MyTracks offers efficient way to track where you took photos

    My first tip on this blog was using an old cellphone to generate a GPS tracklog for tagging your photos.

    At the time I wrote it, I was using GPSLogger II on a BlackBerry Bold.

    Since then, the BlackBerry finally got to the point where it won't run most apps anymore because its operating system is antique (in computer terms). I switched to using my regular phone, until my wife upgraded our phones and I retired my Samsung Galaxy J3 to GPS logging duty, which it does quite well.

    But in recent months I switched over from GPSLogger II to MyTracks.

    MyTracks, by Daniel Qin, is available on both Android and IOS, and has a companion desktop app for the Mac. I've found it better than GPSLogger for a few reasons.

    First, starting and ending a track is a one-click operation. I've lost a few tracks on GPSLogger because I forgot to click the dialog box asking for the track name. Likewise, GPSLogger asks if you really want to stop.

    Second, I found it has tracked well, whether I'm inside a building or outdoors. I've been able to generate decent tracks in the basement of the county jail.

    Finally, exporting the track file is much simpler with MyTracks.

    I can simply export the track directly into Google Drive, where I can access it from my photo-editing software.

    GPSLogger, on the other hand, did not offer a simple export to my Google Drive. Instead, I had to email it to myself, then transfer the file from my email account to the drive and extract the track from the zip file before I can use it.

    It's a lot of work.

    The only drawback is that if you use the free version of the program, you have to watch a video ad before you can export once the trial period is over. But the features still work, and it's something I can live with for the time being.