Nikon Z9 GPS log files third party software

• 2 years ago
• Categories: Nikon Z9
• Tags: GPS, [NR] Guest Posts

Here is a guest post on a third party software for Nikon Z9 GPS log files sent by a reader:

I am a happy user of a Nikon Z9. As I used external GPS devices on my previous Nikon DSLR, the internal GPS receiver of Z9 is very welcome.

Nearly all my photos are marked with GPS location. If not there was no connection to GPS satellites. GPS receiver is always on, I cannot recognize any additional battery drain by that.

During the last holiday to Helgoland, I activated the GPS track log of Z9. The camera then logs the current location every minute and creates an NMEA log file. After 12h the log automatically stops. The log also continues if you switch off the camera. The problem only is what you can do with this log file.

I searched on Google and found help. You can convert the Nikon log into a Google Earth KML file using GPS Babel (https://www.gpsbabel.org). GPS Babel is freeware. Select input format NMEA and output format KML and you easily get a file that can be imported into Google Earth.

There are two main disadvantages of this approach.

1. GPS babel can only convert one file at a time.
2. The resulting KML file includes all points recorded, and Google Earth is very bad at selecting the points you want. You don’t want to manually select 300 out of 400 points.
3. I often forgot to switch off logging in the evening. Nikon Z9 recorded random points inside a 100m range around the hotel. As a track in Google Earth, this can be frustrating.

So I started to think about what I can do. I am an electric engineer and do programming for many years now, so the goal was to create my own converter.

The format of the GPS log is NMEA, you can find help about this in Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMEA_0183

I do my programming in Embarcadero Delphi (https://www.embarcadero.com/de/products/delphi), there is a freeware version (community edition) that can be downloaded after registration.

With help of two code examples, I was able to create a program that does what I want.

1. Delphi OSMMap-Master to show points and tracks on a map
2. CCR Exif V1.5.1 to read GPS coordinates from photos (NEF or JPEG), handy if no GPS log was created on a photo tour

I am sure there are other photo enthusiasts who miss a tool like this. Therefore I want to share the tool and source code with the community. There will be no professional support, but I would be happy to get feedback and proposals for future improvements. The compiled tool is ready to run without installation and all sources can be found on my OneDrive cloud. I also uploaded an example log:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnoMnglnne4-iLcqEoOlzbBuihejKA?e=wMQZJb

What can it do:

• Import Z9 GPS log files (single file or scan a complete folder)
• Import GPS locations from JPEG and NEF photos (single or scan a folder with subfolders)
• Drag and drop from explorer is possible for files and folders (supports log files and photos)
• The found waypoints are listed with longitude, latitude and altitude, sorted by date/time
• Selected Waypoints are shown as points or tracks on Open Street Map (online access required)
• An altitude profile is generated
• You can zoom and move around the map
• You may select all waypoints inside or outside of the visible area
• All selected waypoints can be exported into a KML file for further viewing in Google Earth.

If you have an interesting idea for a guest post, you can contact me here.

Interesting: Nikon to release a new camera with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)