Generate summary CSV for Flickr export

parse_flickr_export_json.rb

require 'csv'

ALBUMS_PATH = "[enter path here]/albums.json" # The path of the `albums.json` file
PHOTO_FOLDER_PATH = "[enter path here]" # The path where all the photo JSON files are
EXPORT_PATH = "[enter path here]/metadata_summary.csv" # The path to save the CSV export

FlickrAlbum = Struct.new(:id, :title, :description, :photos)
FlickrData = Struct.new(:id, :name, :description, :date_taken, :date_imported, :geo, :comments, :album)

# Parse photos data
all_photo_data = Dir.entries(PHOTO_FOLDER_PATH).map do |entry|
  next if entry == "." || entry == ".."
  json = JSON.parse(File.read(PHOTO_FOLDER_PATH + entry))

  photo_data = FlickrData.new(
    json["id"],
    json["name"],
    json["description"].presence,
    json["date_taken"],
    json["date_imported"],
    json["geo"],
    json["comments"],
    nil
  )

  photo_data
end.compact.index_by(&:id); nil

# Parse albums data
album_json = JSON.parse(File.read(ALBUMS_PATH))
all_albums_data = album_json["albums"].map do |json_album|
  album_data = FlickrAlbum.new(
    json_album["id"],
    json_album["title"],
    json_album["description"]
  )

  photos = all_photo_data.slice(*json_album["photos"])
  photos.each { |(key, photo)| photo.album = album_data }
  album_data.photos = photos

  album_data
end

# Export to CSV
CSV.open(EXPORT_PATH,'w',
  :write_headers => true,
  :headers => [
    "id",
    "name",
    "description",
    "date_taken",
    "date_imported",
    "geo",
    "comments",
    "album_id",
    "album_title",
    "album_description"
  ]
) do |csv|
  all_photo_data.values.each do |data|
    csv << [
      data.id,
      data.name,
      data.description,
      data.date_taken,
      data.date_imported,
      data.geo,
      data.comments,
      data.album&.id,
      data.album&.title,
      data.album&.description
    ]
  end
end; nil

When exporting data from Flickr (via the "Your Flickr Data" export), you get a significant amount of JSON files (one for each photo) and some album information.

I wanted to extract this information to move it to another system.

This Ruby code parses the album and photo files and produces a CSV summary. Then you can apply CSV filtering in a tool like Excel to further narrow down your data.