How to save GPS coordinates in exif data on Android?

Question

I am writing GPS coordinates to my JPEG image, and the coordinates are correct (as demonstrated by my logcat output) but it appears that it\'s being corrupted somehow. Readi

Answer 1

GPSLatitude

Indicates the latitude. The latitude is expressed as three RATIONAL values giving the degrees, minutes, and seconds, respectively. If latitude is expressed as degrees, minutes and seconds, a typical format would be dd/1,mm/1,ss/1. When degrees and minutes are used and, for example, fractions of minutes are given up to two decimal places, the format would be dd/1,mmmm/100,0/1.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.exif.org%2FExif2-2.PDF

The Android docs specify this without explanation: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/ExifInterface.html#TAG_GPS_LATITUDE

Exif data is standardized, and GPS data must be encoded using geographical coordinates (minutes, seconds, etc) described above instead of a fraction. Unless it's encoded in that format in the exif tag, it won't stick.

How to encode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion

How to decode: http://android-er.blogspot.com/2010/01/convert-exif-gps-info-to-degree-format.html

Answer 2

Here is some code I've done to geotag my pictures. It's not heavily tested yet, but it seems to be ok (JOSM editor and exiftool read location).

ExifInterface exif = new ExifInterface(filePath.getAbsolutePath());
exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LATITUDE, GPS.convert(latitude));
exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LATITUDE_REF, GPS.latitudeRef(latitude));
exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE, GPS.convert(longitude));
exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE_REF, GPS.longitudeRef(longitude));
exif.saveAttributes();

And class GPS is here. (method could be shorter, but it's readable at least)

/*
 * @author fabien
 */
public class GPS {
    private static StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(20);

    /**
     * returns ref for latitude which is S or N.
     * @param latitude
     * @return S or N
     */
    public static String latitudeRef(double latitude) {
        return latitude<0.0d?"S":"N";
    }

    /**
     * returns ref for latitude which is S or N.
     * @param latitude
     * @return S or N
     */
    public static String longitudeRef(double longitude) {
        return longitude<0.0d?"W":"E";
    }

    /**
     * convert latitude into DMS (degree minute second) format. For instance<br/>
     * -79.948862 becomes<br/>
     *  79/1,56/1,55903/1000<br/>
     * It works for latitude and longitude<br/>
     * @param latitude could be longitude.
     * @return
     */
    synchronized public static final String convert(double latitude) {
        latitude=Math.abs(latitude);
        int degree = (int) latitude;
        latitude *= 60;
        latitude -= (degree * 60.0d);
        int minute = (int) latitude;
        latitude *= 60;
        latitude -= (minute * 60.0d);
        int second = (int) (latitude*1000.0d);

        sb.setLength(0);
        sb.append(degree);
        sb.append("/1,");
        sb.append(minute);
        sb.append("/1,");
        sb.append(second);
        sb.append("/1000");
        return sb.toString();
    }
}

Answer 3

ExifInterface exif = new ExifInterface(compressedImage.getPath());
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LATITUDE,gpsTracker.dec2DMS(gpsTracker.getLatitude()));
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE,gpsTracker.dec2DMS(gpsTracker.getLongitude()));

Convertor double to String

 String dec2DMS(double coord) {
    coord = coord > 0 ? coord : -coord;  
    String sOut = Integer.toString((int)coord) + "/1,";   
    coord = (coord % 1) * 60;         
    sOut = sOut + Integer.toString((int)coord) + "/1,";   
    coord = (coord % 1) * 60000;             
    sOut = sOut + Integer.toString((int)coord) + "/1000";   
    return sOut;
}

Answer 4

Other answers delivered nice background info and even an example. This is not a direct answer to the question but I would like to add an even simpler example without the need to do any math. The Location class delivers a nice convert function:

public String getLonGeoCoordinates(Location location) {

    if (location == null) return "0/1,0/1,0/1000";
    // You can adapt this to latitude very easily by passing location.getLatitude()
    String[] degMinSec = Location.convert(location.getLongitude(), Location.FORMAT_SECONDS).split(":");
    return degMinSec[0] + "/1," + degMinSec[1] + "/1," + degMinSec[2] + "/1000";
}

I stored the return value in my image and the tag is parsed fine. You can check your image and the geocoordinates inside here: http://regex.info/exif.cgi

Edit

@ratanas comment translated to code:

public boolean storeGeoCoordsToImage(File imagePath, Location location) {

    // Avoid NullPointer
    if (imagePath == null || location == null) return false;

    // If we use Location.convert(), we do not have to worry about absolute values.

    try {
        // c&p and adapted from @Fabyen (sorry for being lazy)
        ExifInterface exif = new ExifInterface(imagePath.getAbsolutePath());
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LATITUDE, getLatGeoCoordinates(location));
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LATITUDE_REF, location.getLatitude() < 0 ? "S" : "N");
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE, getLonGeoCoordinates(location));
        exif.setAttribute(ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE_REF, location.getLongitude() < 0 ? "W" : "E");
        exif.saveAttributes();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        // do something
        return false;
    }

    // Data was likely written. For sure no NullPointer. 
    return true;
}

Here are some nice LatLong converter: latlong.net

Answer 5

check android source code: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/android-4.4.2_r2/core/java/android/hardware/Camera.java

/** * Sets GPS longitude coordinate. This will be stored in JPEG EXIF * header. * * @param longitude GPS longitude coordinate. */ public void setGpsLongitude(double longitude) { set(KEY_GPS_LONGITUDE, Double.toString(longitude)); }

So it's a direct print, my log supports it as well: ExifInterface.TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE : -121.0553966

My conclusion is setting it as direct print is fine.