In an effort to give back to the DIY community, we have decided to offer our standalone geo-tagging software, SwiftTag, for free. It is meant to work with all camera setups that are triggered by the APM platform. By using a synchronization script with Mission Planner, it is possible to accurately tag every photo taken in flight without resorting to comparing the camera’s internal timestamp against the log of GPS positions.

SwiftTag compares a sync photo to the .log created by downloading the autopilot’s log. It can then tag all the photos, creating a CSV file that can be read by most processing software. The CSV file contains the position as well as the attitude for each photo. SwiftTag also allows filtering of the photos by roll, pitch or yaw values if needed.

SwiftTag was developed to address the existing short comings in tagging photos with the APM platform. By using SwiftTag we have reduced the average local error in our tags from 20 meters to less than 4 meters. Most notably, we used SwiftTag to tag over 40,000 photos taken for a large mapping project. The ground coverage was approximately 60 sq km flown over 9 days with our Lynx M UAS.

For a detailed workflow on how to use SwiftTag, downloads, and FAQ, please visit: swiftradioplanes.com/swifttag