Every once in a while, even Microsoft can surprise you. I’ve just started using Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 to geotag my photographs. The program has three surprising attributes: its free, its standards compliant, and it does one thing (geocoding) and does it quite well.
Free. In the fairly recent past I paid something like $100 for geotagging software (which shall remain nameless). It was slow, a little buggy, and insisted on writing GPS information into the raw file itself, rather than into the sidecar .xmp file where it belongs (more on that below). I abandoned the software when Downloader Pro added basic geotagging support. Downloader Pro is a fantastic program, but it does not (and is not intended) to match the features of a stand-alone geotagging program. Color me surprised* that Microsoft has a more capable program than my $100 misinvestment. And they’re giving it away.
Standards Complaint. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Pro Photo Tools writes to the open-standards .xmp sidecar files, rather than to my raw files themselves. (Surprised given Microsoft’s seeming aversion to open standards). If you shoot raw files (and if you’re serious about photography you should), then you probably know that its a bad idea to write to the proprietary raw files created by your camera. (.NEF, .CR2, etc.) There is a risk that the file will be corrupted, the internal structure of these files is not formally documented, etc. etc. Surprisingly, Pro Photo Tools even works with Adobe’s DNG format, though the DNG add-on (codec) costs $30.
Does One Thing Well. I appreciate that the software does not try to replace my entire workflow, but instead focuses on one task — geotagging — and does it well. Pro Photo Tools permits the user to geotag photos from a GPS tracklog file, and also by dragging and dropping them onto a map. The map feature works quite well. Its easy to search, zoom, and move around on the map, and the map is very responsive. One surprising bonus is that the software will look up place names (including city, town, and street address) based on the GPS coordinates of the file. Very handy.
One note: in addition to downloading the program itself, you’ll probably need to download the raw codec for your particuar camera. The Canon codec download pages says that the codec is for Windows Vista, but it has worked fine for me so far on Windows XP. Get the codecs here.
* In fairness to Microsoft, I should note that they also give away the excellent Synch Toy, which I have used for several years.
