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What is the difference between geotagging and adding locations in Apple Photos?

The Places maps in Apple Photos is a great way to find and explore photos.

Geotagged photos taken with iPhone or another GPS-enabled camera are automatically added to the map. To add other photos, you can assign them locations in Apple Photos. You will, however, also want to geotag these photos.

How is geotagging different from assigning locations in Apple Photos?

When you assign or adjust photo locations in Apple Photos, changes are saved only in the library database. Location information is not added to actual image files. It is thus not visible to photo software working directly with the image files.

Geotagging writes location information to geotags within the original image files. Location information will thus stick with the files as they get copied, moved or shared. Should you decide to switch to a different photo cataloging tool, it can pick up location information from the geotags.

HoudahGeo offers a “best of both worlds” solution:

  • HoudahGeo can geotag original image files within the Apple Photos library
  • HoudahGeo can notify Photos of updates to location information. This is immediately visible within Apple Photos

Using HoudahGeo has another benefit: It offers many methods of determining where photos were taken.

  • Geocoding using a GPS track log
  • Geocoding using reference photos
  • Geocoding to GPS waypoints
  • Geocoding using a map
  • Geocoding using Google Earth
  • Favorite places

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Posted on October 7, 2016October 7, 2016Author houdahCategories HoudahGeoTags Apple Photos, Geocode, Geotag, Location, Metadata, Photos

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