Julieanne Kost's Blog | GPS, Location Information, and the Map Module in Lightroom Classic

In this video you will learn how to use the Map module in Lightroom Classic to view the location of a photo as well as quickly find and add GPS and location information (including sublocation, city, state , country/region and ISO country code ) to images that do not contain embedded GPS data.

Map module shortcuts

Plus/minus ( +, – ) zooms in/out.
Option -drag (Mac) / Alt -drag (Win) to zoom in on the map.
Delete (Mac) | Backspace (Win) deletes GPS coordinates.
Command + Delete (Mac) | Ctrl + Backspace (Win) deletes all location metadata.
Command + K (Mac) | Ctrl + K (Win) locks markers.
Command + F (Mac) | Ctrl + F (Win) highlights the Find Map field.
Command + left/right arrows (Mac) | Ctrl + left/right arrows (Win) to move from previous/next tracklog.
“I” toggles the information overlay on the map.
“\” (backslash) toggles the location filter bar to the top of the map.
“O” toggles the saved location overlay.

Map style shortcuts:

Command + 1 (Mac) | Ctrl+1 (Win) displays hybrid view
Command + 2 (Mac) | Ctrl+2 (Win) displays the Roadmap view
Command + 3 (Mac) | Ctrl+3 (Win) displays satellite view
Command + 4 (Mac) | Ctrl+4 (Win) displays Terrain view
Command + 5 (Mac) | Control + 5 (Win) displays Light view
Command + 6 (Mac) | Ctrl+6 (Win) shows dark view

Metadata

Click the arrow next to the GPS coordinates in the Metadata panel (in the Library module) to view the image in the Map module.
Option +click (Mac) | Alt-click (Win) the arrow next to the GPS coordinates (in the Metadata panel, either in the Library module or in the Map module) to view the image via Google Maps in the default web browser.
Delete (Mac) | Backspace (Win) removes GPS coordinates from the selected image (in the Map module).

Filtering the selected source — The Content Selector (in the toolbar) allowing filtering based on All Camera Roll Photos, Selected Photos, or Marked Photos.

Create a collection from a Pin — | Right-click (Ctrl+click on Mac) the pin and select New Collection from the context menus to create a collection based on a group of photos at a specific pin location.

Select and rearrange images in the Map module – In the output modules, instead of returning to the Library module to select different files, you can:

Choose another collection using the Collections panel.
Use the Go Back and Go Forward navigation icons to view recently viewed folders (located in the black bar above the Camera Roll).
Click the path of the currently selected image (located in the black bar above the camera roll) and choose from recent and favorite sources.

Working with GPS data in the Map module – When you drag images onto the map in Lightroom’s Map module and reverse geocoding is enabled (Catalog Settings > Metadata > Address Lookup), Lightroom will automatically enter location information associated with GPS information (Sublocation , City, State/Province, Country, and ISO country code).
It’s important to note that Lightroom can process location information and GPS data independently of each other. If you move the location of the images (by dragging and dropping them to another location on the map), by default the GPS as well as the location information will be updated. In fact, this is always true for GPS information: if you move the image on the map, the GPS data will be updated.
However, you can replace the location information. As I mentioned, by default Lightroom will update the location information if you move the file, but you can also change the location information manually (maybe you have a nickname for the location), by typing in one of the Location Information fields.
Lightroom displays location information in gray if it is automatically generated. If you customize the values (enter your own text), the custom information is displayed in white.
As you can see in the first example, the location information is gray, indicating that Lightroom assigned the information based on reverse geocoding of the GPS data.

In the second example, I entered “Ferry Plaza Farmers Market” into the sublet – overriding Lightroom’s reverse geocoding information – locking it so that moving the image on the map no longer automatically puts it up to date.

Application of Saved Locations – Once a location has been created in the Saved Locations panel of Lightroom’s Map module, you can quickly apply that location information by dragging and dropping images from the filmstrip onto the saved location. Likewise, you can drag a saved location to a photo in the camera roll. In both cases, the photo will receive the same location as the “Saved Location” already set.

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