Since a very long time, Google Photos has provided approximated locations for images and videos that lack geo-data. Users can find and organise their files using these places. The data saved in the device’s camera, the ones explicitly added by the user, and additional inputs like clearly visible landmarks and the user’s Location History are all now used by Photos for location data.
A company representative has verified that Google Photographs will no longer use Location History to infer locations for both new and old photos, as per a recent article. The internet juggernaut is said to be spending a lot of money on landmark identification, according to the story. Additionally, Google gives users the option to control their location settings via Google Photos.
Previously, Google displayed approximated locations for photos and videos using the location history of the Google account. However, it appears that Google has stopped collecting users’ geolocation information and is now giving users the option to delete such estimations.
According to the company, location history is a Google account setting that users can choose to enable or disable that stores the places they visit on their devices. Users may access personalised maps, suggestions, and more with this feature. This geodata location was previously used by Google Photos to estimate the missing places.
Another method utilised by Google’s photo backup service to provide an estimated location is by identifying the observable landmarks in photographs. According to the investigation, Google Photographs no longer estimates the locations of new photos and videos using location history data. The business is instead concentrating more on its work on Google Lens, Maps Live View, and other projects.
Google is now enabling users to delete all estimated photo locations as a result of this update. This includes the ones derived from landmarks and location history. Users will start seeing an in-app message that gives them the option to “keep” or “delete” the estimations. The estimations can be deleted by users before May 1, 2023, or Google will do it for them.
If users keep the “Estimate missing locations” option selected in Google Photos settings, Google will re-estimate all missing places without location history using the visible landmarks.
This functionality may be found in the “Location sources” section of the “Location” setting in Google Photos. Through a gallery and a map view, Google will also make it possible for users to manage and view estimated locations from this interface.
