More Than ElementalAdobe’s Premiere Elements 2.0 is far from simple. This robust, inexpensive “entry level” editing program is suitable not only for the non-technophobe beginning editor, but should keep the intermediate cutter content as well. Adobe brought together a decade and a half of editing software development experience and consumer feedback to create a PC offering that you may have trouble growing out of. Let’s take a look.We loaded the program from the single DVD, registered the software and began our capture of video all within ten minutes. The heavy stock four-page quick-start guide was all we needed to commence the simple process of getting MPEG-4 video from our point-and-shoot still camera into our HP xw9300 (AMD Opteron 2.4GHz with 2GB RAM, Windows XP Professional). We applied some filters, made a few frame-accurate cuts and outputted a small enough file to email to someone's cell phone without ever cracking the 244-page user’s guide.

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Not bad.Getting Up and StartedGranted, we editors have some experience with the Premiere line of products. Some users claim the interface, which more closely resembles the line (as well as other advanced programs such as Avid and Final Cut Pro) is more challenging than its entry level post production peers.For the majority of us in the Videomaker community, control takes priority over automation in our post-production storytelling process. There are beginner’s programs that claim to edit the entire project automatically, but most of us want to be making the artistic decisions. For this reason, a small learning curve in exchange for a quality, robust program is well worth the time and effort it may take to become fluent with this software. To help those starting from scratch, there are tutorials on Adobe’s Web site, in the user’s guide and at various third-party web locations such as www.about.com and www.atomiclearning.com, to name a few. Books from Peachpit Press and Wiley Publishing (The ‘For Dummies’ series), among others, are also valuable learning tools.New and ExcitingOne of the most exciting new features in this program is the ability to capture video and audio from many of the new devices currently flooding the market such as MPEG-4 camcorders, cell phone cameras, DVD camcorders, and video from point-and-shoot still cameras.

Capturing and editing video from these MPEG-based devices has been difficult in the past, but we had no trouble importing, editing and exporting audio and video.Another powerful addition with the new version of Premiere Elements is the editable DVD and titling templates. Premiere Elements 2.0 comes with dozens of DVD menu templates, some with motion backgrounds and audio. Many of the templates come in themes such as Happy Birthday, New Baby, Travel and Wedding. The titler comes with templates as well, also themed with some that match the DVD menus for continuity. These titles are customizable as well.Effects and transitions have thumbnail examples of what they do, taking some of the guesswork out of learning these tools.

Most give a fair amount of control to which degree they alter the media. Sound editing is fairly rudimentary.

Thankfully, there are audio meters as well as rubber banding on the timeline, but Premiere Elements 2.0 lacks a dedicated audio editing interface.An Elastic GUIA powerful interface design decision was to move away from free-floating windows and tool palettes in exchange for interlocking panels. This eliminates overlapping windows by having adjacent panels enlarge to fill empty space or decrease in size depending on how the user changes its neighboring panel. We immediately became comfortable with this new interface dynamic, wondering why this idea took so long to come to fruition. Individual panels can have their own real estate or be joined with other palettes in a tab-like fashion.When it comes to outputting, Premiere Elements 2.0 keeps up with current trends, allowing an editor to burn dual-layer as well as single-layer DVDs, encode for hand held devices and cell phones as well as output for email, the web and VHS. Premiere Elements 2.0 can even burn PAL DVDs, though we have to take their word on this as we do not own PAL playback equipment. In addition, the program will automatically encode DVDs at the highest possible quality depending on the length of the work; a very nice tweak not found in other entry-level authoring programs.

Raising the BarThe folks at Adobe have just raised the bar for entry level editing software. For less than $100, beginning editors can have a program with a relatively low learning curve, but with enough functionality to keep them cutting well through their ascent into the intermediate ranks.

I too have the same problem. Map function worked fully up to 14 August 18. I’m not aware of any updates being applied to Elements 14 or Google maps that would cause the disappearance of the function.

Extremely frustrating as I’m partway through a major exercise of consolidating an extensive collection of old print/slide photos and digital image files in a single library with geolocation etc. I started this with Picasa, switching to PE14 when mapping stopped in Picasa. I’m reluctant to buy Elements 2018 as a quick fix. This is also my case with my large collection of old photos and slides, which I've been scanning.

The places function, never my favorite since upgrading to PSE14, stopped working in August. I just wish Adobe would modify the Places functions to permit manual entry, as in earlier versions. Tying Places to a map program took away the ability for categorizing groups of places, such as zoos, National Parks, Castles, etc., which I used a lot. Migration of these categories to Other resulted in a lot of extra work.

Now I'm dead in the water, if I have a new Place. Many Elements-14 users have met the same problem: since summer 2018, Organizer Elements-14 are unable to show maps nor to geolocalise files. This issue has already been discussed on numerous threads. The only possibility is to purchase the present version of Elements, labeled 2019.Before purchasing this new version of Elements, which I did, be avare that, if you are still using Windows 7, which is my case, Elements-2019 software will become unable to read sound tracks of video clips using Dolby codec (for example.MTS files). I opened a thread on Premiere Elements Forum on this issue: unfortunately it was immediatly ereased!

There are some discussion threads on Premiere Elements Forum discussing this topic with consumers claiming their strong animosity against Adobe for not having mentionned clearly enough this lack of Dolby codec on recent versions of Adobe Cloud softwares. I have to disagree with 'The only possibility is to purchase the present version of Elements, labeled 2019.' .There is other geotagging software available.

Also 'Google Photos' has a geotagging feature though, from the help text, it seems to only work at the album level rather than at the photograph level. I am tempted to do my own evaluation of 'Google Photos', it looks to be a very clever piece of cataloguing software.I am extremely reluctant to spend any more of my money with Adobe.

I don't rule that out completely as their software is very good and I love using it. However, both this bug and Adobe's response to it has really annoyed me.As you say, this bug first appeared in August 2018 and then, as if by magic (no discernible fix was made) it disappeared at the end of November 2018.

Then, in August 2019, on the anniversary of its first appearance, it appeared again! However, at the end of November 2019, on invoking the PE 14 Organiser I receive a previously unseen message 'Map is not available at this point. Please click 'More' for further information'. If you click on 'More' you are redirected to an Adobe site that tells you that 'The error in the Places view is a result of Google Maps changing how map data is delivered to applications like Photoshop Elements.'

That is, the same old story from Adobe.Now, I believe that this fault is caused by some change in the communication between Google Maps and Adobe. The fact that this has happened twice and at the same time in the year also leads me to believe that there is more to this than Adobe is telling us.If their intention is to discontinue the 'Places' feature in all but the most recent versions of the Organiser than they should tell us. After following a couple of links I found this.It says -Starting from November 29, 2018, Google Maps no longer supports delivery of certain data which impacts how the current Map view feature works in Photoshop Elements. Therefore, when you switch to the Places View in Photoshop Elements version 2018 or earlier, the Map view does not load. However, all location tags remain intact and accessible in the Tags panel. If you would like to continue to use the Map view feature, upgrade to.At least Adobe have now told us that there will be no fix supplied for PE 2018 and earlier. The problem here is that there is no guarantee that come August 2019 PE 2019 will suffer from the same fault and we will then be advised to buy PE 2020!

There are many posts about this issue.There is no doubt that Adobe has rightly dropped Google for another more futureproof Map supplier (not only for Elements. Also LR)What Map users (also for third party softwares, not only Adobe) did not understand and why they feel cheated is that previous versions offered only an interface to the free Google Maps service. (See the bottom lines of the requirements for PSE).Since Google Maps is free for those users (not only Adobe), Google is free to change its interface (maybe for valid security and privacy reasons). That's not so important for subscription users, who will upgrade their Adobe software. For Elements, which is not supported in older versions, that's critical.So, when Google stopped connection to Maps to its older interface, the service was stopped without Adobe changing a single line of code. PSE2018 was already coded from a new interface.

After some time, Google reinstated the old interface for older PSE versions and other software vendors. Now, Google does no longer recognize the second interface version in PSE2018 and at the same time, Adobe drops Google Maps entirely. Don't you think there is a link between those two decisions?

My main gripe with this is I did not pay Google for software, I paid Adobe. I admit that PSE 14 and 2018 are not their money makers. That being said, If they sell a product that can break due to their their choices of third party vendors, then Adobe should do the fix to make their software usable again. No doubt, Google took advantage.

Wonder if that fact ever crossed Google's mind. At any rate, as I said before, I will never purchase Adobe products again. I have been playing around with Gimp for some time now so I think between Gimp and Google Photos, I can mark up the loss to Adobe as a learning experience. I see this as a Google map change, as Google changes things instantly and they don't care about what's going on with the rest of us. We should be complaining to Google about it. THIS is a Google problem.Everything they change, disrupts all of us. Frankly, I've gotten used to it in a weird way, but I don't scream to everyone about it.

It's broke for everybody. The rest of us search for a work-around. All of you who rely on maps should be looking. You're here for something technical. It's broken for everybody so maybe everybody else is far ahead of you with a work-around by now.

Any of you check Google for that yet? Well, don't just sit there looking at your screen, go find one, and share it with these other guys.

You came here to share your Adobe problems to share the results with everyone in this forum right? Are you just going to sit there and write complaints about it? Then if there's no work-around, at least you did something with yourselves beside vent your personal problems. Man, this entire forum in this string is all complaints about one thing that hasn't been resolved. Find a resolution for yourselves!SL. Well, there's some very interesting information in your comment Michel.I did not know that Adobe had changed its Map Functionality provider away from Google. I believe the new provider is used in PE 2019, am I correct?You say that use of Google's Map service is free.

Do you know for a fact that Adobe were not paying Google for the use of their map functionality? I am no expert on Google's T&C's and I have no intention of reading them. However, I believe that its use is only free providing that the user is not passing on a charge to their customers for the service. Now, here's the thing. Looking on Wikipedia it says thisIt (Google Maps) was a free service that didn't require an API key until June 2018 (changes went into effect on July 16), when it was announced that an API key linked to a Google Cloud account with billing enabled would be required to access the API.I know Wikipedia is not the most reliable source of information but I see no reason to disbelieve what they say on this.

Font navigator 2006 hacked iphone 6. Now I confess I am a bit of a cynic but the above, coupled with the demise of Map Functionality in all PE versions bar PE 2019 (which I believe doesn't use Google Maps), on or around July 2018, looks like a bit of a co-incidence to me. Do you know whether or not this is the reason that Adobe is no longer using Google Maps?And Steve, why so angry?You are right, we should all find workarounds and I have.

I have found a couple, which allow me to continue to geo-tag my photographs. I say so, in an earlier post on this thread. They were easy to find and cheap to buy.' Personal problems'!?

I don't see any 'Personal problems' vented here. What did you have in mind?And 'this forum is a string of complaints', well yes.

The thing is that geo-tagging your photographs, and I am geo-tagging old, scanned 35mm film photographs, requires considerable time and effort, which is quite disproportionate to the cost of the software. So its not just the loss of the ability to geotag, its the potential loss of all that time and effort that is annoying.

And Adobe's solution - buy PE 2019! Michael,I have no inside information from Adobe nor Google and your note from Wikipedia is important. The first thing which most forum users never understand is that big companies in the stock exchange are not really at liberty to criticize each other and that they can't announce new features or advantages in advance if they are not absolutely sure they are 100% ready. That's the answer to why Adobe staff practically never give a precise date for a bug fix or a new feature.In this case, we only have a number of chronological facts with only likely explanations.Business is business. We don't know the terms and cost of use of the APIs by Adobe and other software editors.There is also a legitimate concern about safety and privacy which can make necessary changes for the APIs. As we say here ' un train peut en cacher un autre'.

A number of links and integration with other web services and social media have been recently removed. However, it's not a concern for Google if Adobe has a policy never to update older versions of Elements.As a volunteer ACR in Adobe forums, I do upgrade each year. I have never been hit by the issue. PSE2018 used the revised API. PSE2019 uses a new Map provider. My real question is: why did Google reinstate the old API until last November 30th? What did Adobe do to get that ($$$$)?Now, historically, there was already a Map provider before Google Maps.

Providing access and integration in the catalogs of the Organizer and Lightroom is not a simple task. Especially for a feature which, though extremely interesting for a number of users, is really only a side bonus for most photographers.The other thing angry users don't want to hear is that they did not pay for an Adobe maps feature in Elements, they paid for a connection between the Google Maps free service and the integration in the catalogs.

They are supposed to have read the hardware and software requirements from Elements. See the last paragraph. Adobe has not changed anything in the code of older versions. They have recoded PSE2018 for the new Google API. They have chosen a new provider for PSE2019 (and LR). That's not enough for PSE and LR users of older versions.In short, don't expect Adobe or Google to give you more explanations. Let's talk business.

Elements is NOT significant in terms of revenue, even if you'll never get real figures. Think about the twenty or so millions of CC cloud subscriptions. Also, they have better ways than the forums to weigh the real impact of the repeated maps issues on the rate of renewal of the 'perpetual' licenses of PSE. After all, they are not so much concerned about older versions users (a plague for the support team). Not the solution everyone expects, but the best advice I can give is to take advantage of the currently available special prices for the Christmas period (70%), from Adobe, Amazon and the like.

In France, no Adobe promotion yet, but same prices at Amazon.fr. I think you'll be happy keeping the present version for a few years now that the map supplier has been changed.

Remember that if you are not that interested in the new features, there has been bug fixes and performance enhancements (if you have a decent hardware above the minimal system requirements).Otherwise, if you are looking elsewhere, check that the current competitors really can offer an integrated solution to manage your library and catalogs. I have not seen any solution that would suit me. Steve, please stop shouting. Here is my workaround in full.I have downloaded two pieces of geo-tagging softwareGeosetter - an excellent well written piece of software, lots of features and detail, a little difficult to use. It uses Google Maps so it does have a problem for which I'll offer an explanation for in a later post.

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This is free to downloadGeophoto - a very good piece of software, not as feature rich as Geosetter, however much simpler to use. It does get itself confused on occasions. I downloaded this from the Microsoft store for £2.50 or thereabouts.This is what I used to do before Places functionality disappeared from PE 14.On completion of 'tweaking' I stored the photograph in a 'Finished', folder known to the PE 14 Organiser. Just to be clear, I have many such folders. One for each logical batch of photographs.

Once I had processed that batch and the folder was complete I'd catalogue it using the PE 14 Organiser. Events, People, Places and so on. On completion of cataloguing that folder I'd save the meta data back to the files in the folder.Now I basically do the same, with one important provision.The PE 14 Organiser appears to copy any location data that it finds in a photograph to its own fields, maybe in the PE 14 Catalog itself. If I did the same as I used to, the PE 14 Organiser would not recognise the geo-settings I had made using Geosetter etc. Worse still, when, at the end of cataloguing, I copy the meta data back to files the PE 14 Organiser copies the location from its own fields, which are empty. So the first time this happened I lost all of the location data I had entered.

To avoid this happening I do:-On completion of the batch in the PE 14 Editor I delete the folder (obviously not the files) from the PE 14 Organiser. I then geotag all of the photographs in that folder. On completion I Import the folder back into the Organiser. This time the Organiser copies the location data to its own fields and so the location data is not lost when I copy the meta data back to files.A bit convoluted, but it suits me.If any one has any doubts about this then I would recommend that they follow Michel's suggestion and buy PE 2019, although Google Photos is also worth a look. As Adobe has changed its map provider there is every reason to believe that the functionality will last more than a year this time. MichelThank you for your replies and useful, intelligent comments.I think that this move on Google's part to charge for the use of its Map Feature via an API key explains a lot.

Not everything, but a lot. Also, for me, it has made Adobe's position more understandable and so has softened, to some extent, my attitude towards them.Clearly, as you point out, Adobe has every right, embodied in its T&C's, to do what it has done. I would guess that Google also has the right to charge for the use of its intellectual property in a way that it feels fit. I can also understand that Adobe would find it unacceptable to be charged by Google on a per use basis against a product that they are paid a fixed price for.

Presumably, prior to the implementation of the API key Adobe just paid Google a lump sum for the use of its Map Feature.The introduction of the API key also explains the behaviour of Geosetter. You have to invoke it early in the day otherwise you find the Google Maps is unavailable. As Geosetter is free to download I guess they can use Google Maps on a non-chargeable basis. However, Google impose daily limits on its use and once those are breached the map facility is withdrawn.Though an upgrade to PE 2019 is more attractive and acceptable I will not be doing so unless I have to. I took advantage of Google's offer, some years ago, to download the NIK software for free. I find it complements the PE editor well and it is very useful in processing scanned images. Were I to upgrade to PE 2019 I would also have to buy the NIK software which is now sold by DxO.

I have looked at the new features in PE 2018 and 9 and I don't think they offer me anything I would use while my main focus and energies are devoted to processing scanned images. However, once my scanning is complete I will then consider an upgrade.The one thing that still concerns me about Adobe is that they must have known, maybe as far back as 2017, that the Map feature would not work in PE 2018 after August, yet they still continued to sell it. I have just checked, though Adobe does not sell PE 2018, Amazon UK still does! It does seem to me that buyers, such as William have not been treated as fairly as they should have been.Anyway, that's it from me.It only remains to wish all here, including you Steve, a Merry Christmas.

My biggest problem is that I paid for a function that doesn't work anymore after less than a year. What's more: it is a key function, directly accessible from the top menu.I know now that it's merely an interface to Google maps, but Adobe didn't advertise it like that.

It's right they're not responsible for Google's actions, but they ARE responsible for the end product, which now misses a key function. And to add insult to injury: they knew it was coming but still continued to sell their product without warning that this key function would disappear.This is no way to treat paying customers and is against consumer rights in a lot of countries. I live in Belgium and look forward to Europe reacting with a multi million fine for not respecting consumers.

Because this is exactly the case: Adobe does not respect paying customers at all.I'll find another solution but it won't be an Adobe solution.I wonder why people pirate software when they could get such a fine support if they bought itGoodbye Adobe, you lost a very disappointed user. I fully concur with Bart.Against my better judgement (prior to a special overseas photographic holiday involving much GPS tagging) I up-graded from PSE14 to PSE16 on 5 Sep in order to resolve the sudden loss of PSE14 map function. I confirmed the PSE16 mapping functionality prior to travel. However I returned with 1000+ pics to find that functionality lost. This has been an expensive exercise (entered in good faith with a reputable supplier) that has failed to address for any meaningful time my sole reason for buying the up-grade.Soon I have similar photo opportunity arising. This presents me with a dilemma.

Should I buy PSE 2019 (with associated risk of a repeat experience) or after 23yrs of building up a very large mapped photo library, should I now abort the habit of using my GPS tagging camera (and save myself the time of synching GPS at many locations)? My Adobe experience so far favours the second option.

Hi, I am new to this forum but like to add something that might be of interesst.Some days ago, I upgraded to PSE 2019. The only reason for doing this was the promise that mapping functionality might be fixed. And yes, Adobe changed to a new map provider called 'mapbox' and the mapping functionality is there again.Unfortunately, this map does not provide as much information as e.g. I have a few thousand photos from different Maledive islands that I want to correctly geo tag. The problem with the new map provider is, that it only knows 'Male' as the capital of the maledives.

It does not recognise any other places like island names. This makes it impossible to create correct tags.I was also expecting (but maybe wrong) that I could make a right click and set any new location points anywhere on the map. This functionality is not existing but would be be very useful.Overall, I'm not a professional and therefore like the PSE package as such. But this mapping functionalty is a real pain.Did anyone else made the same experience allready with PSE 2019? Markus,Thanks for this. It is always useful to learn from those that have actually used the software discussed. I read some reviews of PSE 2019 as that was an option for me to continue geo tagging when that ability was removed from PSE 14.

None of the reviews mentioned that the map provider in the organiser had changed. I found that out from a post in this thread.

For many reasons I decided not to go the PSE 2019 route. Instead I decided to carry on using PSE 14, software I know and like, for both editing and organising, but use other software to geo tag. So, I cannot, in all honesty, answer your last question.However, one of the pieces of geo tagging software I do use (GeoPhoto) does not use Google Maps. I do not know who the Map Provider is but like 'mapbox' it is nowhere near as feature rich as Google Maps. Roads and building clearly shown on Google Maps are missing in GeoPhoto. So, I do share your frustration when trying to accurately locate a shot. My problem is different to yours in that currently I am scanning in all my families old 35mm film shots.

Geo locating 20 and 30 year old shots can be quite a challenge. This is what I do - I do my research, searches, Google Earth etc. Then finish with Google Maps Street View to confirm the location. I then bring up the same area in GeoPhoto and then locate the shot, even though it appears to be in the middle of nowhere.Michael.

Steve / MichaelMany thanks for your answers.@ MichaelIn fact, i observed several issues on the new map implemented in PSE 19.- Level of detail- Inabilty to drag and drop a created location pin to a new position on the map. This move always takes the 'nearest known map position' as new taggin name.- Inability to set a new location pin by mouse on the map.Also intressting to see is the fact, that it correctly places and displays photos that have a geo tag set from the camera. But I have the same problem as you when it comes to photos shot with an older camera (with no GPS) or scanned one.So based on your experience and description, I might give GeoPhoto a try (despite that I still like to have all this in one tool:-.Thx, Markus. MarkusThanks again, this time for the extra information. PSE 2019 geo tagging seems to have taken a step backwards which is a great pity as PSE 14 worked very well.If you are going to try GeoPhoto can I refer you to a post in this thread I wrote 3 weeks ago. If you are also going to use the PSE 2019 Organiser for other cataloguing features, as I do, then there is something you need to know. I suggest that you try a few tests first.I do agree, having geo tagging integrated with all the other Organiser cataloguing features was good and the best way to do it.

My objective is to carry on geo locating my shots and hope that some future software, Adobe or otherwise, can bring it all back together again.RegardsMichael. Markus,I like your detailed description of the problem and which map exists for you and how it works is better than I have been reading above, as I haven't found that information among all the complaints thus far. It's much easier to work with your explanation, while knowing what's really happening. The map thing doesn't effect me because, frankly, I don't use the organizer, but I try to help with that, whenever possible. I have my own configurations for storing our photo files, a method for organizing our customer photos in a very generic organizational configuration, so that any employee can sit down and work with each other's client photo projects.

Your contribution is greatly appreciated, TY. Michel is the guy who works closely with the Organizer. He'll respond soon.Steve Lehman.