Map module slows to a crawl with a large number of saved locations

[Basic Panel]

I use the map module a lot but always found in slow and delicate. Typically if you access Map from a large folder of photos or Collection it's going to be cripplingly slow, after a while you accept that.

After upgrading to V11 it's even worse. If you try to refine the location of even a single photo nothing seems to happen and it, previously if you clicked another photo in the filmstrip and back again the progress icon in the metadata pane started to spin, now nothing. You can jump between modules but everything seems to be frozen. Eventually it will clear itself, but that could be several minutes.

I'm on a Mac running Big Sur V11.6.1

Jack

[johnrellis]

I've got 6800 photos with GPS coordinates across the world, and I can use the Map module with All Photographs selected, and it works well in my LR 11 / Mac OS 11.6.

Unfortunately over the years, there have been reports like yours of the Map module acting up, but no concrete solutions posted. 

[@MNiessenPhoto]

Same here with over 35K pictures from dozens of countries. No issue whatsoever to go back and forth between pictures. The location and metadata load almsot instantly and it's just sometimes a bit slow to display the map, depending on the internet connexion speed.

LrC 11.0 on Windows 10.

Hope you find a solution, @Basic Panel 

Michael

_____________

Michael Niessen - Photographer, photo-editor, educator

[Basic Panel]

Thanks for the replies.

I have 27,000 photos. To change the GPS co-ordinates of even a single photo may take 6-7 minutes, maybe more.

Practically all my photos have GPS data, only about 100 don't.

I also have about 30 folders defined in the map module, mostly 1 per country. And within each of those a number of saved locations. Again mostly 1 / town. If a town has a very large number of photos scattered over several locations I may move all of them into its own folder.

I recently bought a GPS unit for my camera and have since revamped how I use folders and locations and dramatically reduced the number of both, I previously had several dozen folders and hundreds of saved locations. I was wondering if that was the source of the problem, as I said I have significantly reduced hte numer of both but it doesn't seem to have helped any.

Jack

[@MNiessenPhoto]

"To change the GPS co-ordinates of even a single photo may take 6-7 minutes, maybe more.

...

I recently bought a GPS unit for my camera and have since revamped how I use folders and locations and dramatically reduced the number of both, I previously had several dozen folders and hundreds of saved locations. I was wondering if that was the source of the problem, as I said I have significantly reduced hte numer of both but it doesn't seem to have helped any."

This is definitely not a normal speed, but I don't think the folder structure is the issue. Personally, I have hundreds of folders/subfolders in a year > month > day hierarchy and the map module is as fast no matter which folder I'm in, even the root folder with all 35K images.

Michael

_____________

Michael Niessen - Photographer, photo-editor, educator

[johnrellis]

"And within each of those a number of saved locations. Again mostly 1 / town."

I wonder if the relatively large number of saved locations is causing the problem. I think that's an infrequently used feature, and it wouldn't surprise me if saved locations used an inappropriate algorithm (e.g. one that took time proportional to the square of the number of locations).  

You could try this experiment: Make a new test catalog and import all your existing photos into it with Add (not Move or Copy).  Does the Map module work better in the absence of all the saved locations?  (Don't use File > Export As Catalog for this experiment, since that might preserve suboptimal data organization created in the original catalog.)

[Basic Panel]

Iwent down this route.

I created a new catalog and added my entire collection to it. This inherited the finder folder structure and,suprisingly, the folder and saved locations structure in the map module. It did not take any Development changes, nor any stacks I had created. 

Moving 1 photo's GPS location took over 1 minute, which is faster than my main catalog, but then the catalog is much smaller, not having any changes logged.

[johnrellis]

"I created a new catalog and added my entire collection to it. This inherited the finder folder structure and,suprisingly, the folder and saved locations structure in the map module."

Oh, sorry, I forgot that Saved Locations are stored as files in the Locations subfolder of the Lightroom preferences folder. So creating a new catalog would of course see all your existing saved locations.  So here's a much quicker test of whether your large number of saved locations is causing the problems:

1. Do Preferences > Presets > Show All Other Lightroom Presets, which opens Finder / File Explorer on the Lightroom preferences folder.

2. Exit LR.

3. Rename the Locations subfolder to "Locations.save".

4. Start LR.  

Does the slowth in the Map module go away?  When you're finished with the test, exit LR, delete the new (and empty) Locations subfolder that LR just created, and rename Locations.save back to Locations. 

[GoldingD]

Your internet connection, 
1. Computer to your router, WiFi or  Ethernet

2. Your router, connect to cable ISP or DSP or ISDN or SAT or Cellular

[Basic Panel]

The internet connection is fine. I have an iMac which is plugged directly into the router via ethernet. I get an average of 50mbps+. No problem there.

I should have pointed out earlier, this is an old problem with me. I've had it since I started using the Lightroom map module. I started using Lightroom itself at around V4 or 5(?) and the map module at V6 / 7, I think. This spans several versions of macOS. It's just that with V11 it's got much, much worse.

[johnrellis]

"...this is an old problem with me."

This reinforces the hypothesis that it's the Saved Locations -- try the quick test I detailed above to verify one way or the other.

[Basic Panel]

I did what you suggested. When I restarted Lightroom the first thing I noticed was that it started much faster than usual.

In the Map module I changed the location of 1 photo and it happened almost instantly. I was accessing the entire photo library and not a single folder or collection.

The problem seems to be the number of saved locations and / or folders. Please note Adobe. I know other people say they don't have a problem .. it could be only issue on the Mac platform.

I'll delete the renamed locations folder and work without it.

Thanks for your help.

Jack

[johnrellis]

Sigh, well at least we know the cause of the problem. 

To inform Adobe engineering, about how many saved locations did you have?

[Basic Panel]

I have 40 folders and 804 locations.

The largest folder has 313 locations, the smallest has 1. Most folders have between 1 and 20. A few have between 20 and 60.

Jack

[johnrellis]

If you don't mind sharing those locations, perhaps you could zip up the old Locations folder, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar, and post the sharing link here?  That would make it more likely Adobe can reproduce the problem easily.

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please move this thread to Bugs and change the subject line to:

"Map module slows to a crawl with a large number of saved locations"

[Basic Panel]

I'm new to the forum and can't figure out how to move a thread.

[@MNiessenPhoto]

"I'm new to the forum and can't figure out how to move a thread."

You can't. It is a request for moderator or Adobe employee to do it 😉

Michael

_____________

Michael Niessen - Photographer, photo-editor, educator

[Basic Panel]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ae107t59o5b4yw9/AACULAEr-bIDegrgMEGJbSroa?dl=0

Save locations, as requested.

Jack

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jack.allen2@btinternet.com

[johnrellis]

Thanks for the .zip of your saved locations. There are 807 location files in 40 folders.

Unfortunately, the problem doesn't occur using those locations with my catalog, which has 6800 photos with GPS coordinates. One difference, of course, is that your catalog has likely many more photos within the radii of those locations.

Hopefully, Adobe will be able to take a look at this.

[dj_paige]

Like the others, I do not experience Map Module slowness like the kind you describe. I have close to 30,000 images with GPS coordinates.

[GoldingD]

Create a new catalog, do not migrate anything from the old catalog.

Go  out and take some photos, import them into the new catalog

Test