Set GPS Coordinates... not working

[SAMouzon]

This has never been an issue before, but I've just subscribed to Photo Mechanic Plus version 2026.2, build 9034, and am wondering if that might be the issue. In the main window, I select the photos I want to geotag, right-click on Set GPS Coordinates... then set the coordinates using street address, place name, or whatever other method works best, then click Apply to All. But when I go back to check by right-clicking, then trying to click on Show Map, that's no longer an option. What am I missing?

[ahoward]

I'm unable to reproduce this issue. Please clarify:

then trying to click on Show Map, that's no longer an option.

Does "Show Map" not appear in the right-click menu, or is it there and grayed out? Are you on Mac or Windows?

[SAMouzon]

Show Map does not appear in the right-click menu. The only thing below Reveal in Collections in the right-click menu is a "divider bar" (or whatever it should be called) and below that, Set GPS Coordinates...

I'm working on a MacBook Pro, 16-inch 2023, Apple M2 Max, 64 GB memory, running Tahoe 26.3 so my hardware hasn't changed in about three years. I did update to OS 26.3 recently, right when it was released if I recall correctly.

[ahoward]

When you apply GPS Coordinates to an image does the modification time of the image or its XMP file get updated?

[SAMouzon]

I just tried that, and this is weird... I did it on the one file where I'd opened the DNG file and saved as JPG, and the date modified changed to the current time on the JPG file but not on the DNG file when viewing it in the Finder. And in PM, the right-click behaved normally, with Show Map appearing and, when clicked, showing the map.

[ahoward]

Please send us the DNG file. It's probably too large to post as an attachment on the forum. Feel free to email it to support@camerabits.com

[SAMouzon]

It turned out to be user error. I normally convert the NEF files (Nikon's version of RAW) to DNG before doing anything else, but neglected to do so this time, setting GPS on the NEF files, then realizing my mistake and deleting all the XMP files, assuming I could set GPS directly on the DNG files, but that apparently doesn't work. I use Geotag Photos Pro 2 almost all the time, and it does set GPS on DNG files. But apparently PM only sets GPS on JPG files but not DNG files. The only time I'd ever manually set GPS from within PM is when I didn't have a GPS signal and was shooting from a single location, like the shots of the one building in this shoot. But in such instances from now on, I'll set GPS on the NEF files from within PM, then run Adobe DNG Converter, which folds the XMP files into the resulting DNG files so I can then delete the NEF and XMP files.

[ahoward]

It appears to be a new-ish bug. DNG files that already have GPS coordinates embedded can be updated in the current builds, but if they don't have coordinates yet it fails to add them.