QGIS: Importing geotagged photos 'Could not open' error

Question

I am having a hard time importing geotagged photos using the ‘Import geotagged photos’ tool within QGIS 3.10. The photos I am importing do have GPS information within their properties, so I can’t put my finger on why they are not being uploaded. This tool seems to work just fine when importing sample photos provided by my professor, but not with photos taken with my own iPhone. This message (in red) is popping up:

Can anybody help me?
In reply to HeikkiVesanto's comment - To transfer the photos from my phone to my laptop I first uploaded them to OneDrive then downloaded them from my laptop. Perhaps this is why they are in JPG. Also, the 'Import geotagged photos' tool requires photos to be in jpeg format so I don't think the image format is the issues. Also, yes my location was on. In fact, when I enter the photo's properties on my computer the longitude, latitude and altitude are all visible.
In reply to @GabrielC’s suggestion, I had tried placing the folder in my desktop and importing the photos from that location, to no avail.

Lutra · Answer

Note that the recent versions of iOS, do not include exif information when for example  download the images from web. The only method is to use itune software and there is an option to attach exif information.
To ensure you have the exif data, could you use a exif tool from command line or an online tool (e.g. https://www.pic2map.com/) and see if the exif data have been transferred correctly.
On another note, you can use https://inputapp.io (see disclaimer) to take geotagged photo. Input is an app based on QGIS and works on iOS and Android. For more information on how to set up a project in QGIS and use it in Input app, you can read the step-by-step guide here:
https://www.lutraconsulting.co.uk/blog/2021/04/20/photo-exif-input/
Disclaimer we are developers of the Input app.

pathmapper · Answer

Looks like you are using QGIS on Windows.
There were issues with Import geotagged photos on Windows related to OSGeo4W:

https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/ticket/654
https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/issues/3284
https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/issues/40583

Since you're using QGIS 3.10, I think your import problems would be resolved using a more up-to-date release, e.g. 3.18.2 or ​3.16.6 LTR.

QGIS: Importing geotagged photos 'Could not open' error

2 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question