What you need
The original image file, ideally a JPEG straight from the device, and a browser. Image Forensics and the EXIF Metadata Remover both run locally: the photo is never uploaded. Location is only present if the device had location tagging switched on when the picture was taken.
Reading the result
Cameras store latitude and longitude as degrees, minutes and seconds plus a hemisphere letter. The tool converts them to decimal degrees with decimal = degrees + minutes / 60 + seconds / 3600, and makes south latitudes and west longitudes negative.
| Stored in EXIF | Decimal |
|---|---|
| GPSLatitude 48° 51′ 29.6″, GPSLatitudeRef N | 48.858222 |
| GPSLongitude 2° 17′ 40.2″, GPSLongitudeRef E | 2.294500 |
That point is the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Suppose the same file says:
DateTimeOriginal2026:07:14 15:42:10- GPS date stamp 2026:07:14, GPS time stamp 13:42:08
The difference is 2 hours and 2 seconds, so the tool reports an implied UTC offset of +2, a valid whole offset. Paris is on UTC+2 in July, so time and place agree. The few seconds left over are normal: the GPS fix and the shutter are not perfectly simultaneous.
For daylight, the sunrise and sunset calculator gives a sunset of about 21:50 local time in Paris on 14 July 2026. A photo of that spot in full sunshine stamped 23:15 would not add up.
Other fields help too. Image direction is the compass bearing the lens was pointing, which tells you which side of a street you are looking at. Positioning error, when present, gives the accuracy in metres.
Common pitfalls
- Taking no GPS as proof of anything. Location tagging may have been off, or an app stripped it. Absence tells you nothing about where the photo was taken.
- Trusting coordinates blindly. A phone indoors or just switched on can record a stale or rough fix, and anyone can edit EXIF. Corroborate with the time check, the daylight and the scenery.
- Mixing up signs. A longitude of 2.2945 W is −2.2945, a point in Brittany about 336 km west of the Eiffel Tower. Check the hemisphere letters.
- Converting the file first. Converting a HEIC or re-saving a photo in an editor that redraws the image usually drops the EXIF block. Ask for a JPEG export of the original instead.
- Forgetting the person behind the photo. Location data can reveal someone's home. Use it to check claims or protect yourself, not to track people.
Going further
If the location matters because a photo is used as evidence, also check whether the pixels were edited: see How to Detect an Edited Photo. The How EXIF Photo Metadata Works guide explains every field the Metadata view lists.