How to Add GPS Coordinates to a Photo

Not every photo carries GPS data. Scanned prints, screenshots, photos exported from editing apps, and anything shot with location services switched off all have empty GPS fields — there's nothing to edit, because nothing was ever recorded. If you want to place these on a map or organize a library by location, you have to add coordinates yourself.

When you'd want to do this

Digitizing old family photos or scanned prints from a trip
Organizing a shoot where GPS was accidentally left off
Tagging product or real-estate photos to a specific address
Restoring location context to screenshots or downloaded images

Find the coordinates you need

If you know the address, the fastest way is to search it on Google Maps or OpenStreetMap, right-click the exact spot, and copy the latitude/longitude that appears. If you were physically there, your phone's own photo library often has a geotagged photo from around the same time and place you can copy coordinates from.

Add GPS data with a metadata editor

Most operating systems don't offer a built-in way to add GPS data — Windows' and macOS' native tools can strip metadata but not write new coordinates into a photo. That requires a dedicated EXIF editor with a GPS field, or ideally a map you can click to place the pin rather than typing raw decimal coordinates by hand.

The Exif Forge way

Drop a pin instead of typing coordinates

Exif Forge's GPS map lets you place or drag a pin to the exact spot — no manually copying latitude/longitude — and apply it across a whole folder at once.

Interactive map with satellite view — click to place a pin

Or paste exact latitude, longitude and altitude directly

Apply the same location to an entire selected batch at once

Works on scanned, downloaded, or any file missing GPS data

See the GPS Editor

Double-check before you save

Once written, the coordinates behave exactly like GPS captured live by a camera — they'll show up in any app that reads location metadata. Worth a quick sanity check on the map before saving, especially for batch edits across many files at once.

FAQ

Why doesn’t my photo have GPS data at all?

Location services were probably off when the photo was taken, or it was scanned from a print, exported from an editor that strips metadata, or captured on a camera without GPS. None of those leave any coordinates to edit — you have to add them from scratch.

How accurate can manually added GPS data be?

As accurate as the coordinates you enter. If you know the exact address or drop a pin on a map at the right spot, the result is just as precise as GPS captured live by a phone.

Can I add GPS data to a whole folder of scanned photos at once?

Yes — if they were all taken at the same place, you can select the whole batch and apply one set of coordinates to all of them in a single pass.