How I built a free dashcam GPS viewer: First impressions after use

I was looking for a video player that would display the video and show the GPS data on a map.

BHPian yashg recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I recently got a new dashcam, the Viofo A119 Mini 2 for my Compass. It has inbuilt GPS. The coordinates are displayed on the video as well as embedded in the video metadata. I was looking for a video player that would display the video and show the GPS data on a map. I found Dashcam Viewer but it is a paid product and the trial version is limited to loading 2 videos only. And the UI, the UI is clunky and the app looks just plain ugly. I tried searching for other free apps but couldn't find any.

So I decided to build one myself. And I have built CamGeoPlayer. It's still in beta. I have only tested it with the videos from my Viofo. Need to test with sample footage from other dashcams.

It's a simple Windows application. You can load multiple videos in the queue and it will play them one by one and show the GPS data on a map along with a moving marker that moves along with the video. Entire journey is plotted as a route on the map.

It is built using .Net and utilises open source tools like Exiftool for extracting GPS data from videos, Leaflet and OpenStreetMap for maps.

You can download it from here and give it a try. There is no installer, just download the zip file (119 MB), extract it and run CamGeoPlayer.exe. It requires .Net Framework 4.8 which should be pre-installed in your computer if you have Windows 10 or 11.

This is the first beta release so there will be bugs. If you can share some sample videos with embedded GPS data from your dashcam, action cam or drone then I can test with them and make it better.

It's a free software. I intend to keep it free. Try it out and let me know your thoughts.

Here's what BHPian swarnava.ch had to say on the matter:

You sir are a true hero and a Shout out to you on this community. Love your ingenuity. I would gladly help you out.

I have a Yi Dashcam in one of my cars and 70mai in another. I believe the Yi does not have GPS data perhaps (need to check) but I will try your software with my 70mai and share feedback shortly. One question though. in 70mai, its a front and back camera feed. It will be great if you can introduce a Picture-In-Picture mode to see the rear videos embedded.

I would love to collaborate with you - I am not a hands on developer, but had a few ideas and I see you are already leaning towards those. Will DM you later with results.

Great Stuff.

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