P: Inconsistent handling of suggested addresses

[John R Ellis]

LR treats location fields (Sublocation, City, Country, etc.) that have been "suggested" by Address Lookup inconsistently -- while some parts of LR recognize the suggested values, other parts behave as if the fields are empty.  Smart collections, filters, and exporting of metadata recognize the suggestions. But Print > Page > Photo  Info, Save Metadata To File, file renaming templates, the Book module's Photo Text, and the SDK's photo:getFormattedMetadata() behave as if the location fields were empty.

These are bugs -- there's no sensible design rationale for the inconsistencies. All parts of LR should recognize the suggested address fields. The bugs were reported years ago in other topics but were buried in long threads:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom_improve_control_over_reverse_geocod...
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/sdk_inconsistent_handling_of_uncommitted_loca...

The longstanding working around is to "commit" each location in each photo by clicking on the field's label in the Metadata panel.  Alternatively, the Any Tag plugin provides a command for batch-committing all fields in multiple photos at once.

To reproduce:

1. Drag a photo with no GPS coordinates and empty location fields onto some point in Map.

2. In Library, observe that that Metadata > Location shows the suggested address fields in grey font.

3. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File and use Exiftool to observe that LR hasn't saved the location fields to the file's metadata (Sublocation, City, State/Province, Country, ISO Country Code).

4. Create a file renaming template "City Country":

RackMultipart20180823611431d8v-c7132017-bf6a-4876-8345-2a453af21aa9-692857260.png

Do Library > Rename Photo and observe that the new filename uses the empty string for City and Country.   

Export the photo using the export option Rename To: City Country; observe that the exported filename similarly uses the empty string for City and Country.

5. Use my free Show Catalog Metadata plugin to examine the results of the SDK's photo:getFormattedMetadata(). Observe that the fields "location", "city", "stateProvince", "country", and "isoCountryCode" return empty strings.

6. Make a smart collection to match City to the photo's suggested city:

RackMultipart20180823622039y0x-74c185ba-b266-4e19-8fb8-6974d9c20bc9-1974715525.png

(In this case, "Whitby".) Observe that the smart collection correctly matches the photo.

7. In the Metadata browser of the Library Filter bar, add the City column and select the suggested city of the photo. Observe that the photo is correctly matched and displayed.

8. Export the photo as a JPEG with the option Include: All Metadata and Remove Location Info unchecked.Use Exiftool to observe that the photo's metadata correctly includes the suggested values of the location fields.

Tested on LR 7.5 / Macos 10.13.6.

Updated 9/19/20: Print > Page > Photo Info treats unconfirmed location fields as blank.

Updated 8/8/23: The Book module's Photo Text also doesn't see unconfirmed locations.

Updated 1/23/24: View > Loupe Info treats unconfirmed Sublocation fields as blank.

[John R Ellis]

LR treats location fields (Sublocation, City, Country, etc.) that have been "suggested" by Address Lookup inconsistently -- while some parts of LR recognize the suggested values, other parts behave as if the fields are empty.  Smart collections, filters, and exporting of metadata recognize the suggestions. But Loupe Info (Sublocation), Print > Page > Photo  Info, Save Metadata To File, file renaming templates, and the SDK's photo:getFormattedMetadata() behave as if the location fields were empty.

These are bugs -- there's no sensible design rationale for the inconsistencies. All parts of LR should recognize the suggested address fields. The bugs were reported years ago in other topics but were buried in long threads:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom_improve_control_over_reverse_geocod...
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/sdk_inconsistent_handling_of_uncommitted_loca...

The longstanding working around is to "commit" each location in each photo by clicking on the field's label in the Metadata panel.  Alternatively, the Any Tag plugin provides a command for batch-committing all fields in multiple photos at once.

To reproduce:

1. Drag a photo with no GPS coordinates and empty location fields onto some point in Map.

2. In Library, observe that that Metadata > Location shows the suggested address fields in grey font.

3. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File and use Exiftool to observe that LR hasn't saved the location fields to the file's metadata (Sublocation, City, State/Province, Country, ISO Country Code).

4. Create a file renaming template "City Country":

RackMultipart20180823611431d8v-c7132017-bf6a-4876-8345-2a453af21aa9-692857260.png

Do Library > Rename Photo and observe that the new filename uses the empty string for City and Country.   

Export the photo using the export option Rename To: City Country; observe that the exported filename similarly uses the empty string for City and Country.

5. Use my free Show Catalog Metadata plugin to examine the results of the SDK's photo:getFormattedMetadata(). Observe that the fields "location", "city", "stateProvince", "country", and "isoCountryCode" return empty strings.

6. Make a smart collection to match City to the photo's suggested city:

RackMultipart20180823622039y0x-74c185ba-b266-4e19-8fb8-6974d9c20bc9-1974715525.png

(In this case, "Whitby".) Observe that the smart collection correctly matches the photo.

7. In the Metadata browser of the Library Filter bar, add the City column and select the suggested city of the photo. Observe that the photo is correctly matched and displayed.

8. Export the photo as a JPEG with the option Include: All Metadata and Remove Location Info unchecked.Use Exiftool to observe that the photo's metadata correctly includes the suggested values of the location fields.

Tested on LR 7.5 / Macos 10.13.6.

Updated 9/19/20: Print > Page > Photo Info treats unconfirmed location fields as blank.

Updated 1/23/24: View > Loupe Info treats unconfirmed Sublocation fields as blank.

[John R Ellis]

The SDK provides plugins with inconsistent views of uncommitted location fields. catalog:findPhotos() accesses the uncommitted values of "location", "city", "state", and "country", wherease photo:getRawMetadata() returns the empty string for uncommitted values of those fields.

This makes it harder for plugins to return consistent results to users.

[John R Ellis]

The SDK provides plugins with inconsistent views of uncommitted location fields. catalog:findPhotos() accesses the uncommitted values of "location", "city", "state", and "country", wherease photo:getRawMetadata() returns the empty string for uncommitted values of those fields.

This makes it harder for plugins to return consistent results to users.

[Goapher]

Thanks, John for reporting this inconsistency - I agree the behaviour should be the same across. Could you please file a bug?

[Goapher]

Thanks, John for reporting this inconsistency - I agree the behaviour should be the same across. Could you please file a bug?

[John R Ellis]

I don't have access to the bug-reporting tool, so I won't be able to do it.

[John R Ellis]

I don't have access to the bug-reporting tool, so I won't be able to do it.

[Goapher]

ok. I have logged the same, and we will investigate a fix.

[Goapher]

ok. I have logged the same, and we will investigate a fix.

[torstenv58075562]

When automatically tagging images with geographic data from a route log, Lightroom includes suggested location information in italics. These suggestions must then be confirmed to become part of the image's metadata. This is a lot of work when automatically tagging a large number of images from many locations.

I miss the (IMHO) obvious ability for this location data to be automatically stored with the metadata (catalog AND xmp) and not require confirmation.  I understand that the site search result may not be correct/perfect, but a later review and change would always be possible.

Feature request:
Include a setting in "Catalog Settings / Metadata / Address Lookup" which could be selected to get such data automatically stored in the catalog and the xmp and displayed with normal type face.

[John R Ellis]

LR's behavior with suggested addresses is messy and inconsistent.  They do get recorded in the catalog, and smart collections, filters, and exporting of metadata recognize the suggestions. But Print > Page > Photo Info, Save Metadata To File, file renaming templates, and the SDK's photo:getFormattedMetadata() behave as if the location fields were empty.

See this bug report, which has been acknowledged by Adobe but not fixed:

https://feedback-readonly.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-inconsistent-handl... 

When that bug report gets copied into the new consolidated forum, hopefully your report will get merged in, making it a little more likely Adobe might prioritize a fix.

While waiting for Adobe to fix this, you can check out the free Commit Locations command of the Any Tag plugin for a way to commit the suggestions into "real" addresses.

[torstenv58075562]

I am using now the LR plugin Anytag from https://johnrellis.com/lightroom/anytag.htm to commit country, state/province, and city fields.

[voggeneder]

thank you for your suggestions on how to work around this bug in the community forum @John R Ellis. @Goapher the bug still persists in LR 11.41 any chance we can get that fixed? i'm trying to compile metadata-rich captions for contact sheets to be shown to editors, this would help me out a lot.

[John R Ellis]

The Book module's Photo Text also doesn't see the suggested addresses.

[Kanok32496675up29]

Until Sep 2023, this still happen.   It used to be work long time ago and it stop functioning.  Glad to find this post.  The Any Tag works like charm.  Thanks.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, please merge this with the existing acknowledged bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-inconsistent-handling-of-suggested-addresses...

[John R Ellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, Adobe employee Goapher said they logged a bug for this report. But the thread is in Discussions, not Bugs, perhaps because of a glitch in the migration from the old forum, because the bug id was never recorded in the old thread, or because a bug was never logged at all?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Merged into the active bug thread.

[Werner22361781mr90]

I have the same problem in LR classic 13.5.1  on Windows. When is the fix planned? The thread is allready more then 6 years old ...