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Re: Auto extract EXIF meta data from images to form

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Simon_Botes
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Is it possible to automatically pull EXIF data from an image uploaded on a form created with Airtable and add it to a form.

So the user fills in our form and uploads an image. When the image is received then the EXIF data is automatically pulled from the image and filled into file on the admin console?

I am looking to pull the gps data in the image. They type of camera. The date and time. etc

Any assistance will be appreciated.

5 Replies 5

Welcome to the community, Simon! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: My gut says that this could probably be done, but it would require some deep integration and/or API work. I went looking for an EXIF API online, and thought I found one at http://www.exif.in/, but the site appears to be down. You could try subscribing to the creator’s update newsletter, though there’s no telling if it’s even in active development.

I agree with @Justin_Barrett that this will require some potentially hefty integration work.

I know Zapier and Integromat used to support a link to a service called CloudConvert, and CloudConvert had an ImageMagick module. I think ImageMagick supports EXIF extraction — but I think CloudConvert only supports a subset of ImageMagick capabilities, so I don’t know if that’s included.¹ Still, it’s a place to start.

If you plan to do much with EXIF massaging, you should also check out Neal Krawetz’s blog. He’s a leading forensic analyst with an emphasis on digital imagery, and he often touches on quirks, caveats, and methods dealing with EXIF data. He just finished a four-part entry on identifying forged EXIF data, and in recent months he’s frequently discussed the limitations of EXIF — which services and applications strip or corrupt EXIF tables, for instance. Be sure to pack a lunch, because it’s an easy place to stay all day.


  1. All these ‘thinks’ and similar weasel words are because the last time I even mentioned CloudConvert in a post was over a year ago — and the last time I actually used ImageMagick was probably 20 years ago. :winking_face: I vaguely remember running some tests where I push data from Airtable into something like CloudConvert/ImageMagick and had [whatever it was I was using] generate a text-only PNG for use in a web page, but by ‘vaguely’ I mean I don’t remember if I ever finished the integration and, if so, if it actually worked…

@W_Vann_Hall oh wow. I’m gonna make some popcorn and dive into this neal krawetz blog :eyes:

Ivy_Lee
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I wrote a tutorial about how to automatically extract photo metadata from an attachment field https://medium.com/airexif/how-to-automatically-extract-exif-metadata-from-photos-in-airtable-withou.... Hope it’s useful!

Moe
10 - Mercury
10 - Mercury

We built this extension that extracts Exif data from image attachments on Airtable.