Geotagged Photos Points

[kwilktrihydro]

Hi there,

Is there a way to import geotagged photos as points in a drawing? I took a bunch of photos in the field and would like to import them into a map to show a client construction progress. I appreciate any guidance!

Thanks!

Kelby 

[Pointdump]

Kelby,
DotSoft's >>>MapWorks Image Symbol Place<<< is worth investigating.
Dave

[samir_rezk]

Hi @kwilktrihydro 

There is no out of the box command that accomplishes the task! but @frederic-classon prepared a great workflow demo using Dynamo for Civil 3D (available for 2020 and 2021) to Process & Load Geocoded Photos in Site Plans

Also, the below AU Class also touches on how to use Dyanmo to insert a block and rotated appropriately based on the photo geolocation and rotation view Computational design for Civil Engineers

Hope this helps,

[TerryDotson]

Thanks for the mention.  To those that might be interested, the GeoTagged Photo tools are also in our C3DTools package (which is 40% of the price of MapWorks).

Quick Placement Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt26FRGo9Oo

Quick Image Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5fpIXW45NE

[samir_rezk · Accepted solution]

Hello again @kwilktrihydro 

I have prepared a simple demonstration of how you can use Dyanmo for Civil 3D along with the Civil3DToolkit Dynamo package addon to quickly insert an AutoCAD block Transform it from GPS coordinates to your local drawing coordinate system as well as rotate it from the picture orientation. (of course the photo files must contain the metadata)

Feel free to use the attached the Dynamo graph I used in the screencast below.

Hope this helps,

[akeyXHWHT]

Samir,

  this description is awesome.  Thanks so much for posting it.  The only problem I'm having with the script is the blocks are not coming in at the correct geotagged locations.  I think northings and eastings might be reversed.  the photos were created with our Trimble TSC5 in our local state plane coordinate system.  the drawing is also in the same system.  Do you have any idea for how to transfer your "point" output string that generates the position of the block to the correct position for our case?

Thanks so much.

[Neilw_05]

In addition to the answers already presented, there are GIS tools out there that can generate shape files which you can then load into Autocad via Map tools.

[samir.rezk]

Hi @akeyXHWHT 

I am not sure how the photo is geotagged from Trimble, could you please post a sample picture I can test with and a reference I can use (known coordinates or a screenshot of the general vicinity area)

Thanks,

[TerryDotson]

... problem I'm having with the script is the blocks are not coming in at the correct geotagged locations.  I think northings and eastings might be reversed.

You can use Windows Explorer, right click the .JPG file and choose Properties.  The Details tab lists the Latitude and Longitude, along with the Altitude (meters) and even GpsDirection if its available.

You should be able to tell at a glance if the latitude and longitude is valid for your area of interest.

[ChicagoLooper]

Your geotagged 'points' will locate the position of the camera and not the position of the objects in the photograph.

If your construction site is a proposed tall building in a metropolitan area and walk across the street and go up to 10th floor of the neighboring building, look down then taka a photo, you geotagged point will be across the street from your site and not the 'site' itself. The geolocation feature doesn't pinpoint the target of your photo, it captures the camera's postion.

If you're not cognizant of this then the photos you show your client might be misleading. It might be better to manually place arrows on you map to show the position of the camera. The arrow's direction would indicate the camera's view during the shot. Position and direction, although low tech, is more meaningful to your client than fancy-schmancy geotagged points. 

[kwilktrihydro]

Thanks for the response. Although the low-tech solution is nice, this isn't a building. I'm working on a 1,000 acre reclamation site where the client did a post-reclamation tour and took over 500 pictures. It really isn't a case where I want to "manually" place points. My clients budget is important in this instance. They paid me to be an engineer not draw points on a map, I don't think manually placing the pictures would be fair to bill my client or my company for. Thanks again though! Those are EXTREMELY important factors to consider when placing and presenting the points. Typically we achieve this with a camera block. The block looks like a camera and we face it in the direction of the picture taken (often in the meta data). 

[TerryDotson]

... took over 500 pictures. It really isn't a case where I want to "manually" place points.  I don't think manually placing the pictures would be fair to bill my client ...

So if the dynamo option doesn't suit you, request the 45-day full working eval of DotSoft's C3DTools and run it's Image Symbol Place, you can select them all, set additional parameters and be done in a couple minutes.  It uses the Autodesk projection engine to calculate the coordinates.

[akeyXHWHT]

Sorry for the late response, I was out on vacation.  It turns out the camera scrubbed the meta data when I transferred the photos.  With the meta data, the photos correctly populated in my drawing. they did not rotate the correct direction though.  

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks so much for the help.

[akeyXHWHT]

Here is a sample photo

[akeyXHWHT]

Sample photo

[neilyj666]

@samir_rezk Awesome script - worked like a charm. 

[samir.rezk]

Hi @akeyXHWHT 

The sample picture has a rotation of 0 when I downloaded it! I think metadata is getting cleared when attaching to the forum!

But I would like to make sure that your Picture Marker Block is pointing to the East at a 0 Rotation, this is so it matches the drawing unit rotation measurement.

 

Thanks for your note @neilyj666, I am glad it's helpful 🙂

[akeyXHWHT]

All of the picture blocks came in pointing North.  I've been going through all the metadata and can't see anywhere that the rotation was recorded.  The TSC5 uses Android.  I don't see rotation on the device itself.  I also can't get my iphone to register rotation.  All location services are on and the compass and gps are set correctly

[lee.liuWZYHG]

Hi Samir, thanks for the awesome demonstration. However, I am having a similar issue with the photo's locations and the rotation angle.

I noticed that after importing the inserting the photos with the script you have provided, they ended up about 50m north away from their actual locations. I am guessing this was because my phone was using different coordinate system from my civil 3d setting. Thus, may I know what coordinate system were you using in Civil 3D for the demonstration so I can adjust my civil 3d to cope with it and hopefully I can get my photos to the correct location.

I also have issue making the photos to rotate to the angle my camera was facing, I checked my photos' metadata and couldn't find the rotation details you mentioned. Could it be the setting of my phone's camera that the rotation information was missing? Please see attached for the photos I was using. Thank you.

[tmartinASXXH]

@samir_rezk where can I download the arrow block so I do not have to create my own?