Resolve GPS locations offline
Turn embedded GPS coordinates into place names on your device, and understand when RenamerX leaves the Location field empty.
Offline GPS Resolution (Beta) can turn GPS coordinates embedded in a file into a readable town, region, or country. It is enabled by default and uses offline location data installed with RenamerX rather than an online geocoding service.
This is approximate nearest-town matching, not precise reverse geocoding. The result is evidence for RenamerX's Location naming field, not a guaranteed city or street address. When the available location is too distant or ambiguous, RenamerX leaves the location empty instead of guessing.
How RenamerX chooses location evidence
RenamerX uses location information in this order:
- Readable location metadata already embedded in the file, such as a location name, city, region, or country.
- An offline match from embedded GPS coordinates, when the setting is enabled and no readable embedded location is available.
- A location explicitly supported by extracted content or the original filename.
- No location when the evidence is missing or unreliable.
Existing readable location metadata takes priority because it was already attached to the file. The Offline GPS Resolution switch does not replace that metadata.
This feature is most useful for photos, camera RAW files, and other supported media that contain GPS metadata but no readable place name. A file without GPS can still have a Location value when its metadata or content clearly identifies a place.
Understand the distance limits
Offline matching uses distance to limit how specific the result can be:
| Distance from the matched place | Location information RenamerX may keep |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 km | Town or city, subregion, region, and country when available. |
| More than 30 km and up to 75 km | Region and country when available; town or city and subregion are removed. |
| More than 75 km | No offline place match is used. |
These limits reduce false precision. Even within 30 km, the dataset may not contain a useful town, and the final Location field can remain empty. RenamerX does not promise the nearest administrative place is the place a person would use to describe the file.
Turn the setting on or off
Open Preferences → General, then change Offline GPS Resolution. The change applies to files processed afterward.
Suggested filenames that are already ready do not update automatically. Retry the affected files or regenerate their suggested filenames after changing the setting.
Turning the setting off prevents RenamerX from converting GPS coordinates with its offline dataset. It does not remove readable location metadata already in a file. AI processing can still use a place explicitly present in extracted text or the original filename.
Know what stays offline
RenamerX does not send GPS coordinates to an online geocoding service. Raw GPS coordinate fields are removed from the normalized metadata prepared for AI processing.
When RenamerX finds a readable place name, it becomes part of the information available to the active AI Provider. With Built-in Local AI, the entire process remains on the device. With an external AI Provider, RenamerX sends the readable place name along with other prepared file information. See AI Providers before connecting an external service.
Use Location in filenames
To include the result in a filename, use the Location field in a template. The field can be empty, so combine it with fields that still identify the file when no reliable place is available.
Test the template with files from different sources:
- a geotagged photo
- a camera RAW file
- a file with readable location metadata
- a file with no location evidence
Review the suggested filenames before applying them.