Pictures, regardless of the medium, are a great way to capture memories. To fulfill the inner desire to capture photos of what we like, we often pick up our digital cameras or smartphones and capture hundreds or even thousands of pictures of what we want. Furthermore, to share these masterpieces or glorious memories with the world, to gain recognition, we often post photos that we click on social media platforms, upload them on websites, or share them with friends, family, colleagues, and prospective clients, among others.
But, there is one aspect that we should pay attention to, and that is to remove geolocation data from photos.
Why Is There A Need To Strip Location Data From Photos?
Whenever you click a photo, there are times when your location data, too, get attached to the photo you have clicked. And there are other instances when you knowingly tag your photos and mention the exact location where the images were clicked. This can prove to be dangerous if someone is stalking you in any form. In 2010, Mythbusters’ and Tested.com’s Adam Savage posted a picture on Twitter of his car. Soon after, people could find out exactly where he lived. Then quite recently, John McAfee, the founder of MacAfee Corp., was arrested based on his image, whose EXIF data revealed the GPS latitude and longitude.
The bottom line is that before you share or post your clicked photos on social media or anywhere else on the internet, you must remove the location data from your images. This information can reveal the exact location where you had taken the picture.
Why Choose To Delete Geo-Location Data On Windows?
In this day and age of technology, you can choose any device to strip geo-location details from pictures. It could be a Windows desktop, Mac, or Android or iOS smartphone; the choice is yours. However, a Windows desktop or laptop can be considered a better choice to do this task because often we dump all our photos on our desktops or laptops for later processing – such as editing or simply storing pictures. Wouldn’t it be more convenient to remove geolocation data from photos right from the desktop or laptop itself? Plus, you have a bigger screen to preview photos and other data than a smartphone.
If yes is your call, then let’s look at two easy ways to remove geolocation data from pictures on a Windows PC.
How To Remove Geo Location Data From Photos on Windows PC
In this post, we will discuss two easy ways to delete geolocation details from pictures on Windows. First, we’ll delete location data from photos without using the software. And as a next option (and a more convenient one), we’ll use a third-party utility to strip location details from images.
1. Remove Geo Location Details From Pictures On Windows Without Any Third-Party Software –
Head to the location where there are images whose geo-location data you want to delete.
Right-click on the picture you want to edit and select Properties.
Click on the Details tab from the top.
Click on the hyperlinked Remove Properties and Personal Information<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> from the bottom.
When the Remove Properties window opens, first click on the radio button that says Remove the following properties from this file:
Next, scroll down till you can see GPS and select the Latitude and Longitude checkboxes.
Click on OK
2. Use a Third-Party Utility
Consider a scenario where you are tasked with uploading hundreds of images onto a website. Let’s say you are a wedding photographer who captured some splendid photos of a client’s destination wedding. You have captured images of the family and friends of bride and groom some of whom are affluent business professionals, bureaucrats, etc. So, much before uploading the photos onto your website to build a prolific portfolio, you are cautious enough to remove the location data from the images (for obvious privacy concerns mentioned above). You can use a third-party EXIF editing tool like Photos Exif Editor.
Now, we’ll show you how easy it is to delete the geo data from thousands of images all at once –
Download, run, and install Photos Exif Editor.
Drag and drop the images whose location data you want to remove.
Click on the IPTC Data
Under GPS, remove the information as shown in the screenshot below-
Click on the green colored Start Process button from the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Select the location where you want to save the images.
Click on Yes to start the process.
You can rest assured that all the location data will be gone once and for all.
Wrapping Up
Now that you know why and how to delete location data from your photos let us know if you found this post helpful. If yes, share it with your friends, family, colleague, and everyone you care for. For more such tech-related, fun-filled content, keep reading WeTheGeek.
