Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Our organization integrates Box with our GIS systems to sync location information from field-uploaded photos and videos to asset tracking databases.
The challenge: GPS metadata (coordinates, Date Taken, altitude, direction) exists within the uploaded files, but Box doesn't expose it as accessible metadata. This forces our integration to download files, parse EXIF/metadata headers, and extract the information ourselves.
The business case for native GPS metadata extraction:
Integration Efficiency
Current approach requires downloading portions of files just to read metadata that's already there
Adds processing overhead, latency, and complexity to integrations
If Box exposed GPS data as standard metadata fields, integrations could simply query Box's API instead
Data Accessibility
GPS coordinates prove where documentation occurred (critical for compliance and legal records)
"Date Taken" preserves when conditions were observed (not just upload timestamp)
This data should be searchable and filterable within Box itself
Cost & Performance
Eliminates need for file downloads solely for metadata extraction
Reduces bandwidth and processing requirements for integrations
Simplifies architecture - just sync Box metadata to other systems
Enhanced Box Capabilities
Enable location-based search within Box
Display photo locations on maps in Box preview
Make GPS data available to Box Skills, metadata templates, and API consumers
Support workflows that depend on location context
If Box natively extracted GPS metadata from uploaded files and exposed it through the API, integrations would be dramatically simpler. We'd query metadata directly rather than downloading and parsing files ourselves.
This feature would benefit any organization integrating Box with GIS, asset management, or field service systems across industries: transportation, construction, utilities, environmental services, facilities management, and more.