EXIF & Metadata
Where Was This Photo Taken?
Find a photo's location from its GPS data. Drop a photo to see exactly where it was taken, plotted on a map — read locally, so your photo never leaves your device.
GPS data is read locally — your photos never leave your device.
To find where a photo was taken, drop it above — its GPS EXIF metadata is read in your browser, never uploaded, and the exact spot appears on a map with a Google Maps link. No location found? Instagram and WhatsApp strip GPS on upload, and screenshots never had it — use the original file.
Honest limits
- Needs surviving GPS metadata — social-media downloads and screenshots usually have none.
- Location precision is whatever the camera recorded; nothing is looked up server-side.
Need more than a browser can do? Desktop browsers go further than phones — and Media Moana converts at scale on hosted infrastructure.
How it works
Drop a photo
Use the original file — exports and social-media downloads usually have GPS stripped.
GPS is read locally
Coordinates, altitude and direction are parsed from EXIF in your browser.
See the map
The location appears on OpenStreetMap with a link to open it in Google Maps.
Frequently asked questions
How can a photo know where it was taken?
Phones (and many cameras) embed GPS coordinates into each photo's EXIF metadata at the moment of capture — latitude, longitude, often altitude and even the direction the camera was facing. This tool reads those fields and plots them on OpenStreetMap, with a one-click link to Google Maps.
Can you find where a photo was taken without GPS?
Not from the file alone. If the photo carries no GPS EXIF — because it was stripped, or location was switched off when it was shot — there are no coordinates to read, and no honest tool can invent them. Your only route is the image itself: signs, landmarks or a skyline you can search by hand. The metadata lookup here works only when the coordinates are still in the file.
Why does it say no location was found?
Three common reasons: location access was disabled for the camera app; the photo passed through a platform that strips metadata (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and most social apps do); or it's a screenshot or edited export, which never had GPS data. The original file straight from the phone is your best bet.
Does Instagram remove location data?
Yes. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, X and most social and messaging apps strip EXIF metadata — GPS included — when you upload or send a photo, both to shrink the file and to protect people's privacy. So a photo saved from someone's Instagram almost never reveals where it was taken; you need the original file straight from the camera or phone to read a location.
Is it safe to check a photo's location online?
With this tool, yes — because nothing actually goes online. Your photo is read entirely inside your browser with WebAssembly; the GPS coordinates are parsed on your own device and never sent to a server, so the file can't leak. Be wary of location finders that upload your photo to do the lookup — that hands a stranger both your image and its coordinates. Here there is no upload, no account and no storage.
Which file types work?
JPG and HEIC photos are the usual carriers of GPS data, and both work — as do TIFF, PNG, WebP, AVIF and camera RAW files when they contain GPS metadata.
Can I map multiple photos at once?
Yes — drop a whole batch and every photo with GPS data gets its own marker on the same map, so you can trace a trip or a shoot at a glance. Photos without coordinates are listed separately so you know which ones came back empty.
Is there a file size or quantity limit?
There is no hard limit. Server-based converters cap uploads because your files consume their bandwidth and CPU; here reading GPS data happens on your machine, so the only practical limit is your device's memory. Desktop browsers comfortably handle very large files and big batches.