Capture facts vs import facts: keep them distinct

When a condition record mixes live camera photos with files from a phone gallery, three clocks can appear. They answer different questions: capture facts describe a live camera capture, import facts describe when an existing file entered the record, and source metadata describes selected details read from that file. Keep the label with the time. Otherwise, a gallery import can look like a live capture that never happened.

This guide is for people reviewing mixed photo records, whether the subject is a boom lift going out, a van coming back, or a one-visit damage note. It explains the recordkeeping distinction; it is not an inspection checklist or privacy-law advice.

The three clocks at a glance

• Capture facts answer when AuditIt recorded a live camera capture. They include the app-recorded time, timezone offset, capture source and, when enabled, a device location fix with its accuracy.
• Import facts answer when and how an existing gallery file entered the record. The import time is not the time shown in the file's metadata.
• Source metadata can include a privacy-filtered shooting time, location, orientation or image dimensions read before the file is normalized. Those details may be absent, and AuditIt does not treat them as proof.

The labels matter more than the number alone. If you only need guidance on taking a consistent set of views, start with repeatable equipment condition photos. The narrower question here is which event each clock records.

What AuditIt records for a live camera capture

In AuditIt's current mobile implementation, a live capture is labeled live_camera. After the camera returns the photo to the app, AuditIt records one app-acquired time for that capture. It does not copy that clock from a file tag. When location is included, its source is a device fix associated with the live capture, rather than coordinates pulled from a gallery file.

This is why live capture time is the useful public phrase. It describes the app event without claiming that AuditIt knows the camera hardware's exact shutter instant.

When an organization's policy requires live location, AuditIt asks for the foreground location supplied by the phone. Approximate location is accepted and labeled approximate. A live photo will not automatically have coordinates when that policy is off or no eligible location is available.

What changes when a photo comes from the gallery

A gallery import records a different event: the moment an existing file entered AuditIt. If that file still contains an eligible shooting time, AuditIt can keep it separately as source metadata. The two times may be close, hours apart, or days apart; neither should borrow the other's label.

Consider a photo taken on Monday and added to a return record on Wednesday. Wednesday's import time documents the add-to-record action. A Monday time read from the file remains source metadata. Calling either one a live Wednesday capture would invent evidence the record does not contain.

Current AuditIt copy makes one boundary especially clear: Gallery imports never use the phone location. The app reads the selected file and assigns the import time without consulting the phone's current location. When organization location policy is off, current gallery acquisition also leaves eligible source GPS out of the location fact, while an eligible shooting time can remain labeled as source metadata.

Read file metadata as context, not a verdict

The Camera & Imaging Products Association's December 2023 Exif 3.0 overview describes metadata as information attached to image data. Its examples include shooting date and time, and its history notes that Exif 2.0 added a GPS information field. That explains what a file can carry; it does not establish that every value is present or accurate.

AuditIt therefore handles imported source metadata as best-effort. Each field can be missing, and malformed or incoherent values are discarded independently. It is not a full metadata dump, and the remaining values still need a person's judgment.

Suppose a gallery photo carries 14:02 and coordinates near a yard gate. Those values tell the reviewer what AuditIt read from the file after filtering. On their own, they do not establish that the asset was at the gate at 14:02, when a mark appeared, or who was holding the phone. The photographs, notes and history of the record provide the wider context.

A practical way to review mixed photo records

Picture a telehandler returning with a cracked work light. The record contains one photo taken live in AuditIt and another imported from the gallery. A careful review separates the mechanics from the conclusion:

1. Check whether each photo is labeled as a live capture or a gallery import.
2. Read the corresponding time as an app capture time, an import time or a source-metadata time.
3. Keep any location with its source and accuracy instead of treating every coordinate alike.
4. Use the photos, notes and audit history to assess the physical question.

The clocks can help reconstruct how the record was assembled. They cannot decide when the light cracked, why it cracked or who is responsible. For the integrity side of that review, see what AuditIt public report verification checks and tamper-evident vs tamper-proof.

Share location without changing its meaning

The W3C Geolocation specification explains that retrieving a hosting device's location will usually also disclose the user's location, which can affect privacy. That source describes a web API, not AuditIt's mobile location stack or a legal rule for condition records. It is a useful reminder to share location deliberately.

On an AuditIt public share, Show exact capture location is a separate control and is off by default. Its supporting copy says to enable it only when the recipient needs exact coordinates and capture accuracy. Selecting photos or a PDF does not also select location.

Where AuditIt fits

AuditIt can keep submitted observations and photographs together while preserving the distinction among live capture facts, gallery import facts and source metadata. That gives a reviewer a clearer history without turning a file clock into a live capture time or attaching today's phone location to an old image.

AuditIt creates tamper-evident, human-review-ready records. It is not legal certification and does not determine liability.

To start a structured condition record, create an AuditIt account.

• capture facts
• import facts
• source metadata
• condition records
• gallery import