About This Tool
GPS Map Camera – Geotag Photo creates a professional visible location stamp and can write standard GPS EXIF coordinates into a JPEG. A visible stamp is part of the rendered pixels; EXIF GPS is machine-readable metadata. An uploaded photo can be assigned any location by its user, so neither form is independently certified evidence of where that photo was originally captured.
What You Can Do
Four location methods
Use current browser location after permission, select or drag a map marker, search through the configured geocoder, or enter validated latitude and longitude.
Professional location stamp
Combine place, address, coordinates, date, reported accuracy, company, project, work-order, inspector, remarks, and an optional logo in three restrained templates.
Real JPEG GPS metadata
Create a metadata-only original-quality copy, replace existing GPS, or combine a visible JPEG stamp with GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, altitude, UTC date, and UTC time where supplied.
Existing metadata inspection
Detect supported existing JPEG GPS coordinates and DateTimeOriginal, then let the user deliberately reuse, replace, or remove GPS.
Camera capture
Use the browser MediaDevices API with a rear-camera preference and optionally request the device-reported location after capture.
Interactive map
Use route-lazy Leaflet and attributed OpenStreetMap tiles for interactive selection; exports use a generated location diagram and never copy map tiles.
How to Use
- 1
Upload a supported photo or explicitly allow camera access and capture one in the browser
Upload a supported photo or explicitly allow camera access and capture one in the browser.
- 2
Use current location, search, click or drag the map marker, reuse existing GPS, or enter decimal latitude and longitude
Use current location, search, click or drag the map marker, reuse existing GPS, or enter decimal latitude and longitude.
- 3
Review and correct the address, date, company details, optional logo, template, and coordinate format in the live preview
Review and correct the address, date, company details, optional logo, template, and coordinate format in the live preview.
- 4
Choose a visible stamp, JPEG metadata only, or both; read the precise-location notice and create the output
Choose a visible stamp, JPEG metadata only, or both; read the precise-location notice and create the output.
- 5
Download and inspect the new JPEG
Download and inspect the new JPEG. Keep the untouched original, especially when replacing or removing metadata.
Practical Use Cases
Field documentation
Add a readable site, project, work-order, inspector, time, and selected location to an inspection or maintenance photo.
Property and survey notes
Create a consistent visual record of an address and latitude/longitude while retaining the original separately.
Delivery or service visits
Label a permitted field photo with user-confirmed visit details without sending the image to the location provider.
Location privacy cleanup
Create a JPEG copy without GPS; the removal workflow strips all EXIF blocks while leaving compressed pixel scan data unrecompressed.
Privacy and File Processing
Photo pixels, filenames, source EXIF, GPS coordinates, accuracy, address fields, professional details, remarks, and logo stay in browser memory and are excluded from analytics. Only generic lifecycle status events and a generic history label are used. Search or reverse geocoding sends only the entered query or selected coordinates to the configured Geoapify service through a same-origin function; the photo is never sent.
Supported Inputs and Outputs
Input
- JPG/JPEG for all modes
- PNG or WebP for visible-stamp output
- Optional PNG/JPEG/WebP company logo
Output
- JPEG visible location stamp
- JPEG with GPS EXIF metadata
- JPEG with both visible stamp and GPS EXIF
- JPEG with EXIF removed
Quality and Fidelity
Metadata-only output preserves the JPEG compressed scan data rather than re-encoding pixels. A visible stamp requires canvas rendering and high-quality JPEG re-encoding. The live preview and export share the same renderer and source dimensions; color profiles and non-GPS source metadata are not promised to survive.
Limitations and Important Notes
- A manually assigned location does not prove where an uploaded photo was captured. Live camera plus device location records the device-reported position at capture time, but is not cryptographic or independently certified proof.
- Browser geolocation can be approximate, denied, unavailable, or affected by indoor conditions, network positioning, and device hardware. The tool reports the accuracy value supplied by the browser and does not invent a better one.
- Location search requires the site owner to configure a Geoapify API key on the server. If it is absent or offline, current location, map selection, existing GPS, and manual coordinates remain available.
- Visible stamped output is rendered and JPEG-encoded at high quality, so pixels are recompressed. Metadata-only JPEG output changes metadata without recompressing the JPEG scan data.
- To remove GPS reliably, the current privacy action removes every EXIF APP1 block, which may also remove camera, date, orientation, and other EXIF fields from the output copy.
- PNG and WebP source images can receive a visible stamp but not metadata-only GPS in this release. Batch processing is deliberately deferred to keep browser memory bounded and the first release dependable.
- Reverse-geocoded address parts can be incomplete or imperfect. Missing fields are left empty, and all returned details remain editable before export.
Worked Example
Upload a synthetic site photo, enter latitude 28.613939 and longitude 77.209021, add a project and work-order label, and choose Both. The output is a valid same-dimension JPEG with the selected location visible in its generated stamp and independently readable from its GPS EXIF tags.
Helpful Tips
- Confirm the map marker and coordinate signs before export; negative latitude means south and negative longitude means west.
- Use the displayed accuracy only as the browser-reported estimate, not as a guarantee.
- Keep the map card enabled for a compact location diagram without third-party tile imagery.
- Keep the original source because stamped JPEG output re-encodes pixels and metadata cleanup removes other EXIF.
- Remove embedded GPS before public sharing when precise location is not necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this prove where a photo was taken?
A manually assigned location does not prove where an existing photo was originally captured. Live camera plus device location can record the device reported location at capture time, but this tool does not provide cryptographic or independently certified location proof.
What is the difference between a visible stamp and EXIF GPS?
The visible stamp is drawn into the downloaded JPEG pixels. EXIF GPS is machine-readable latitude and longitude stored in JPEG metadata and may be read even when no coordinates are visibly printed.
Does current location report exact accuracy?
The tool displays the accuracy radius supplied by the browser, rounded to whole metres. It never substitutes a smaller estimate. Desktop and indoor locations may be approximate.
Are OpenStreetMap tiles placed in my exported photo?
No. OpenStreetMap tiles are used only in the interactive, attributed map. The exported map-style panel is an original coordinate diagram drawn by GXA Toolbox and contains no third-party tiles.
Why is location search unavailable?
Search and reverse geocoding use a same-origin Netlify Function backed by an optional server-side Geoapify key. The key is never exposed in browser code. Without that configuration, use the map, device location, existing GPS, or manual coordinates.
Does metadata-only mode reduce image quality?
For a valid JPEG, metadata-only mode replaces EXIF and inserts GPS without decoding or recompressing the JPEG pixel scan. Other EXIF is removed as part of the safe replacement.
What happens when I remove GPS?
The tool creates a separate JPEG without EXIF APP1 blocks. That removes GPS and other EXIF metadata while retaining the compressed JPEG pixel scan data.
Are my coordinates or company details sent to analytics?
No. Analytics receives only the established generic tool lifecycle event and status. Images, filenames, coordinates, address, accuracy, EXIF, company fields, remarks, logo, and search text are excluded. A search request necessarily sends its query or coordinates to the configured geocoder, but never the image.