Where was this photo taken? How to find the place
Most phones write the location into the photo file itself. We show how to read it, how to see a whole folder on a map, and when you want to remove that data instead.
Illustrative image · the place a photo was taken often lives in the file itself
A box of old holiday photos, a folder from a phone that is long gone: sooner or later a photo turns up and nobody remembers where it was taken. Often you can look it up, because most phones and many cameras write the location into the file itself.
The location lives in the metadata
Every digital photo contains EXIF metadata: technical details the camera stores at the moment of capture, such as date, time and camera settings. If location was switched on, GPS coordinates are part of that too, and they point to the spot of the shot within a few metres.
On an iPhone you swipe up on a photo to see the details with a small map. In Google Photos the location sits with the photo info. On a computer you open the file's properties: on Windows via right click, Properties, Details; on a Mac via Preview with cmd+I.
All your photos on a map, without uploading
If you want to see where a whole folder of photos was taken at once, we have a free tool for that: view your photos on a map. It runs entirely in your browser; your photos never leave your device.
A photo's location sits in the file itself and can be read without uploading anything.
When there is no location in the photo
Not every photo has coordinates. WhatsApp and most social media strip metadata on sending, a screenshot never has a capture location, and older cameras had no GPS. What's left is looking: street signs, shopfronts, the landscape, and the date in the file name to match it to a trip.
You sometimes share the same data without noticing
What is handy for finding a place back also travels along when you forward an original file or upload it somewhere. Whoever receives the photo can read the same coordinates, down to your front door. If you send a photo outside your own circle, strip the location first with our remove EXIF data tool, also right in the browser.
In Ohhi: your trip on the map by itself
In Ohhi we use that location data for what it is meant for: you see your own photos and those of your travel companions back on a map, visible only to the people in the album. Create an account; there's always a free tier.
