How do you get the country/state/region/city/state/zip/postal from GPS coordinates?

Question

I have GPS coordinates on all of my photos. I want to include tags/IPTC data for the city, state, zip, etc.. However all I have is the GPS coordinates. How can I take these and get meaningful info in an automated fashion (I have thousands upon thousands of photos, so typing each one into google maps would not work).

Answer 1

You can do reverse geocoding with Google Maps API using the following HTTP request:

Simple CSV:

http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=40.756041,-73.986939&output=csv&sensor=false

More Complex XML:

http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=40.756041,-73.986939&output=xml&sensor=false

Simply change the "q" parameter with your latitude,longitude.

Note that the Google Maps API has a limit of 15,000 request per IP address per day. (Google Maps API FAQ)