b) is what usually comes in my mind, but problem here is in the lists .. what when you choose "select all" and then import and display on map? Hmm crash on note 2 at 60% (let's say about 1200 images), means crash on common devices at around half, maybe less. 500 images is still quite a lot, but it may happen. I agree that it's a problem. It's anyway a common problem in locus on many places. Just try to display (not import) more files and result will be same ... I'll think about it, thanks
This is probably not what you want to hear :-), but a search function for georeferenced pictures (including manual user intervention and super major delays) is a bit too old-fashioned anyway. That's how things were done ten years ago imho.
Nowadays, with a modern design, I would simply expect to enable the "local photo layer" with a single tap (just as a "panoramio layer" or a "flickr layer"). Everything else should be done by Locus behind the scenes... in the background... quietly... unobtrusively... automatically... without bothering me... without blocking the rest of the user interface even for a split second... without forcing me to go through "database-ish" search modules... without forcing me to watch "working..." dialogs for ages.
Of course this means more work on the programmer side. You'd have to play with the media scanner, keep a database with all positions up-to-date somewhere quietly in the background, rescan only changed files, update the map screen automatically when new pictures show up, etc. But in the long run, man hours spent on an uptodate software design will prove more useful than trying to speed up a somewhat old-fashioned search function that will always remain cumbersome to use.
Wouldnt it be great if a new picture simply showed up in Locus as soon as I take it?