Will I lose geotag info if move photos/videos to PC backup?

Question

Level 1

39 points

Will I lose geotag info if move photos/videos to PC backup?

Doing my best here, but I'm a "Windows guy" from way back. Long story short, my daughter's iPhone 5s (16GB!) is so full to the point of being unusable. I've done an iTunes backup via USB cable and copied (extracted) all of her Camera Roll photos and videos to a spare partition on my Windows 7 PC. The videos alone take up about 7GB of space. I was going to have her delete all videos (and ultimately photos) from her iPhone and then I started thinking about the Photos app and nifty location information that's displayed. I feared that Exif data, specifically Geo-tag information, on these files (photos and video) might be forever lost if the files were deleted from her phone. Am I mistaken? Is this Geo-tagged information embedded within these photos and videos that she's taken? If so, can the files (all or some), be copied back to her iPhone (or a replacement) at a later date and this Geo-data will be intact? Oh, and is there any way within Windows, shareware or otherwise, for me to view this Geo information for the files that have been copied to the PC? Any info and/or suggestions you have would be most welcome. Thanks.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4.1

Posted on Apr 25, 2016 9:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

May 1, 2017 3:31 AM in response to RaunaqSinghPunn

Hi there. I have just transferred some photos from my iPhone to my Windows PC and there is no GPS field showing in 'details' and the information is not showing in any other field. Can anyone help? Many thanks.

Reply

Answer 2

ManSinha

Level 6

12,183 points

Apr 25, 2016 9:23 AM in response to ras5280

The research indicates that it is embedded into the Photo itself and needs to be stripped if needed using a specific app

Why don't you move one photo and see if the information is retained? It will validate you one way or another

Reply

Answer 3

V-Jet

Level 1

4 points

May 21, 2016 5:21 AM in response to ras5280

Photos can be easily transferred to/from Windows while retaining geotag, but videos are a bit different. To retain geotag on videos during transfer I use an app called "simple transfer", which is free with a few restrictions or unlock the restrictions for a small fee.

Reply

Answer 4

elcpu

Level 7

31,586 points

May 21, 2016 6:29 AM in response to ras5280

I can attest that geotag information is part of the metadata of the photos (don't know about videos) and the geotags are most definitely retained when you import the photos. They are indeed embedded into the photos. If you want to verify this on a Windows computer, open File Explorer, locate the photo folder, and then change the View from the menu above from Icons to Details and look for the geotag exif data. If it does not show up on the categories, click on the header that shows the categories and then select the geotag (location ?) for display. I import or copy my pictures regularly and all my exif metadata is retained in the photos.

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 6, 2017 10:48 AM in response to V-Jet

I am unable to import pictures into camera roll using the file explorer. Is there any specific application you are using to transfer photos from windows to iPhone (retaining the geotags). Please guide me.

Thanks a lot.

Reply