I cannot see my images located on a map in Photos

The map server may not have detailed maps currently for that location. It happens occasionally that the maps for some states are missing. For example, there are some regions in China that do not show on the maps.

Do other photos show more detailed maps? Or all your photos from the same region affected?

When I assign this GPS location to one of my photos, I have to zoom out considerably, until I am seeing at least a road on the map.

Does zooming out produce some structure? Zooming in around that location just will show empty desert.

Perhaps something is blocking the connection to the map server. Are you using any antivirus software or firewall like little snitch, kaperski? Then try to disable them temporarily. Check, if the maps app or Preview can show the photos on a map.

I have looked at recent photos from Lisbon, Quebec City, Cheltenham, Abu Dhabi - none of these display on maps but appear scattered on a grid as if their location is significant but the street/road map is not available.

Are you looking hit the maps in the Moments/Collections, or at the map in the Info panel, if you select a photo? I tested with photos from Quebec City and Lisbon, and both are showing on the larger map and in the Info panel. My screenshot above is from the Info panel.

Should I try altering the coordinates manually to see if that changes anything? If so, how do I do this?

You cannot yet enter new coordinates in Photos version 1.0.1, that feature is not yet supported. It will be available with the next Photos version to be released with MacOS X 10.11 El Capitan in fall. The Beta version of Photos in the current Beta release already supports it.

If you want to change the GPS tags of a photo, export it and change them in an external application - jetPhoto Studio, Geotagalog, HoudahGeo, the free exiftool. Or simply launch iPhoto again and import the photo to iPhoto. To use iPhoto with your current system, update to version 9.6.1.

Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS... | Apple Support Communities

If you are comfortable with the Terminal use the free exiftool:

See: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool_pod.html#geotagging_exampl es

To install exiftool: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/%7Ephil/exiftool/install.html

You could try to compare the GPS tags on the photos I'm Photos by trying to read them with an AppleScript. AppleScript lets you read the GPS tags using Photos, but it is treats the tags as "Read only".

I posted a script to read the numerical location data in the user tip section: https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/photos_osx/content?filterID=conte ntstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bdocument%5D

See: Photos for Mac: Extract the Numerical GPS Values Using an Apple Script

- i.e. 145 images in the general area Marrakech. Note I only see the grid background and no map.

I'll follow through with the script to read the numerical location data and let you know the results.

That means that Photos can read the GPS tags, but cannot connect to Apple's servers to download the maps.

Are you seeing any error messages i the Console window, when you launch the Console.app from applications > Utilities?

Launch a Console and then try again to look at the maps. Are there any messages that might relate to Photos?

Do you have any firewalls set up, or any antivirus software running that might lock the connection to the servers, e.g., Little Snitch or Kaspersky?

It's not Apple's servers, it's apparently their contract with Google (who supply the map info) that has expired. As far as I can make out, the only solution is to upgrade to the latest OSX, then downgrade to iPhoto (the new photo application is called Photos, apparently). There's an article here:-

Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

Apple dont seem to be interested in supporting the older software and making this work as it should (you know, like according to the instructions). Just making more money (they don't have enough, you know).

I really feel Apple has lost sight of its raison d'etre, and is becoming more and more dishonest in its pursuit of the big buck. We are watching the death of a beautiful idea for pieces of silver.

I wonder, is there anyone who shares my sadness and disappointment?

All's well that ends well 🙂

You're welcome.