Photo Time Information

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What to Know

When a photo is taken digitally, specific information related to the photo such as exposure, date/time, and location is stored. This information is called EXIF metadata (Exchangeable Image File Format).

A photo file may or may not contain EXIF metadata. SmartUse only stores the time information for a photo - the time the photo was taken and the UTC time zone offset. In some cases, not all the information is available – in those cases, the following rules are applied in order to display a date for the photo in the application.

NOTE: Photo times are currently displayed based on the time zone set on the device that is being used to view the data.

See below for instructions to:

Photo Information when Taking a New Photo in SmartUse

Photo Information when Importing from a Photo Library

Photo Information when Importing from Files

Photo Information when Taking a New Photo in SmartUse

New photos in SmartUse will have the time the photo was taken for the timestamp and will use the device’s current time zone offset.

Photo Information when Importing from a Photo Library

How we handle the photo EXIF metadata when adding files from a photo library depends on the operating system.

iOS & Android 

All photo file types are handled similarly:

• If the timestamp and offset are available in the EXIF metadata, they are used.
• If the offset is missing, the device’s offset at the time the photo was taken is used. It’s possible there is a loss of accuracy because the photo could have been taken in a different time zone altogether.
• If the timestamp is missing or both the timestamp and the offset are missing, the time of import is used, along with the device’s offset at the time of import.

Windows 

• JPEG Formats:
  • SmartUse extracts the time, but not the offset. The offset is obtained from the device’s offset at the time the photo was taken. It’s possible there is a loss of accuracy because the photo could have been taken in a different time zone altogether.
  • If the time is missing, the time of import is used.
• Other file formats: The time of import and the device’s offset at the time of import are used.

Photo Information when Importing from Files

When importing from Files, SmartUse uses metadata from files the same way for all platforms:

• JPEG format:
  • If the timestamp and offset are available in the EXIF metadata, they are used.
  • If the offset is missing, the device’s offset at the time the photo was taken is used. It’s possible there is a loss of accuracy because the photo could have been taken in a different time zone altogether.
  • If the timestamp is missing or both the timestamp and the offset are missing, the time of import is used, along with the device’s offset at the time of import.
• Other file formats: The time of import and the device’s offset at the time of import are used.