SnapBridge not geotagging

kevinbuckley70 said:

I recently upgraded to a Z6ii. One of the reasons was for geotagging and easy transfer of images to the phone for sharing.

Initially, both of these worked fine on my Samsung s10 plus. But recently, geotagging has stopped working.

I've checked the app permissions on the phone and location is enabled. As far as I know, I haven't changed anything.

It still uploads lower resolution copies of the images to the phone no problem.

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

I could never obtain consistent geo-tagging results from SnapBridge with my Z6ii and a Samsung Galaxy S9. Sometimes the results were correct, other times the GPS location reported by SnapBridge would seem to stop updating, and I'd walk a mile and take a photo and then the GPS location was a mile off.

However, on the same phone, other apps would correctly record my location while SnapBridge was getting it wrong. So I stopped using SnapBridge for GPS. I use the GeoTracker app on my smart phone, this records my position and track. There are many programs that will take the track log and your photos and then assign locations to the photos.

--
Paige Miller

The Location abilities of SnapBridge can be affected by a few things:

1. The Accuracy configured on the App. In SnapBridge you can chose Low, Medium, High. Click on Auto Link, and you'll see the Location Data Setting.

2. The Power Saving setting in SnapBridge. (Location Data Menu) Power Saving will reduce accuracy, and affect the connection.

3. The Phone accuracy settings. Some phones allow you to reduce accuracy by using other means to determine location, which use less power. Perhaps looking for cell towers or wifi routers.

4. The power settings on the phone. The phone could be shutting down Snapbridge every chance it gets.

5. Link Mode. In Snap Bridge you can connect via foreground or background mode. Background will continue the connect if the phone sleeps.

I always have geo tagging and autodownload on. I only download 2mp images which I use for sharing. Works great.

Thanks I'll take a look at those.

Barleyman said:

The Location abilities of SnapBridge can be affected by a few things:

1. The Accuracy configured on the App. In SnapBridge you can chose Low, Medium, High. Click on Auto Link, and you'll see the Location Data Setting.

2. The Power Saving setting in SnapBridge. (Location Data Menu) Power Saving will reduce accuracy, and affect the connection.

3. The Phone accuracy settings. Some phones allow you to reduce accuracy by using other means to determine location, which use less power. Perhaps looking for cell towers or wifi routers.

4. The power settings on the phone. The phone could be shutting down Snapbridge every chance it gets.

5. Link Mode. In Snap Bridge you can connect via foreground or background mode. Background will continue the connect if the phone sleeps.

I always have geo tagging and autodownload on. I only download 2mp images which I use for sharing. Works great.

Click to expand...

Thank you for that information, Barleyman. When I was having my troubles with SnapBridge, I was unable to find a comprehensive list such as the one you have just provided.

dj_paige said:

Thank you for that information, Barleyman. When I was having my troubles with SnapBridge, I was unable to find a comprehensive list such as the one you have just provided.

Click to expand...

Setting the Camera Clock

https://nikonimglib.com/snbr/onlinehelp/en/08_master_01.html

Embedding Location Data in Pictures

https://nikonimglib.com/snbr/onlinehelp/en/08_master_02.html

Location Data Accuracy

https://nikonimglib.com/snbr/onlinehelp/en/08_master_03.html

I have the same issue and I *think* that it is due to an issue in the Snapbridge app. With modern versions of Android, getting access to the location requires additional permissions when the app is running in the background. This is from the Android docs:

dj_paige said:

On Android 10 (API level 29) and higher, you must declare the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission in your app's manifest in order to request background location access at runtime. On earlier versions of Android, when your app receives foreground location access, it automatically receives background location access as well.

Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, the Snapbridge app does not request this permission and hence it doesn't work. I've tried submitting bug reports etc, but they seem to go into a black hole. If anybody has good relations with Nikon, then I'd be grateful if this problem got resolved...

Philip

dj_paige said:

dj_paige said:

...So I stopped using SnapBridge for GPS. I use the GeoTracker app on my smart phone, this records my position and track. There are many programs that will take the track log and your photos and then assign locations to the photos.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

GPS tagging is very important to me. The best solution is to just have it built into the camera, one of the wonderful things about the Z9. What about all those other cameras though?

I gave SnapBridge way more tries than it deserves. I could get a fix but never a reliable fix after that first one (iPhone). I have tried several hardware devices and they more or less worked but I have found that overall, the best solution for me is a tracking app; Geotag Photos II for me. It is very reliable and even starts up after a phone restart and continues tracking. The workflow in Lightroom is easy and quick after a few learning sessions. Sometimes I have to wait a few minutes for the data to update automatically on my iCloud drive.

The huge advantage is that it works for all types and brands of cameras.

I have found only two drawbacks.

1. There is some battery drain (I have it running all the time) but not enough that my phone doesn't make it through the day. I usually have it set on 15 second intervals, which is fine for my use.

2. For some unknown reason, sometimes I find that the app has quit. This happens maybe once a month or so. I try to remember to check to see it is running when I go out to take pictures.

Tried and gave up on Snapbridge. Its a "not ready for prime-time" feature added by Nikon for the Z line. Helped them with Marketing though.

The simplest solution for me is to take a reference photo with my iPhone that captures both the GPS and correct local time (ever forget to adjust the Z clock?).

I also use a Global plan for voice/data with my carrier for $10/day flat. Its worked fine so far in N.America, S. America, Asia and Europe. Got burned in Bhutan though. If you set it up, check for authorized countries. So much better than buying and trying to use local simm cards.

Then I use GeoTag on my iMac to read and then transfer the iPhone HEIC image data to the NEF/JPEG/MOVs. GeoTag also has a nice map to fine tune to a few meters as well.

This approach has worked for me worldwide. I found it especially useful to get the local time to set the camera or, correct later in post. By the way, correcting time in your MOV files can be a beast.

Or I guess buy a used Z9 in a few years. But it still wont call home for $10 and day.

PhilipGl said:

I have the same issue and I *think* that it is due to an issue in the Snapbridge app. With modern versions of Android, getting access to the location requires additional permissions when the app is running in the background. This is from the Android docs:

PhilipGl said:

On Android 10 (API level 29) and higher, you must declare the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION permission in your app's manifest in order to request background location access at runtime. On earlier versions of Android, when your app receives foreground location access, it automatically receives background location access as well.

Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, the Snapbridge app does not request this permission and hence it doesn't work. I've tried submitting bug reports etc, but they seem to go into a black hole. If anybody has good relations with Nikon, then I'd be grateful if this problem got resolved...

Philip

Click to expand...

I did some testing yesterday.

On my ixel (Android), the Bluetooth connection and transfer worked without me having to do anything. It's always on.

However, the GPS location tagging required the app to be running. The phone could "sleep", but the Snapbridge app needed to be srunning.

I’ve just worked through this with my Z6 III and it has worked surprisingly well for 2 days.

the key on my iPhone was to go to Location preferences and enable “Always” for SnapBridge. I also set the location setting to Medium accuracy and background updates.

kevinbuckley70 said:

I recently upgraded to a Z6ii. One of the reasons was for geotagging and easy transfer of images to the phone for sharing.

Initially, both of these worked fine on my Samsung s10 plus. But recently, geotagging has stopped working.

I've checked the app permissions on the phone and location is enabled. As far as I know, I haven't changed anything.

It still uploads lower resolution copies of the images to the phone no problem.

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

One of the reasons why I went to a Z9...I dont need a phone, dont need snapbridge, no attachments, just turn it on and boom, I can look up any photo taken with my Z9 in Lightroom or in the exif data. It works really really well in the Z9. Fantastic for paid work and wildlife of course.

Granted you went with a Z6ii, so I am assuming your budget doesn't coincide. I would suggest using the GP-1, it's cheap and it works probably much better than using your phone and snap bridge, and you will be able to look up photos in Lightroom similar to that of the Z9. yes its an attachment, but it works.

I wish Nikon added GPS to the Z6iii. that would have been epic.