Reading the GPS data from the image returned by the camera in iOS iphone

Question

I need to get the GPS coordinates of an image taken with the iOS device\'s camera. I do not care about the Camera Roll images, just the image taken with UIImagePickerControl

Answer 1

The problem is that since iOS 4 UIImage *image = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerOriginalImage]; strips the geolocation out. To solve this problem you have to use the original photo path to get access to the full image metadata. With something like this:

- (void)imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info {
    NSURL *referenceURL = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerReferenceURL];
    ALAssetsLibrary *library = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
    [library assetForURL:referenceURL resultBlock:^(ALAsset *asset) {
        ALAssetRepresentation *rep = [asset defaultRepresentation];
        NSDictionary *metadata = rep.metadata;
        NSLog(@"%@", metadata);

        CGImageRef iref = [rep fullScreenImage] ;

        if (iref) {
            self.imageView.image = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:iref];
        }
    } failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
        // error handling
    }];

The output should be something like:

{
    ColorModel = RGB;
    DPIHeight = 72;
    DPIWidth = 72;
    Depth = 8;
    Orientation = 6;
    PixelHeight = 1936;
    PixelWidth = 2592;
    "{Exif}" =     {
        ApertureValue = "2.970854";
        BrightnessValue = "1.115874";
        ColorSpace = 1;
        ComponentsConfiguration =         (
            0,
            0,
            0,
            1
        );
        DateTimeDigitized = "2012:07:14 21:55:05";
        DateTimeOriginal = "2012:07:14 21:55:05";
        ExifVersion =         (
            2,
            2,
            1
        );
        ExposureMode = 0;
        ExposureProgram = 2;
        ExposureTime = "0.06666667";
        FNumber = "2.8";
        Flash = 24;
        FlashPixVersion =         (
            1,
            0
        );
        FocalLength = "3.85";
        ISOSpeedRatings =         (
            200
        );
        MeteringMode = 5;
        PixelXDimension = 2592;
        PixelYDimension = 1936;
        SceneCaptureType = 0;
        SensingMethod = 2;
        Sharpness = 2;
        ShutterSpeedValue = "3.9112";
        SubjectArea =         (
            1295,
            967,
            699,
            696
        );
        WhiteBalance = 0;
    };
    "{GPS}" =     {
        Altitude = "1167.528";
        AltitudeRef = 0;
        ImgDirection = "278.8303";
        ImgDirectionRef = T;
        Latitude = "15.8235";
        LatitudeRef = S;
        Longitude = "47.99416666666666";
        LongitudeRef = W;
        TimeStamp = "00:55:04.59";
    };
    "{TIFF}" =     {
        DateTime = "2012:07:14 21:55:05";
        Make = Apple;
        Model = "iPhone 4";
        Orientation = 6;
        ResolutionUnit = 2;
        Software = "5.1.1";
        XResolution = 72;
        YResolution = 72;
        "_YCbCrPositioning" = 1;
    };
}