Images incorrectly pinned in Elements Organizer 2018

Report · Nov 02, 2017

With images that contain accurate GPS data, Elements Organizer does not pin the image correctly in Places. It seems that images are grouped together in a "general" location even when zooming in to the Map. If you then try to allocate location names to the images, it only allocates this general location. If you then try to add this metadata to the file, it overwrites the previous correct GPS data.

Report · Nov 24, 2017

I have also noticed that Elements Organizer does not pin the photos correctly on the map. This is my experience:

I have been using Adobe Elements 13 for the last 2-3 years. Since my camera does not have GPS built in, I have spent a fair amount of time geotagging my photos. With the hope of simplifying the geotagging process, I purchased Geotag Photos Pro app for my iPhone 5s yesterday. When I took the app for a 'test drive', the map in the Geotag Photos Pro app tracked my short trip (a short walk and a ride on the skytrain in Bangkok) more or less perfectly (except the indoor part, which would be as expected with GPS technology). The map in the Geotag Photos Pro app is shown below:

Therefore, I expected that all my geotagging process would be solved (and more or less automated). To my great surprise, when I uploaded the pictures into Elements Organizer 13 on my iMac, the pins were all over the place. I used the default settings in Geotag Photos Pro (logging interval 2 minutes and minimal positional change 50m). Therefore, I did not expect pinpoint accuracy, but some of the pins in the Organizer map were 1-2km off the mark. As Michael also mentioned, many of the photos were grouped together in clusters (way off the mark). The way the photos were clustered was also a bit bizarre, as some of the pictures were not even placed in the nearest cluster. See map below for details. The GPS coordinates in the metadata were different for each picture, so the GPS data does not seem to have been corrupted when imported into Elements (at least rounded down to fewer decimals, which according to some users seems to have been an issue when metadata have been saved to the files).

Since I am currently also using Adobe Elements 2018 during my 30 days free trial, I also imported the pictures into Elements 2018. But the result was exactly the same as for Elements 13. Then I imported the pictures into Apple Photos. And the geotagging was remarkable accurate. See below.

Therefore, it seems like both Geotag Photos Pro and Apple Photos (at least the geotagging) are working remarkably well. And the geotagging inaccuracy problem is somehow caused by Adobe Elements, but I do not really understand how.

Since both Elements 13 are Elements 2018 are displaying the same mapping inaccuracies, I would guess that the Elements version in between also would display the same incorrect locations. I would be surprised if an error like this would have been persisting for so many years (but I could of course be wrong...). The problem may therefore be related to the 'interaction' between Elements and Google Maps.

Now I faced with the following dilemma: Do I leave the pins at the incorrect location (with presumably correct GPS coordinates), or do I move the pins to the correct location on the map (which presumably will render the GPS coordinates incorrect). If choose the former, it will be annoying to look at the incorrect locations on the map. If I do the latter, I risk that all the pins will be incorrect in the event Adobe fixes the problem or I start using a different program (e.g. Apple Photos).

My questions for Adobe: Has this geotagging inaccuracy been identified as an issue? If yes, is it an issue which is likely to be solved?
My questions for other users: Have you noticed this as a persisting issue with Elements? Or is it just a recent issue (which hopefully is easily fixable)?

Report · Jan 27, 2018

I get exactly the same issue with Adobe Elements 15 with locations a good 100m or more off. Interestingly, if I set the location of a photo in Elements 15, save the metadata to file, import the photo into Apple photos, then Apple photos locates it in the right spot (within a few metres).

So I have tried the following:

Looking at photo metadata in Finder, it gives GPS coordinates of 29.756000, -95.089500

If I type these coordinates into Google Maps it puts the photo at exactly the correct location. It also converts the coordinates to degrees and minutes as 29°45'21.6"N 95°05'22.2"W

If I look at the metadata from Elements Organiser it gives the coordinates as 029,45.1407288....N, 095,05.1407288....W

i.e. the figures after the decimal point are exactly the same for both the latitude and longitude are the same, so clearly something is going wrong in translation when the location is imported.

If I look at the file info in Elements itself (not Organiser) it shows the correct file information.

So it is definitely an Elements Organiser import issue, nothing to do with the photo, or Elements Organiser mapping itself

If the problem is still there with Adobe 18 then I do not hold out much hope this will ever be fixed or will Adobe offer a response?. If not, any recommendations for alternative ways of managing my pictures?

I'm using Adobe Elements 15 on MacBook Pro

Report · Jan 27, 2018

Just done another check and nearly every one has the same numbers after the decimal point for both latitude and longitude - xx.1407288... with about 15 digits after the decimal point.

I've also tried Elements 18 and get exactly the same problem - here's what I get for two photos taken in quite different locations showing the GPS location in Elements Organiser. See how the digits behind the decimal point are almost exactly the same.