While it can be a useful feature, you should also think about the possible risks as with anything else. With that being said, let’s explore whether you should enable location on photos or not. Geolocation refers to the saving of GPS data to photos. This is quite common on smartphones. This allows for the pinpointing of where exactly the photo was taken. Geotagging refers to the embedding of geolocation data into photos.
Negatives of Enabling Geolocation on Photos
Concerns associated with geolocation and photos instantly arise due to privacy concerns. A lot of problems can stem from these privacy issues. Since geolocation allows for the pinpointing of a location, it can make a person easier to track down. The main problems however, arise from the combination of social media and geolocation.
Social Media and Geolocation
Let’s first consider the case of celebrities. If they are not careful to disable geolocation on their photos they can easily open themselves up to getting stalked. Outside of celebrities, us regular folk should be concerned as well. Uploading a photo with geolocation data could put you at risk of burglary. An unscrupulous individual monitoring your location activity based on your photos could decide to steal from your home based on photos which indicate when you’re not home. This could potentially put you and your family in danger. Please bear in mind that this burglaries of this kind have actually occurred before! A maintenance worker from California was charged last year for using social media to track and steal from several women in college. On a less serious note, let’s talk about people you’re trying to avoid. This may sound horrible but if you will be posting photos to social media, you should probably make sure that you don’t have geolocation enabled. Let’s face it, you probably told the person you’re avoiding you’re somewhere else. The geotag will only spill the beans.
Positives of Enabling Geolocation on Photos
If you’re giving directions, for example, a geotagged photo is an excellent way to go about this. Not only will the person receiving the directions have GPS data to follow, they will also have an accurate visual cue as to where they’re headed. Aside from the personal side of things, this can be useful for businesses advertising as well. Enticing geotagged pictures of sales can be posted on social media. Patrons will be attracted by great prices and images, plus they will know exactly where to find the deal.
Final Thoughts
Geolocation is admittedly useful for letting friends or clients know where you are or where an event will be held. However, unless you really want someone else to know your location, it’s probably best that you switch off this feature off due to privacy concerns. This is especially advised if you frequently post your photos to social media.
