How to geotag RAW photos on Mac and iPad
JPEG and HEIC are easy to geotag: their metadata layout is standard and Apple's own ImageIO can rewrite it safely. RAW files are harder. Every manufacturer's format — Nikon NEF, Canon CR3 and CR2, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF, Olympus ORF, Panasonic RW2 — is its own container, and writing into one safely takes a tool that understands that container.
There are two ways to give a RAW file a location, and EasyGeotag uses the right one for the device you are on.
On Mac: GPS written into the RAW file
The Mac app writes GPS coordinates, altitude and the place name directly into the RAW file using ExifTool, the long-standing open-source metadata tool by Phil Harvey. It is bundled inside the app, so there is nothing to install and no command line.
- Every file modified in place is first copied to a backup folder beside the photos (on by default).
- Restore Originals puts the backups back whenever you want, and can be used more than once.
- Capture dates and all other metadata in the file are left as they were.
- Embedded XMP can be handled separately for proprietary RAW files and for DNG files.
On iPad: an XMP sidecar beside the RAW
iPadOS cannot run ExifTool, and no supported API can safely rewrite a
RAW or DNG container. So on iPad, EasyGeotag writes the location
into an XMP sidecar — a small .xmp file with the same name as
the RAW, saved next to it. The original RAW is never opened for writing.
Sidecars are the standard way RAW editors store metadata without touching the original. Lightroom Classic, Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge and Capture One all read them. If you would rather have the coordinates inside the file, tag the same folder on the Mac later.
If a RAW already has a sidecar from another app — Lightroom, for example — EasyGeotag skips that photo by default rather than touch the sidecar. Turn on Update location in existing XMP sidecars in Settings to replace only its GPS and location fields; ratings, keywords, develop settings and everything else are kept.
Step by step
- Record a track on your iPhone while you shoot, or bring a GPX from a Garmin or other logger (how).
- On Mac or iPad, open the track and the folder of RAW files. You can drag either onto the window.
- Check the camera clock offset and timezone, then review how closely each frame matched the track.
- Press Geotag. The confirmation sheet tells you how many files will be written with ExifTool, how many will get a sidecar, and whether backups are on — before a single byte changes.
Tag before you import, or refresh afterwards
The simplest workflow is to geotag the card's folder first and import into Lightroom, Capture One or Apple Photos afterwards, so the location is there from the start.
If the photos are already in a Lightroom Classic catalog, the catalog has a cached copy of the old metadata. Select the photos and choose Metadata ▸ Read Metadata from Files to pick up the new GPS and location fields.
What gets written
- GPS: latitude, longitude and altitude in the standard EXIF GPS fields.
- Place: city, state or region, and country in the IPTC location fields that Lightroom and Photos index, so you can search your library for “Lisbon” instead of a pair of numbers.
Geotag five photos free. Requires macOS 15, iPadOS 18 or iOS 18.