These days almost all the smartphones and digital cameras have the option to embed the location data into the images that you capture with them. That helps you know where that particular picture was taken. In order to achieve this what your device does is grab the location information from the GPS on your device and put it right into the image metadata. Besides the location data, the metadata of an image includes details like what device was used to capture the picture, what date and time it was taken, and so on.
That data remains with the image as long as it is not manually wiped off by you or an app. If you happen to have such geotagged photos on your Mac and wish to know where exactly they were captured, you can do so using the built-in Preview app on your machine.
The Preview app lets you access any photo’s geotagged data and let you see the embedded location right on a map like Google Maps. Here’s how you can do that on your Mac:
Finding out the Location of a Geotagged Photo using Preview
Open the folder where your geotagged photo is located.
Right click on the photo and select “Open With” followed by “Preview.” It will launch the Preview app with the selected photo.
When Preview launches, click on the “Tools” menu followed by “Show Inspector.” It will open a dialog box for you to view the metadata of the photo.
Click on the exclamation mark in the dialog box as that is where the geo-data of the photo can be viewed. It is the second tab in the panel.
You will now see four options on the top of the panel. Click on the one that says “GPS,” as that is what we are looking for.
Once you select the GPS option, you will see a small map containing the location where the selected photo was taken.
In order to see the exact location on a large map, click on the button that says “Show in Maps,” and it will launch Apple Maps on your Mac for you to see your location pin-pointed on a really large map.
Here’s how it looks in the Maps app on a Mac.
You can now do all the tasks with that location that you do with a regular one. You can get directions to that place where the photo was taken to relish those moments again, see it in the satellite view to find if some new buildings have been built since you visited, and so on.
Some photo management apps automatically create photo albums based on the location information. For example, you may have a photo library called Grand Canyon with all the photos in it that you took when you went there. It helps you easily find the photos by their location for you to see what you did at that particular place at a later time.
Conclusion
Geotagged images are really great as they provide you with the information about the location where they were taken. Apps like Preview make it easier for you to see that place on a map with all the usual map tools.
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Mahesh Makvana
Mahesh Makvana is a freelance tech writer who’s written thousands of posts about various tech topics on various sites. He specializes in writing about Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android tech posts. He’s been into the field for last eight years and hasn’t spent a single day without tinkering around his devices.
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