Today’s Question: With regard to the suggested locations you pointed out in the metadata for images with embedded GPS coordinates in Lightroom Classic, how do you accept the suggestions to make them permanent?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can apply the location name suggestions automatically generated by Lightroom Classic by clicking on the label for the applicable field (Sublocation, City, State/Province, and Country/Region) and then clicking on the suggested name on the popup that appears.
More Detail: In order to get suggestions of location names in Lightroom Classic, two things are required. First, you need to have GPS coordinates in the metadata for photos, such as by using a camera with a built-in GPS receiver, synchronizing photos with a track log, or manually adding photos to the map. Second, you need to enable the “Look up” checkbox option under the Address Lookup heading on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog.
When these two conditions are met, if you haven’t added text to the Sublocation, City, State/Province, or Country/Region fields, Lightroom Classic can show suggestions based on the GPS coordinates for the photo and taken from the Google Maps database. The details that were determined for those fields will then appear as a darker shade of gray and with the text in italics.
Those suggested location names aren’t technically added to the metadata for the photos, but there is a second checkbox under the Address Lookup heading in Catalog Settings that enables you to have those suggested names included upon export for images where the fields in question are otherwise empty.
If you want to apply the suggested location to the fields, you can click on the label for the field (Sublocation, City, State/Province, or Country/Region), and then click the suggested name text on the popup that appears. The value will then be applied to the metadata field, so the text will appear brighter and no longer in italics.
For more tips on keeping track of the locations where you captured your photos using Lightroom Classic, you can view a recording of my recent presentation on the subject as part of the GreyLearning Webinar Series on my YouTube channel here: