Google Photos Adds New Heat Map Feature to Show You Where You’ve Been

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If you’ve been missing the ability to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may fondly remember past trips you’ve taken. Whether you enjoyed traveling around the world, your home country, or local sites, you probably took photos to preserve those memories.

Google Photos has recently been updated to help you re-live those memories more easily. This update to Google Photos helpfully sorts your photos and videos so you can easily see all the photos you’ve taken at any location.

You’ve always been able to search for photos using the name of a place, but with this new update Google Photos can show you a heat map of where your photos have been taken. You can view a map of the world and see different colored dots showing you the places where you’ve taken the most photos.

You’ll also see a thumbnail of a sample photo you’ve taken at a location. You can tap on that thumbnail photo to see other photos you’ve taken in the same place.

This heat map update was one of the most requested features of Google Photos, according to Google. In announcing the addition of heat maps to Google Photos, Google said, “You can pinch and zoom around the globe to explore photos of your travels, see where you’ve taken the most photos around your hometown, or find that one photo from somewhere on your road trip across the country.”

=> Check out 12 Reasons Why Google Photos Is My Favorite Photo Service

How to Use Google Photos Heat Maps to See Photos of Where You’ve Been

To use heat maps in Google Photos, update your app to the latest version. Tap the Search icon in the bottom menu bar.

Under the People & Pets section, you’ll see the Places section showing a map with a thumbnail of a recent photo. Underneath the map are links to places where you’ve taken a lot of photos. There’s also a View all link above the map that shows a grid view of places where you’ve taken photos.

Tap the Explore Map button on the map to open the heat map. The map will open to a location where you’ve recently taken photos. You’ll see a grid of photos taken at that location under the map.

Swipe up on the grid to scroll through photos you’ve taken at that location.

You can zoom in and out on the heat map in Google Photos to see other locations around the world where you’ve taken photos. Tap on any dots to see photos you’ve taken at that place.

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Availability

Google Photos heat maps are available in the Google Photos app for both iPhone and iPad as well for Android phones and tablets. As of this writing, heat maps do not appear to be available for the Google Photos website.

This feature is rolling out so if you don’t see it when you update your app to the latest version of the Google Photos app, you don’t have access to heat maps yet. Keep checking.

Fixing Missing or Wrong Locations in Google Photos Heat Maps

Google Photos heat maps are a fun and useful way of seeing where you’ve been, but may not be a complete photo journal of the places you’ve been.

The good news is that you can edit a photo’s location with more accurate location information.

Photos Missing from Places

Google Photos heat maps show photos based on the information contained in their digital photo files, also known as the metadata. If you took a photo with your phone’s camera and your phone wasn’t connected to the Internet, the photo’s digital file may not have location information in the metadata that would tell Google Photos where the photo was taken.

For example, let’s say you were visiting a foreign country but put your phone in airplane mode while you were there to avoid being charged expensive international roaming fees. Photos you took on that trip wouldn’t include the location metadata and wouldn’t appear on Google Photos heat maps.

Photos in the Wrong Places

If no location metadata is available in a photo, then Google Photos may try to identify where a photo was taken based on what is in the photo. If the photo is of a famous landmark such as the Eiffel Tower, Google Photos may place the photo in Paris, France.

But Google Photos may not always be accurate in determining where a photo was taken.

Editing, Adding, and Removing Location Information for a Photo in Google Photos

If a photo in Google Photos has missing or inaccurate location metadata, you can add or edit it to more accurately show where a photo was taken. You can also remove location information if you’d prefer that information not be included in a photo’s metadata.

To edit, add, or remove the location metadata for a photo in Google Photos, follow the instructions at the Google Photos Help page: Understand, find & edit your photos’ locations.

Your Thoughts

Have you been reminiscing about past trips by viewing your photos? Have you checked out your heat map in Google Photos? Did you find any missing or inaccurate photo locations in Google Photos?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!