PHP extract GPS EXIF data

Question

I would like to extract the GPS EXIF tag from pictures using php. I'm using the exif_read_data() that returns a array of all tags + data :

GPS.GPSLatitudeRef: N
GPS.GPSLatitude:Array ( [0] => 46/1 [1] => 5403/100 [2] => 0/1 ) 
GPS.GPSLongitudeRef: E
GPS.GPSLongitude:Array ( [0] => 7/1 [1] => 880/100 [2] => 0/1 ) 
GPS.GPSAltitudeRef: 
GPS.GPSAltitude: 634/1

I don't know how to interpret 46/1 5403/100 and 0/1 ? 46 might be 46° but what about the rest especially 0/1 ?

angle/1 5403/100 0/1

What is this structure about ?

How to convert them to "standard" ones (like 46°56′48″N 7°26′39″E from wikipedia) ? I would like to pass thoses coordinates to the google maps api to display the pictures positions on a map !

Answer 1

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging, ( [0] => 46/1 [1] => 5403/100 [2] => 0/1 ) should mean 46/1 degrees, 5403/100 minutes, 0/1 seconds, i.e. 46°54.03′0″N. Normalizing the seconds gives 46°54′1.8″N.

This code below should work, as long as you don't get negative coordinates (given that you get N/S and E/W as a separate coordinate, you shouldn't ever have negative coordinates). Let me know if there is a bug (I don't have a PHP environment handy at the moment).

//Pass in GPS.GPSLatitude or GPS.GPSLongitude or something in that format
function getGps($exifCoord)
{
  $degrees = count($exifCoord) > 0 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[0]) : 0;
  $minutes = count($exifCoord) > 1 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[1]) : 0;
  $seconds = count($exifCoord) > 2 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[2]) : 0;

  //normalize
  $minutes += 60 * ($degrees - floor($degrees));
  $degrees = floor($degrees);

  $seconds += 60 * ($minutes - floor($minutes));
  $minutes = floor($minutes);

  //extra normalization, probably not necessary unless you get weird data
  if($seconds >= 60)
  {
    $minutes += floor($seconds/60.0);
    $seconds -= 60*floor($seconds/60.0);
  }

  if($minutes >= 60)
  {
    $degrees += floor($minutes/60.0);
    $minutes -= 60*floor($minutes/60.0);
  }

  return array('degrees' => $degrees, 'minutes' => $minutes, 'seconds' => $seconds);
}

function gps2Num($coordPart)
{
  $parts = explode('/', $coordPart);

  if(count($parts)) <= 0)
    return 0;
  if(count($parts)) == 1)
    return $parts[0];

  return floatval($parts[0]) / floatval($parts[1]);
}

Answer 2

Can you export the EXIF data with some more sophisticated software? Knowing the correct output helps you to figure out the algorithm.

Answer 3

The code I've used in the past is something like (in reality, it also checks that the data is vaguely valid):

// Latitude
$northing = -1;
if( $gpsblock['GPSLatitudeRef'] && 'N' == $gpsblock['GPSLatitudeRef'] )
{
    $northing = 1;
}

$northing *= defraction( $gpsblock['GPSLatitude'][0] ) + ( defraction($gpsblock['GPSLatitude'][1] ) / 60 ) + ( defraction( $gpsblock['GPSLatitude'][2] ) / 3600 );

// Longitude
$easting = -1;
if( $gpsblock['GPSLongitudeRef'] && 'E' == $gpsblock['GPSLongitudeRef'] )
{
    $easting = 1;
}

$easting *= defraction( $gpsblock['GPSLongitude'][0] ) + ( defraction( $gpsblock['GPSLongitude'][1] ) / 60 ) + ( defraction( $gpsblock['GPSLongitude'][2] ) / 3600 );

Where you also have:

function defraction( $fraction )
{
    list( $nominator, $denominator ) = explode( "/", $fraction );

    if( $denominator )
    {
        return ( $nominator / $denominator );
    }
    else
    {
        return $fraction;
    }
}

Answer 4

This is my modified version. The other ones didn't work for me. It will give you the decimal versions of the GPS coordinates.

The code to process the EXIF data:

$exif = exif_read_data($filename);
$lon = getGps($exif["GPSLongitude"], $exif['GPSLongitudeRef']);
$lat = getGps($exif["GPSLatitude"], $exif['GPSLatitudeRef']);
var_dump($lat, lon);

Prints out:

float(-33.8751666667)
float(151.207166667)

Here are the functions:

function getGps($exifCoord, $hemi) {

    $degrees = count($exifCoord) > 0 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[0]) : 0;
    $minutes = count($exifCoord) > 1 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[1]) : 0;
    $seconds = count($exifCoord) > 2 ? gps2Num($exifCoord[2]) : 0;

    $flip = ($hemi == 'W' or $hemi == 'S') ? -1 : 1;

    return $flip * ($degrees + $minutes / 60);

}

function gps2Num($coordPart) {

    $parts = explode('/', $coordPart);

    if (count($parts) <= 0)
        return 0;

    if (count($parts) == 1)
        return $parts[0];

    return floatval($parts[0]) / floatval($parts[1]);
}

Answer 5

I'm using the modified version from Gerald Kaszuba but it's not accurate. so i change the formula a bit.

from:

return $flip * ($degrees + $minutes / 60);

changed to:

return floatval($flip * ($degrees +($minutes/60)+($seconds/3600)));

It works for me.