#geotagging — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #geotagging, aggregated by home.social.
-
🆕 blog! “Android now stops you sharing your location in photos”
My wife and I run OpenBenches. It's a niche little site which lets people share photos of memorial benches and their locations. Most modern phones embed a geolocation within the photo's metadata, so we use that information to put the photos on a map.
Google's…
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/android-now-stops-you-sharing-your-location-in-photos/
⸻
#android #geolocation #geotagging #google #OpenBenches -
Android now stops you sharing your location in photos
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/android-now-stops-you-sharing-your-location-in-photos/My wife and I run OpenBenches. It's a niche little site which lets people share photos of memorial benches and their locations. Most modern phones embed a geolocation within the photo's metadata, so we use that information to put the photos on a map.
Google's Android has now broken that.
On the web, we used to use:
<input type="file" accept="image/jpeg">That opened the phone's photo picker and let the use upload a geotagged photo. But a while ago Google deliberately broke that.
Instead, we were encourage to use the file picker:
<input type="file">That opened the default file manager. This had the unfortunate side-effect of allowing the user to upload any file, rather than just photos. But it did allow the EXIF metadata through unmolested. Then Google broke that as well.
Using a "Progressive Web App" doesn't work either.
So, can users transfer their photos via Bluetooth or QuickShare? No. That's now broken as well.
You can't even directly share via email without the location being stripped away.
Literally the only way to get a photo with geolocation intact is to plug in a USB cable, copy the photo to your computer, and then upload it via a desktop web browser?
Why?!?!?
Because Google run an anticompetitive monopoly on their dominant mobile operating system.
Privacy.
There's a worry that users don't know they're taking photos with geolocation enabled. If you post a cute picture of your kid / jewellery / pint then there's a risk that a ne’er-do-well could find your exact location.
Most social media services are sensible and strip the location automatically. If you try to send a geotagged photo to Facebook / Mastodon / BlueSky / WhatsApp / etc, they default to not showing the location. You can add it in manually if you want, but anyone downloading your photo won't see the geotag.
And, you know, I get it. Google doesn't want the headline "Stalkers found me, kidnapped my baby, and stole my wedding ring - how a little known Android feature puts you in danger!"
But it is just so tiresome that Google never consults their community. There was no advance notice of this change that I could find. Just a bunch of frustrated users in my inbox blaming me for breaking something.
I don't know what the answer is. Perhaps a pop up saying "This website wants to see the location of your photos. Yes / No / Always / Never"? People get tired of constant prompts and the wording will never be clear enough for most users.
It looks like the only option available will be to develop a native Android app (and an iOS one?!) with all the cost, effort, and admin that entails. Android apps have a special permission for accessing geolocation in images.
If anyone has a working way to let Android web-browsers access the full geolocation EXIF metadata of photos uploaded on the web, please drop a comment in the box.
In the meantime, please leave a +1 on this HTML Spec comment.
#android #geolocation #geotagging #google #OpenBenches -
My #NeoFinder 9.2.1 for #macOS has an improved Map navigation when multiple pins are shown: The Map shows the thumbnail of a pin in a "callout" when you click on it.
If you click into that thumbnail, only that one file will be selected.
That looks pretty cool, and is pretty helpful.
https://www.neofinder.de/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=758#p758
-
#NeoFinder 9.2.1 for #macOS has an improved Map navigation when multiple pins are shown: The Map shows the thumbnail of a pin in a "callout" when you click on it.
If you click into that thumbnail, only that one file will be selected.
https://www.neofinder.de/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=758#p758
#PhotoArchive #Olympus #Canon #Nikon #Fuji #Sony #Hasselblad #MediaAssetManager #Photography #Lightroom #PhotoOrganizer #PhotoLibrary #IndieDev #Aperture #GeoTagging #PhotoMechanic #Cumulus
-
📸 Ah, Open Camera – the open-source hero we neither deserved nor asked for. Now you can snap those perfectly level pics while yelling at your phone like a lunatic. 🤳 Just what the world needed: a way to geotag your blurry #selfies with a screen flash. 🌍📱
https://opencamera.org.uk/ #OpenCamera #OpenSource #Photography #Geotagging #TechHumor #HackerNews #ngated -
RE: https://mementomori.social/@levi/115334697961474628
2. Streetcomplete and #Openstreetmaps
On the topic of #geolocation , there's another FOSS project that relies on community submissions to build a privacy preserving map
let's face it, Google Maps is the most solid, polished and convenient maps app out there, it offers detailed business listings, phone numbers, open hours, photos and reviews, Streetview (which OSM lacks), live traffic, routing algorithms with turn by turn navigation.. Etc.
But as it's the case with proprietary software, convenience comes at a cost, a cost that no one can afford, loss of privacy.
Most people fail to recognize how sensitive location data is, how it's used against them and how it can be abused in the future.
if I ask.. where were you on February 9, 2012, at 3 o'clock? you have no clue, you can't even remember what you had for dinner last night! me too :-) our brains can't recall events with time and location with such great precision, if you can.. you must be Charles Xavier from X-Men :-P
But you know who can remember? Google. the Ad company profiles individuals by tracking queries, routes, and interactions, it records your movements by a feature called location history which is turned on by default, even when you don't use the app, your movements are still logged, heck.. even if you turn off location history altogether, Google keeps on tracking you.. this should tell you how much valuable location data is for E-Corp, where you work or study, what you're planning to buy, where you go for entrainment.. etc. all used to create a profile so that the surveillance machine can target you with ads..
The brightside is that we don't have to use a surveillance tool like Google Maps, OrganicMaps is a free and open source software that respects your privacy, does not collect or transmit your location, search history, or usage data and it encourages you to use it offline by letting you know that you have to download maps for your area.
Organic Maps uses OpenStreeMaps which is also free software, but as I mentioned it's not as rich as Google Maps in terms of data. :-(
Which brings us to Streetcomplete, a FOSS android app designed to make contributing to OpenStreetMap easy. It's really like a real life game and I find it fun, It uses a simple question and answer interface to gather missing OpenStreeMaps details like: surface types of paths, opening hours of shops, speed limits.. etc
Submitted data will appear on OpenStreeMaps, so all users of apps like @organicmaps and @CoMaps can benefit from :-)
If you're interested in volunteering to help us make a #freedom map so we don't live our lives under the constant surveillance of #bigbrother Google, check out the following links:
- https://streetcomplete.app/
- https://www.openstreetmap.org
- https://organicmaps.app
- https://www.comaps.app/
#opensource #geolocation #linux #programming #coding #technology #geoip #software #gis #openstreetmap #tech #github #iot #data #security #opensourceprojects #geotagging #locationdata #mapdata #opendata #fdroid #neostumbler #location #surveillance #privacy #street #streetcomplete #google -
You can contribute to the #freesoftware movement even if you don't know how to write #code here's some practical examples:
1. @beacondb & #Neostumbler
BeaconDB is community-driven wireless geolocation database that serves as a replacement for Mozilla Location Services (MLS), which was discontinued in March 2024.
why is this project important?
because #Google collects extensive location data tied to user accounts for advertising and profiling (even if you turn off location history) Google doesn't understand consent, what a surprise! :blob_rollingeyes:
BeaconDB will provide privacy friendly geolocation, allowing #degoogled #android ROMs like #CalyxOS and #GrapheneOS to be used without relying on Google (Google's location services)
Neostumbler is an #opensource android app, that collects geolocation data from wireless signals such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and Bluetooth beacons, NS does not collect personal identifying information, only anonymized wireless signal data and it can be turned off at any time. (can't say the same for Google)
you can start contributing to BeaconDB simply by downloading and installing NeoStumbler, enabling GPS, open NS and start a scan, start walking or driving, and after you cross a certain distance, you'll see some generated reports, press upload to upload them all (you can also go to settings and enable automatic uploading in the background)
If you want to volunteer and help us free our phones, laptops and smart watches from corporate ecosystems (like Google's location services) and achieve digital sovereignty in the aspect of geolocation, take a look at these links
- BeaconDB: https://beacondb.net/
- NeoStumbler: https://github.com/mjaakko/NeoStumbler#opensource #geolocation #linux #programming #coding #technology #geoip #software #gis #openstreetmap #tech #github #iot #data #security #opensourceprojects #geotagging #locationdata #mapdata #opendata #fdroid #beaconDB #neostumbler #location #surveillance #privacy #mozilla #firefox
-
🚀🛰️ Oh, look, another "deep dive" trying to convince us that the Internet's lack of geographic addresses is a scandalous oversight. 🌍📡 Spoiler alert: #Starlink won't magically geotag your cat videos, and IP addresses still won't tell me if you're in Bogota or your mom's basement. 🙄
https://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2025-09/starlinkgeo.html #deepdive #internet #geotagging #IPaddresses #technologyoversight #HackerNews #ngated -
🆕 blog! “Reverse Geocoding is Hard”
My wife and I run OpenBenches - a crowd-sourced database of nearly 40,000 memorial benches. Every bench is geo-tagged with a latitude and longitude. But how do you go from a string of digits to something human readable?
How do I turn -33.755780,150.603769 into "42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, Australia"?
Luckily, that's a (somewhat) solved …
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/04/reverse-geocoding-is-hard/
⸻
#geolocation #geotagging #OpenBenches -
Reverse Geocoding is Hard
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/04/reverse-geocoding-is-hard/
My wife and I run OpenBenches - a crowd-sourced database of nearly 40,000 memorial benches. Every bench is geo-tagged with a latitude and longitude. But how do you go from a string of digits to something human readable?
How do I turn
-33.755780,150.603769into "42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, Australia"?Luckily, that's a (somewhat) solved problem. Services like OpenCage, StadiaMaps, OpenStreetMap, and Geocode.Earth all provide APIs which transform co-ordinates into addresses. Done! Let's go home.
Except… Not everywhere has an address. Some benches are in parks. They typically don't have a street number, but might have an interesting feature nearby to help with location. For example a statue or prominent landmark.
And… Not every address is relevant. Some benches are on streets. But we probably don't want to imply that the bench is inside or belongs to a specific nearby house.
Let's step back a bit. Why do we want to display a human-readable address?
We have two use-cases.
"As a visitor to the site, I want to:"
- Read a (rough) textual representation of where the bench is.
- Click on a component of the address to see all benches within that area.
The first is easy to explain:
The second is harder. Suppose a bench is in Wellington, New Zealand. We want to create a URl like openbenches.org/location/New Zealand/Wellington/. That way, users can click on the word "Wellington" and find all the benches nearby. A user can also manually edit that URl to increase or decrease precision.
Both of these are problems of precision.
Let's take a look at how one of the reverse geocoding services deals with transforming
51.476845,-0.295296into an address:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sandycombe Road, Kew, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, Greater London, England, TW9 2EN, United Kingdom
That is too much address!
Yes, it is technically accurate. But it contains far too much detail for humans, the postcode is irrelevant, and the weird-subdivisions are nothing that a local person would use.
Looking at the full API response, we can see:
{ "place_id": 258770727, "licence": "Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. http://osm.org/copyright", "name": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", "display_name": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Elizabeth Cottages, Kew, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, Greater London, England, TW9 3NJ, United Kingdom", "address": { "leisure": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", "road": "Elizabeth Cottages", "suburb": "Kew", "city_district": "London Borough of Richmond upon Thames", "ISO3166-2-lvl8": "GB-RIC", "city": "London", "state_district": "Greater London", "state": "England", "ISO3166-2-lvl4": "GB-ENG", "postcode": "TW9 3NJ", "country": "United Kingdom", "country_code": "gb" }}Aha! Perhaps I can build a better address using just those components!
Except… Not every country has states. And not all states are used when giving addresses. Not every location is in a city. Some places have villages, prefectures, municipalities, and hamlets.
New York, New York is a valid address, but Berlin, Berlin is not!
There's an address formatter by OpenCage which is pretty sensible about stripping off irrelevant details. But, to go back to my first point, not every map location on OpenBenches is a street address and - even if it is on a street - it probably shouldn't have a house number.
Well, there's kind of a solution to that! Most mapping provider have a POI function - we can find nearby things of interest and use them as a location.
Here's a bench in Cook County, Illinois, USA. The POI address is:
{… "name": "Central Park", "coarse_location": "Des Plaines, IL, USA",…}I assume there's only one Central Park in Des Plaines. Do people know that "Il" is Illinois? Would "Cook County" be useful?
On the subject of localisation, not everywhere speaks English. Do I want to display addresses like "原爆の子の像, 広島, 日本"? How about "原爆の子の像, Hiroshima, Japan"?
We're an international site, but most benches are in Anglophone countries.
Of course, just because something is physically near a POI, that doesn't mean it is logically close to it.
Consider a bench situated at the edge of this park
The nearest POI is "Gay's Creamery" - across the river. Is that what you'd expect? Is there any way to easily say "if a point is inside an amenity* then use that as the address?
I don't want the users of our site to have to select from a list of POIs or addresses, this should be as automated as possible.
The Plan
For each bench:
- Use StadiaMaps to get the nearest POI.
- Get the data in English.
- Concatenate the name and coarse location.
- Save the "address".
- Wait for complaints?
Thoughts?
-
Search Engine Land: How geotagging photos affects Google Business Profile rank: Study. “How does adding coordinates to the EXIF data affect local rank? Our team wanted to find out. That’s why we recently conducted a 10-week study on the effects of geotagging for local rank.”
-
Search Engine Land: How geotagging photos affects Google Business Profile rank: Study. “How does adding coordinates to the EXIF data affect local rank? Our team wanted to find out. That’s why we recently conducted a 10-week study on the effects of geotagging for local rank.”
-
Search Engine Land: How geotagging photos affects Google Business Profile rank: Study. “How does adding coordinates to the EXIF data affect local rank? Our team wanted to find out. That’s why we recently conducted a 10-week study on the effects of geotagging for local rank.”
-
Mapping Geotagged Photos in QGIS [tutorial]
--
https://www.geographyrealm.com/geotagged-photos-qgis/ <-- shared technical article
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #geotagged #photos #photograph #smartphones #cameras #QGIS #opensource #geotagged #geotagging #encoded #location #alldataisspatial #tutorial
