Yes. Photo applications can use embedded GPS metadata locally for mapping and organizing images by where they were taken.

Based on the answers here:

• Adobe Lightroom 4 can read GPS data, display your photos on a map, and let you search or filter by location.
• Geotag is a Java-based option that can show photos on a map in a browser window without uploading your images. It fetches map tiles from Google Maps and serves the display locally.

In practical terms, GPS metadata is useful for:

• viewing where images were taken on a map
• organizing or filtering a library by location
• scouting and revisiting photo spots later

One caveat: while some cameras may record additional fields like direction/orientation, not every program will read or display all of that metadata consistently.

So the short answer is: yes, local desktop tools exist, and mapping plus location-based browsing/filtering are the main benefits.