Short answer

Civic.ly's Bulk upload button (on the Assets list in the desktop web app) lets you upload a folder of photos in one go, and each photo becomes an asset placed on the map from the GPS location saved inside it. The catch is getting the photos off your phone and onto your computer without losing that location. You must use a proper file transfer or sync that copies the original file, such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or AirDrop. If you email or WhatsApp the photos to yourself (or use any other messaging or sharing app), the GPS location is removed and the assets won't map. This isn't a Civic.ly setting and it isn't something you can switch off at the other end. It happens on every kind of phone and computer (iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac), because those apps deliberately strip the location out of photos for privacy.

A quick note before you start: bulk upload is the right tool for a large one-off load. For day-to-day capture, uploading straight from the phone about 10 at a time is usually simpler (see the related Q&A).

Detail

What Bulk upload actually does. It is bulk upload of geotagged photos, not a spreadsheet, CSV or KML import. You photograph your assets in the field, get the photos onto your computer with their location intact, then upload the whole set from the desktop web app. Civic.ly reads the GPS coordinate saved inside each photo and drops each one onto the map as its own asset. (If you have asset data in a spreadsheet or a mapping tool like Parish Online, that is a separate conversation, not this button. See the spreadsheet-import Q&A.)

Where the button is. Open the Assets list in the desktop web app. The Bulk upload button is on that screen. (It is a main button for now and may later move into the three-dots "…" menu on the same screen, so if you don't see it as a standalone button, check there.)

The one thing that makes or breaks it: keep the GPS on the photos. A photo taken on a phone stores the exact spot it was taken inside the file. That embedded location is what Civic.ly uses to place the asset. The moment a photo is sent through a channel that strips metadata, that location is gone and cannot be put back.

  • Transfer methods that KEEP the location (use one of these): OneDrive, Google Drive, AirDrop (iPhone to Mac), or copying the files directly with a USB cable. These copy the original file as-is, so the GPS stays put.
  • Transfer methods that REMOVE the location (do not use these to move photos for upload): email, WhatsApp, and other messaging or social apps (Messenger, Signal, iMessage sharing, etc.). They re-compress or clean the photo and drop the location for privacy.

Why "any other form of transfer" is a real warning, not us being cautious. Stripping location on share is standard behaviour across the industry, and it's the same whether you're on an iPhone, an Android phone, a Windows PC or a Mac. So the rule is simple: use a file sync or a direct copy (OneDrive / Google Drive / AirDrop / USB), never a message or an email, to get the photos across.

After the upload. As with any photo-based capture, the pins land close but rarely perfect, so do a quick pass on the map to nudge each one into place and check the AI got the type and condition right (see the pin-nudge Q&A).

Watch-outs

  • Never email or WhatsApp photos to your computer for upload — the GPS is stripped and the assets won't map. Use OneDrive, Google Drive, AirDrop or a USB cable instead.
  • It strips on every device — this is not an iPhone-only or Android-only thing, and it's not a setting you can turn off in the sharing app. Choose the transfer method, don't try to fix the app.
  • Bulk upload is photos, not spreadsheets. It will not take a CSV, KML or asset-register spreadsheet. Importing existing data files is a separate, assisted process (see the spreadsheet-import Q&A).
  • Not sure the location survived the trip? Open a transferred photo in your computer's photo viewer and check whether it still shows where it was taken. If the location's gone, so is the map position, and re-transferring the same way won't help.
  • For everyday capture, the phone is easier. Bulk upload shines for a big one-off load; for a handful of assets, upload straight from the mobile app (about 10 at a time).