Have you ever wondered if you could drop all your images onto a map and see where you’ve been — not just as a list of dates, but as actual pins scattered across the globe?
That’s exactly what Images to Google Earth / Ovi Maps does. It reads the GPS data embedded in your photos’ EXIF metadata, generates a KMZ file, and lets you drop it into Google Earth or Ovi Interactive Maps — instantly turning any collection of photos into an interactive, geolocated map.
Let’s explore how this simple tool is being used across very different industries.
How It Works — In 30 Seconds
- Open https://s.wtsolutions.cn/gps.html
- Choose your target map software: Google Earth or Ovi Maps
- Pick an icon style (camera, circle, pin, and more)
- Drag and drop your photos onto the page
- Download the generated KMZ file and open it in your map software
That’s it. No account, no upload — all processing happens locally in your browser, so your photos never leave your device.
Applications Across Industries
🏗️ Engineering & Surveying
Surveyors and civil engineers take hundreds of site photos during a project. Instead of sorting them by date in a folder, they can import the KMZ into Google Earth to see every photo plotted at its exact GPS location — making it trivial to verify coverage, spot gaps, and deliver a spatial record to the client.
🌾 Agriculture & Land Management
Farmers and agronomists regularly fly drones over fields to monitor crop health. By generating a KMZ from the aerial images, they can overlay the flight path directly on the terrain and quickly identify which zones were photographed, compare different flights, and track changes over time.
🏘️ Urban Planning & Real Estate
City planners and real estate agents use this tool to visualize building inspections, site surveys, and property photos on a map. A real estate agent can drop a KMZ into Google Earth and walk a client through every photo of a neighborhood — each pin opening to the actual image.
🛰️ Drone & Aerial Photography
Drone operators use it as a flight debriefing tool: after a flight, they generate a KMZ and see the entire flight path in 3D — revealing gaps, overlaps, and altitude changes that a flat photo gallery can’t show.
🧭 Travel & Adventure
The simplest use case: travel. Take all the photos from a trip, generate one KMZ, and watch your journey unfold on the map. Each pin is a moment. It’s a visual diary of where you’ve been, far more engaging than a photo album.
📰 News & Field Research
Journalists and researchers on field assignments can create geo-referenced photo logs — crucial for accuracy in reporting or research documentation. Knowing exactly where each photo was taken is non-negotiable in field science.
A Simple Example: A Weekend Mountain Hike
Let’s walk through a real-world scenario step by step.
The Situation:
You just came back from a 2-day mountain hiking trip. You took about 80 photos along the trail. Now you want to visualize the route you actually walked, not just what your GPS watch recorded.
Step 1 — Prepare your images
Make sure your phone or camera had GPS/location services enabled during the hike. Most modern devices do this by default. These images should contain GPS coordinates in their EXIF metadata.
Step 2 — Open the tool
Go to https://s.wtsolutions.cn/gps.html in your browser.
Step 3 — Choose your map
Select Google Earth as your target. Pick a camera icon style for a visual look.
Step 4 — Drag and drop
Select all 80 hiking images and drag them onto the page. The tool reads the GPS data from each image’s EXIF information.
Step 5 — Download and open
Click download to get the KMZ file. Double-click it — it opens in Google Earth automatically.
Step 6 — See your route
You’ll see a series of pins along the mountain trail, each representing a image. You can:
- Zoom in on any pin to see the image preview;
- Toggle the “Placemarks” folder to show or hide all image markers at once;
- Rotate the 3D view to see how your route climbs and descends through the terrain.
That’s it. In under two minutes, your weekend hike is now a 3D visual story on the globe.
💡 Tip: If you select Ovi Maps instead, you’ll also need to enter the local folder path where your photos are stored (e.g.,
file:///Users/yourname/Pictures/hike/), so the map software can link to the actual image files on your disk.
Free vs. Pro
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Images per batch | 6 | Unlimited |
| KMZ generation | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom image display size (20–3000 px) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Export GPS data to CSV | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multiple icon styles | ✅ | ✅ |
| Google Earth + Ovi Maps support | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cross-platform (Win / Mac / iOS / Linux / Android) | ✅ | ✅ |
For a casual trip or quick preview, the free version works great. If you’re a professional handling large photo sets and need GPS data export, the Pro version is the way to go.
Key Takeaways
- Simple. Drag, drop, done. No technical knowledge required.
- Private. Everything runs in your browser. No data ever leaves your device.
- Versatile. Used by drone pilots, surveyors, farmers, travelers, journalists, and real estate agents — anyone who takes geotagged photos.
- Cross-platform. Works on Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
If you take images that matter — whether for work or life — try turning them into a map. You’ll see your world from a whole new perspective.