Every photo your phone takes quietly records where you were standing. Those GPS coordinates—latitude, longitude, sometimes even altitude—are embedded in the file's metadata, invisible to the naked eye but incredibly useful.
Whether you're a journalist verifying the origin of a photo, a traveller retracing a trip, or simply curious about an old snapshot, extracting this data is straightforward once you know where to look. This guide covers every major platform and explains what to do when the data isn't there.
What you'll learn
- • How cameras and phones embed GPS data in photos
- • Step-by-step extraction on Windows, Mac, and mobile
- • Converting coordinates to readable addresses
- • What to do when GPS data is stripped or missing
- • Privacy implications of sharing geotagged photos
How GPS data ends up inside a photo
When you take a photo with location services enabled, your device polls GPS satellites (and often Wi-Fi networks and cell towers for extra accuracy) to fix your position. That position—expressed as a latitude/longitude pair—gets written into the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) header of the image file. JPEG, HEIC, and many RAW formats support EXIF; PNG files typically do not.
Beyond raw coordinates, the EXIF GPS block can include altitude (height above sea level), a GPS timestamp that records when the fix was taken, and on some devices the compass direction the camera was pointing. All of this happens silently—there's no on-screen indicator that location data is being stored.
Extracting coordinates — platform by platform
Windows
Right-click the image file and choose Properties. In the dialog that opens, switch to the Details tab and scroll down until you see a GPS section. If the photo was geotagged, you'll find Latitude, Longitude, and possibly Altitude fields.
The coordinates are usually displayed in Degrees-Minutes-Seconds format (e.g. 48° 51' 24.1" N). You can copy them directly and paste them into Google Maps to jump to the spot.
Mac
Open the image in Preview and press ⌘ + I (or Tools → Show Inspector). Click the small GPS pin icon in the Inspector panel. If location data exists, you'll see coordinates and a miniature map. Click Show in Maps to open the full Apple Maps view.
iPhone
In the Photos app, open the image and swipe up. If the photo is geotagged, a map preview appears showing the capture location. Tapping it opens a larger map.
For raw coordinates, third-party apps like Metapho or Exif Metadata display the full EXIF payload including precise lat/long values.
Android
In Google Photos, open the image and tap the ⓘ (info) icon. Location information appears near the bottom of the details panel, along with a map snippet. Tapping the map opens Google Maps at the exact coordinates.
Online & command-line tools
For more detailed analysis, online services like Jeffrey's EXIF Viewer andExifData.com accept file uploads and display every EXIF field in a structured table.
Power users often turn to ExifTool on the command line—a single command (exiftool -gps:all photo.jpg) dumps every GPS-related tag in the file.PhotoRadar combines metadata extraction with AI-powered analysis in one step.
Making sense of coordinate formats
GPS coordinates come in two common notations. Converting between them is easy once you know the formula.
Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) — the traditional format you'll see in EXIF data:
40° 44' 54.3" N, 73° 59' 8.4" W
Decimal Degrees (DD) — what mapping services expect:
40.748417, -73.985667
The conversion: DD = Degrees + (Minutes ÷ 60) + (Seconds ÷ 3600). For southern latitudes or western longitudes, add a minus sign. An easy sanity check: northern-hemisphere latitude is positive, western-hemisphere longitude is negative.
When the coordinates aren't there
Not every photo carries GPS data. Common reasons include:
- Location services disabled — a common privacy-conscious choice.
- Downloaded from social media — Instagram, Facebook, and X strip all EXIF on upload.
- Screenshots — never inherit the original photo's GPS.
- Older DSLRs — many lack built-in GPS modules entirely.
- Indoor shots — weak satellite signals can prevent a fix.
When GPS data is missing, you still have options. AI-powered tools like PhotoRadar analyse visual content—skylines, terrain, signage, vegetation—to estimate a location without any metadata at all.
Reverse image search can surface earlier uploads of the same scene that might still carry geotags. And manual analysis of visual clues (language on signs, architectural style, vegetation type) can narrow the search to a region or city.
The privacy side of geotagged photos
Removing GPS data is simple:
- Windows: File Properties → Details → Remove Properties and Personal Information.
- Mac: Free apps like ImageOptim strip metadata in bulk.
- iPhone: Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Camera → Never.
- Android: Look for a Location tags toggle in your camera settings.
If you need to share photos professionally but want to protect certain locations, strip GPS from the files you distribute while keeping geotagged originals in a secure, access-controlled archive.
Putting it all together
GPS coordinates in photos are one of the most underused yet powerful pieces of data available to photographers, journalists, researchers, and curious travellers. Extracting them takes seconds on any platform, and understanding the coordinate formats ensures you can drop the data straight into a map.
When the metadata isn't there, AI and visual analysis can often fill the gap. And a healthy awareness of the privacy implications keeps you—and the people in your photos—safe.