Photos collected in the field are a powerful part of your documentation workflow. When you capture photos in Ecobot Collector, all images and their associated metadata—location, point information, timestamps, and notes—flow automatically into Ecobot Manager. Manager gives you a centralized place to review, organize, edit, and export photos so you can confidently prepare project deliverables. You can also upload additional photos directly from your computer, making Manager the complete hub for your project’s visual documentation.

Reviewing, editing, and producing photo PDFs

Viewing Photos

Ecobot Manager gives you flexible tools to view and organize photos, whether you’re scanning a handful of images or navigating thousands across a large project. These controls help you quickly find what you need and prepare clean deliverables.

Photo Display Options

You can control how many photos appear on a single page: All, 10, 25, 50, 100, or 250

This makes it easy to work the way you prefer—zoom out for a full-project overview or narrow in for focused review.

Filter to Show Only Favorites

If you favorited photos in Collector or in Manager, you can filter your view to show only these curated images. This is especially useful when assembling reports or selecting photos for your export PDF.

Sorting Photos

Sorting helps you bring order to large photo sets. You can sort by:

• Date Added — When the photo was uploaded or synced to Manager
• Date Taken — Based on the timestamp in the file 
• Photo Name — Alphabetically 
• Point Related — Groups photos by their associated point 
• Custom Sort — Allows you to move them around as needed

Once you choose a sorting type, you can toggle between ascending or descending order.

This gives you complete control—for example, sorting newest-to-oldest for quick QA, or alphabetically for naming consistency.

Editing Photos

You can edit photos in bulk or individually within Manager. To begin, select one or more photos, click Actions, and choose Edit Photos.

On the edit screen, you’ll see all existing photo details—whether the photo was captured in Collector or uploaded directly into Manager. The following fields can be updated:

• Associated sampling point 
• Latitude/Longitude (from either the sampling point or the photo metadata) 
• Photo rotation 
• Title 
• Description

You can update as much or as little information as needed, depending on your project requirements or your client’s expectations.

Generate PDFs

You can customize your photo PDFs in Manager. Once you select the properties you'd like to see on your photo PDF, it will automatically save those settings for next time. 

Layout Options

• Single
• Single + Map
• Double
• Quad

Meta Information

• Company Logo (only users on the Essential, Professional, or Enterprise plans can check this box)
• Company Name
• Company Address
• Title, Description
• Point Association
• Point Classification
• Direction
• Location
• Elevation
• Date & Time
• Ecobot Watermark (only users on the Essential, Professional, or Enterprise plan can uncheck the watermark)

Deleting Photos

To delete photos from a project:

1. Go to the Photos section of the project
2. Select the photos you wish to delete by checking the box in the upper left of the photo
3. Click "Actions" then Delete Photos
4. Confirm you want to delete by typing "delete" into the box (not case sensitive)

Downloading Photos

While Ecobot securely stores your project imagery, many firms prefer to maintain a local copy of all field photos on their own internal servers or project drives. You can easily move your data from the Ecobot Manager to your own infrastructure using the Bulk Export feature.

1. Downloading Your Photo Library

When you initiate a photo export from the Project Dashboard, Ecobot generates a compressed .zip file. This file contains:

• High-Resolution Images: Every photo collected in the field, organized and named by its unique Point ID.

• The Photo Metadata Ledger: A comprehensive .csv file that acts as the "map" for your entire image library.

2. Understanding the Metadata Ledger (.csv)

The included .csv file is the most powerful part of your export. It allows you to cross-reference your images with your spatial data without having to open every single file.

What’s included in the .csv?

• Photo Filename: Matches the actual file in your folder for easy searching.

• Point/Sampling ID: Tells you exactly which location the photo belongs to.

• Geospatial Data: Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation at the time the photo was taken.

• Directional Metadata: The compass bearing (azimuth) showing which way the camera was facing.

• Timestamp: The exact date and time of capture for audit trails.

• Captions & Categories: Any field notes or classifications (e.g., "Soil Pit," "Hydrology") assigned by the tech.

3. How to Use the Exported Data

• Internal Server Archiving: Simply drag and drop the folder into your firm’s project directory to satisfy record-keeping requirements.

• GIS Integration: Import the .csv into ArcGIS or QGIS as a "Delimited Text Layer." This allows you to create clickable map points that link directly to your local photo files.

• Audit Preparation: If a regulator questions a specific point, you can use the .csv to instantly filter and find the exact photo and its directional data without scrolling through hundreds of files.

Uploading Photos to Manager

If you have photos that weren’t collected in the field through Ecobot, maybe from a coworker, or a different device, you can easily upload them to Manager afterwards.

Drag-and-drop or browse to upload Assign the photo to a point or leave it unassigned Add descriptions or notes after upload All uploads follow the same workflow as photos captured in Collector.

When you upload photos directly into Manager, Ecobot preserves any metadata that is still embedded in the image file. This may include:

• Timestamp 
• GPS coordinates / location data (if captured by the device) 
• Orientation and device info 

However, this metadata is only available if it is still intact by the time the photo reaches Ecobot.

Metadata is retained when:

• You upload the original photo file directly from your phone or camera 
• You transfer the photo using a method that preserves the file (e.g., AirDrop, direct cable transfer, cloud sync such as Google Photos or iCloud) 
• You use “Save to Files” or similar mobile options that keep the original EXIF data

Metadata is not retained when:

• Photos are sent via text message (SMS/MMS) 
• Photos are shared via email 
• You use apps or sharing methods that compress or reprocess the image 

• Screenshots of photos are uploaded instead of the original file

  Tip: For best results, always upload the original photo file whenever possible. This keeps location data and timestamps available for sorting, mapping, and PDF exports.

Photos in the Map View

By default, the map view shows only favorited photos. This helps keep the map clear and readable, especially when a project includes a large number of photos.

Each photo marker indicates the direction the photo was taken. You can click a marker to open the photo and view additional details.

If you want to see all photos on the map, click the star icon to turn off the Favorites only filter.

Favorites only view

All photos view

FAQs

Why are my Photos uploading without data such as lat/long, direction, and elevation?

There are two reasons why photos may upload without this data: the device used to capture the photo and the process used to get the photo from the device into Ecobot.

• The camera/device used to capture the photo: If you took a photo on a camera or mobile device manufactured within the past few years, it will likely have metadata (i.e. lat/long, etc.).
  • If your device is old, it may not have this data. 
  • If you've adjusted privacy settings to block this data, metadata may not be stored. 
• Getting the photo from device to Ecobot Manager: Make sure you're sending project photos from a mobile device into a computer using one of the following methods:
  • Email, as attachment
  • Airdrop (Mac only)
  • The following methods of sending photos from a mobile device to a computer do not retain metadata:
    • Slack (unless zipped first)
    • Text message
    • Taken directly from third-party apps - letting an app access your camera to take the photo (i.e. Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.)

How do I upload more than 100 photos to a project?

The limit for each upload is 100 photos, but a project can contain more than this. To upload more than 100 photos on a single project, please upload photos is multiple batches, broken into groups of 100 or less each.

Can I see who uploaded the photos?

On the Edit Photos page, the name of the user who uploaded each photo is included.

Why are my photos blurry?

Photos containing hate speech or inappropriate content will be blurred when uploaded.