The gps stuff is only there if the camera has a locator built-in or attached (which some camera phones have). I could get one for my camera that attaches to the flash hotshoe. I've read reviews that the locator has a high battery draw on some cameras, so you would turn it off for many situations.

The date thing in the folder names is for ease of browsing and quickly narrowing down a search. It's just one of the tools I use for organizing and working with my photos. Others like to use subject based folder names and group the photos by subject. Whatever works. For me the key is that each day's shots should get their own folder.

The exif data is useful as well, until you load it to a web site that automatically strips it out. Like NAT.