It doesn't really matter, long shadows would give me the east-west general direction, and short shadows north-south. It wouldn't be compass accurate, but it would save me a lot of time checking curves. For example long shadows crossing the road on the curve tell you it either comes from the north and turns west, or comes from the south and turns east, and you can ignore west-> south and east->north.
Of course, the closer near the poles you are, the less accurate it is.
However, regardless of where you are, it helps place each picture relative to the others when they are around the same spot (unless the submitter's evil and takes pictures spread hours apart) which can give info (a "U" shape building or half circle around a large courtyard, for example).