GPS coordinates entered into "Get GPS" input box not showing correctly on map

[David Roth]

Sometimes I have previously obtained GPS coordinates for a photo from another source. I have entered these on the map side of the Set GPS Coordinates form because it is easier to do a single copy/paste into that field rather than set the four fields on the left side of the form. I expected this to function the same way as when entering these coordinates into the comparable Google Maps search field and to a certain extent it does. However, the location indicated on the map by the red marker is always off when using this method. The location appears correctly if the coordinates are entered on the left side of the form. See the attached document for an example using an island located off the coast of Thailand.

Another minor annoyance about the Set GPS Coordinates form itself. In most other forms the Close/Cancel action buttons are located on the right-hand bottom of the form. In this one, it is tucked into a separate boxed off area in the center of the form. I now know it is there, but I still end up searching for it!

[Kirk Baker]

David,

Sorry for the late reply.  The engineer responsible for working on the GPS maps is no longer working for us.

I looked into this issue.  The text field in the map is a Geocoding field.  It expects an address and produces a GPS coordinate.  It does not expect GPS coordinates to be entered there.

Basically the code behind the field calls into Google's 'geocode' function which parses the string you enter and it's very picky when it comes to dealing with GPS coordinates instead of addresses.

In your Word document you used "98.68273E 8.10383 N" in the field.  For illustration purposes, entering the same into Google's own geocoding sample:

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/geocoding-simple

causes an error dialog to appear (which PM silences).  One must remove the letters and reorder the values to get results at all: 8.10389,98.68272

At this time this behavior is expected.  I do not know how you got your results, but I cannot repeat them.  Entering your values produces no movement of the map at all (an error would have been reported had PM not silenced it) and entering the "8.10389,98.68272" value puts the map pin on the mainland.  It is not shifted but an entirely different location.

-Kirk

[David Roth]

I can see that something has changed, since I ,too, can no longer make the latitude, longitude location entry into the Get GPS field and get a result. This was not the case when I first made the post. I have been through two PM program updates since that time, so presumably there was a revision to the way that entry is handled by PM. Even though a precise GPS location is not always required, given the circumstances, no answer is better than an incorrect one.

However, that is not the true issue I was trying to resolve. It was the convenience of making a single copy and paste to enter all the GPS information into PM if one already has obtained it from Google Maps. When one makes a right click on a Google Map and selects "Whats Here?", a popup shows the latitude and longitude respectively in the format "xx.xxxxxx, yy.yyyyyy" (negative signs permitted).  Copying this into a Google Maps search box is recognized on their web interface. It would be convenient if PM accepted a similar entry into the 'GPS Coordinates' box on the 'Set GPS Coordinates' form rather than having to divide that information up into four separate entries. A search for the coordinates is not required, since they are already known. I use Google Maps to search for the coordinates when I don't have an address, but do know the general location. The search tools are more robust with that software.

[Kirk Baker]

David,

Perhaps we'll add a feature to the GPS Coordinate entry that will accept lat/lon as a single text field in the future.

-Kirk