Today’s Question: Is it possible to view only photos that have GPS coordinates for a specific area of the map in Lightroom Classic? Sometimes I know a photo was captured in a particular area, but I find it cumbersome to try to locate the actual image.
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can filter images based on the currently visible area of the map in the Map module in Lightroom Classic by selecting the “Visible On Map” option from the Location Filter bar above the map.
More Detail: If the location where photos were captured is meaningful, such as for travel photography, the Map module in Lightroom Classic can be quite valuable. Whether you’re using a camera with a GPS receiver so location information can be added automatically, or you’re manually adding location information, you can set a filter so you’re only seeing images in the current map area.
The first step is to make sure you’re browsing the photos you’re looking for, such as by selecting a particular folder or collection. This could even include selecting the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section on the left panel in the Library module.
Then go to the Map module and pan and zoom as needed on the map so that the only area of the map that is visible is the area where the photos you’re looking for were captured. If the Location Filter bar is not visible at the top of the map you can press the backslash key (\) on the keyboard or go to the menu and choose View > Show Filter Bar. Click on the “Visible On Map” option on this filter bar, and the images will be filtered based on only those that contain GPS coordinates in metadata that correspond to the currently visible map are.
You can then switch to the Library module if you want to be able to take advantage of the view options there, such as to switch between the grid and loupe views. If you lock the filter criteria on the Library Filter bar above the grid view (using the padlock icon at the top-right of the bar) you can also switch to a different folder or collection while keeping the filter criteria locked, so that you’re only viewing photos from the current map area even if you browse a different set of photos.
