How QGIS knows my photos were taken in the Southern Hemisphere

Question

I have photos with EXIF data Long: 149.xxx, Lat: 35.xxx. I'm in Australia, so this latitude should actually be negative: -35.xxx. However, when I import these photos into QGIS using the "import geotaggged photos as points" tool, it places them correctly, in the Southern Hemisphere.

I have searched through the EXIF data in the Windows file properties dialog looking for a "Hemisphere: S" entry or anything to tell QGIS what's going on, and searched Google for a way that it might know, but I just can't find anything. What's the indicator that it should use Southern Hemisphere latitudes?

Answer 1

As per comment of user2856, a proper EXIF viewer such as ExifTool shows the full EXIF tags, including GPS Latitude: 36 deg 14' 11.80" S and GPS Latitude Ref: South

Answer 2

EXIF data doesn't store location as a signed (latitude, longitude) pair. Instead, it stores it using four tags: unsigned latitude, latitude reference (north or south), unsigned longitude, and longitude reference (east or west). Many programs ignore the "reference" tags and simply assume either north/west or north/east.

QGIS is one of the programs that correctly handles EXIF geotagging, as is ExifTool.