, I'm looking for feedback on:

A) Whether this is something commonly done in the pro-photo community

B)  If so, what programs are people using to do it

C)  What are the pros and cons of the different programs that people use.

I'm specifically looking for programs that can take a folder full of geo-tagged JPEG images and batch convert them into a Google Earth KMZ file as placemark icons that when clicked pop-up windows with location metadata and a reduced size version of my original image.  I know Picasa does something similar, but it seemed incredibly slow and would lock up after about 4 or 5 photos when i tried to use it.  

In full interest of disclosure, I've put together a very targeted program for myself that does something like this and am thinking about expanding and offering it to the community.  So, any feedback about what would make a program like this useful, or blatantly obvious (to photographers) facts that should be taken into account (e.g. "geo-tagged photos becoming obsolete due to miraculous new format...", etc) would be super appreciated.

Thanks!


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## Big Mike (Apr 23, 2012)

I hadn't done anything with Geo-tagging my images, although it would have been nice, as I have a lot of landscape photos in locations that I don't remember precisely.  

But now that I have Light Room 4, with it's Map module, that is how I will geo-tag my files (after the fact).  I have been looking at ways to use a GPS device to sync up the images to their location.


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## PeterSt (Apr 23, 2012)

Thanks for the quick reply!  I'd heard LR4 can add geo-tag metadata, I've done it using Microsoft Pro Photo Tools, which isn't super feature rich, but is fast and free.  Do you ever export your photos into Google Earth files?  I work with a lot of Cultural Resource Management teams and their architectural history surveys are shooting geo-tagged photos more frequently (i believe on dedicated cameras and iphones) and want to share them with different agencies as a KMZ file.  I'd never heard of this before and came up short with ways to automate the processing which is why i ended up rolling my own.


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## Big Mike (Apr 23, 2012)

No, I haven't  and I don't know anything about Google Earth files.  

I only plan to use the Geo data from within LR as a reference.


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