1:36 PM - My new tool for sorting photos based on GPS data. (posted by Allen )
Since I got my first digital camera in 1996, I have manually sorted and organized hundreds of thousands of photos in to various galleries online. I am not sure when I got my first GPS logger (around 2007, it seems), but photos after that point had GPS location data in them. For years I've kept wishing someone would make a tool to sort photos based on the GPS location.

A few nights ago, I decided to write something to do this. It can be found here:

https://github.com/allenhuffman/GPSPhotoSorter

The simple work-in-progress script lets me create outlines of areas in Google Maps, and export them to a KML file. I can then run this script on photos in a directory, referencing that KML file, and it will sort any photo with coordinates inside an area defined in the KML file in to a subdirectory of that name.

At the very least I expect to do this for first-round sorting, with a map of major areas such as: Downtown Disney, Esplanade, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. I could then do a second pass focusing just on areas inside each park (or, perhaps, I'll just make one big map with detailed information down to the attraction).

It's not perfect since GPS data jumps around when inside a building or on cloudy days, and older GPS data was far less accurate than what a phone does today, but I expect it will save me hours of sorting on future trips.

Much more work still to be done, possibly including a GUI, but for now this command line tool can be made to work on Windows, Mac and Linux just by having Python installed and a few extra libraries. I'll be updating the documentation with full details, and probably making a video tutorial on how to use it, in the future...

3:29 PM - Adventureland’s Phantom Fall Fest (posted by Allen )
Our local amusement park, Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa, started a new Halloween event this year. The park is owned by Palace Entertainment, and is using the same event name they use at their Kennywood park — Phantom Fall Fest.

To help get this new page on my haunted house site in the search engines, I just wanted to mention it here…

https://dmhauntedhouses.com/phantom-fall-fest/

11:20 AM - Lost Island theme park photos (posted by Allen )
Over 1000 photos from the new Lost Island Themepark have been added to the gallery.

http://themeparks.disneyfans.com/LostIsland/index.html

This non-Disney park gallery now contains over 50,000 images from parks across America going back to 1996.

2:29 PM - Lost Island theme park in Waterloo, Iowa (posted by Allen )
Coming soon - over 1000 photos at the new theme park that opened summer 2022. Brief overview:

https://parkhopping.com/2022/08/29/lost-island-theme-park-beyond-expectations/

Other than the 4-D motion simulator shooting interactive dark ride, most everything else in the park is typical amusement park style rides — but almost none of generic. All are themed to one of the five “realms” of the park. Instead of a generic spinner ride, it’s fish. It’s very well done.

Photos, videos, and a thorough breakdown of the lore of the park coming “eventually.”

7:33 AM - Theme Park photos updated (nearly 40,000 images) (posted by Allen )
My non-Disney theme park photos have been updated:

http://themeparks.disneyfans.com

The latest additions include Sea World Orlando, Disney Springs and Universal Orlando Resort. The total photo count for this gallery is now just below 40,000, with the oldest photos going back to 1996.