Go program finds photos with nearby GPS coordinates
In the Hood

© Lead Image © Tatiana Venkova, 123RF.com
Every photo you take with your mobile phone stores the GPS location in the Exif data. A Go program was let loose on Mike Schilli's photo collection to locate shots taken within an area around a reference image.
Just recently, my favorite restaurant in San Francisco, Chow, shut down unexpectedly. On top of the traumatic experience of having to find a new eatery, I was overcome by the desire to find old photos of the place from the good old days on my mobile phone. But how? I sure didn't tag them, but who does, anyway? Having said that, every cell phone photo contains GPS information, and the phone's photo app can group the photos as dots on a map.
Of course, over the years, I had outsourced the photos to other media. Not to worry, my new favorite programming language, Go, comes with image processing routines, prompting me to browse my photo collection for photos taken in or near the restaurant.
To-Do
The Unix exiftool
tool finds the metadata of a JPG file in a flash, leaving social media users wondering what juicy bites of data they are giving to Facebook and company when they post them. In addition to the date and time, the altitude, and the direction of the camera, there are also GPS coordinates that record the exact location on the earth's surface where the picture was taken (Figure 1). Online guru Kevin Mitnick even reports that the authorities once tracked down a Bolivian drug lord, because he had published a vacation photo that still contained the metadata of his secret whereabouts [1].
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.