Grand Canyon Photo App
Legacy Photos See the Future Through Embedded Metadata
Background and Desired Outcomes
1,211 rare photographs collected over 43 years of hiking, mapping, and rafting every corner of the Grand Canyon were about to be published as a series of PDF files, unpaired from spatial reference. A team of geographers, geologists, and editors agreed that this special photo collection required an effective photo-sharing solution that would enable the following outcomes:
Display photographs interactively and spatially in context with mapped geologic features
Allow photos to be filtered by geologic keyword
Preserve spatial and descriptive data associated with this historical photo collection
Contribution
Team and project lead; grant funded by Community for Data Integration
Exif and FGDC metadata research, compilation, and JavaScript embed code
Technical edit of photograph captions and associated text
Process
After testing possible solutions with ArcGIS and Google Maps, we decided on a web map application solution. We used JavaScript in Adobe Bridge to embed exif metadata into each photograph, used python to batch upload the collection to an online database, and sourced web map content from those data.
Poster showing process for cleaning, mapping, and displaying photo metadata. Presented at the USGS CDI annual meeting.
Screen capture showing how photo information displays when clicked in mobile view.
Results
In the resulting web map application, photos can be filtered and sorted while displayed in their location of capture - in some places no longer accessible by foot or helicopter. As technology changes, exif data embedded in each photo will live on through downloads, data migrations, and app changes.