What is Photo Geotagging?
Geotagging embeds a photo''s GPS coordinates — latitude and longitude — directly into the image file as EXIF metadata. The coordinates travel with the file invisibly: when you upload the photo to a website, social media platform, or GIS application, the software can read the location without you needing to specify it separately.
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Why images carry location data
- Smartphones — automatically geotag every photo when location permission is enabled in the camera app
- DSLRs and mirrorless cameras — most do not have built-in GPS; photos must be geotagged manually post-shoot
- Stock and professional photography — clients and agencies often require geotagged images to confirm where shots were taken
- Social media — Instagram, Facebook, and X read EXIF GPS to infer location, affecting local audience reach
- Google Images — may use image location signals to surface photos for location-specific searches
Common Use Cases
📍
Local SEO for Businesses
Geotag product, storefront, and event photos with your business address before uploading to your website or Google Business Profile to reinforce local geographic signals.
📸
Social Media & Content
Instagram, Facebook, and X read EXIF GPS to infer location from uploads. Geotagging before upload lets platforms surface your content to local audiences more accurately.
✈️
Travel Photography
Add precise GPS coordinates to photos taken during trips. Organise your photo library by location, map your journey, and share geotagged albums with friends.
🔬
Scientific Documentation
Researchers documenting species occurrences, geological features, or archaeological sites can embed precise GPS coordinates directly into specimen and site photographs.
🏡
Real Estate Listings
Embed the property's exact coordinates into listing photos before uploading to property portals and Google, helping associate the images with the correct location.
🗺️
GIS & Field Surveys
Professionals collecting field data can geotag survey photos to a specific survey point, making images searchable and mappable in GIS software like QGIS or ArcGIS.
How to Add GPS Coordinates to a Photo
Three ways to set location in this tool
- Click the map — the most intuitive method; click any point on the interactive map to drop a pin at that exact coordinate
- Search by name — type a city, address, or landmark and press Enter; the map navigates to the result and sets the pin
- Use My Location — detects your current GPS position via the browser and pre-fills the coordinates instantly
Manual coordinate entry
You can also type decimal-degree coordinates directly into the latitude and longitude fields. The map pin moves to match what you type. Use this when you have coordinates from another source — a GPS receiver, Google Maps, or a survey report.
EXIF Metadata Fields You Can Edit
- GPS (Latitude & Longitude) — written to the EXIF GPS IFD; the standard location field read by all major platforms
- Title — stored as ImageDescription in the 0th IFD; read by Windows Explorer, macOS Preview, and most CMS platforms
- Description — stored as UserComment in the Exif SubIFD; carries longer-form text about the image content
- Author / Artist — stored as Artist in the 0th IFD; identifies the photographer or creator
- Copyright — stored as Copyright in the 0th IFD; used for rights management and attribution
All other EXIF fields — camera model, exposure settings, aperture, ISO, lens data — are preserved exactly as they are in the original file. This tool only modifies the fields you explicitly fill in.
Technical Notes
File compatibility
- JPEG — full EXIF read and write support; GPS and all metadata fields are embedded on export
- PNG / WebP — can be displayed and listed in the table, but EXIF GPS cannot be embedded; convert to JPEG first if GPS is required
- Maximum file size — 10 MB per image
- Maximum batch size — 10 images at a time
Privacy and data handling
- Images are processed entirely in your browser — no photos are sent to any server
- The only external requests are geocoding queries (place names) sent to OpenStreetMap Nominatim
- No account, no sign-up, no cookies tied to your images
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Watch: Geotag Photos in Under a Minute
Prefer to watch instead of read? This short walkthrough covers uploading a photo, setting its GPS location on the map, and exporting the geotagged file.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1
Upload Your Photos
Drag and drop image files into the upload zone, or click to browse your files. You can upload up to 10 JPEG, PNG, or WebP images per batch. Each file can be up to 10 MB. The tool immediately displays thumbnails in the table below.
Step 2
View Images in the Table
Every uploaded image appears as a row in the table with its thumbnail, file name, existing EXIF title and description (if any), and a GPS status badge. A green GPS badge means the image already has embedded location data. A red No GPS badge means coordinates need to be added.
Step 3
Open the Edit Panel
Click the Edit button on any row to open the editing modal. The left panel shows form fields for title, description, author, and copyright. The right panel shows an interactive Leaflet map where you can click or drag to pick the photo's location.
Step 4
Set Location on the Map
Click anywhere on the map to drop a pin at that location. Drag the pin to fine-tune the position. The latitude and longitude fields in the left panel update automatically as you interact with the map.
Step 5
Search for a Location
Type a city name, address, or landmark into the search bar above the map and press Enter. The map pans to that location and places the pin. This is useful when you know the place name but not the exact coordinates.
Step 6
Use Your Current Location
Click Use My Location to automatically detect your GPS position via the browser. The map centers on your position and fills in the latitude and longitude fields instantly — ideal for geotagging photos taken at your current location.
Step 7
Edit EXIF Metadata Fields
Fill in the title, description, author, and copyright fields in the left panel. These are written directly into the EXIF metadata when you export — title becomes the ImageDescription tag, author the Artist tag, and copyright the Copyright tag.
Step 8
Save Changes
Click Save Changes to apply your edits. The modal closes and the table row updates immediately — the GPS badge turns green if coordinates were added, and the title and description columns reflect your new metadata.
Step 9
Export the Geotagged Image
Click the Export button on any row to download the image with all EXIF data embedded. For JPEG files, the GPS coordinates, title, description, author, and copyright are all written into the file's EXIF block. The file is saved as geotagged_yourfilename.jpg.
Step 10
Process a Batch of 10 Images
Upload up to 10 images at once. Edit each row independently — set different GPS coordinates, titles, and descriptions per image. Export them one by one. This workflow is designed for bloggers, photographers, and SEO professionals who need to geotag large sets of location photos quickly.
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Geotagging for Local SEO
How image location data affects search
- Search engines process image metadata as part of their understanding of a page's geographic relevance
- GPS coordinates in images can reinforce a business's NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency signal
- Google Images may surface location-tagged photos for location-specific queries
- Google Business Profile images with GPS matching the business address add a consistent local signal
Best practices for SEO geotagging
- Use coordinates that match your exact business address — not just the city center
- Write a descriptive title — that includes the location name (e.g., "Exterior view — Main Street Chicago")
- Fill in the copyright field — to assert ownership and deter scraping
- Tag all images on a local page — not just one — consistency across the page strengthens the signal
- For Google Business Profile — upload geotagged images directly through GBP rather than via third-party tools that may strip metadata
Frequently Asked Questions
What is geotagging and why does it matter for photos?
Geotagging is the process of embedding GPS coordinates — latitude and longitude — into a photo's EXIF metadata. Modern smartphones with GPS do this automatically when the camera app has location permission. The EXIF data travels with the file: when you upload the photo to Google, social media, or your website, the platform can read the embedded coordinates and understand where the photo was taken. For SEO, geotagged images can reinforce local geographic signals. For photographers and travellers, geotagged photos can be mapped on a timeline, browsed by location, and organised by geography in apps like Google Photos, Lightroom, or GIS software.
What image formats support EXIF GPS data?
JPEG is the dominant format for EXIF metadata, and it's what this tool writes GPS data into. TIFF also supports EXIF GPS natively. PNG, WebP, AVIF, and HEIC use different metadata standards and do not support EXIF in the same way. This tool uses the piexifjs library to write directly into JPEG EXIF blocks — the most universally compatible format for GPS-tagged images. If you upload a non-JPEG file, you can still view and edit it in the table, but GPS data won't be embedded in the exported file; convert to JPEG first.
Does geotagging photos help with local SEO?
Geotagging images can contribute to local SEO, though it is one of many signals rather than a silver bullet. Search engines process image metadata as part of their overall understanding of a page and business. When images on a local business page carry GPS coordinates matching the business's address, it adds a consistent geographic signal. Google's guidelines for local search consider multiple factors — NAP consistency, reviews, link signals, and content quality — but image metadata is an additional layer you can optimise for free. The effect is subtle but cumulative: correctly geotagged images reinforce that your content is genuinely local.
Can I use decimal coordinates instead of searching?
Yes. The latitude and longitude fields accept decimal-degree coordinates directly. Enter a value like 48.8566 for Paris's latitude and 2.3522 for its longitude, and the map pin will snap to that position. You can also type coordinates in the search bar in lat, lng format — for example, 48.8566, 2.3522 — and the map will pan to that point. Decimal degrees are the standard format used by Google Maps and GPS receivers. Degrees-minutes-seconds (DMS) format is not supported for input, but can be converted by: degrees + minutes/60 + seconds/3600.
Is my photo data sent to any server?
No. All image processing — reading EXIF data, displaying thumbnails, writing GPS coordinates, and generating the downloaded file — happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your photos never leave your device. The only network requests this tool makes are the location search (which sends the place name to Nominatim geocoding API) and your browser's geolocation request if you click Use My Location. The photo data remains in browser memory only.
What EXIF fields can I edit with this tool?
This tool lets you edit GPS (latitude, longitude), Title (stored as ImageDescription in the EXIF 0th IFD), Description (stored as UserComment in the EXIF SubIFD), Author / Artist (stored as Artist in the 0th IFD), and Copyright (stored as Copyright in the 0th IFD). These are the fields that social media platforms, Google, and GIS software read most commonly. Camera-specific fields like exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and lens model are preserved from the original file.
Will the geotagged image look different from the original?
No. The image quality is completely unchanged. EXIF metadata is stored in a separate section of the JPEG file called the APP1 segment, which is separate from the image pixel data. Adding or modifying EXIF data does not recompress or alter the image at all — no generation loss, no quality reduction, no visible change. The only difference between the original and exported file is the metadata in the EXIF block.
What happens to images that already have GPS data?
When you upload a JPEG that already has GPS coordinates embedded, the tool automatically reads the existing coordinates and pre-fills the latitude and longitude fields. The table row shows a green GPS badge, and the map pin is placed at the existing location when you open the edit panel. You can update the coordinates by clicking a new map position. The original coordinates are overwritten when you export.
How many photos can I geotag at once?
The current batch limit is 10 images. This is a deliberate limit to keep the browser responsive — loading large images into browser memory can be slow, and 10 files covers the most common use cases. Each image can be up to 10 MB. To process more than 10 images, export and delete the current batch, then upload the next set.
Can I geotag photos for Google Business Profile?
Yes. Uploading photos with embedded GPS coordinates matching your business location can strengthen the local geographic signal on Google Business Profile. When uploading via the GBP dashboard, Google may read the EXIF GPS to confirm the photo was taken at or near your business. For standard business profile photos, geotagging before upload is straightforward and recommended. For Google Street View, 360° photos require additional XMP metadata that this tool does not add — use Google's dedicated Street View app instead.
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EXIF read/write by piexifjs (MIT licence). Geocoding by Nominatim / OpenStreetMap. Map tiles by Protomaps (hosted by KONAKTIVE) and CARTO. All image processing runs locally in your browser — no data is sent to any server.
