Using exiftool to manually create a Google Map / Waze link from a JPG’s GPS position

If you’re into Linux, and you ever find yourself in a place you’d like to return to with Waze (in the middle of some road, or some not-so-well-mapped village, a campus etc.), just take a photo with your cellular. Assuming that it stores the GPS info.

Alternatively, the “My GPS Coordinates” Android app can be usedful to obtain, SMS, and share the coordinates. But I’ll stick to the photo method.

Use exiftool to extract the coordinates from the image. The -c flag makes sure the coordinates are in plain format:

$ exiftool -c "%.6f degrees" 20160328_160309.jpg 
ExifTool Version Number         : 8.00
File Name                       : 20160328_160309.jpg
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 5.2 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2016:06:14 15:43:43+03:00
File Type                       : JPEG
MIME Type                       : image/jpeg

[ ... ]

GPS Altitude                    : 0 m Above Sea Level
GPS Date/Time                   : 2016:03:28 13:02:58Z
GPS Latitude                    : 32.777351 degrees N
GPS Longitude                   : 35.024139 degrees E
GPS Position                    : 32.777351 degrees N, 35.024139 degrees E
Image Size                      : 5312x2988
Shutter Speed                   : 1/50

[ ... ]

Aha! Now a manual edit of the part marked in red. The link is

https://maps.google.com/?ll=32.777351,35.024139

I’m lucky enough to live in the North-East part of the world. Had it been south or west, just put negative numbers.

Or, create a Waze link, which can be tapped on the phone to get me to that place:

http://waze.to/?ll=32.777351,35.024139&navigate=yes

This opens the web browser, which in turn opens Waze, which started telling me what to do to get there…

The following link can also be used to open Waze directly, however it has to be part of a link on a page like this:

waze://?ll=32.777351,35.024139

As plain text on a mail message, SMS or in Kepp,  it didn’t work on my LG G4 Android, because the “waze:” prefix didn’t turn it into a link in these apps. It’s still useful within a website (or an HTMLed web message?)