topic Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

thompsoncd — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 18:56:00 GMT

I wanted to know the exact location of an image I created and so I got the GPS info from the metadata, it said:

Longitude 62; 7; 26.8619

Latitude 7; 4; 47.6579

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to enter this into Google Maps to see my location.

Google says there are three ways to enter this into Maps, but the Canon data doesn't seen to match any of their formats:

Degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS): 41°24'12.2"N 2°10'26.5"E
Degrees and decimal minutes (DMM): 41 24.2028, 2 10.4418
Decimal degrees (DD): 41.40338, 2.17403

Does anyone know how to translate the Canon data into something Google Maps can understand?

Each time I try entering it, it says I was in the Phillipines (I was not!).

Thanks for any help someone could offer!

Cole

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

kvbarkley — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 19:15:36 GMT

Are you close to the equator? You have to be if the lattitude is +/- 7 degrees.

Could you have lat.long mixed up.

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

thompsoncd — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 19:24:26 GMT

Thank you "respected" Kvbarkley!

No, I was close to the Arctic Circle.

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

thompsoncd — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 19:26:18 GMT

I did mix up the latitude / longitude up in the post, but I think I entered it correctly in Google Maps.

I think my problem is the format for entering it.

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

Stephen — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 19:31:36 GMT

Hey there, thompsoncd!

You're going to want to use the Map Utility software that came with the camera.

If you don't have it, you can download it from the Canon site HERE.

We hope this helps!

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

kvbarkley — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 20:22:43 GMT

Norway? It is about 62 degree N, 7 E.

I would guess the format is degrees, minutes, fractional seconds

So for your latittude 62° 7' 26.86"

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

thompsoncd — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 23:12:33 GMT

Well, that format (thanks kvbarkley) got me MUCH closer! But it put me in Norway and I was in the Faroe Islands.

I entered: 62° 7' 26.86", 7° 4' 47.66. It got the latitude right, but the longitude wrong.

I manually located my shooting position on Google maps and then checked the lat/long and it was: 62.325086, -6.947092

That minus sign seemed significant and so I added a minus sign to my coordinates and then it worked:

62° 7' 26.86", 7° 4' 47.66

Does anyone understand the differences between Canon and Googles coordinates?

Canon 62° 7' 26.86", 7° 4' 47.66 Takes me to Norway

Google 62.325086, -6.947092 Takes me to the right place

Revised Canon: 62° 7' 26.86", -7° 4' 47.66 Takes me to the right place

I'm just curious how the nomenclature works.

Cole

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

Waddizzle — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 00:05:18 GMT

You are looking at different units of measure of angle. Google is decimal degrees. Canon is Degrees-Minutes=Seconds.

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

kvbarkley — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 13:36:58 GMT

It is how they specify east and west, either with an E/W or a +/- .

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

TCampbell — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 14:20:57 GMT

I'm not sure what viewer you are using to look at your meta-data. When I look at the info in Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 software (right click the info and pick 'Info' then scroll down to the GPS section) I notice that for my camera there is a trailing N/S E/W value. For example, the rows for GPS data in a sample image I selected say:

Latitude 42 18 15.6 N

Longitude 83 13 23.3 W

Altitude 180.50m

For declination values, some systems express latitudes north of the equator as positive and south of the equator as negative. For longitude values, some systems express longitudes west of the prime meridian as negative and right of the prime meridian as positive. So for example, if you were west of the prime meridian... instead of say you were so many degrees "West" you would just enter than as negative degrees.

When I look at the value in your file, I don't see the cardinal directions (N/S/E/W ... and you mention that the longitude only worked out correctly if it was expressed as a negative value, but I don't see that either.

You might try opening the image with Canon DPP4 and see how it's listed there. This may be a nuance specific to whatever software you were using to view the coordinates (how it was decoding and displaying the coordinates.) For what it's worth... I also use Adobe Lightroom and if I pick an image and view it in the "Map" module (which drops a pin on the map to mark the location where I took the photo) it is also correct (and correctly lists my longitudes which are "west" of the prime meridian.)

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

thompsoncd — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 14:53:27 GMT

This all started when I went to name an image and could not remember where I had taken it. Using Windows file explorer, I right clicked on the file, went to properties and then details where it showed latitude, longitude and altitude.

62° 7' 26.86"
7° 4' 47.66”

I naïvely assumed that I could enter that into Google maps and find my location! I didn’t realize it was this complicated.

Yes, I could’ve used Canon‘s map program but I didn’t want install another program for a one time use.

kvbarkley showed me how to properly format it for Google, but then it put me into Norway. It got the latitude right, but not the longitude.

Finally, I added a minus sign to the longitude and it put me in the correct spot in the Faroe Islands.

I’m not sure why the information embedded in the image file didn’t have the minus sign in the coordinates or include an east/west?

Re: Trying to Understand the 5D Mk IV GPS Coordinates

TCampbell — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 15:50:34 GMT

@thompsoncd wrote:

I’m not sure why the information embedded in the image file didn’t have the minus sign in the coordinates or include an east/west?

I am confident the info embedded in the file was absolutely coded correctly. That's not the issue (the camera is doing it right).

The issue is... apparently Windows File Explorer either doesn't seem to understand how to correctly read the data ... or just doesn't display it correctly.

Canon DPP4 would get it right.

Adobe Lightroom would get it right.

Even the file viewer builtin my Mac gets it right.

(for the very same file -- correctly either showing the "W" vs. "E" and "N" vs. "S" ... or correctly showing the minus sign. Both Apple and Adobe even show the spot on a map when you view the GPS info on a photo.)

What version of Windows are you using?