How to Hide Location of your Photos on Flickr : Geofences

When a photo is uploaded in Flickr, it utilizes the Exif Data ( if available ) to determine the location of the image which anybody can see.  It is also possible to add a location of the image by dragging it to the map while editing.

Now It may so happen that you have taken pictures at your home or at somewhere for which you do not want to reveal the location for privacy concern. So till now the only option was to share images with only people you want. And since location of images are instantly picked from EXIF data as you  upload, controlling the whole thing gets tougher.

Though you can turn off geolocation completely but many of us do want to remember the places automatically and more accurately.

Keeping this in Mind, Flickr has introduced a new concept called as Geo Fences. These are Boundaries on Maps which say If I take a picture around here, please display the location to only people I want or completely hide it.

This becomes very useful to hide your home location from random users if you took a snap at home and uploaded from a mobile application which tracks your location.

Flickr Geo Preferences

How to use Geo Fences

Create a Geo Fence First and Set who can see this location 

  • Go to Geo Fences Privacy Settings. This place lets you create and manage all your geo fences which is limited to max of 10.
  • Now Create a Geo Fence using the Create New Button.
  • This will open a Map Interface where you will need to search for a location. Once you find it, Add a Nick Name, Set the radius of that place, Who can see Info.
Geo Fence Creation Settings
  • Done this your fence is ready.

What happens when you upload a picture from that location 

Now lets say you are at a location which is geo fenced and you upload a picture which includes location data, flickr will check if the location matches to the radius of set geofence and if it is set, it will make sure your privacy settings ( i.e. who can see location of that place ) is honored.

What happens when you map an image manually

When you upload it using Flickr Online Website, It will automatically warn you that the location is geofenced and give you option if you want to change the privacy setting. By default it picks up privacy setting for that geofence. This happens even when you manually map it to a location.

Manual Upload Matches with Flickr GeoFences

How to apply geofence setting to existing photos ?

In case you have already uploaded images, Flickr Online Interface automatically gives you list of images for which the location is matched when you create a fence which means :

  • Let us assume that you have images from Location, lets say, Kolkata
  • Now you create a Goe Fence of the same location
  • Once it is created, Flickr makes a search to all your images to match with the geo fence location and gives you list of such photos.
  • Now you have option to set them as you want.
Apply Geo Fences to Existing Photos
How to exclude some images from Geo Fences ?

This can be taken care while uploading or editing. During this time when it is asked if you want to change privacy setting of those photos, you can skip by choosing do not apply.

Flickr’s Geo Fences Video Demo

Direct link to video

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