Summary

Missing GPS info is a common problem of cameras with built-in GPS.
With a tracklog you can use Lightrooms "Auto-Tag" to fix this problem.

Or coming back from a journey you want to show your route on a map, but have no tracklog.

What problem is solved?

This is not a replacement of Lightooms module "Auto-Tag" but an add-on.

Mainly, there are 2 use-cases for this plug-in:

1. Missing GSP info is a common problem of cameras with built-in GPS. Further, you can't use Lightrooms "Auto-Tag" to automatically geotag these photos if you have no tracklog.
   To fix this, you are left to manually "Drag & drop" the photos in the Map module, but this is time consuming and error prone. A lot of work!

   What if you could reverse engineer the available GPS info into a tracklog.
   Then you could use "Auto-Tag" of the Lightrooms Map module to automatically geotag these photos!
   That is exact what this plug-in does: reverse engineer the GPS info of photos in Lightroom into a tracklog.

2. Or you need a tracklog of your photos with GPS info in Lightoom.
   For example to visualize your tour / journey.

This plug creates a tracklog based on the GPS info of your photos.
Or with other words, this plug-in reverse engineers the available GPS info into a tracklog.

See causes for missing GPS information for more info on why some photos have no GPS info although you are shooting with an camera with built-in GPS.

Contents

What is the "Tracklog Creator" plug-in

This plug creates a tracklog based on the GPS info in your photos.
Or with other words, this plug-in reverse engineers the available GPS info into a tracklog.

YouTube demos

Demo of the "Tracklog Creator"

Demo How to "Auto-Tag" photos without a tracklog

How does the plug-in work

This plug-in creates a tracklog from all the selected photo with GPS information. It stores both the location and the altitude information.
Further, if the first selected photo has no GPS info, then it creates an extra trackpoint with the time of the first photo and the GPS info of the first photo with GPS.
By this you can "Auto-Tag" all those photos before the first GPS point with the information of the first GPS point.
It is the same for the last photo.
If the last selected photo has no GPS info, an extra trackpoint is created with the time of this last photo and a copy of the GPS info of the last photo with GPS.

So, in order to be able to "Auto-Tag" all photos, also those before the first and after the last photo with GPS info, you should select all photos you want to geotag!

Prerequisite

There should be photos that have GPS info to create a tracklog.

Causes for missing GPS information

Missing GPS info is a common problem of cameras with built-in GPS.

For more info on GPS, see "How GPS work" or Wikipedia.com

Example missing GPS info

My daughter studies architectural history. Last year she went on an excursion to France to visit historical building. Since location info is important for her, she used a camera with built-in GPS. After importing all images into Lightroom she discovered and was disappointed to find that some images (red frame) had no GPS info.

All GPS devices, built-in the camera or external, need some time to get a GPS fix. Also most GPS devices loose their fix when entering a building or between high buildings.
Photos shot when there is no fix will have no GPS info.

Explanation of the numbers in the image above:

1. The GPS unit had no fix when the first photos were taken.
2. After some time the GPS fix is made and GPS info was stored in the photos.
3. Entering a building, the GPS fix was lost again
4. In areas with many high building, sometimes the GPS fix was lost.
5. Etc.

Tutorial How to "Auto-tag" photos without GPS info

The plug-in itself is very straightforward. See the quick guide above.

This guide will help you to add GPS info to photos that have none based on other photos in the same shoot that have.
Of course the photos without GPS info should be taken in or near the location of the photos that have this info.

Technically the process is very simple:

1. Create the tracklog
2. "Auto-Tag" all photos without GPS data.

However you might want to check if the photos without GPS info were taken in or near the same location as those that have GPS info.
Yet for the best results, you could use this "best practice".

1. Create a tracklog of all images, see Quick Guide above.
2. Load the tracklog in the "Map module"
   1. Go to the "Map module"
      
      
   2. Load the GPS tracklog you created in step 2
      You only need to do this step once.
      
      

3. Examine the photos without GPS and see if they were taken approximately at the same location as the ones with GPS info.
   For example if a photo without GPS info was taken half an hour before one with it and you traveled some distance then ofcourse you will not get good results.
   However in the example above all the photos inside the building will get good info from the photos before and after.
   Tips for analyzing your photos:

   1. Sort all photos on "Capture time", so that they are in the same order in which they were taken.
      1. Go to the "Library module"
      2. The sort option is located on the Toolbar in Lightroom (View -> Show Toolbar)
         
         
   2. To differentiate between photos with and without GPS info you can set a Color label for all photos without GPS info.
      1. Choose "Metadata" from the Filter bar.
         If the Filter bar is not visible, then choose View -> Show Filter bar.
      2. In the first column choose "GPS data"
      3. Click on the "No Coordinates" below to filter for all images without GPS info
         
         
      4. Select all images
      5. Right click and choose "Set color label" and choose a color
      6. Now all images without GPS info are marked.
      7. Now click on "All GPS" in the filter to get all images.
4. Select all images without GPS info that were taken near one with GPS info.
   Depending on your shoot, this could be all photos or only some.
   The steps 4, 5 and 6 can be repeated for groups of photos
5. "Auto tag" these images
   1. Go to the "Map module"
   2. Choose "Auto-Tag xx selected Photos"
      
      
6. Repeat the steps 4 till 6 upon desire

Quick Guide plug-in

Using the plug-in is very straightforward:

1. Select all photos of which you would like to have a tracklog.
2. Start the plug-in:
   Menu -> Help -> Plug-in Extras -> Tracklog Creator
3. Specify a file name in the "Save" dialog.

Depending upon your usage, you should include or exclude photos without GPS data!

When you want to use the tracklog together with Lightrooms "Auto-Tag", you should include all photos without GPS info. See paragraph "How the plug-in works"
However if you want a tracklog only of the photos with GPS info, you should select only these. For filtering photos with GPS info, you can use the "Meta data" filter.
See also description below.