"Auto" creation of category and collection names?

[JeffK]

I have read the manual on Cataloging (and indeed all the others) and can't quite get my head around if this is possible.

In my visit to West Virginia from Australia in 2018 I visited Deer Creek and took some photos there. I have already put Deer Creek in these photos' IPTC metadata. Is there a way to semi automatically create a sub-category and/or a (sub)collection called Deer Creek without having to create one and type it in Deer Creek manually. This is similar to what the program does intrinsically in creating the categories under Places upon installation but I am considering how one might do it from scratch. Deer Creek is just an example of what I may wish to do with other metadata items.

Thanks, Jeff

PS I think the manual is well written and is particularly enhanced by the screenshots. But it is a fairly complex subject for me to understand fully atm. Also the built in creation of the hierarchy under the Places category based on metadata in the photos fell smack bang in the centre of what I wanted to initially achieve with a program of this sort.

[G8DHE]

PSU will certainly load IPTC metadata into the relevant fields try downloading this file from the IPTC site https://iptc.org/std/photometadata/exam ... 2021.1.jpg
It contains descriptive data about each field which if you Import it into PSU will display them

IPTCmetadata.JPG (290.74 KiB) Viewed 4413 times

It will automatically put the Object/People/Event/Location information into the relevant PSU categories, the others are placed in Miscellaneous from where they can be Drag&Dropped into the relevant areas.

[JeffK]

OK thank you. I don't understand that fully yet but it gets me going again to experiment and work out how to further proceed. No doubt more questions coming.

[snowman1]

This thread may (or may not!) help: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=29286

[JeffK]

G8DHE and @snowman1 Thank you. I am planning to explore the help you have provided this morning (I am in Australia).

[JeffK]

I spent the day going round in circles. I got the import of my already place metadata containing photos imported OK (with some glitches in the Places category at the end). But I still haven't worked out how to do this manually without having to type in hundreds of places or other parameters I might want to use in the future. Will keep trying.

[JeffK]

One question about import; if I import photos containing a Countrty-State-City-Location hierarchy is it possible to have this metadata populate the labels seen with the labels panel. Currently I only get a label for the location after import.

[G8DHE]

Yes, by default only the lowest level of the hierarchy is identified, I turn on the option either manually or use the provided script to alter the setting

AlsoAssignItsParents.jpg (102.81 KiB) Viewed 4319 times

scripter_assign ON.JPG (228.93 KiB) Viewed 4319 times

[JeffK]

Yes, by default only the lowest level of the hierarchy is identified, I turn on the option either manually or use the provided script to alter the setting
AlsoAssignItsParents.jpg

scripter_assign ON.JPG

Thank you. And then reimport the images?

[G8DHE]

My workflow is a lot different! Normally the EXIF data and GEOReverse lookup do the job for me as all my images have full GPS data attached.
I do find however that for odd reasons sometimes the full hierachy is not always assigned, seemingly randomly or location levels keep reattaching at a lower level, but never been able to pin it down as to why precisely.

[JeffK]

I am going to try and do something different than place data to try and get my head around how to create a category hierarchy (without typing all the data in) eg I'll try to do a date taken/location one. I very confused about how to proceed but I will experiment. I'll go back over the catalog help chapter first.

BTW I have seen that location data reattaching at a lower level also.

[JeffK]

I'm still lost. I'm missing something really basic. I can't work out how to create a hierarchy in the catalog pane. I simply want photo date taken and location in a drop down hierarchy. I can't seem to create labels which change eg date for photos on different dates.

[JeffK]

I'm wondering now whether the creation of catalog hierarchies are limited to the IPTC metadata referenced by G8DHE above ie as per that IPTC standard? Anyone know it that is why my efforts are failing ie trying to achieve something outside that standard?

[G8DHE]

No the data in Categories can actually be anything you like over and above what is already provided.
What isn't clear is what sort of hierachy are you trying to create ? Initially you spoke about a "Location" called "Deer Creek" provided it was correctly stored in the IPTC information along with the Town and higher levels of the Places hierachy then it ought to have been correctly placed, if anything was missing then it usually ends up in Miscellaneous where it can be dragged to the correct part of the structure, once its in the system then any other identical location will be added to those labels as well. The same applies to any other part of a Category structure, once it has been defined once then provided all the parts of the structure are there then another image will be added to those labels, if any part of the metadata structure is missing in the image then PSU can't be certain where it should be placed so it will end up in Miscellaneous again.
An example of the problems that can occur is a location I have called "Deerleap" which is an area on a hillside with a carpark, now Google will pickup varying Town information when using GEOReverse lookup depending where on the site the shot was taken, some times it picks up the name of a small village, other times it picks up the name of one or other of the nearest Towns hence sometimes the location info needs correcting to match my preferred naming convention!

One item you mentioned later was a Date and Location structure, I would use the "Timeline" option and combine that with the "Places" info not in a new structure but by dragging a relevant label like the Town to the "Filter the catalogue " (top left filter symbol) then click on the "Timeline" then I would see all the shots I've taken over the years from that location ordered in the Timeline view.
For instance using the above "Deerleap" example, I have dragged the two locations (haven't sorted some items out yet!) "ORed" them and then clicked on Timeline and the result is below;

Using Catalog filter etc.JPG (338.25 KiB) Viewed 4270 times

[JeffK]

Thank you Geoff. I understand most of that.

The date and location structure was just an example. I can't get past how I create a hierarchy level from any given IPTC metadata. Do I use the label details dialog, the category level dialog or what. I'm missing something really pivotal. Let's say I want to include lens zoom or camera aperture in my hierarchy. If I find the relevant IPTC metadata field then what next?

I got the Deer Creek one sorted because it was part of the inbuilt translation provided. But what if it wasn't. What about metadata that is not included. How do I turn that into a list of values in the catalog pane. I keep on getting a static one entry field there.