Enter Kinomap, a site that allows you to upload video and GPS tracklogs (.gpx format) and synch them together. The result is a Google Map page with the gps track and an icon showing where the video is currently being shot from.

Because I’m such a data nerd, I already had GPS tracks and video from a kayaking trip on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire from 2007.

The Kinomap team is located in France and unfortunately most of their documentation is in French (which I can’t read). I was able to figure out some of the settings through their support video:

So let’s make a map tracked video…

Go out and shoot some video and log some GPS points.

Load your gps tracks onto your computer (I use ExpertGPS since it lets me clean up datasets and can save out in the .gpx format)

Download the Kinomap Uploader.

Kinomap uses the NMEA 0183 recording format, but can import .gpx files thanks to it’s use of GPSBabel (btw: grab a copy of GPSBabel, you’ll need it for the next step).

Now this is where I originally ran into some issues, and was about to email the authors of Kinomap who responded quickly.

It turns out Kinomap wants datasets that are 1 second apart. My gps (Garmin GPS Map 60CSx) was set to 3 second intervals (to conserve space while hiking). My datasets were broken into hundreds of segments which the uploader would not handle.

After some researching online, I found out how to make GPSBabel interpolate the additional points in my .gpx file.

I wrote a convert.cmd batch so that I could drag & drop my .gpx onto it, to process it correctly:

“c:\Program Files (x86)\GPSBabel\gpsbabel.exe” -i gpx -f %1 -x interpolate,time=1 -o gpx -F newtrack.gpx

The newtrack.gpx imports correctly into the Kinomap Uploader now.

I then added my kayak video to the right pane of the uploader.

Hit the big pause button to play your video, stopping it at a unique spot that you’d be able to identify on your gps track.

Click the double arrow (right/left arrows above the big pause button) to synchronize the track to the video. When the double arrow is orange you’re in edit mode.

You can now click and drag your orange arrow on the left pane (gps track) to the exact position you think the video is paused at.

Deselect the double arrow to lock the track and video together, then deselect pause to play it and see if it’s correct. You might have to adjust this a few times to get it right.

I haven’t worked with the 2 smaller sliders but I believe they trim the front/back off the video (so you can just select the section you have a track for).

Once you’re set, hit the “upload” tab. This will let you enter all the meta data for the video and map. When ready, hit convert, then upload.

Here’s the finished result: Kayaking on Newfound Lake.