Many years ago, I wrote about the EXIF data in pictures taken with Smartphones. Smartphones often record extensive meta data, including GPS and accelerometer data.
So I wondered how much similar data can be found in footage collected with a drone. As an example, I am using a DJI Mini Pro 4 drone. This is a very common and popular drone, and I have footage available.
The drone has the ability to record video as well as still photos. For the still photos, typically saved in JPG format, the data looks like what you expect from a smartphone. It includes camera parameters, date, time, and GPS coordinates (oddly, the height was VERY wrong in my sample if I used the “exists” tools, but inspecting it with a homemade tool, it looks better. Likely just an encoding issue)
Here is the complete EXIF data from a sample image
Tag
Value
exiftags
invalid field offset (Make)
exiftags
maker note not supported
Camera-Specific Properties
Camera Model
FC8482
Camera Software
10.08.04.08
Maximum Lens Aperture
f/1.7
Focal Length (35mm Equiv)
24 mm
Image-Specific Properties
Image Orientation
Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution
72 dpi
Vertical Resolution
72 dpi
Image Created
2024:03:20 11:43:03
Exposure Time
1/2500 sec
F-Number
f/1.7
Exposure Program
Normal Program
ISO Speed Rating
100
Lens Aperture
f/1.7
Exposure Bias
0 EV
Subject Distance
0.00 m
Metering Mode
Average
Light Source
Daylight
Flash
No Flash
Focal Length
6.72 mm
Color Space Information
sRGB
Image Width
4032
Image Height
2268
Rendering
Normal
Exposure Mode
Auto
White Balance
Auto
Scene Capture Type
Standard
Gain Control
None
Contrast
Normal
Saturation
Normal
Sharpness
Normal
Latitude
N [redacted]
Longitude
W [redcated]
Altitude
4294927.26 m
GPS Status
Measurement In Progress
Geodetic Survey Data
WGS-84
The coordinates are the coordinates of the drone, not the coordinates of the operator. The serial number of the drone is not displayed. Note that the serial number uses an “Unknown” exif tag and is only displayed with the -u option in exiftags
“Unknown Tags”
Attribute
Value
Title
default
GPS Info IFD Pointer
746
Unknown
972
Unknown
1100
Unknown
2
Manufacturer Notes
890
Supported FlashPix Version
808464688
Interoperability IFD Pointer
860
Device Settings
0
Unknown
6TVQL[redacted serial number]
Unknown
24
Unknown
DJI FC8482
Unknown
R98
Unknown
808464688
Some of the “Unknown” data may be sensitive, but I have not redacted it so far. Let me know if I should 🙂
The video data is a bit more complex. DJI saves 3 different files:
MP4 File: This is the main, full resolution video file
LRF File: Lower resolution video file
SRT File: A file with GPS coordinates in “Subtitle” format (more below)
Users sharing a file are most likely going to share the MP4 file. Like the JPEG, some metadata is embedded in the MP4 data stream. It is less verbose than the JPEG data, but it does include the drone’s serial number. I did not find GPS data in the MP4 metadata. Just information about the camera and firmware.
The SRT file contains some basic GPS data for each “time slice”. In this format, it can easily be overlayed to the video file.
00:00:00,033 –> 00:00:00,066
<font size=”28″>FrameCnt: 2, DiffTime: 33ms
2024-03-20 12:59:17.852
[iso: 400] [shutter: 1/320.0] [fnum: 1.7] [ev: 2.0] [color_md: default] [focal_len: 36.30] [latitude: 30.xxxxxx] [longitude: -81.xxxxxx] [rel_alt: 6.500 abs_
alt: -32.309] [ct: 5695] </font>
Again, only the drone’s GPS data is saved, not the operator’s location. It has been well documented that DJI includes the operator (or better controller) location in the datastream sent to the drone, in part to comply with regulations in some locales [1]. An image file doesn’t necessarily give it away.
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/dji-droneid-operator-location-hacker-tool/
—
Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D. , Dean of Research, SANS.edu
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