# Geotagging without GPS

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [April 23, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711 "2020-04-23T16:59:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@cmy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cmy)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/1 "2020-04-23T16:59:36Z")

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Trying to map an invasive species locally, what is the simplest way of adding a location for novices and non-GPS users?

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**Author:** ![upupa-epops](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/upupa-epops/32/1972_2.png) [@upupa-epops](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/upupa-epops)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/2 "2020-04-23T17:35:20Z")

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Welcome to the forum! There is a thread about that here: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-photos/66](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-photos/66)  
I use an app on my phone to track my location and then use a program on my computer to add the location to the photos afterwards.

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**Author:** ![zorrosidekick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/zorrosidekick/32/9203_2.png) [@zorrosidekick](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/zorrosidekick)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/3 "2020-04-23T17:53:55Z")

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You can edit the location of your photos at the time of uploading them as well. If it’s in the Seek app just click on the ‘location’ option 3rd down on the screen after “post to iNaturalist”. If you’re on the website you will have to add a location before you can upload the picture.

If you have already uploaded some things and need to change an incorrect location you can edit the observation in the dropdown menu under your profile picture on the top-right of the screen.

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**Author:** ![Star3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/star3/32/73028_2.png) [@Star3](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Star3)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/4 "2020-04-23T18:31:59Z")

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You can edit locations in the mobile iNat (original flavor, not Seek) app after upload as well.

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**Author:** ![nick2524](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/nick2524/32/18152_2.png) [@nick2524](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/nick2524)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/5 "2020-04-24T13:48:58Z")

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@upupa-epops  
What is the software you use?

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**Author:** ![cmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@cmy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cmy)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/6 "2020-04-24T15:14:15Z")

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Thanks – I have looked at that – I’m thinking of folks who can barely use a computer. The easiest I can think of is (if they can use Google Map) hitting a point and the tag comes up with the lat and long

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**Author:** ![cmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@cmy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cmy)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/7 "2020-04-24T15:14:56Z")

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And that should be helpful too, thanks

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**Author:** ![upupa-epops](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/upupa-epops/32/1972_2.png) [@upupa-epops](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/upupa-epops)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/8 "2020-04-24T15:37:51Z")

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I use an Android app called Easy GPS logger to record my track and then either darktable for RAW files or GeoSetter for JPGs to add the coords to the photos.  
They don’t include accuracy/precision data so I have to add it manually when I upload the photos. I usually set it for 10m if I’m walking around, but if I’m taking photos as a [car passenger](https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ethaning) on a highway I’ll do like 300m or 500m because of lag between the camera’s clock and the GPS tracker.

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**Author:** ![upupa-epops](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/upupa-epops/32/1972_2.png) [@upupa-epops](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/upupa-epops)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/9 "2020-04-24T15:48:15Z")

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When you’re uploading an observation on the website, if you click on the Location box in the observation a window will pop up that will let you explore a map.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/f/fc4237d5529c6cb6dc6d597c90568f2539495985.png)

Once you have the map open you can click anywhere on the map to set the location, and then drag the white dots on the edge of the circle to include the area the organism could have been in.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/9/94041fb83594a4195d5b2b9460ac1a340cdc6501.jpeg)

I think there are video tutorials showing the process here: [https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials](https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials)  
That’s by far the simplest way if your phone/camera doesn’t automatically record location. It gets tedious if you’re observing hundreds of organisms in a day though.

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**Author:** ![cmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@cmy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cmy)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/10 "2020-04-25T17:29:58Z")

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Thank you! that’s great for my purposes

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/geotagging-without-gps/11711/11 "2020-06-24T17:30:04Z")

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