Metadata conflict: Doesn't show location data

Question

Hello there,
I imported some pictures to Lightroom and edited them there normally. After closing lightroom I edited the location information via GeoSetter (www.geosetter.de). Looking at the images via ACDSee, I see correctly entered City, Sublocation, Procince, Country Code and Country Name in the IPTC data.
Firing up Lightroom 2, I do not see these metadata changes, location fields are all empty. So I click on Synchronize folder and synchronize Metadata. Lightroom now gives all images a Metadata status of "Has been changed". When I click on "Resolve conflict", the location data still is not shown, but actually the location data is deleted when looking at the image again via GeoSetter (or ACDSee) - basically the Lightroom-state-of-things (no locationdata) has been restored I guess. Ok, moving on.
I go back to GeoSetter and reset the location to where it should be, click on synchronize metadata in Lightroom again and the Metadata status is "up to date" - no "resolve conflict" possible, the problem now is:
The location data is STILL in the IPTC fields, Lightroom doesn't show it though, location fields are empty and stay empty even after synchronizing, or Lightroom deletes it as previously stated.
What is the correct way to edit metadata externally and how to tell Lightroom to resolve the metadata conflict by ACCEPTING the external changes and not reverting to the status quo?
Sincerely,
Dennis

Answer 1

>will this method not revert any prior changes made to the images? (e.g. Crop, Keywords, Local Adjustments).
It will, which as you have already figured out, isn't a good idea.
I don't know anything about Geosetter, but my guess is that it's writing the data back into the original photos. Unfortunately, Lightroom doesn't see these changes when Sync folder command is used because it's looking for a Metadata Change date, which is normally stored in XMP. There is a workaround though.
You haven't mentioned the type of files that you're working with, but I'll assume they're raw. If so the workaround is to use the Lr "Save Metadata to file" command before working on them with the external application (Geosetter). This will create an XMP file for each photo that contains all your existing metadata plus any Develop adjustments. Now you can save the new IPTC back to the files using Geosetter. Once that part is completed you can use the "Read Metadata from file" command knowing that all your original Lr metadata and develop adjustments will be copied back along with the new IPTC info.
Above also works with JPEG and TIFF files