No GPS data from XMP files?

I have files with xmp files generated in Lightroom, and on import, Aperture 3 will read these. As far as GPS data is concerned, this cannot be created in Lightroom, either you have to have a camera with GPS functionality, or you need special software like Ovolab Geophoto, which will embed the data. Once the gps exif data is embedded, the files need to be re-imported to Aperture!

I wish that Aperture and Lightroom would work seamlessly with the xmp files, but they don’t. I was hoping that geotagging the files in Aperture would change the exif data in the image, but it appears not to, so, yet again, I have to use an external application to embed the gps data so that Lightroom can read it too.

I like both applications, and Aperture is excellent at creating places on the map. What a pity I cannot export this data. Lightroom is great for printing and some other things. I want to work with both seamlessly

Message was edited by: hilofoz

I have found that Aperture will not read data from external XMP files, but with HoudahGeo I have found a workaround that will enable information to be able to be transferred from Lightroom to Aperture.

Firstly, it is most important, I discovered (and this was advice from the HoudahGeo FAQs), that the Lightroom generated sidecar XMP files not be present while using Houdah to write information to the original image file, otherwise, it will just write to the XMP files and Aperture will not be able to read it, even though Lightroom will.

So... to make things compatible here is what I do:

1. I make a folder called xmp and put all the Lightroom generated sidecar files into it when I want to write to the image, after I have geotagged them in HoudahGeo. I then write to the image with the co-ordinates and no other information.

2. I make sure that these images are not in the Aperture library, otherwise they will need to be re-imported to read the sidecar files.

3. After writing to the images, I go back to Lightroom, and ask it to read the metadata from the files. It will then put the GPS data in with the EXIF data, but wipe all the other IPTC settings. After I have the GPS information in Lightroom, I drag the XMP sidecar files out of the folder so they are in the same directory as the original Raw images, and read from those files. It will then update the data with all the IPTC information and anything else.

It is important to make sure that you are all up to date with XMP data in Lightroom before importing them into Aperture, and if you make any changes (titles, captions, copyright etc.) you will need to overwrite the XMP files by saving them again.

4. Once all your XMP files are saved, your data will be available for Aperture 3. Just import the folder into Aperture, and voila, all the GPS and XMP data will be ready for you in Aperture 3 with the correct titles and copyright information etc.

I hope this helps, and it took quite a lot of experimentation to work it all out.

BTW, Geotagger will also use the EXIFtool to write to the images and therefore, one can use it instead, but the method to do this is not as accurate because you have to centre the position on Google Earth by eye: HoudahGeo centres the location in Google Earth properly.

On the other hand, if you do use Geotagger, you do not need to worry about where the XMP files reside, as Geotagger writes to the files only.

Contrary to my initial posting, Aperture does not appear to read GPS data from sidecar files.