Open-data staff strip EXIF from published street photos as a privacy policy. An analyst later cannot recover GPS from the portal copy. What should the analyst recognize?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
City portals often wipe photo metadata the way they blur license plates—on purpose. If GPS is gone from the published copy, that is usually the privacy pipeline, not a ghost in the machine. Look for another public source if the raw file is not yours to have.
Full Explanation
Many civic publication pipelines remove EXIF, including GPS, before images leave an open-data portal. Absence of metadata on the official copy is therefore expected policy behavior, not proof of forgery or a crime. Analysts should not invent coordinates from pixels or treat stripping as theft. When location still matters, they work visual landmarks, maps, and any lawfully retained internal original under agency rules.