EXIF Workflow

This page describes the workflow for using the EXIF extension

The EXIF extension hosts the following commands

• EXIFADMIN : starts a wizard to create EXIF datastore from set of images.
• EXIFCAMERA : to add or modify camera parameters, required to be able to calculate field of view
• CONNECT the new datastore.
• FVIEW : Feature Viewing capabilities, select a feature in the drawing to open the corresponding image

Typ EXIFADMIN at the AutoCAD command line to start the wizard. This wizard will create a datastore where the metadata about each image found in the defined location(s) will get stored.

• STEP 1 : create or update an SDF datastore to host the imagery EXIF metadata.

• STEP 2 : define datastore specific information:
  • CRS of the datastore. The user can define what CRS to use for the datastore. EXIF location data is usually in WGS84, but datastore can be in a any different supported coordinate system
  • Actual datastore location, where the SDF file should be written.
  • Schema name within the datastore. No need to change this, one can use the default 'Schema' name

• STEP 3 : add any location on your harddrive or network that has images (for this project). The user can add multiple folders and there is an option to scan the subfolders as well.

• STEP 4 : Click ont the import button to start the import process. At the end of the import process a report will be given informing about images found.

Now that the datastore has been created, we need to connect it to the AutoCAD environment, so that our exif features become available. Open the AutoCAD options window (type OPTIONS at the command line), and navigate to the VNS Spatial Data Center tab. There you will find in the left hand column a branch named Feature Data Store. When you select it, there will be an option on the right side where you can define the location of your datastore. To verify that the connection succeeded, click in the left hand column on query data store and on the right side a button to query the data store will become visible. If you click it, there will be a message stating the connection status.

Once the datastore is connected, the features from the datastore can be drawn in AutoCAD. From the Feature Tree (FTREE command in AutoCAD), navigate to the EXIF IMAGERY branch, and right click on EXIF IMAGE. in the right click menu select the command CHECKOUT. The features available in the datastore will get drawn to AutoCAD. If you click on a feature and open the property window, you'll get an overview of all the available metadata.

Each camera make has a specific field of view. This field of view is then visible in AutoCAD when selecting a feature instance, but therefor the camera make and it's cropfactor must be avaible in the camera list.

Using the EXIFCAMERA command, a user can add his own camera and cropfactor, if it is not yet available.

To view a specific image inside AutoCAD, typ FVIEW command in AutoCAD. This should open a palette window from where you can select the point icon (upper left corner). Now select an area inside the AutoCAD editor. If this area contains images, a red circle will be drawn around each feature. If the camera model/make of the selected image was available in the cameras.txt list, you also get the field of view.

When you click inside the red circle, the image will open in the viewer palette.

In order to be able to use this extension the following files are required:

• Exif.schema.xml : this file contains the possible metadata attribute definitions (according to EXIF specification 2.3). This file is available from C:\Users\[Current User]\AppData\Roaming\Vianova Systems Benelux\VNS Spatial Data Center\Schemata
• cameras.txt : contains definition of camera make/model and the crop factor. This file is available from C:\Users\[Current User]\AppData\Roaming\Vianova Systems Benelux\VNS Spatial Data Center\Support