Applying the Proposed Place Names

New in version 1.02. Every file that has GPS coordinates gets a set of proposed place names, and since version 1.02 you can write them into a whole batch with one command, each file receiving its own names. This page explains where the proposals come from and the four places you can apply them from; the iPhone guide shows the complete job.

Where the proposals come from

As soon as a file with GPS coordinates has been read, Media Location Tagger looks the position up in its built-in offline database and proposes a Sub-location, City, Province/State and Country for it. The proposals show in grey:

• in the file table, where each IPTC column shows the file’s stored value on one line and the proposal in grey on the other, and
• in the item fields at the top of the sidebar when you select the files.

Grey means: this is not yet in the file, it is the application’s best guess from the coordinates. The lookup needs no internet connection and has no rate limits, so a thousand files are proposed as quickly as ten. Files without coordinates, and files that are still being read, propose nothing.

The proposals are per file. Ten photos from three towns propose three sets of names, and applying them writes each photo’s own set. This is what makes the commands below different from the other Apply buttons in the sidebar, which write one value to every selected file.

The Location menu

Select the files, then choose from the Location menu:

• Apply Proposed Sub-location, Apply Proposed City, Apply Proposed Province/State or Apply Proposed Country write one field.
• Apply All Proposed IPTC Location Tags writes all four.

These commands fill in the blanks only. A field that already holds a value is left exactly as it is, so you can run Apply All Proposed IPTC Location Tags over a mixed batch without disturbing names you have already set. A file that proposes nothing for a field keeps whatever that field contains; nothing is ever cleared by these commands.

Files whose requested fields were all filled in already are skipped, and the status line at the bottom of the window tells you how many, for example “Skipped 3 files that already have these values (hold ⌥ to overwrite).” If every selected file was skipped it says so, and nothing is written.

A command is only enabled when at least one selected file proposes a value for a field that is still empty. If the whole Apply Proposed group is greyed out, either the fields are already filled, the files have no coordinates, or the metadata is still being read.

Hold ⌥ to overwrite

Hold down the Option (⌥) key while the Location menu is open and every Apply Proposed item changes into its counterpart Overwrite with Proposed …. These write the proposed value over whatever the field currently holds, in every selected file that proposes one. Use them when the existing names are stale, for instance after you have corrected the coordinates and the old city no longer matches.

Fields for which a file proposes nothing are still left alone, so an overwrite never empties a field. There is no confirmation sheet: the overwrite replaces data but does not destroy a file’s location, and Location → Remove … remains the only way to clear a field.

The Apply button in the item fields

Each IPTC field in the item section of the sidebar has its own Apply button. Normally it writes what you typed into the field to every selected file. When the field is empty (nothing typed, and the selected files have no value there, or differing ones) typing would be the only way to use it, so instead the button applies that field’s grey proposal, each file’s own:

• click Apply to fill in the files whose field is empty;
• hold ⌥ and the button reads Replace; clicking it writes the proposal over existing values too.

The button is enabled under the same rule as the menu command, and its tooltip spells out which of the two it will do. Pressing Return in the field never applies a proposal, only text you typed, so a stray Return cannot write anything you did not see.

As soon as you type into the field the button goes back to writing your text to all selected files, which is how you override a proposal you disagree with.

Right-click: the Location menu on files and markers

Right-click a row in the file table or a file marker on the map (two fingers on a trackpad, or Control-click) and the complete Location menu opens there: the Apply Proposed commands, the ⌥ overwrites, and the Remove … commands. It is the same menu, item for item, and it acts on the current selection.

• A right-click on a file that is not selected first selects that file alone, so the commands act on the file under the pointer. A right-click on a file that is already selected keeps the whole selection, so you can select fifty rows (how to select several files) and right-click any of them.
• On the map, a right-click on a cluster (a marker with a count) selects all the files in it, which is the quickest way to deal with everything taken at one spot.
• The pins you have dropped yourself have no Location menu; the commands write to files, and pins are not files.
• The map’s current tool makes no difference; the right-click works in every tool mode.

Files with XMP sidecars

If a photo has an .xmp sidecar next to it, the sidecar receives the same names as the photo in the same write, so the two never disagree. The sidecar’s own row in the table cannot be applied to on its own; see XMP sidecars in the troubleshooting guide.

Checking the result

After the write, the item fields re-read the files and show the stored values in black. The IPTC column turns to a green check mark once all four fields are filled; a warning triangle means the set is still incomplete, and hovering over it tells you which fields are missing. The proposals for those fields stay available, in grey, until you apply or type something.