UIImagePickerController and extracting EXIF data f

Question

It's well known that UIImagePickerController doesn't return the metadata of the photo after selection. However, a couple of apps in the app store (Mobile Fotos, PixelPipe) seem to be able to read the original files and the EXIF data stored within them, enabling the app to extract the geodata from the selected photo.

They seem to do this by reading the original file from the /private/var/mobile/Media/DCIM/100APPLE/ folder and running it through an EXIF library.

However, I can't work out a way of matching a photo returned from the UIImagePickerController to a file on disk. I've explored file sizes, but the original file is a JPEG, whilst the returned image is a raw UIImage, making it impossible to know the file size of the image that was selected.

I'm considering making a table of hashes and matching against the first x pixels of each image. This seems a bit over the top though, and probably quite slow.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I spend a while working on this as well for an application I was contracted to build. Basically as the API currently stands it is not possible. The basic problem is the UIImage class STRIPS all EXIF data except for the orientation out. Also the function to save to the camera roll strips this data out. So basically the only way to grab and maintain any extra EXIF data is to save it in a private "camera roll" in your application. I have filed this bug with apple as well and emphasized the need to the app reviewer reps we've been in contact with. Hopefully someday they'll add it in.. Otherwise it makes having GEO tagging completely useless as it only works in the "stock" camera application.

NOTE Some applications on the app store hack around this. By, what I have found, directly accessing the camera roll and SAVING photos straight to it to save GEO data. However this only works with the camera roll/saved photos and NOT the rest of the photo library. The photos "synced" to your phone from your computer have all EXIF data except for orientation stripped.

I still can't understand why those applications were approved (heck they even DELETE from the camera roll) and our application which does none of that is still being held back.

Answer 2

Just a thought, but have you tried TTPhotoViewController in the Three20 project on GitHub?

That provides an image picker that can read from multiple sources. You may be able to use it as an alternative to UIImagePickerController, or the source might give you a clue how to work out how to get the info you need.

Answer 3

it seems that photo attained by UIImagePickerControllerMediaURL don't have exif tags at all

Answer 4

This is something that the public API does not provide, but could be useful to many people. Your primary recourse is to file a bug with Apple that describes what you need (and it can be helpful to explain why you need it as well). Hopefully your request could make it into a future release.

After filing a bug, you could also use one of the Developer Technical Support (DTS) incidents that came with your iPhone Developer Program membership. If there is a public way to do this, an Apple engineer will know. Otherwise, it may at least help get your plight a bit more attention within the mothership. Best of luck!

Answer 5

This works with iOS5 (beta 4) and the camera roll (you need type defs for the blocks in the .h):

-(void) imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker 
           didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info
{
  NSString *mediaType = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerMediaType];
  if ([mediaType isEqualToString:(NSString*)kUTTypeImage]) {
    NSURL *url = [info objectForKey:UIImagePickerControllerReferenceURL];
    if (url) {
      ALAssetsLibraryAssetForURLResultBlock resultblock = ^(ALAsset *myasset) {
      CLLocation *location = [myasset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyLocation];
      // location contains lat/long, timestamp, etc
      // extracting the image is more tricky and 5.x beta ALAssetRepresentation has bugs!
    };
    ALAssetsLibraryAccessFailureBlock failureblock = ^(NSError *myerror) {
      NSLog(@"cant get image - %@", [myerror localizedDescription]);
    };
    ALAssetsLibrary *assetsLib = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
    [assetsLib assetForURL:url resultBlock:resultblock failureBlock:failureblock];
  }
}

Answer 6

I had a similar question where I wanted just the date a picture was taken and none of the above appear to solve my problem in a simple way (e.g. no external libraries), so here is all of the data I could find which you can extract from an image after selecting it with the picker:

// Inside whatever implements UIImagePickerControllerDelegate
@import AssetsLibrary;

// ... your other code here ...

@implementation MYImagePickerDelegate

- (void)imagePickerController:(UIImagePickerController *)picker
didFinishPickingMediaWithInfo:(NSDictionary *)info
{
    NSString *mediaType = info[UIImagePickerControllerMediaType];
    UIImage *originalImage = info[UIImagePickerControllerOriginalImage];
    UIImage *editedImage = info[UIImagePickerControllerEditedImage];
    NSValue *cropRect = info[UIImagePickerControllerCropRect];
    NSURL *mediaUrl = info[UIImagePickerControllerMediaURL];
    NSURL *referenceUrl = info[UIImagePickerControllerReferenceURL];
    NSDictionary *mediaMetadata = info[UIImagePickerControllerMediaMetadata];

    NSLog(@"mediaType=%@", mediaType);
    NSLog(@"originalImage=%@", originalImage);
    NSLog(@"editedImage=%@", editedImage);
    NSLog(@"cropRect=%@", cropRect);
    NSLog(@"mediaUrl=%@", mediaUrl);
    NSLog(@"referenceUrl=%@", referenceUrl);
    NSLog(@"mediaMetadata=%@", mediaMetadata);

    if (!referenceUrl) {
        NSLog(@"Media did not have reference URL.");
    } else {
        ALAssetsLibrary *assetsLib = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
        [assetsLib assetForURL:referenceUrl
                   resultBlock:^(ALAsset *asset) {
                       NSString *type = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyType];
                       CLLocation *location = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyLocation];
                       NSNumber *duration = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyDuration];
                       NSNumber *orientation = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyOrientation];
                       NSDate *date = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyDate];
                       NSArray *representations = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyRepresentations];
                       NSDictionary *urls = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyURLs];
                       NSURL *assetUrl = 
                           [asset valueForProperty:ALAssetPropertyAssetURL];

                       NSLog(@"type=%@", type);
                       NSLog(@"location=%@", location);
                       NSLog(@"duration=%@", duration);
                       NSLog(@"assetUrl=%@", assetUrl);
                       NSLog(@"orientation=%@", orientation);
                       NSLog(@"date=%@", date);
                       NSLog(@"representations=%@", representations);
                       NSLog(@"urls=%@", urls);
                   }
                  failureBlock:^(NSError *error) {
                      NSLog(@"Failed to get asset: %@", error);
                  }];
    }

    [picker dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES
                               completion:nil];
}

@end

So when you select an image, you get output that looks like this (including date!):

mediaType=public.image
originalImage=<UIImage: 0x7fb38e00e870> size {1280, 850} orientation 0 scale 1.000000
editedImage=<UIImage: 0x7fb38e09e1e0> size {640, 424} orientation 0 scale 1.000000
cropRect=NSRect: {{0, 0}, {1280, 848}}
mediaUrl=(null)
referenceUrl=assets-library://asset/asset.JPG?id=AC072879-DA36-4A56-8A04-4D467C878877&ext=JPG
mediaMetadata=(null)
type=ALAssetTypePhoto
location=(null)
duration=ALErrorInvalidProperty
assetUrl=assets-library://asset/asset.JPG?id=AC072879-DA36-4A56-8A04-4D467C878877&ext=JPG
orientation=0
date=2014-07-14 04:28:18 +0000
representations=(
    "public.jpeg"
)
urls={
    "public.jpeg" = "assets-library://asset/asset.JPG?id=AC072879-DA36-4A56-8A04-4D467C878877&ext=JPG";
}

Anyway, hopefully that saves someone else some time.