APP WISH LIST Import Locations

[JohnZeman]

Well Andy I've got another request for an app if you're up for it some time when you have some free time.

In IMatch 5 I had a vb script called Import Locations.  What it did was to take the value in each image's metadata location tags and used that to assign images to location categories.

So if I selected an image with the location, city, state, and country assigned, it would assign that image to the following category:

Country > State > City > Location.

For example if I select an image with the following metadata:

Country: United States of America
State: Florida
City: Key West
Location: Mallory Square

The script would assign the image to the following category (creating it if it didn't exist):

United States of America|Florida|Key West|Mallory Square

In the event no location was found in the metadata, then only the County > State > City would be assigned to a category.

Is this a project you think you might be willing to take on?

[jch2103]

This would seem to do the same thing as a data-driven category for locations. I assume the intent is to avoid having to use data-driven categories?

[Mario]

IMatch by default creates a data-driven category hierarchy based on location data (Country > City > Location) under the "IMatch Sample" or "IMatch Standard" categories:



This usually does the job. if you don't have this category, you can import the

C:\ProgramData\photools.com\IMatch6\Presets\system-en.imcsx

category preset via the Category Import in the Import & Export panel.

[JohnZeman]

Thanks guys.  I should have mentioned that I do have a data-driven location category, and I do use it, but that shows the locations of all of the files in my database.  Which is desirable in many cases but not always.......or so I have been thinking for the past 11 years I've been using IMatch.

Now thanks to both of you I'm giving this entire location category situation a hard rethink.  (I'm asking myself) why couldn't I just use data-driven location categories instead of manually creating standard location categories?  At the moment I can't think of a good reason why I couldn't.  Color coding wouldn't be an issue since data-driven location categories have inherit color coding enabled by default....

Ok, let me ponder this for a few days while I'm working for farmers as I haul corn from the fields to the grain bins using the tractor and wagons you see in the attached photo.

Sorry Andy, that's twice I've asked you to create a new app for me but once again it's looking like I might not need your talents after all.

Edit:  I've been rereading the data-driven categories help tonight, and oh my, I have a lot to think about now.  I'm seeing some new possibilities for categories I had never considered before.

[Mario]

If you want to include only certain images in a data-driven category, you can

a) Somehow create a category which includes all the files to include (direct assignments, formulas, ...)
b) Use that category as a filter for the location category.

This gives you very easy and flexible way to control which files are included. And there are other filter possibilities available in data-driven categories. This is indeed a very powerful feature and most users never use more than the absolute basics.

[JohnZeman]

I have discovered that Mario, that's why I later edited my last post here.  Thank you.  This is going to work out very well.  It's the first major revision to the basic category structure of my database since 2006.  Besides using data-driven categories for my locations now, I'm also changing to use them to group files by Decade > Year > Month.  Which will reduce my categorization of new files by at least 40%.

All these years I'd never thought to automate as much of my categorization as possible.  I had been using the manually created 5 Ws strategy, (Who, What, When, Where, Why) now 2 of those 5 Ws are automatically created for me.

Thanks again.

[Mario]

All these years I'd never thought to automate as much of my categorization as possible.  I had been using the manually created 5 Ws strategy, (Who, What, When, Where, Why) now 2 of those 5 Ws are automatically created for me.

Me, I'm lazy. I automate as much as possible. Let the computer do the work.

Having properly categorized and tagged (keyworded) files is a bliss.
Doing the categorization and tagging work can be a real pita.

From Metadata Templates to data-driven categories, automatic reverse geo-coding or the Universal Thesaurus, IMatch offers many time-saver features. Which often also improve the data-quality and consistency in your collection.

And I'm quite confident that in the foreseeable future 'A.I.' based features in IMatch will take over even more of the annoying and time-consuming tasks.
Lots of exciting technology is being developed today, and I have prepared IMatch and IMatch Anywhere™ to be able to utilize this.

[Jingo]

Sorry Andy, that's twice I've asked you to create a new app for me but once again it's looking like I might not need your talents after all.

Ha!  No worries John... always a good idea for me to let Mario and others reply to a request before jumping in full steam anyway... since IM can do so many thing natively... you just never know what is already standard stuff!

[loweskid]

I've also been playing around with data-driven categories today - I now have three categories for Year, Month, and Day, using the same File.DateTime variable but with different formats for display.  Great!

Jingo - apologies, I've only just noticed your PM.  I've sent you a reply.

[sinus]

Sorry Andy, that's twice I've asked you to create a new app for me but once again it's looking like I might not need your talents after all.

Ha!  No worries John... always a good idea for me to let Mario and others reply to a request before jumping in full steam anyway... since IM can do so many thing natively... you just never know what is already standard stuff!

Yep, IMatch offers natively a lot of stuff, great!
But Mario cannot create a software what solves all wishes for every single user.

That is why Apps are so great.

[Jingo]

I've also been playing around with data-driven categories today - I now have three categories for Year, Month, and Day, using the same File.DateTime variable but with different formats for display.  Great!

Jingo - apologies, I've only just noticed your PM.  I've sent you a reply.

No worries... thanks much!!