How to Document Field Work with Location and Time on Every Photo

TL;DR

Switch to Work & proof, use the Report Bar, shoot wide then close, file shots into a project and export. A stamp gives clear context but is not tamper-proof evidence, so keep originals where a chain of custody matters.

The problem

The inspection happens on Tuesday. The report is written on Friday. By then, “crack in wall” is just a photo of a crack. Which unit? Which wall? What time of day, and what was the weather? A reader asks, and you reconstruct it from memory and a hand-written note, hoping the two agree.

Hidden metadata doesn’t save you. It’s lost the moment photos are pasted into a document, forwarded or screenshotted, and it’s invisible to the person reading the report anyway.

What GeoCam adds for field work

Choose Work & proof instead of Everyday & travel and the camera becomes a site-documentation tool:

  • Report Bar: address, GPS, bearing, accuracy, project and time in one band across the photo. Free.
  • Shooting bearing and GPS accuracy recorded with each capture. The bearing is also written to EXIF. Free.
  • Coordinates your way: decimal degrees, degrees & minutes, DMS, UTM or MGRS. Free.
  • Projects: file shots into a project from the camera, filter the gallery by project. Free.
  • Pro field tools: Survey Bar (compass tape and bearing map), Weather Bar, PDF field reports, KML/KMZ/GeoJSON/CSV export, verified timestamps against network time, auto backup to Files or iCloud Drive and note presets.

A workflow

  1. Create a project for the job and set up a template with the Report Bar. See templates.
  2. Wait for GPS accuracy to settle before shooting anything important.
  3. Shoot wide first, then close. A wide shot shows where; a close-up shows what. Use the grid and macro.
  4. File shots into the project as you go. It takes a second and saves an hour later.
  5. Back at the desk, favourite the key shots and cull the rest. See batch management.
  6. Export what the job needs. See reports and GIS export.

What a stamp does and doesn’t prove

It does: show, on the image itself, where, when and under what conditions the photo was taken. That’s valuable context for reports and handovers, and it can’t be stripped by a platform.

It doesn’t: make a photo tamper-proof. A visible stamp is a record, not forensic evidence. If a photo may end up in a dispute where chain of custody matters, keep the originals, follow your organisation’s procedure and consider Pro’s network-time verification as one supporting check, not a guarantee.

Common mistakes

  • Shooting before GPS settles, leaving a poor-accuracy location on a key photo.
  • Forgetting the project, then sorting by hand.
  • Only close-ups, with no context shot.
  • Using different layouts on the same job.

FAQ

Can the stamp be removed from the photo? It’s burned into the pixels at capture, so it stays part of the image wherever the photo goes.

Does it record bearing and accuracy? Yes. Shooting bearing (also written to the photo’s EXIF) and GPS accuracy are recorded with every capture.

Is this tamper-proof evidence? No. A stamp is a clear visible record. For legal or chain-of-custody needs, keep the originals and follow your own procedures. Pro adds timestamp verification against network time.

How do I organise lots of site photos? File them into projects from the camera, then filter the gallery by project or browse by location.

The app GeoCam+ →