copyexif.m

NSData *jpeg = [AVCaptureStillImageOutput jpegStillImageNSDataRepresentation:imageDataSampleBuffer] ;

CGImageSourceRef  source ;
    source = CGImageSourceCreateWithData((CFDataRef)jpeg, NULL);

    //get all the metadata in the image
    NSDictionary *metadata = (NSDictionary *) CGImageSourceCopyPropertiesAtIndex(source,0,NULL);

    //make the metadata dictionary mutable so we can add properties to it
    NSMutableDictionary *metadataAsMutable = [[metadata mutableCopy]autorelease];
    [metadata release];

    NSMutableDictionary *EXIFDictionary = [[[metadataAsMutable objectForKey:(NSString *)kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary]mutableCopy]autorelease];
    NSMutableDictionary *GPSDictionary = [[[metadataAsMutable objectForKey:(NSString *)kCGImagePropertyGPSDictionary]mutableCopy]autorelease];
    if(!EXIFDictionary) {
        //if the image does not have an EXIF dictionary (not all images do), then create one for us to use
        EXIFDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
    }
    if(!GPSDictionary) {
        GPSDictionary = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
    }

    //Setup GPS dict


    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:_lat] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSLatitude];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:_lon] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSLongitude];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:lat_ref forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSLatitudeRef];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:lon_ref forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSLongitudeRef];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:_alt] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSAltitude];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithShort:alt_ref] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSAltitudeRef]; 
    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:_heading] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSImgDirection];
    [GPSDictionary setValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%c",_headingRef] forKey:(NSString*)kCGImagePropertyGPSImgDirectionRef];

    [EXIFDictionary setValue:xml forKey:(NSString *)kCGImagePropertyExifUserComment];
    //add our modified EXIF data back into the image’s metadata
    [metadataAsMutable setObject:EXIFDictionary forKey:(NSString *)kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary];
    [metadataAsMutable setObject:GPSDictionary forKey:(NSString *)kCGImagePropertyGPSDictionary];

    CFStringRef UTI = CGImageSourceGetType(source); //this is the type of image (e.g., public.jpeg)

    //this will be the data CGImageDestinationRef will write into
    NSMutableData *dest_data = [NSMutableData data];

    CGImageDestinationRef destination = CGImageDestinationCreateWithData((CFMutableDataRef)dest_data,UTI,1,NULL);

    if(!destination) {
        NSLog(@"***Could not create image destination ***");
    }

    //add the image contained in the image source to the destination, overidding the old metadata with our modified metadata
    CGImageDestinationAddImageFromSource(destination,source,0, (CFDictionaryRef) metadataAsMutable);

    //tell the destination to write the image data and metadata into our data object.
    //It will return false if something goes wrong
    BOOL success = NO;
    success = CGImageDestinationFinalize(destination);

    if(!success) {
        NSLog(@"***Could not create data from image destination ***");
    }

    //now we have the data ready to go, so do whatever you want with it
    //here we just write it to disk at the same path we were passed
    [dest_data writeToFile:file atomically:YES];

    //cleanup

    CFRelease(destination);
    CFRelease(source);