Since photos are often taken with a location to determine exactly where they were taken, Google Photos may place the gallery at the top of the map so go around all those places you used to visit. Now, what if the location tag is not active on the camera? Well, Photos applies an estimated location by default; feature that you can disable if you are not interested in having your locations recorded by Google (or to do so to a lesser extent).
Location data is very sweet for Google, with Android mobiles it receives the complete location history with all movement records of each user. This, which on the face of it represents a privacy risk, also has implications for some benefits for the phone owner; how to find out if there are traffic jams on the road, if the next bus is full
Google Photos uses Location History
As we said, location history is essential for Google and also for Android. Beyond the business collecting excessive data from each user, this translates into additional information that can be really useful: this history can be viewed in each user’s Google account. And right from there, Photos pulls location tags in case the camera doesn’t geo-position captured content.
Camera apps often ask if they should use location to save every photo and video along with where they were taken. This data remains in the EXIF record of each file; a record report the parameters that influenced the capture of the scene
In case the phone camera does not have location permission, the resulting photo will be left without this data. And Google Photos estimates the approximate location based on the time of photographing, match this time with location history and applies an approximate tag with the location of the shot. This is called simulated localization: it is not precise, but it is very close to the real one.
Google Photos estimates where the image was taken by comparing the time and date with the phone’s location based on location recording
Since Google Photos uses mock locations by default, as long as you sync your camera roll and the photos or videos don’t have a location tag, Photos will contrast date, time and image elements with location recording; choose the approximate location of the photograph (it also uses other values, such as image analysis). In case you don’t want the simulated locations, you should do the following:
- Open the Google Photos app and tap your avatar icon in the top right.
- Select “Photo Settings”.
- Scroll down to “Location”.
- Go to “Location Sources”.
- Disable the function “Infer missing slotsThis way, Google Photos won’t populate the EXIF location data in case the camera doesn’t include it in the shots.
Although with this process your photos and videos will not use the locations simulated by Google Photos, this app can still access your google location history. In case you do not want the company to collect this private data, you should completely disable said history, location history. Of course, keep in mind that you will lose important functions of your Android; how to recover the mobile in case of loss or theft.
