Lr 4.1RC GPS metadata not read in CR2 files on Synch

Question

After importing CR2 files from a Canon 5dMkii I later updated those files with GPS coordinates using the program GeoSetter (www.geosetter.de).  The program is a GUI front end to ExifTool that adds the coordinates to the CR2 or JPG files.
After the files are modified, I execute Syncronize Folder in lightroom and select the Scan for metadata updates checkbox.  Lightroom picks up the coordinates from JPG files, but not the CR2 image files.  The only way I can get the GPS data to be imported is to right-click on the CR2 files and select "Read metadata from the selected files".  That works, but any corrections made to the CR2 files after the original import are blown away (there is a warning before the read happens that alerts you to that fact).
So I believe that there's a bug in the Syncronize Folder method that misses the updates from the CR2 files.  Is this a known bug, and if not, how can I get this info to Adobe?

Answer 1

OK, let's start again.
I assume you have changed the Geosetter defaults for your Raw files, so rather than creating an XMP sidecar file you are having the GPS data written directly into the CR2 file, is that correct?
And you have two issues:
1. When you synchronise the folder after making the Geosetter change, Lightroom fails to automatically detect the fact that the file has been amended, and you have to force Lightroom to read the updated metadata from the file by doing a "Read Metadata from File" command.
2. And when you do that, all the existing Lightroom changes are 'lost'.
Have I got that right?
If so, re the first point, I think Lightroom is simply operating as designed. I have tested it on both LR3 and LR4 with the same result, and I guess that as Lightroom itself will never write directly to a proprietary Raw file (i.e. it would always write to an XMP sidecar file), it assumes any XMP data created by external apps would also be in an XMP sidecar file. As Geosetter isn't creating one, it can't detect changed Metadata when you sync the folder, and you have to force it to read the file. I know it WILL detect updated metadata if the file is a Jpeg, but again that's because Lightroom DOES write XMP data directly to Jpeg files, so it's more logical that it looks at the XMP area in such files during the sync folder operation.
On the second point, that will always happen as Lightroom, AFAIK, has no capability of merging it's own catalog metadata with externally created metadata. There are two choices when a metadata conflict is detected.....use the in file metadata, which replaces the in-catalog metadata, or re-write the metadata in the file with what's in the catalog. In fact in your situation, because you are not creating an XMP sidecar file, Lightroom will never know that there's a conflict.....so when you do the "Read metadata from file" it's a one-option deal, i.e. replace the in-catalog metadata with what's in the file, and thus losing the Lightroom data.
If your absolute requirement is for GPS data to be stored in the actual CR2 files, I can't think of any option other than changing your workflow....process the files through Geosetter first, before you do any work on them in Lightroom. If you delay importing into Lightroom until the Geosetter work is done, the GPS data will come in on import. If you import first, then do the Geosetter work, then you'll have to do the "Read Metadata from File" before starting any Lightroom processing.
I guess you could also put in a feature request to have the sync behaviour changed for Raw files.