How to Geotag Digital Photos With Google Earth

Geotagging is the process of finding the longitude and latitude of the location of your photos and tagging your photos with that information. This is the newest way of labeling and saving photos in your computer for sharing with family and friends. Geotagging uses a format called Exchangeable Image Format (EXIF) available in most newer model digital cameras. EXIF stores numerous data like time and date of your picture, and the type of camera used. Geotagging adds location information to that data.

Things You'll Need

• Digital camera
• Computer running Microsoft Windows
• Google Earth and Google Picasa

Instructions

1. Download and install the free Google Earth and Google Picasa software from the Internet to your computer (if you don’t already have them).

2. 

   Connect your digital camera to your computer and download your photos to your computer. Open Google Picasa and navigate to the location of your photos in your hard drive. Open the photos in Picasa.

3. 

   Click Tools on the Picasa toolbar and select Geotag with Google Earth. The next window that opens asks you to select the longitude and latitude of your location. Navigate to the location where you took the photos on the Google Earth map. When the cross hairs is resting on your location, click the Geotag button.

4. 

   Google Picasa automatically adds that location information to the photo’s EXIF data bank.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you have geotagged your photos, it is easy to locate them. Just type the location in your search bar and Windows will locate the appropriate photos in your hard drive.

• You can also geotag your photos by connecting your digital camera directly to an external GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. This allows your location information to be recorded as the pictures are being taken. This feature is only available in high-end digital cameras.

• Using Google Earth and Google Picasa will not work if your digital camera does not support the EXIF format.