For pictures I take in Saskatchewan, the Photos app says they were taken in Red River Valley instead! I brought this issue to Apple Canada support about 2 years ago. I supplied sample photos at the time to the support person I contacted, and he agreed that something is wrong. Nothing happened.
What must one do?
Are the GPS coordinates registered by the camera wrong, or is Fotos showing a wrong name for the location?
Have you checked the longitude and latitude of the photos you have taken? Are you using a Mac or an iPhone?
On an iPhone you can see the GPS coordinates, when you open a photo and swipe up to see the details below it, then tap the name of the location above the Map.
Are the GPS coordinates registered by the camera wrong, or is Fotos showing a wrong name for the location?
Have you checked the longitude and latitude of the photos you have taken? Are you using a Mac or an iPhone?
On an iPhone you can see the GPS coordinates, when you open a photo and swipe up to see the details below it, then tap the name of the location above the Map.
FWIW exiftool has geolocation feature which by default uses a database of all cities with population 2000 or greater based on a Creative Commons database which is occasionally corrected and updated (so maybe also Apple's database has some errors). It is possible to download and use a database with cities down to a population of 500, or add your custom geolocation. For example by default exiftool displays:
exiftool -api Geolocation=51.98737,-106.72140
Geolocation City : Central Business District
Geolocation Region : Saskatchewan
Geolocation Subregion : Saskatoon
Geolocation Country Code : CA
Geolocation Country : Canada
Geolocation Time Zone : America/Regina
Geolocation Feature Code : PPL
Geolocation Feature Type : Populated Place
Geolocation Population : 12000
Geolocation Position : 52.1303, -106.6621
Geolocation Distance : 16.41 km
Geolocation Bearing : 23
I remember Saskatchewan turning into Red River Valley-- did we talk before? If so, I remember that I also checked it out, taking coordinates from one place, entering them into Photos and getting someplace else. I think we verified that it wasn't a matter of wrong coordinates-- it had to be crazy lookup data from Apple. And I think I remember this was broken over a relatively small area, is that right?
I think the only thing to do, as léonie suggested, is to keep after Apple to fix it. You may be the only one who's recognized this, so It might take lots of complaints to get noticed. Good Luck!
Hi, Chattanoogan,
you could try these coordinates: 52.11990° N, 106.65457° W
The location is close to the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon.
So the Info panel seems to be using a different algorithm for the location name from the algorithm in the details section of Photos. Only the Info panel is providing an unusual name.
Here are screenshots (macOS 15.6 Sequoia): (my Mac is currently set to German as the system language, so "Kanada" means "Canada"
I have seen the same problem with images taken in my home town, the city of Hamburg, Germany.
the artificial intelligence of Photos seems to be coming up with these strange places names.
The Info iseems to be using Apple Intelligence to name the places of interest nearby. If there is some scenic point of interest nearby or a nature reserve, it will use the name the nature reserve instead of a more precise place name.
For example, along the shores of the river Elbe in Hamburg is a 20 km long Nature Reserve (Landschaftsschutzgebiet LSG), and most of the photos taken close to the River are just showing the name of this Nature Reserve instead of the name of district, which would be more helpful.
And occasionally the name is completely wrong, even different for two photos taken at nearly the same place at the same time.
I took these two photos at the same time at the Hafengeburtstag, close to the ferry terminal at Teufelsbrück: The places pin is in the same place on the tiny Map.
The two pictures side-by-side, showing the location of the second photo:
The Red River Valley is in both Canada and the USA! See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_Valley I think the issue is as simple as it has already been suggested, viz., the lookup table used by Apple's Photos contains an error and needs to be fixed. And by the looks of it, I need to continue nagging at Apple Support until something happens!
Here is a sample:
51.9871, -106.7215 (from photo) and 51.98737°, -106.72140° (from GPS).
To show that the issue is the lookup table used by the Info button only, I show below a screen shot showing both the info button and the information shown below the photograph in Photos! Both show the correct location on the map, but different location name for the Province! The one below the photo is correct.
[Edited by Moderator]
Yes, I’m familiar w/ the Red River of the North. (as in ND, MN, and MB)
There’s another “Red” in TX, OK, and LA.
My point is that it appears that — at least locally — the Spruce River in Saskatchewan is also (or at least was) known as the Little Red River.
Did maps possibly pick an obscure “local name reference” near your photo’s GPS coordinates in Saskatchewan?
Picking “which name” to use has always challenged cartographers; digitization only amplifies that challenge with a flood of more naming options.
Or did your image actually read Red River Valley, Manitoba ?
Is the Red River in Saskatchewan - as described in the following wiki article - NOT in the general area of your images ? :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_River_(Saskatchewan)
Apple Maps will generally identify by a nearby local reference rather than simply the name of a HUGE province. (almost twice the area of Germany)
Kudos to léonie 😉
Photos has always shown the correct information for the town and province. The error in question crept up a couple of MacOS versions ago. I have pictures taken at Grieg Lake in Meadow Lake Provincial Park, and Photos locates them on a little map correctly but it says they were taken at Grieg Lake, Red River Valley, even though we are hundred of kilometres from it!
And no, Photos does not say Red River Valley, Manitoba.
I am in the Province of Saskatchewan, whose abbreviation is SK. The information underneath the picture is, therefor, correct; only that obtained by the information button is wrong. Actually, we are not in Vanscoy but in Corman Park. We are used to various applications locating us in Vancoy or even Dundurn, but that is minor in comparison to locating us in a non-existent administrative division.
Exif data in my photos show the correct locations, checked with hand-held GPS device. To be clear, the place name (say a town or village) is shown correctly; only the name of our Province is wrong!
This one is for Apple to fix, and I may have to contact Apple support one more time.
Many thanks.
Initial - and very cursory - “tinkering” w/ iOS Maps has turned-up SK “Red River” localities a full 3+ hour drive from SK’s Grieg Lake.
These exact coordinates will enable further “tinkering” in both iOS and MacOS.
Again, thank you. 👋
The White House in Virginia … 🤔
… based possibly on an adjacent “Maps” point of interest in Northern Germany.
So wrong on several levels; and just the sort of AI Slop too often generated and acepted as fact.
VERY odd indeed.
To be completely accurate, in your posted image, it doesn’t display the province at all. (you are inferring that it means Manitoba all by yourself)
Regardless …
It DOES display Vanscoy which is a small town located due West abt 5 miles.
From the Maps’ overhead imagery, the town looks like many other “Grain Elevator Railroad Stop Towns” scattered across the high plains with nothing “Red” of note and certainly nowhere near any river.
Other spots of land immediately outside the park boundary - west of the river, toward Vanscoy - do come up as “Vanscoy” in Maps as well. I suspect this might be so-defined the Canadian Post.
And Valley road provides access to the park.
And there is a river nearby (albeit the Saskatchewan River).
But to deduce Red River Valley from those separate bits is indeed FAR more than a “stretch.”
Vanscoy is the only piece which seems even remotely understandable.
ESPECIALLY given that the location is already identified in Maps as Corman Park, SK.
Photos app doesn't show correct information for photos from Saskatchewan
