Display photo EXIF metadata in reports

Use the QUERY function to fetch GPS coordinates, altitude, direction, and capture timestamp for each photo in a report, and display that metadata alongside the photo image.

Display photo EXIF metadata in reports

Overview

Fulcrum stores EXIF metadata for every photo captured on mobile — including GPS coordinates, altitude, compass direction, and timestamp. This data lives in the photos system table and can be queried in a Report Builder template using QUERY().

This snippet replaces the standard <img> block in the default report's photo section with a two-column layout that shows the photo on the left and its metadata on the right.

Where to add this

This snippet is designed to replace the photo rendering block inside the default Fulcrum report template. Find the section that iterates over value.items inside a isPhotoElement block and replace the inner <img> element with the code below.

The default report structure looks like:

<% } else if (element.isPhotoElement) { %>
  ...
  <% value.items.forEach((item, index) => { %>
    <div class='photo-column'>
      <!-- ↓ Replace this block ↓ -->
      <img class="<%= IMAGE_SIZE() %>" src='<%= PHOTOURL(item.mediaID) %>' />
      <!-- ↑ Replace this block ↑ -->
    </div>
  <% }); %>

Code

Replace the <img> element inside the photo column loop with the following:

<%
  // Fetch EXIF metadata for this specific photo from the photos system table
  const imageData = QUERY(`SELECT * FROM photos WHERE photo_id = '${item.mediaID}'`);

  // Provide safe defaults in case no metadata is found
  let latitude      = null;
  let longitude     = null;
  let altitude      = null;
  let direction     = null;
  let formattedDate = null;

  if (imageData && Array.isArray(imageData.rows) && imageData.rows.length > 0) {
    const meta = imageData.rows[0];

    latitude  = meta.latitude;
    longitude = meta.longitude;
    altitude  = meta.altitude;
    direction = meta.direction;

    // Format the capture timestamp to YYYY-MM-DD
    if (meta.updated_at) {
      const capturedAt = new Date(meta.updated_at);
      formattedDate    = capturedAt.toISOString().split('T')[0];
    }
  }
%>

<div class="photo-container" style="display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; gap: 15px;">

  <img class="<%= IMAGE_SIZE() %>" src="<%= PHOTOURL(item.mediaID) %>" />

  <div class="photo-meta" style="
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #333;
    line-height: 1.5;
    max-width: 300px;
    padding: 10px;
    background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
    border-radius: 8px;
  ">
    <p style="margin: 5px 0;"><strong style="color: #545454;">Latitude:</strong>  <%= latitude  %></p>
    <p style="margin: 5px 0;"><strong style="color: #545454;">Longitude:</strong> <%= longitude %></p>
    <p style="margin: 5px 0;"><strong style="color: #545454;">Altitude:</strong>  <%= altitude  %> m</p>
    <p style="margin: 5px 0;"><strong style="color: #545454;">Direction:</strong> <%= direction %>°</p>
    <p style="margin: 5px 0;"><strong style="color: #545454;">Date:</strong><br><%= formattedDate %></p>
  </div>

</div>

Available photo metadata fields

The photos system table contains the following columns you can query:

Column	Description
`photo_id`	UUID matching `item.mediaID`
`latitude`	GPS latitude at capture
`longitude`	GPS longitude at capture
`altitude`	Altitude in meters
`direction`	Compass bearing (degrees)
`accuracy`	GPS accuracy in meters
`updated_at`	Capture timestamp (ISO 8601)
`created_by`	Username of the field user
`record_id`	The parent record ID

Notes

QUERY() is executed server-side during report generation, not in the browser. Each call adds a small amount of rendering time — for reports with many photos, consider batching the query to fetch all photo IDs at once and building a lookup map.
If a photo was uploaded from a device without GPS (or with location disabled), latitude and longitude will be null. Add a null check before displaying.
direction is the compass bearing the device camera was facing at the moment of capture, not the direction of travel. It may be null if the device does not have a compass.
This snippet works inside both the default report and custom HTML report templates.

Updated 4 days ago

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