A handheld electronic device, such as a GPS-enabled wireless communications device with an embedded camera, automatically geotags a set of data, such as a digital photo, video, notes, or a blog, with a textual plain-language description of the current location. When the data is generated, the current location of the device is determined, e.g. using a GPS receiver. A textual plain-language description of the current location is then generated, e.g. by reverse geocoding the GPS position coordinates or by correlating the current time with a calendar event from which language descriptive of the event can be extracted. This textual plain-language description is automatically generated and written into a tag or metadata file associated with the photo or other set of data. By automatically geotagging data with textual plain-language descriptions that go beyond mere coordinates of latitude and longitude, data can be searched and managed more efficiently.