PSP2020 Geotagging stopped working

[Brian45]

I initially bought PSP 2018 specifically for its mapping capability. It stopped working and Corel gave me the run around trying things to fix the problem. I suggested that the problem was their license with Google but nothing was admitted.

Then version 2019 appeared. I download a trial and it had the same problem. Then an update to PSP 2019 fixed the problem but nothing was done for PSP 2018 at the time. So I bought an upgrade. Until now it worked. I was thinking of upgrading to PSP 2020 but certainly not now.

I recently came across free photo editing software called "darktable". It has a mapping facility which uses the free "open street maps" for its mapping although this is switchable to other map sources. I have only spent a few minutes with this software but I think it worth investigating.

This raises the question of whether it would be possible for Corel to use open street maps?

People have mentioned buying your own API from Google and have pointed out that in practice this is likely to be free at the typical level of use. Most of us would need detailed instructions of what is involved. Similarly it might be possible to do something with open street maps (I investigated this when PSP 2018 had problems but the technicalities were beyond me).

[robwa1709]

Hello everyone, qn FYI on this problem.

I've fallen foul of this issue this week (I'm not sure when it broke, being only an occasional psp user). I raised this with Corel support this morning and received confirmation that mapping via google maps had been abandoned. It's stopped working in PSP2020 and all previous versions and will be removed from PSP2021. Full transcript of comms is below.

As two of the features I bought into PSP for have now been withdrawn (facial recognition and now geotagging) I'll be in the market for a replacement product. I've got a beef aboutl withdrawing a feature from a product whilst it is still being sold and is still current. It would be understandable to retire the feature once PSP2021 had been released. My analogy is buying a tool kit from B&Q then a few weeks later someone in an orange apron breaks into the garage and nicks the drill.

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Prasanna Nagelle Bala Prasad (Corel)

May 8, 2020, 8:00:51 AM EDT
Mr. / Ms. Watson,

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

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 PSP 2020 and previous versions, and the map-related feature is no longer supported in PSP 2021.

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.

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

Regards,
Prasanna
Corel Customer Support Services
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Rob Watson

May 8, 2020, 6:33:18 AM EDT

Hello

I first spotted this problem on a known working installation of PSP2020 (updated 2) running on a Windows 10 home build 1909 (Build version 18363.815).

When opening the map tab in manage I started to receive:

"An error has occurred in the script in this page, line 0, char 0, error: script error, cod0, url file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Corel/Corel%20PaintShop%20Pro%202020/Languages/EN/GeoTagging/js/GoogleAdvanced1.js" Clicking yes to continue results in a the follow message in the map window "Oops something went wrong, this page didn't load google maps correctly"

Javascript is enabled in IE, this has been confirmed using the browser capability test page (http://cyscape.com/showbrow.asp?bhcp=1 - shows java script enabled). I enabled script debugging and got a further error message.

“Line: 307
Error: Unable to get property 'length' of undefined or null reference”

So this points back to a problem with line 307 in your jsGoogleAdvanced1.js script.

In order to work out if this is a problem with my Windows installation, your code or the google map service I did the following: I built a vanilla windows 10 pro virtual machine (1909 patched to update to date), no additional browsers installed, no additional antivirus (just using Windows defender) and started with an eval copy of PSP 2020 and I worked backwards through previous versions to PSP9, rolling the virtual machine back to a state prior to the installation of PSP each time and in each instance I saw exactly the same problem.

Please do NOT send me the canned response to turn on Javascript in IE. It is turned on and I have proved it is working by opening the browser capability test page. IE (and all of my other browsers) open other jscript enabled sites without issue.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is there is a problem with this script, either it is falling foul of a recent windows update or something has changed on the Google Maps side (has your API key expired?).

Over to you.

[Marco73]

Hello everyone, qn FYI on this problem.

I've fallen foul of this issue this week (I'm not sure when it broke, being only an occasional psp user). I raised this with Corel support this morning and received confirmation that mapping via google maps had been abandoned. It's stopped working in PSP2020 and all previous versions and will be removed from PSP2021. Full transcript of comms is below.

As two of the features I bought into PSP for have now been withdrawn (facial recognition and now geotagging) I'll be in the market for a replacement product. I've got a beef aboutl withdrawing a feature from a product whilst it is still being sold and is still current. It would be understandable to retire the feature once PSP2021 had been released. My analogy is buying a tool kit from B&Q then a few weeks later someone in an orange apron breaks into the garage and nicks the drill.

Same with all of us here ...

[Challenger]

I have been told by a Corel support agent that the mapping/ geotagging function is no longer supported and will be excluded from future versions. I think that is a big let down from Corel because it means your workflow is interrupted when reviewing and sorting photos

[Marco73]

I think that is a big let down from Corel because it means your workflow is interrupted when reviewing and sorting photos

We all think so, too.

[jrmach]

The Geo tagging will be missed, but for all meta data, sorting, geo tagging and many other organizing issues I use a program called PIE or Picture information Extractor. I have found this program invaluable for sorting through, tagging, etc. thousands and thousands of pictures. I am in no way affiliated with this program other than being a very satisfied registered user.

[Marco73]

The Geo tagging will be missed, but for all meta data, sorting, geo tagging and many other organizing issues I use a program called PIE or Picture information Extractor. I have found this program invaluable for sorting through, tagging, etc. thousands and thousands of pictures. I am in no way affiliated with this program other than being a very satisfied registered user.

Can it edit PSP files? Or do we have to turn them into jpg first?

[jrmach]

Best to go to the PIE (Pictue Information Extractor) site and read. For me as a retired Photo lab owner and Professional Photographer this program has been invaluable.

[Marco73]

Best to go to the PIE (Pictue Information Extractor) site and read. For me as a retired Photo lab owner and Professional Photographer this program has been invaluable.

I'v been there and did not find anything, so I asked.
Don't you work with PSP?

[jrmach]

Well I looked at the link https://www.picmeta.com/products/pictur ... ractor.htm and it was quite clear too me the file types that is supports, but to answer your question, no it does not support *.pspimage files as this is a Corel paint shop pro image type only.... I only suggested this program because it has geotagging (plus many other organization options). One other cool thing that it does have with the geotag option that I have not seen in any other program is that when in street view it lets you zoom in to what you are viewing.

[Marco73]

So we would have to do all the tagging to the tif file before doing all the magic in PSP:
Does it keep all the data?

[jrmach]

If a supported image file is tagged already and then edited in pie no data is lost (at least not with my 10 plus years using PIE) Any Meta data already in a file is left as is, unless you alter it in PIE. I would recommend download the trial version and play with it. (With the trial version no meta data can be saved, but at least you can check out the interface).

[Andy2011]

Obviously the recommendation of a long-term user of PIE carries substantial weight.

I have had a look at the free (non-saving) version. It certainly explores the EXIF data thoroughly - but then it should do as it is a graphical front-end to the excellent free exiftool by Phil Harvey. Previously I have used exiftool in command line mode to batch-edit the camera name in raw files so that another piece of software, Aftershot 3, would recognise the file type.
Perhaps I missed something but PIE doesn't appear to use a database to index tags and other metadata. I ran a search against a subset of my older image files (about 25k). I think PIE firstly set up a batch job for exiftool.exe to search for the specified tag. Very slow and no apparent way to save the results.

I have gone back to look at open source digiKam. Earlier in this post I called it 'clunky', mainly as it doesn't have the simple one-step workflow for annotating and geotagging images that I have got used to in PSP/Manage. I pointed it the same 25k images and left it to run. The different views available make it very easy to find images by tag, date etc. The search facility is excellent. A downside it that it builds a thumbnail database and that gets quite large.

I need to think hard about how it might fit in my workflow, possibly just retaining PSP for more advanced image manipulation.

By the way, my 'fix' for geotagging in PSP is still working and not costing me anything.

[Marco73]

I still hope they stick with the fields to enter the coordinates manually .... this would help me so much ...

[fuzzel]

I was very happy to use this feature many years ago and yet am now really very negatively surprised at the handling of the problem, to find that the feature that was broken in 22 has simply been removed in version 23.
Honestly: The whole Google components annoy me anyway, I think you can do without the license. But please give yourselves a jolt and just use OpenStreetMap.
I really don't want to do without Paint Shop Pro in the future - but that's a pretty elementary feature for me, since my camera itself doesn't have a GPS sensor.