Traffic engineers generally take a lot of field photos. During a field visit, I may take photos from several approaches of an intersection, along a corridor, or at specific locations where I need to document a sidewalk gap, driveway condition, crossing issue, sight-distance concern, and so on. In the field, each photo makes sense but a few days later, after the photos are sitting in a project folder, the context for those photos starts to fade. I may need to open a photo, compare it with Google Maps or Street View, remember which approach I was standing on, then go back to the folder and find the right image for a report or memo. None of that is hard, but it adds friction.

That is why I created PhotoMapper: 

https://photomapper.alestead.com

The idea is simple: upload geotagged field photos (turn on location services on the phone), and the app reads the GPS metadata and places each photo on a map at the location where it was taken. Click a thumbnail marker to preview the photo, then enlarge it if needed. The app works locally on the user’s machine. Photos are processed in the browser and are not stored on any server. Different image formats are supported, but JPGs are the fastest. There is also a lightweight CSV export with file names and coordinates.

This is not a major software platform. It is a small tool for a specific friction point: too many field photos, not enough spatial organization, and too much time spent remembering where each image came from. I used AI to build this a lot faster than I could have done on my own, and it is based on a workflow from a real professional need. Now it is a working tool anyone can use to save some time. Now that building these kinds of tools has become much easier, I plan to build and share more small professional gadgets over time: tools that do one useful thing and save time. Maybe they could all go into a professional toolbox one day. We’ll see how it turns out.

The GitHub repo is public for anyone who wants to look at the source code, fork it, improve it, or adapt it. Feedback and collaboration are welcome.