PSP2020 Geotagging stopped working

[hartpaul]

In evolution there are many cases of animal lines going up a blind alley and eventually becoming extinct. I suspect this geotagging in PSP is one of thoose things. If it costs money paid to google and time to rewrite code to keep including it in PSP and this has to be done each year or couple of years because Google keeps changing the landing arrangements, then I think Corel will eventually drop it as a failed experiment. Any special bell or whistle that keeps requiring keeping up with an outside program's changes will eventually fail because of the continued update requirements.
For many of the most recent changes to PSP , Corel has relied mainly upon the bells and whistles to make an old program appear new and make sales. That way they can reduce the programming requirements as they do not have to design a whole new program to make the bell/ whistle, it has already been done. They just have to make the new hook up procedures, pay for the new access conditions etc.
Some of the new changes to the program have been received with complaint - the new enhanced crop tool comes to mind.

[Marco73]

But aren't there some free tools e.g. OpenMaps?

[hartpaul]

whether free or not I suspect they don't want to divert resources to match it with any of the free ones. I have not bothered with geotagging unless testing out some problems, so if they drop it from future PSP versions I would not miss it.

[Andy2011]

I have not bothered with geotagging unless testing out some problems, so if they drop it from future PSP versions I would not miss it.

Other will miss it, I suspect, judging from the length of this thread!

[Marco73]

It's like one of that many gimmicks coming with new cars.
You never knew you really wanted it until you had it.

[Jean-Luc]

Deleted (wrong info).

[daleslaughter]

Andy2011; I am also having this problem. I've been searching the web for "Google Maps JavaScript API key" and might be able to figure it out, but am really lost at "making the necessary changes to the relevant HTML and JavaScript files" .
Was there a document/website you used to accomplish getting the key and making changes to the 2 files?

[Andy2011]

Was there a document/website you used to accomplish getting the key and making changes to the 2 files?

No - it was all research with the help of a few pointers from posts in this thread.
As I have said earlier, I found getting the Google Mapping API key the most challenging part - but that is probably a function of my experience.
I started to put together a document but there didn't appear to be that much interest and it is always difficult to provide a clear, concise guide when the readers' knowledge and abilities are unknown. Also, since it is possible to break PSP with the modifications I was worried that it might unlease a monster.
The attached pdf may help you. The bit that needs work is that of getting the Google Mapping API key. It took me a while to navigate through the various steps and as Google already knew my credit card details (from Google Pay on my phone, I think), the steps may have been different from those others will experience.
Hope it helps - and comments on the draft would be appreciated.

[daleslaughter]

Thank you. Great document - I found that Chrome was the best browser for the console described at the bottom of page 6.

I haven't tried it yet, but I did find the files.

I'm a little hesitant to have my credit card associated with this, would be nice to have warning from google if I started to incur charges.

*** I did contact Corel support, describing the problem and a couple of screenshots of the failure:
"
When using map mode to geotag photos, there is an error - see attached screenshots.

Attachment(s)
A 2020-03-08 19_50_13-.png
B 2020-03-08 19_51_37-.png
"


*** They reply was beyond disappointing:

"
Thank you for contacting Corel Customer Support. My name is Prabu and I have been assigned to your ticket.

Regarding your query, Kindly follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Please follow these steps to reset.

1. Hold down the SHIFT button on the keyboard
2. Still holding down the SHIFT button, use the mouse and double left click on the PaintShop Pro Desktop icon
3. Click on the OK button

After performing these steps disable the guided tour in your PaintShop Pro and then do not click on the earth icon or maps option. 

Let me know if this works for you. Please give me feedback regarding this matter and also if you have an issue kindly please send us the screenshot of it. Thank you and have a nice day. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any further questions.

Regards,
Prabu
Corel Customer Support Services
"

I used to use Geosetter - not that intuitive, but did work, but looks like it also has the same problem. HOWEVER, they actually pop open a window describing the problem. They claim it will still work. When I did use it, I found it had some limits on number of pictures that could be geotagged at one time. However, it can be changed to use Open Street Maps.

Looking thru the posts I also saw that Digikam ( https://www.digikam.org/ ) could do this, and even works on linux. I have not tried this on windows or linux.

[Andy2011]

I'm a little hesitant to have my credit card associated with this, would be nice to have warning from google if I started to incur charges.

I have had a couple of months zero bills from Google (usage way, way below the USD200 per month free credit). Logging on to the Google console gives usage statistics. It's a matter of gaining confidence!

Looking thru the posts I also saw that Digikam ( https://www.digikam.org/ ) could do this, and even works on linux. I have not tried this on windows or linux.

I tried Digikam and it works but is much slower to use - separate windows for writing geotags and comments to the metadata in the image file. I thought it wa a reasonable image repository with good indexing facilities but I didn't want yet another tool if possible.

[Andy2011]

I have had a reply from Corel Support. Well it's a decision - but a poor one in my book. I won't be upgrading to PSP2021 for sure.

Dear Sir, dear Madam
We have been informed by the development team that they decided to discontinue the Google Map API service from now on. This means the service won't resume in PSP2020 and previous versions, and the map-related feature is no longer supported in PSP2021.
This requires that I will now also have to close the support ticket, a decision that I know will be disappointing for you.
Please keep in mind that the survey that will be sent to you after the ticket is closed is based solely on my support, and not the decision of the development team.
Thank you for your understanding

[hartpaul]

As I suggested up above, an evolutionary dead end. Good idea to make some sales but difficult and expensive to maintain.

[Marco73]

We saw that coming, however it is extremely disappointing.

So no further Updates for me, so I can at least add the coordinates by Copy+Paste.

[Marco73]

Please keep in mind that the survey that will be sent to you after the ticket is closed is based solely on my support, and not the decision of the development team.

ROFLMAO!

[jlacerte]

Personally I asked for a refund