Terms of use
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These terms apply when you use LocateImages, the tool of locateimages.com that estimates where a photo was taken. Please read them; they are written to be understood. By using the service, you accept them.
In these terms, «I» and «me» refer to the operator of LocateImages, and «you» to the person using it.
Who operates LocateImages
LocateImages is operated by a duly incorporated company. Its full identification details are provided to anyone with a legitimate interest who asks through the contact form, which is also the way to write to me about anything in these terms.
The service
You drop a photo and LocateImages estimates where it was probably taken: an area on a map (a circle with its radius), the name of the place, a confidence level, a few alternatives and the clues behind the answer. To do so it uses two artificial intelligence systems: GeoCLIP, an open model that runs on my server, and Claude, the vision AI of Anthropic. Before the analysis you can draw on a map the area where it was taken, if you are sure, and afterwards you can ask for the exact search, which compares your photo with street-level photos from Mapillary, Panoramax and KartaView to find the spot where the camera stood.
The service is free and needs no account. To keep it that way, each connection has some free credits a day, which the tool shows you: analysing a photo uses one, and the exact search more, the larger the area. I may change those credits and what each thing costs, change or withdraw features, or interrupt the service, for instance for maintenance, because of excessive use or to prevent abuse.
What to expect from a result
- It is an estimate made by an AI, never a confirmation. That is why every result carries the label «Probable location, not confirmed».
- It can be wrong, sometimes with confidence, and its precision depends on the photo: with readable signs it often gets the city right, with landscapes the region or the country, and with interiors or close-ups it may give little more than the continent.
- It is not evidence. Do not use it as the only basis for decisions with legal or financial consequences or that affect anyone's safety, nor as proof before anyone, without checking it by other means.
- The photo's metadata (such as its GPS coordinates) is shown apart and not used for the answer, because it can be edited or faked.
- With people or homes in the photo, the precision is reduced on purpose to the nearest city, with at least 15 km around it, and there is no exact search. It is not a bug: it is a safeguard.
- The exact search gives a match between two photos, not a confirmation. It only works where someone has shared street-level photos, so on streets and buildings, and it may find nothing.
- The street-level photos belong to their authors. They are shown with their author, their licence and a link to their source; if you reuse them, respect that licence.
Your photos
Use only photos you have the right to use. You remain the owner of your photos: you only give me the permission needed to process them during the analysis. How they are handled (in memory, with faces blurred before they go to the AI, and deleted when the analysis ends) is in the privacy policy.
Forbidden uses
LocateImages is made for places. It is forbidden to use it to:
- locate, follow, watch or identify people, or find out where someone lives, works or is;
- harass, threaten, intimidate or harm anyone;
- analyse intimate images of other people without their consent, or images of minors to find out where they are;
- upload illegal content, in particular any child sexual abuse material, which will be reported to the authorities;
- try to get around the limits or the safeguards of the service (for instance, the daily limit or the reduced precision with people or homes);
- access the service with automated tools, overload it or resell its results as a service of your own.
If you break these rules, I may block your access. If you believe someone is using LocateImages to locate you or someone else, tell me through the contact form, choosing «Report misuse»: those messages are read first.
Third-party data and services
The map shows data from OpenStreetMap and its contributors through the tiles of OpenFreeMap, under their own licences (in the legal notice). The links to open a result in OpenStreetMap or Google Maps lead to third-party services, with their own terms. Those data and services are shown as they arrive and may change or stop being available.
Liability
LocateImages is offered free and as it is. To the extent the law allows, I am not liable for the decisions you make based on a result, nor for indirect damage that may arise from using the service. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that the law does not allow to be excluded or limited, nor your rights as a consumer.
Changes to these terms
I may update these terms, for instance when the service or the law changes. The date above shows the latest version. If a change is important, I will say so on the website.
Contact
For anything about these terms, use the contact form.