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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-07-09_a-beginners-guide-to-geolocation.json

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+{
+  "slug": "a-beginners-guide-to-geolocation",
+  "title": "A Beginner's Guide to Geolocating Videos",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2014/07/09/a-beginners-guide-to-geolocation/",
+  "date": "2014-07-09T14:43:26+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-07-15T20:31:30+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "On the Brown Moses Blog I'm frequently working on authenticating videos, and one very useful technique is using information in the video to confirm the location the video was filmed. In this article, I'll explain some of the techniques I use to identify those locations, using tools available to anyone with a internet connection.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/07/09/a-beginners-guide-to-geolocation/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/putevoditeli/2016/11/28/intro-to-geoloc-ru/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>On the Brown Moses Blog I was frequently working on authenticating videos, and one very useful technique is using information in the video to confirm the location the video was filmed. In this article, I’ll explain some of the techniques I use to identify those locations, using tools available to anyone with a internet connection.</p>\n<p>This first example shows how from a static position it’s possible to establish the precise location a video was filmed. On August 15th 2011, the Libya opposition claimed to have captured the small town of Tiji, posting the following video online as proof</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/--GoK5UkYdw?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>The first 4 minutes of the video shows fighting in fairly featureless surroundings, but at 4:00 there’s a shot showing a street with buildings either side.</p>\n<p>The first thing to look for are landmarks that might help narrow down the search, and on the same side of the road as the cameraman is a mosque</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"brown1\" class=\"wp-image-181 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"406\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown1.png\" width=\"480\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Tiji is a pretty small town, so there won’t be many mosques, but we can make our search even easier by looking for the kind of road the mosque is on</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"brown2\" class=\"wp-image-182 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"312\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown2.png\" width=\"482\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>We can get a good idea what the road looks like from this shot. It has a small median, the lane closest to the camera is about two tanks wide, and has single story buildings across from the mosque.</p>\n<p>Now to find Tiji on a map so we can take a look at the roads. A number of sites are available with satellite map imagery, including Google Maps and Bing Maps, but I find Wikimapia very useful as you can select different source satellite map imagery from Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Yahoo! Maps, which can be useful when one set of satellite map imagery isn’t very clear.</p>\n<p>Finding Tiji is a simple enough search on Wikimapia, but in some cases with Arab countries you’ll only be able to find Arabic place names, something to keep in mind when searching for more obscure locations. Below we have a satellite view of the town</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown3.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"brown3\" class=\"size-full wp-image-183 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"252\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown3.png 421w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown3-300x179.png 300w\" width=\"421\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>If we zoom in closer we can see that there’s a number of roads in the centre of the town, but only the main road running through the town appears to have a median</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown5.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"brown5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-184\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"238\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown5.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown5.png 353w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown5-300x202.png 300w\" width=\"353\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>In fact, we can zoom in close enough to see individual cars on the road, which is clearly wide enough to accommodate at least two large vehicles, maybe even three, matching what we can see in the video</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown6.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"brown6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-185\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"182\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 366px) 100vw, 366px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown6.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown6.png 366w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown6-300x149.png 300w\" width=\"366\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>So we have a road that would see like a pretty good match to what’s in the video, and we know there’s a mosque on it, so all we have to do now is follow the road until we find a mosque.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group7.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"group7\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-186\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"232\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group7.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group7.png 387w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group7-300x179.png 300w\" width=\"387\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Now we have a mosque on the road, we can do more to confirm it’s the correct location. The most obvious feature is the minaret on the south side of the mosque, visible in the satellite map, and frequently a useful point of reference in videos from the Middle East. We can clearly see in the video that the minaret is on the side closest to the road (south), with the mosque’s dome to the right of the minaret (the north). It’s also possible to make out the wall outside of the mosque from the satellite map, and where the road curves northwards</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group8.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"group8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-187\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"204\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group8.png\" width=\"241\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group9.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"group9\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-188\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"222\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group9.png\" width=\"278\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From this we can say the location is almost certainly here</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group11.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"group11\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-189\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"286\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group11.png\" width=\"258\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>You’ll note to the south of the mosque, across the road, there’s also a number of trees, and these are visible in the background as the tank drives by</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group12.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"group12\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-190\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"199\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 328px) 100vw, 328px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group12.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group12.png 328w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group12-300x182.png 300w\" width=\"328\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s also worth checking for any tall buildings in the video, as the satellite map appears to show no buildings that are taller than the mosque, and if there were that would suggest this is the wrong location.</p>\n<p>That’s a pretty straight forward example with a distinct landmark, and in a small town. This next video, from August 11th 2011, claimed to show the Libyan opposition taking control of the key town of Brega, with fighters taking a tour of a urban area</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/E78cYUeivRY?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>For a long time Brega was the front-line between the opposition forces based in Benghazi, and loyalist in the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte. For months, there were constant reports of the opposition capturing the town, but very little evidence to support the claim. Brega itself is a mixture of small residential areas and industrial complexes, spread out over around 10km of coast line. From the video we can see the opposition are in a residential area, made up of rows of single and two storey buildings. This doesn’t match one of the three residential areas in Brega, which appears to be made up of multi-storey buildings that are spaced apart</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-191\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"208\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello1.png\" width=\"280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>But it could match the western and eastern residential areas</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-192\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"222\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello2.png 339w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello2-300x196.png 300w\" width=\"339\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>While the buildings in the video are fairly featureless, there’s something else that we can work from that’s likely to be very unique. During the video, the cameraman walks around Brega, along the roads, and this means that from watching the video we can actually map out the roads. We can see he starts on a sharply curving road, at 42s he turns left, and shows the road he was on met a T-junction, and at 1:20 he comes to another junction. He turns left, walks past a junction on the right hand side of the road, and the road he’s on curves to the left.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello3.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-193\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"212\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 330px) 100vw, 330px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello3.png 330w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello3-300x192.png 300w\" width=\"330\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>But what are we looking for? Simply, the layout of the roads. We can see the roads, the way the curve in some areas, and where the junctions are. You can simply sketch it out on a piece of paper, which I’d recommend as it’s easier to rotate when you’re looking for a match, and then search the streets until you find a match. Here’s a very simple MS Paint sketch of the road layout</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello4.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-194\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"263\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 309px) 100vw, 309px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello4.png 309w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello4-300x255.png 300w\" width=\"309\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>We can compare this to the two areas we’re looking at to see if there’s any matching pattern. The western residential area appears to lack the curving roads seen in the video, but the eastern residential area is a different matter</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello5.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-195\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"231\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello5.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello5.png 367w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello5-300x188.png 300w\" width=\"367\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Now you take sketch of the road layout and see if there’s any matches in that area. In the eastern residential areas there’s one location that’s a match</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello6.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-196\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"230\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello6.png\" width=\"241\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello7.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello7\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-197\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"263\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 309px) 100vw, 309px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello7.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello7.png 309w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello7-300x255.png 300w\" width=\"309\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>To double-check the location is correct, you watch the video again, and check for anything that matches or doesn’t match. The area is fairly nondescript, but you can see some areas that match what’s in the video. For example, at 2:47, a long open area is visible behind the cameraman</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello8.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-198\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"255\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 366px) 100vw, 366px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello8.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello8.png 366w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello8-300x209.png 300w\" width=\"366\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As we know the route he’s walked, we can check the map if there’s an open area in the same position, and as we see below, there is</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello9.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hello9\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-199\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"161\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello9.png\" width=\"129\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Currently, these are relatively unknown techniques, but as more and more unverified videos are produced from conflict zones, these kinds of techniques will be key part of the verification process.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn the Brown Moses Blog I was frequently working on authenticating videos, and one very useful technique is using information in the video to confirm the location the video was filmed. In this article, I’ll explain some of the techniques I use to identify those locations, using tools available to anyone with a internet connection.\nThis first example shows how from a static position it’s possible to establish the precise location a video was filmed. On August 15th 2011, the Libya opposition claimed to have captured the small town of Tiji, posting the following video online as proof\nThe first 4 minutes of the video shows fighting in fairly featureless surroundings, but at 4:00 there’s a shot showing a street with buildings either side.\nThe first thing to look for are landmarks that might help narrow down the search, and on the same side of the road as the cameraman is a mosque\nTiji is a pretty small town, so there won’t be many mosques, but we can make our search even easier by looking for the kind of road the mosque is on\nWe can get a good idea what the road looks like from this shot. It has a small median, the lane closest to the camera is about two tanks wide, and has single story buildings across from the mosque.\nNow to find Tiji on a map so we can take a look at the roads. A number of sites are available with satellite map imagery, including Google Maps and Bing Maps, but I find Wikimapia very useful as you can select different source satellite map imagery from Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Yahoo! Maps, which can be useful when one set of satellite map imagery isn’t very clear.\nFinding Tiji is a simple enough search on Wikimapia, but in some cases with Arab countries you’ll only be able to find Arabic place names, something to keep in mind when searching for more obscure locations. Below we have a satellite view of the town\nIf we zoom in closer we can see that there’s a number of roads in the centre of the town, but only the main road running through the town appears to have a median\nIn fact, we can zoom in close enough to see individual cars on the road, which is clearly wide enough to accommodate at least two large vehicles, maybe even three, matching what we can see in the video\nSo we have a road that would see like a pretty good match to what’s in the video, and we know there’s a mosque on it, so all we have to do now is follow the road until we find a mosque.\nNow we have a mosque on the road, we can do more to confirm it’s the correct location. The most obvious feature is the minaret on the south side of the mosque, visible in the satellite map, and frequently a useful point of reference in videos from the Middle East. We can clearly see in the video that the minaret is on the side closest to the road (south), with the mosque’s dome to the right of the minaret (the north). It’s also possible to make out the wall outside of the mosque from the satellite map, and where the road curves northwards\nFrom this we can say the location is almost certainly here\nYou’ll note to the south of the mosque, across the road, there’s also a number of trees, and these are visible in the background as the tank drives by\nIt’s also worth checking for any tall buildings in the video, as the satellite map appears to show no buildings that are taller than the mosque, and if there were that would suggest this is the wrong location.\nThat’s a pretty straight forward example with a distinct landmark, and in a small town. This next video, from August 11th 2011, claimed to show the Libyan opposition taking control of the key town of Brega, with fighters taking a tour of a urban area\nFor a long time Brega was the front-line between the opposition forces based in Benghazi, and loyalist in the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte. For months, there were constant reports of the opposition capturing the town, but very little evidence to support the claim. Brega itself is a mixture of small residential areas and industrial complexes, spread out over around 10km of coast line. From the video we can see the opposition are in a residential area, made up of rows of single and two storey buildings. This doesn’t match one of the three residential areas in Brega, which appears to be made up of multi-storey buildings that are spaced apart\nBut it could match the western and eastern residential areas\nWhile the buildings in the video are fairly featureless, there’s something else that we can work from that’s likely to be very unique. During the video, the cameraman walks around Brega, along the roads, and this means that from watching the video we can actually map out the roads. We can see he starts on a sharply curving road, at 42s he turns left, and shows the road he was on met a T-junction, and at 1:20 he comes to another junction. He turns left, walks past a junction on the right hand side of the road, and the road he’s on curves to the left.\nBut what are we looking for? Simply, the layout of the roads. We can see the roads, the way the curve in some areas, and where the junctions are. You can simply sketch it out on a piece of paper, which I’d recommend as it’s easier to rotate when you’re looking for a match, and then search the streets until you find a match. Here’s a very simple MS Paint sketch of the road layout\nWe can compare this to the two areas we’re looking at to see if there’s any matching pattern. The western residential area appears to lack the curving roads seen in the video, but the eastern residential area is a different matter\nNow you take sketch of the road layout and see if there’s any matches in that area. In the eastern residential areas there’s one location that’s a match\nTo double-check the location is correct, you watch the video again, and check for anything that matches or doesn’t match. The area is fairly nondescript, but you can see some areas that match what’s in the video. For example, at 2:47, a long open area is visible behind the cameraman\nAs we know the route he’s walked, we can check the map if there’s an open area in the same position, and as we see below, there is\nCurrently, these are relatively unknown techniques, but as more and more unverified videos are produced from conflict zones, these kinds of techniques will be key part of the verification process.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown1.png",
+      "alt": "brown1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown2.png",
+      "alt": "brown2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown3.png",
+      "alt": "brown3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown5.png",
+      "alt": "brown5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/brown6.png",
+      "alt": "brown6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group7.png",
+      "alt": "group7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group8.png",
+      "alt": "group8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group9.png",
+      "alt": "group9",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group11.png",
+      "alt": "group11",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/group12.png",
+      "alt": "group12",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello1.png",
+      "alt": "hello1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello2.png",
+      "alt": "hello2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello3.png",
+      "alt": "hello3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello4.png",
+      "alt": "hello4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello5.png",
+      "alt": "hello5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello6.png",
+      "alt": "hello6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello7.png",
+      "alt": "hello7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello8.png",
+      "alt": "hello8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/hello9.png",
+      "alt": "hello9",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-07-09_verification-and-geolocation-tricks-and-tips-with-google-earth.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "verification-and-geolocation-tricks-and-tips-with-google-earth",
+  "title": "Verification and Geolocation Tricks and Tips with Google Earth",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2014/07/09/verification-and-geolocation-tricks-and-tips-with-google-earth/",
+  "date": "2014-07-09T14:04:35+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-07-09T14:04:45+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "One piece of software that’s freely available to anyone and has become a very useful tool in the open source investigators toolbox is Google Earth.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/07/09/verification-and-geolocation-tricks-and-tips-with-google-earth/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>One piece of software that’s freely available to anyone and has become a very useful tool in the open source investigators toolbox is Google Earth. Google Earth shows the entire world pieced together with satellite map imagery, with a number of features that are useful for anyone working to verify and geolocate images from locations across the world. There’s a number of techniques that I’ve used with Google Earth that has made it an essential tool in my own work, and the work of others studying content from conflict zones.</p>\n<h2>Historical imagery</h2>\n<p>Under the “view” menu you can find the historical imagery option. This allows you to look at earlier satellite map images stored by Google, which can be a useful tool in a number of ways. A simple example is tracking the destruction caused by conflict, in the below images we see a busy neighbourhood in Damascus wiped out between May and August 2012</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-47\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"679\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1084px) 100vw, 1084px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1.jpg 1084w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1-1024x641.jpg 1024w\" width=\"1084\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1088px) 100vw, 1088px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2.jpg 1088w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2-300x186.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2-1024x635.jpg 1024w\" width=\"1088\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>On a number of occasions I’ve found myself watching a video where I can see one side of a building, but the most up to date map imagery only shows the other side of the building. You might encounter this situation when you want to look at the way in which windows are arranged on one side of a building to see if it matches what you can see in a video. With historical imagery you can go through older satellite images and sometimes find images taken from a different angle, and even in some cases images of each side of a building, such as the example shown below</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"889\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-3.jpg 543w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-3-183x300.jpg 183w\" width=\"543\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>In this example I was trying to establish whether or not a partly constructed building matched a building I could see on a satellite map. Using the historical satellite map imagery I could see that the structure was only recently built, and therefore there was a strong possibility it was a recent construction project that may have been abandoned at the conflict took hold</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-50\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"738\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 574px) 100vw, 574px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-4.jpg 574w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-4-233x300.jpg 233w\" width=\"574\"/></div></a></p>\n<h2>3D Terrain</h2>\n<p>Google Earth has mapped a great deal of terrain in 3D, and this can be extremely useful when geolocating and verifying videos. If you suspect a video or image was taken facing a certain direction, you can place the Street View cursors on the ground, and get an idea of the hills and mountains you would expect to see in that same location. Below are a couple of examples from videos I’ve examined in the past</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 5\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"151\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5-1024x151.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5-1024x151.jpg 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5-300x44.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5.jpg 1369w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"541\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-6.jpg 515w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-6-285x300.jpg 285w\" width=\"515\"/></div></a></p>\n<h2>Landmarks</h2>\n<p>In an area where large amounts of video footage is being produced from, and there’s unique structures visible in the videos, it’s possible to speed up the geolocation process by marking each point of interest on a map, and finding an image of it to add to the Google Earth map. For example, below I’ve identified the mosques in part of Damascus, and added an image of the mosque’s minaret to each marker I’ve placed</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-53\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"636\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" src=\"http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-7.jpg 970w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-7-300x196.jpg 300w\" width=\"970\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Any time I see a mosque in a video from that area I can quickly review the images of each mosque, and find a match. If two are visible then it’s possible to deduce which direction the cameraman is filming from, and in many cases find the exact location. It’s possible to do this with any landmark, for example water towers, large communication towers, apartment buildings, etc.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nOne piece of software that’s freely available to anyone and has become a very useful tool in the open source investigators toolbox is Google Earth. Google Earth shows the entire world pieced together with satellite map imagery, with a number of features that are useful for anyone working to verify and geolocate images from locations across the world. There’s a number of techniques that I’ve used with Google Earth that has made it an essential tool in my own work, and the work of others studying content from conflict zones.\nHistorical imagery\nUnder the “view” menu you can find the historical imagery option. This allows you to look at earlier satellite map images stored by Google, which can be a useful tool in a number of ways. A simple example is tracking the destruction caused by conflict, in the below images we see a busy neighbourhood in Damascus wiped out between May and August 2012\nOn a number of occasions I’ve found myself watching a video where I can see one side of a building, but the most up to date map imagery only shows the other side of the building. You might encounter this situation when you want to look at the way in which windows are arranged on one side of a building to see if it matches what you can see in a video. With historical imagery you can go through older satellite images and sometimes find images taken from a different angle, and even in some cases images of each side of a building, such as the example shown below\nIn this example I was trying to establish whether or not a partly constructed building matched a building I could see on a satellite map. Using the historical satellite map imagery I could see that the structure was only recently built, and therefore there was a strong possibility it was a recent construction project that may have been abandoned at the conflict took hold\n3D Terrain\nGoogle Earth has mapped a great deal of terrain in 3D, and this can be extremely useful when geolocating and verifying videos. If you suspect a video or image was taken facing a certain direction, you can place the Street View cursors on the ground, and get an idea of the hills and mountains you would expect to see in that same location. Below are a couple of examples from videos I’ve examined in the past\nLandmarks\nIn an area where large amounts of video footage is being produced from, and there’s unique structures visible in the videos, it’s possible to speed up the geolocation process by marking each point of interest on a map, and finding an image of it to add to the Google Earth map. For example, below I’ve identified the mosques in part of Damascus, and added an image of the mosque’s minaret to each marker I’ve placed\nAny time I see a mosque in a video from that area I can quickly review the images of each mosque, and find a match. If two are visible then it’s possible to deduce which direction the cameraman is filming from, and in many cases find the exact location. It’s possible to do this with any landmark, for example water towers, large communication towers, apartment buildings, etc.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-3.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-4.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-5-1024x151.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-6.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "http://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-7.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 7",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-07-15_geolocation-techniques-mapping-landmarks.json

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocation-techniques-mapping-landmarks",
+  "title": "Geolocation Techniques – Mapping Landmarks",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2014/07/15/geolocation-techniques-mapping-landmarks/",
+  "date": "2014-07-15T20:12:45+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)While frequently you may find yourself trying to find the location on one video, sometimes you may be faced with the opposite, finding the location of multiple videos. In this article I’ll explain one technique that can be used to make the task of finding the locations of multiple videos from one geographical area […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/07/15/geolocation-techniques-mapping-landmarks/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>While frequently you may find yourself trying to find the location on one video, sometimes you may be faced with the opposite, finding the location of multiple videos. In this article I’ll explain one technique that can be used to make the task of finding the locations of multiple videos from one geographical area a lot easier.</p>\n<p><strong>Damascus – Summer 2013</strong></p>\n<p>On August 21st 2013, the district of Zamalka in Damascus was hit by a Sarin attack, killing hundreds. To understand the attack I wanted to build up a picture of events before and after the attack, and as part of that I wanted to review the videos uploaded to YouTube channels used by groups in Zamalka and the surrounding areas.</p>\n<p>Dozens, if not hundreds, of videos had been posted in the period I was interested in, and geolocating each one would have been a very time-consuming process. I realised there was one thing I could do to make things a lot more easier for me, and that was cataloguing landmarks, in particular the many mosques in the area.</p>\n<p>The following can be done on both <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth/\" target=\"_blank\">Google Earth</a> and <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/preview\" target=\"_blank\">Google Maps</a>, but for this example I’ll use Google Earth.</p>\n<p>I began by looking at the district of Jobar, to the west of Zamalka</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-14.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-347\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"647\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1055px) 100vw, 1055px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-14.jpg 1055w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-14-300x183.jpg 300w\" width=\"1055\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>My first task was to find mosques in the area, so for that I turned to <a href=\"wikimapia.org\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimapia</a>. Wikimapia allows users to annotate maps, include adding the names and locations of various structures, including mosques. All I need to do is find the area on the map I’m interested in, search for “mosque”, and it lists the mosques that other users have marked on the map. Then, I just have to hover my cursor over each one to see the location as a red marker.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 2\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-348\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"580\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22-1200x580.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22-1200x580.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22-300x145.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22.jpg 1209w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Now on Google Earth I began to add place marks for each mosque I’ve identified on Wikimapia, a sample of which can be shown below</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-32.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-349\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"548\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1088px) 100vw, 1088px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-32.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-32.jpg 1088w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-32-300x151.jpg 300w\" width=\"1088\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s one thing to have the mosques marked on a map, but quite another to know what they look like. You can only see so much information on satellite maps, but there is another source of images of landmarks online that might not be immediately obvious.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.panoramio.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Panoramio</a> is a website that combine maps with photographs tagged to specific locations. This means you can find the location you are interested in, then check if anyone happens to have taken photographs of the landmarks you’re interested in. In this example, I’m on the lookout for mosques and their minarets, and I quickly come across a number of photographs</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE 4\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-350\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"633\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42-1200x633.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42-1200x633.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42-300x158.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42.jpg 1377w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Google Earth and Google Maps both allow the user to add images to place marks, which appear when the place mark is clicked on, as shown below</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IAMGE 5\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-346\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"623\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5-1200x623.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5-1200x623.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5-300x155.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5.jpg 1484w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>This means that there’s now reference images for several very noticeable landmarks, and now when I come to review videos and I spot a minaret, I’m now able to quickly review all the images I have, and I know exactly where they are.</p>\n<p>The same process can be used for any sort of landmark, and as I become more familiar with less obvious landmarks in the video I’m watching, such as specific apartment buildings, I can also add place marks with images for those locations. This technique can be used to build a set of reference images for a region that can be referred back to during future geolocation attempts, making it very useful for locating videos in those areas you believe you may revisit in the future, and with long conflicts like Syria, it can be something that’s worth doing early on.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nWhile frequently you may find yourself trying to find the location on one video, sometimes you may be faced with the opposite, finding the location of multiple videos. In this article I’ll explain one technique that can be used to make the task of finding the locations of multiple videos from one geographical area a lot easier.\nDamascus – Summer 2013\nOn August 21st 2013, the district of Zamalka in Damascus was hit by a Sarin attack, killing hundreds. To understand the attack I wanted to build up a picture of events before and after the attack, and as part of that I wanted to review the videos uploaded to YouTube channels used by groups in Zamalka and the surrounding areas.\nDozens, if not hundreds, of videos had been posted in the period I was interested in, and geolocating each one would have been a very time-consuming process. I realised there was one thing I could do to make things a lot more easier for me, and that was cataloguing landmarks, in particular the many mosques in the area.\nThe following can be done on both\nGoogle Earth\nand\nGoogle Maps\n, but for this example I’ll use Google Earth.\nI began by looking at the district of Jobar, to the west of Zamalka\nMy first task was to find mosques in the area, so for that I turned to\nWikimapia\n. Wikimapia allows users to annotate maps, include adding the names and locations of various structures, including mosques. All I need to do is find the area on the map I’m interested in, search for “mosque”, and it lists the mosques that other users have marked on the map. Then, I just have to hover my cursor over each one to see the location as a red marker.\nNow on Google Earth I began to add place marks for each mosque I’ve identified on Wikimapia, a sample of which can be shown below\nIt’s one thing to have the mosques marked on a map, but quite another to know what they look like. You can only see so much information on satellite maps, but there is another source of images of landmarks online that might not be immediately obvious.\nPanoramio\nis a website that combine maps with photographs tagged to specific locations. This means you can find the location you are interested in, then check if anyone happens to have taken photographs of the landmarks you’re interested in. In this example, I’m on the lookout for mosques and their minarets, and I quickly come across a number of photographs\nGoogle Earth and Google Maps both allow the user to add images to place marks, which appear when the place mark is clicked on, as shown below\nThis means that there’s now reference images for several very noticeable landmarks, and now when I come to review videos and I spot a minaret, I’m now able to quickly review all the images I have, and I know exactly where they are.\nThe same process can be used for any sort of landmark, and as I become more familiar with less obvious landmarks in the video I’m watching, such as specific apartment buildings, I can also add place marks with images for those locations. This technique can be used to build a set of reference images for a region that can be referred back to during future geolocation attempts, making it very useful for locating videos in those areas you believe you may revisit in the future, and with long conflicts like Syria, it can be something that’s worth doing early on.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-14.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-22-1200x580.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-32.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IMAGE-42-1200x633.jpg",
+      "alt": "IMAGE 4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/IAMGE-5-1200x623.jpg",
+      "alt": "IAMGE 5",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-07-17_geolocating-the-missile-launcher-linked-to-the-downing-of-mh17.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-the-missile-launcher-linked-to-the-downing-of-mh17",
+  "title": "Geolocating the Missile Launcher Linked to the Downing of MH17",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/07/17/geolocating-the-missile-launcher-linked-to-the-downing-of-mh17/",
+  "date": "2014-07-17T21:37:25+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-08-12T10:15:59+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Shortly after reports of flight MH17 being shot down in Ukraine began emerging, the following video was posted online, claiming to show a Buk missile launcher travelling through Snizhne, a rebel held town near the Russian border. The original video was quickly deleted from YouTube for unknown reasons, but one lesson to learn earlier on […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/07/17/geolocating-the-missile-launcher-linked-to-the-downing-of-mh17/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Shortly after reports of flight MH17 being shot down in Ukraine began emerging, the following video was posted online, claiming to show a Buk missile launcher travelling through <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snizhne\" target=\"_blank\">Snizhne</a>, a <a href=\"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28309034\" target=\"_blank\">rebel held town</a> near the Russian border.</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/MiI9s-zWLs4?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>The original video was quickly deleted from YouTube for unknown reasons, but one lesson to learn earlier on with any video of interest is to immediately download it.  A variety tools are available to do this, including <a href=\"http://keepvid.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Keepvid</a>, which I used in this instance.</p>\n<p>The obvious question is whether or not this is actually Snizhne, so the first thing to do is see if there’s any obvious landmarks in the video.  In this case, the road is a dual-carriageway with trees in the middle, and looking at satellite images from Snizhne it seems quite unusual.  I shared the video with my Twitter followers, asking if anyone could find the area (crowd-sourcing these things can be useful), and quickly several people pointed to an area <a href=\"http://old.wikimapia.org/#lat=48.011463&amp;lon=38.7633437&amp;z=18&amp;l=0&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">south of the center of Snizhne</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-392\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"716\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap1.jpg 770w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap1-300x278.jpg 300w\" width=\"770\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The road appeared to share the same layout, with the trees in the middle, and had the slight turn visible in the video.  Based off this, it seemed the camera would have to be north of the road, facing south.  Aside from the road layout, something else stood out in the video, the height of the camera.  It was clear the camera was positioned much higher than the buildings to the south, suggesting it was either on a hill or on top of a tall building.  To test this, I used the ground-level view option in Google Earth, and positioned the cursor on the road, facing north, towards the camera</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-395\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"674\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1186px) 100vw, 1186px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap2.jpg 1186w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap2-300x170.jpg 300w\" width=\"1186\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It seemed the only hills in the area were far in the distance, and by examining the map I was able to see apartment buildings to the north of the road</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-396\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"702\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1095px) 100vw, 1095px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap3.jpg 1095w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap3-300x192.jpg 300w\" width=\"1095\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on that I now had the approximate position of the camera, and I was able to identify other features I would expect to see from that vantage point.  First, three trees positioned to the north of the bend in the road</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-397\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"485\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap4.jpg 506w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap4-300x287.jpg 300w\" width=\"506\"/></div></a> <a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap5\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-398\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"538\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 616px) 100vw, 616px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap5.jpg 616w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap5-300x262.jpg 300w\" width=\"616\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>South of the bend it’s possible to identify two junctions on the road, points 1 and 2, with one tree visible between the junction on both the video and map.  At point 3 the red roof of a house is also visible in both the video and satellite map</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-399\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"385\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap6.jpg 503w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap6-300x229.jpg 300w\" width=\"503\"/></div></a> <a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bukmap7\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-400\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"495\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 567px) 100vw, 567px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap7.jpg 567w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap7-300x261.jpg 300w\" width=\"567\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on this information it seems likely that this is the correct location of what’s claimed to by the Buk missile launcher, heading south away from Snizhne.  Based on initial information about the location of the crash site, it appears this location was around 10-15km of the crash site.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nShortly after reports of flight MH17 being shot down in Ukraine began emerging, the following video was posted online, claiming to show a Buk missile launcher travelling through\nSnizhne\n, a\nrebel held town\nnear the Russian border.\nThe original video was quickly deleted from YouTube for unknown reasons, but one lesson to learn earlier on with any video of interest is to immediately download it. A variety tools are available to do this, including\nKeepvid\n, which I used in this instance.\nThe obvious question is whether or not this is actually Snizhne, so the first thing to do is see if there’s any obvious landmarks in the video. In this case, the road is a dual-carriageway with trees in the middle, and looking at satellite images from Snizhne it seems quite unusual. I shared the video with my Twitter followers, asking if anyone could find the area (crowd-sourcing these things can be useful), and quickly several people pointed to an area\nsouth of the center of Snizhne\nThe road appeared to share the same layout, with the trees in the middle, and had the slight turn visible in the video. Based off this, it seemed the camera would have to be north of the road, facing south. Aside from the road layout, something else stood out in the video, the height of the camera. It was clear the camera was positioned much higher than the buildings to the south, suggesting it was either on a hill or on top of a tall building. To test this, I used the ground-level view option in Google Earth, and positioned the cursor on the road, facing north, towards the camera\nIt seemed the only hills in the area were far in the distance, and by examining the map I was able to see apartment buildings to the north of the road\nBased on that I now had the approximate position of the camera, and I was able to identify other features I would expect to see from that vantage point. First, three trees positioned to the north of the bend in the road\nSouth of the bend it’s possible to identify two junctions on the road, points 1 and 2, with one tree visible between the junction on both the video and map. At point 3 the red roof of a house is also visible in both the video and satellite map\nBased on this information it seems likely that this is the correct location of what’s claimed to by the Buk missile launcher, heading south away from Snizhne. Based on initial information about the location of the crash site, it appears this location was around 10-15km of the crash site.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap1.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap2.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap3.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap4.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap5.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap6.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/bukmap7.jpg",
+      "alt": "bukmap7",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-07-18_identifying-the-location-of-the-mh17-linked-missile-launcher-from-one-photograph.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "identifying-the-location-of-the-mh17-linked-missile-launcher-from-one-photograph",
+  "title": "Identifying the Location of the MH17 Linked Missile Launcher From One Photograph",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/07/18/identifying-the-location-of-the-mh17-linked-missile-launcher-from-one-photograph/",
+  "date": "2014-07-18T21:44:33+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-08-12T10:15:11+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)In the aftermath of the MH17 downing in Ukraine various images and videos were shared on social media sites claiming to show the Buk missile launcher that was alleged by some to have been used to shoot down flight MH17.  One photograph was shared on social media sites, reportedly showing the missile launcher in Snizhne, […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/07/18/identifying-the-location-of-the-mh17-linked-missile-launcher-from-one-photograph/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>In the aftermath of the MH17 downing in Ukraine various images and videos were shared on social media sites claiming to show the Buk missile launcher that was alleged by some to have been used to shoot down flight MH17.  One photograph was shared on social media sites, reportedly showing the missile launcher in Snizhne, close to where a video show a Buk missile launcher <a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/07/17/geolocating-the-missile-launcher-linked-to-the-downing-of-mh17/\" target=\"_blank\">was filmed</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"buk possible site.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-419\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"900\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg-1200x900.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg.jpg 1280w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>There doesn’t seem much to go on in this picture, but one of my long term followers, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AricToler\" target=\"_blank\">Aric Toler</a>, managed to piece together the location using a variety of open source information, in a way that impressed myself and others who have spent their time geolocating images from conflict zones.  I asked him to talk me through the process, and here’s what he told me.</p>\n<p>His first step was to identify the store with the yellow facade in the picture.  Aric has knowledge of Russian, and he was able to piece together the visible letters on the stores sign, and from that he was able to search for chain stores which contained those characters, which he discovered was Строй Дом.  He searched for Строй Дом in Snizhne, but was unable to find any.   He searched through Google results for the name, and eventually found a reference to one <a href=\"http://cyclowiki.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0_50_%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0_(%D0%A2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B7)\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>, located in the town of Torez.  He then found the specific address by search the terms “стройдом” “торез” “50 лет ссср” on Google, the name of the shop, the town, and the street.  This found <a href=\"http://pravoscope.com/act-virok-1-342-10-garkavenko-sergij-ivanovich-02-12-2010-ne-viznacheno-s\" target=\"_blank\">a court document</a> with the name of the shop and it’s address as part of a testimony from a witness.  From knowing the address he was then able to identify the location on <a href=\"http://maps.yandex.com/-/CVroMTKi\" target=\"_blank\">Yandex Maps</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-429\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"503\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1.jpg 500w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1-298x300.jpg 298w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1-125x125.jpg 125w\" width=\"500\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Something else that came up in the searches were videos filmed by someone who had been posting videos of himself driving around Torez</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/7Wseuzow.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7Wseuzow\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-427\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"722\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/7Wseuzow.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/7Wseuzow.jpg 803w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/7Wseuzow-300x269.jpg 300w\" width=\"803\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/jbc6uma8rhM?start=57&amp;feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/x-_GmpkC52A?start=90&amp;feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>These videos stated the roads they were filmed on, and include shots of the store from the east heading west, and the north heading south</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map3\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-430\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"630\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3-1200x630.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3-1200x630.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3-300x157.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3.jpg 1572w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map2\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-431\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2-1200x621.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2-1200x621.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2-300x155.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2.jpg 1579w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Visible in both videos were the store and the distinct apartment building with black and white stripes down each corner of the building.  It was then possible to follow the path of the car in the videos on satellite maps, confirming the position of further landmarks along the route.</p>\n<p>Based on that information it was possible to say the camera was positioned (marked in red) in the forecourt of a garage south of the store (marked in yellow), and the approximate position of the Buk missile launcher (marked in green)</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Map4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-432\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"503\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4.jpg 500w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4-298x300.jpg 298w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4-125x125.jpg 125w\" width=\"500\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Aric didn’t use any specialised knowledge, beyond his language skills, to do this that would have been beyond anyone else doing the same investigation.  All the information was available online, and from a single photograph he was able to establish the exact location of the missile launcher.  Speaking as someone who has done this for a while, it’s very difficult to establish a location from one photograph alone, so the fact this was his first attempt to geolocate something like this is really impressive, and sets a great example to anyone who might be thinking about trying some geolocation.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nIn the aftermath of the MH17 downing in Ukraine various images and videos were shared on social media sites claiming to show the Buk missile launcher that was alleged by some to have been used to shoot down flight MH17. One photograph was shared on social media sites, reportedly showing the missile launcher in Snizhne, close to where a video show a Buk missile launcher\nwas filmed\nThere doesn’t seem much to go on in this picture, but one of my long term followers,\nAric Toler\n, managed to piece together the location using a variety of open source information, in a way that impressed myself and others who have spent their time geolocating images from conflict zones. I asked him to talk me through the process, and here’s what he told me.\nHis first step was to identify the store with the yellow facade in the picture. Aric has knowledge of Russian, and he was able to piece together the visible letters on the stores sign, and from that he was able to search for chain stores which contained those characters, which he discovered was Строй Дом. He searched for Строй Дом in Snizhne, but was unable to find any. He searched through Google results for the name, and eventually found a reference to one\nhere\n, located in the town of Torez. He then found the specific address by search the terms “стройдом” “торез” “50 лет ссср” on Google, the name of the shop, the town, and the street. This found\na court document\nwith the name of the shop and it’s address as part of a testimony from a witness. From knowing the address he was then able to identify the location on\nYandex Maps\nSomething else that came up in the searches were videos filmed by someone who had been posting videos of himself driving around Torez\nThese videos stated the roads they were filmed on, and include shots of the store from the east heading west, and the north heading south\nVisible in both videos were the store and the distinct apartment building with black and white stripes down each corner of the building. It was then possible to follow the path of the car in the videos on satellite maps, confirming the position of further landmarks along the route.\nBased on that information it was possible to say the camera was positioned (marked in red) in the forecourt of a garage south of the store (marked in yellow), and the approximate position of the Buk missile launcher (marked in green)\nAric didn’t use any specialised knowledge, beyond his language skills, to do this that would have been beyond anyone else doing the same investigation. All the information was available online, and from a single photograph he was able to establish the exact location of the missile launcher. Speaking as someone who has done this for a while, it’s very difficult to establish a location from one photograph alone, so the fact this was his first attempt to geolocate something like this is really impressive, and sets a great example to anyone who might be thinking about trying some geolocation.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/buk-possible-site.jpg-1200x900.jpg",
+      "alt": "buk possible site.jpg",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map1.jpg",
+      "alt": "map1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/7Wseuzow.jpg",
+      "alt": "7Wseuzow",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map3-1200x630.jpg",
+      "alt": "map3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/map2-1200x621.jpg",
+      "alt": "map2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/07/Map4.jpg",
+      "alt": "Map4",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-08-10_locating-the-rockets-used-during-the-august-21st-sarin-attacks-in-damascus.json

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+{
+  "slug": "locating-the-rockets-used-during-the-august-21st-sarin-attacks-in-damascus",
+  "title": "Locating the Rockets Used During the August 21st Sarin Attacks in Damascus",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/08/10/locating-the-rockets-used-during-the-august-21st-sarin-attacks-in-damascus/",
+  "date": "2014-08-10T21:23:37+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-08-12T10:10:56+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Following the August 21st 2013 Sarin attacks in Damascus a number of images were posted online showing the remains of the rockets used in the attack, along with claims of where they had landed. For example, in this video we have a press conference with Zamalka local council where they show what they claim […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/08/10/locating-the-rockets-used-during-the-august-21st-sarin-attacks-in-damascus/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Following the August 21st 2013 Sarin attacks in Damascus a number of images were posted online showing the remains of the rockets used in the attack, along with claims of where they had landed. For example, in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlthRjfYNHM\" target=\"_blank\">this video</a> we have a press conference with Zamalka local council where they show what they claim to be impact sites of the rockets</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"المؤتمر_الصحفي_للمجلس_المحلي_في_زملكا_بريف_دمشق_-_YouTube-11\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-711\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/المؤتمر_الصحفي_للمجلس_المحلي_في_زملكا_بريف_دمشق_-_YouTube-11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/المؤتمر_الصحفي_للمجلس_المحلي_في_زملكا_بريف_دمشق_-_YouTube-11.jpg 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/المؤتمر_الصحفي_للمجلس_المحلي_في_زملكا_بريف_دمشق_-_YouTube-11-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"800\"/></div></p>\n<p>For those of us working to confirm as much information about the August 21st attacks it was possible to use this information to find the exact impact locations of several rockets. The process for identifying the impact locations for each rocket provides great examples of the variety of tools and techniques that an investigator can use when attempt to find specific locations with open source information.</p>\n<p><strong>Rocket 1</strong></p>\n<p>A number of <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBKuVxggSJ8&amp;list=PLPC0Udeof3T7prlhd3qUZNFZun57tcnhD\" target=\"_blank\">videos</a> and <a href=\"http://imgur.com/a/1nziC\" target=\"_blank\">photographs</a> were posted of one rocket in particular, marked with “197”, an example of which can be seen below</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/qBKuVxggSJ8?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>It was clear the rocket was in a field next to some apartment buildings, with no roads visible, and we had a rough idea where the rockets had landed (at least according to the local co-ordination committee). A number of people started searching satellite map imagery for potential locations, and it appeared there were very few locations in the area that could have been a possible match. It can be extremely useful to have multiple people searching for the same location to quickly identify possible areas to examine. Often, once I’ve established a general area for a search, I’ll simply asking my followers on Twitter if they can find any potential spots, and generally I’ll receive several suggestions which can each be quickly investigated.</p>\n<p>The best match that was found in this instance was a field next to some apartment buildings near the reported impact sites</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Rocket map\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-712\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"615\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1026px) 100vw, 1026px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map.jpg 1026w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map-300x179.jpg 300w\" width=\"1026\"/></div></p>\n<p>It was then a case of examining the images we had to see if it was a good fit. For example, the below picture helped establish the position of the rocket in relation to the apartment building, which we could then use to establish the direction other images were taken</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Rocket map\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-712\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"615\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1026px) 100vw, 1026px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map.jpg 1026w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Rocket-map-300x179.jpg 300w\" width=\"1026\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Comp 2\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-713\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"623\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1115px) 100vw, 1115px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-2.jpg 1115w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-2-300x167.jpg 300w\" width=\"1115\"/></div></p>\n<p>In the above satellite image I drew what I believed the line of sight was behind the building, and although only a small area was visible it did confirm there was nothing to the side of the building. It’s important to remember you’re not only looking for what should be there, but also what shouldn’t be there.</p>\n<p>This next image was an awkward angle, but it did give a clear view of buildings that were to the north, behind the building closest to the rocket.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Comp 1\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-715\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"426\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-1-1200x426.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-1-1200x426.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-1-300x106.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-1.jpg 1600w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>Here it was possible to count the windows on the building at point 2 on both the satellite map and in the image, and the void to the right of the building was also a match in both the satellite map and image. It was even possible to see the tops of some trees in the photograph that were visible in the satellite map.</p>\n<p>This image shows the view to the north, but slightly to the right of the above image.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Comp 3\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-716\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"387\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-3-1200x387.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-3-1200x387.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-3-300x96.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Comp-3.jpg 1600w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>Here it’s possible to count the windows at point 2, and even make out the balcony on the corner of the building on the satellite map imagery. <a href=\"http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/finding-exact-location-of-alleged.html\" target=\"_blank\">Further images</a> to the east and west also show features that match, which allows us to confirm the position this rocket was recorded at. Based on the position of the rocket it appears the rocket would have likely come from the north.</p>\n<p><strong>Rocket 2</strong></p>\n<p>In this example we had one crucial piece of information, GPS data, that was sent to us by the person who filmed the following footage, originally broadcast by ITN</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/pmux0xmrXUU?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>The above video is made up from several clips filmed in different locations, and in this example we’re looking at one impact location, shown in the below clip</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/KOHcmPX6FS0?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>In the above clip we have views of the location in opposite directions. The GPS information provided was not entirely accurate, and it’s always worth keeping in mind GPS information provided in these circumstances might not always be 100% reliable for a number of reasons. The GPS co-ordinated pointed to the area below</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-719\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"184\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/2.jpg 438w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/2-300x126.jpg 300w\" width=\"438\"/></div></p>\n<p>It wasn’t immediately obvious if a wall was present in this image, but using Google Earth historical imagery it was possible to find an earlier image where shadows were being cast by the structures in the area (more details on using Google Earth historical imagery <a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2014/07/09/verification-and-geolocation-tricks-and-tips-with-google-earth/\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>)</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-720\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"346\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/1.jpg 489w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/1-300x212.jpg 300w\" width=\"489\"/></div></p>\n<p>Here it’s possible to make out the shadow cast by the wall, as well as the shadows of the surrounding buildings. The longer the shadows, the taller the structure, so we can see here the buildings surrounding the wall are much taller, something that’s visible in the videos.</p>\n<p>It also appears that in the above images the building to the left of the wall is jutting out into the road. In fact, in the video we can just make out that the upper floor juts out over the lower floor</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-721\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"710\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/3-1200x710.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/3-1200x710.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/3-300x177.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/3.jpg 1221w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>We can also see the buildings to the south of that building, across the road, are not parallel with the road, something visible on satellite map imagery</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-722\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"667\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/5-1200x667.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/5-1200x667.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/5-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/5.jpg 1298w\" width=\"1200\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-723\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"296\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/4.jpg 749w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/4-300x118.jpg 300w\" width=\"749\"/></div></p>\n<p>The view east is also visible in the video</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-724\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"670\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/6-1200x670.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/6-1200x670.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/6-300x167.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/6.jpg 1302w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>The below image shows the approximate field of view visible in the video, with a large building visible to the east</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-725\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"334\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1084px) 100vw, 1084px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/7.jpg 1084w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/7-300x92.jpg 300w\" width=\"1084\"/></div></p>\n<p>Using historical imagery it’s possible to find an image that shows the west side of the building, allowing up to count the number of windows and their position on the building in both the video and the satellite map imagery</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"12\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-726\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"157\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/12.jpg\" width=\"276\"/></div></p>\n<p>It’s also interesting to note the rocket appears to have passed through a wall just before impact, suggesting it would have come from the northwest, although there’s a possibility it hit the building to the west of the wall before its final impact, so it would be difficult to be sure exactly where it came from. This rocket is located around 600m north-east of Rocket 1</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-727\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"674\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/8-1200x674.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/8-1200x674.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/8-300x168.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/8.jpg 1293w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p><strong>Rocket 3</strong></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrmPdJhbxcA&amp;index=2&amp;list=PLPC0Udeof3T707pSBU2Leey2pVN03oRUX\" target=\"_blank\">This rocket</a> was more of a challenge as its final resting place wasn’t outside where we could expect to see lots of useful landmarks, but inside an apartment building</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/xrmPdJhbxcA?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>The key with this rocket was establishing the location of the building the video was filmed in. It was first filmed when UN/OPCW inspectors visited the attack sites in Damascus, and by establishing which videos featured the same inspectors it was possible to find the location of the building. There was a lot of footage of the inspectors at work, so we examined the footage filmed showing the inspectors examining the rocket, and compared it to footage filmed outside buildings on the same day. Only one group of videos filmed outside buildings matched, and we were able to make out the following three individuals present both at the inspection site and outside one building</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OPCW3\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-728\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"716\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW3-1200x716.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW3-1200x716.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW3-300x179.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW3.jpg 1229w\" width=\"1200\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OPCW2\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-729\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"892\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 566px) 100vw, 566px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW2.jpg 566w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW2-190x300.jpg 190w\" width=\"566\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OPCW1\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-730\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1081\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW1.jpg\" width=\"652\"/></div></p>\n<p>Next was finding the location of the building. There wasn’t too much to go on in the video, but thanks to the <a href=\"http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/\" target=\"_blank\">VDC</a> and local co-ordination committee we had a number of locations they claimed were impact sites that could be used to direct our investigation. After examining several location, it became apparent this was the site visible in the video</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"positions\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-732\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1155px) 100vw, 1155px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/positions1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/positions1.jpg 1155w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/positions1-300x129.jpg 300w\" width=\"1155\"/></div></p>\n<p>Marked in the above image are three structures that helped verify the video. In red we have a building site that’s visible when the inspectors leave the building</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OPCW4\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-733\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"657\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW4-1200x657.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW4-1200x657.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW4-300x164.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW4.jpg 1493w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>In green, a building with a distinct layout of windows visible in the satellite map imagery</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OCPW5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-734\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"818\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OCPW5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OCPW5.jpg 1152w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OCPW5-300x213.jpg 300w\" width=\"1152\"/></div></p>\n<p>To the south, marked in blue, two apartment buildings</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"OPCW6\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-735\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW6-1200x621.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW6-1200x621.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW6-300x155.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/OPCW6.jpg 1577w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>For these apartment buildings we had to go back to historical imagery, which gave us several views of the building</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"IMAGE-3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-736\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"889\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/IMAGE-3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/IMAGE-3.jpg 543w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/IMAGE-3-183x300.jpg 183w\" width=\"543\"/></div></p>\n<p>In the top left image it’s possible to count the windows, four rows on one, two rows on the other, just as it is in the video. Based on having established the location it appears the inspectors are coming out of the building to the north of the building marked by the VDC and LCC, so it seems likely this was the building hit by the attack.</p>\n<p>This demonstrates how a variety of information can be used to establish important facts that might otherwise be impossible to establish. As I demonstrate in “<a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/news/mena/2014/07/15/identifying-government-positions-during-the-august-21st-sarin-attacks/\" target=\"_blank\">Identifying Government Positions During The August 21st Sarin Attacks</a>” this information then becomes part of a broader understanding of the attacks, giving us a clearer understanding of where the attacks could have originated from.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nFollowing the August 21st 2013 Sarin attacks in Damascus a number of images were posted online showing the remains of the rockets used in the attack, along with claims of where they had landed. For example, in\nthis video\nwe have a press conference with Zamalka local council where they show what they claim to be impact sites of the rockets\nFor those of us working to confirm as much information about the August 21st attacks it was possible to use this information to find the exact impact locations of several rockets. The process for identifying the impact locations for each rocket provides great examples of the variety of tools and techniques that an investigator can use when attempt to find specific locations with open source information.\nRocket 1\nA number of\nvideos\nand\nphotographs\nwere posted of one rocket in particular, marked with “197”, an example of which can be seen below\nIt was clear the rocket was in a field next to some apartment buildings, with no roads visible, and we had a rough idea where the rockets had landed (at least according to the local co-ordination committee). A number of people started searching satellite map imagery for potential locations, and it appeared there were very few locations in the area that could have been a possible match. It can be extremely useful to have multiple people searching for the same location to quickly identify possible areas to examine. Often, once I’ve established a general area for a search, I’ll simply asking my followers on Twitter if they can find any potential spots, and generally I’ll receive several suggestions which can each be quickly investigated.\nThe best match that was found in this instance was a field next to some apartment buildings near the reported impact sites\nIt was then a case of examining the images we had to see if it was a good fit. For example, the below picture helped establish the position of the rocket in relation to the apartment building, which we could then use to establish the direction other images were taken\nIn the above satellite image I drew what I believed the line of sight was behind the building, and although only a small area was visible it did confirm there was nothing to the side of the building. It’s important to remember you’re not only looking for what should be there, but also what shouldn’t be there.\nThis next image was an awkward angle, but it did give a clear view of buildings that were to the north, behind the building closest to the rocket.\nHere it was possible to count the windows on the building at point 2 on both the satellite map and in the image, and the void to the right of the building was also a match in both the satellite map and image. It was even possible to see the tops of some trees in the photograph that were visible in the satellite map.\nThis image shows the view to the north, but slightly to the right of the above image.\nHere it’s possible to count the windows at point 2, and even make out the balcony on the corner of the building on the satellite map imagery.\nFurther images\nto the east and west also show features that match, which allows us to confirm the position this rocket was recorded at. Based on the position of the rocket it appears the rocket would have likely come from the north.\nRocket 2\nIn this example we had one crucial piece of information, GPS data, that was sent to us by the person who filmed the following footage, originally broadcast by ITN\nThe above video is made up from several clips filmed in different locations, and in this example we’re looking at one impact location, shown in the below clip\nIn the above clip we have views of the location in opposite directions. The GPS information provided was not entirely accurate, and it’s always worth keeping in mind GPS information provided in these circumstances might not always be 100% reliable for a number of reasons. The GPS co-ordinated pointed to the area below\nIt wasn’t immediately obvious if a wall was present in this image, but using Google Earth historical imagery it was possible to find an earlier image where shadows were being cast by the structures in the area (more details on using Google Earth historical imagery\nhere\n)\nHere it’s possible to make out the shadow cast by the wall, as well as the shadows of the surrounding buildings. The longer the shadows, the taller the structure, so we can see here the buildings surrounding the wall are much taller, something that’s visible in the videos.\nIt also appears that in the above images the building to the left of the wall is jutting out into the road. In fact, in the video we can just make out that the upper floor juts out over the lower floor\nWe can also see the buildings to the south of that building, across the road, are not parallel with the road, something visible on satellite map imagery\nThe view east is also visible in the video\nThe below image shows the approximate field of view visible in the video, with a large building visible to the east\nUsing historical imagery it’s possible to find an image that shows the west side of the building, allowing up to count the number of windows and their position on the building in both the video and the satellite map imagery\nIt’s also interesting to note the rocket appears to have passed through a wall just before impact, suggesting it would have come from the northwest, although there’s a possibility it hit the building to the west of the wall before its final impact, so it would be difficult to be sure exactly where it came from. This rocket is located around 600m north-east of Rocket 1\nRocket 3\nThis rocket\nwas more of a challenge as its final resting place wasn’t outside where we could expect to see lots of useful landmarks, but inside an apartment building\nThe key with this rocket was establishing the location of the building the video was filmed in. It was first filmed when UN/OPCW inspectors visited the attack sites in Damascus, and by establishing which videos featured the same inspectors it was possible to find the location of the building. There was a lot of footage of the inspectors at work, so we examined the footage filmed showing the inspectors examining the rocket, and compared it to footage filmed outside buildings on the same day. Only one group of videos filmed outside buildings matched, and we were able to make out the following three individuals present both at the inspection site and outside one building\nNext was finding the location of the building. There wasn’t too much to go on in the video, but thanks to the\nVDC\nand local co-ordination committee we had a number of locations they claimed were impact sites that could be used to direct our investigation. After examining several location, it became apparent this was the site visible in the video\nMarked in the above image are three structures that helped verify the video. In red we have a building site that’s visible when the inspectors leave the building\nIn green, a building with a distinct layout of windows visible in the satellite map imagery\nTo the south, marked in blue, two apartment buildings\nFor these apartment buildings we had to go back to historical imagery, which gave us several views of the building\nIn the top left image it’s possible to count the windows, four rows on one, two rows on the other, just as it is in the video. Based on having established the location it appears the inspectors are coming out of the building to the north of the building marked by the VDC and LCC, so it seems likely this was the building hit by the attack.\nThis demonstrates how a variety of information can be used to establish important facts that might otherwise be impossible to establish. As I demonstrate in “\nIdentifying Government Positions During The August 21st Sarin Attacks\n” this information then becomes part of a broader understanding of the attacks, giving us a clearer understanding of where the attacks could have originated from.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-08-15_how-to-locate-a-secret-pro-russian-training-camp.json

@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+{
+  "slug": "how-to-locate-a-secret-pro-russian-training-camp",
+  "title": "How to Locate a “Secret” Pro-Russian Training Camp",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/08/15/how-to-locate-a-secret-pro-russian-training-camp/",
+  "date": "2014-08-15T14:38:02+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-08-22T12:52:04+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Sometimes when geolocating events we can’t rely solely on imagery from sites like Google Earth and Yandex Maps, but instead, we have to utilize several tools and combine multiple sources to come up with an accurate location and complete assessment. In late May, BBC published a YouTube Video titled “Secret training base for Ukraine’s […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2014/08/15/how-to-locate-a-secret-pro-russian-training-camp/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Sometimes when geolocating events we can’t rely solely on imagery from sites like Google Earth and Yandex Maps, but instead, we have to utilize several tools and combine multiple sources to come up with an accurate location and complete assessment.</p>\n<p>In late May, BBC published a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=plclJv-V2Z0\">YouTube Video</a> titled “Secret training base for Ukraine’s militias”.  The video highlighted a secret militia camp used to train over 100 new recruits seeking to join the fight in eastern Ukraine.  The video was obviously created in such a way as to not give away its location and lucky for us, giving open source investigators a decent challenge</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-790\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"423\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/21.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/21.jpg 708w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/21-300x179.jpg 300w\" width=\"708\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-791\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"441\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/11.jpg 792w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/11-300x167.jpg 300w\" width=\"792\"/></div></p>\n<p>The first step to geolocating a location from a video is always to gather as much information about the location to help narrow our search.   As we go through this particular video, we can conclude three major points about the location that will get us started in right direction.</p>\n<p>1) The camp is most likely near the city of Luhans’k. In this screenshot, we can see recent graduates from the camp standing in a formation in front of the Luhans’k SBU building.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-792\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"405\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/31.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/31.jpg 734w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/31-300x165.jpg 300w\" width=\"734\"/></div></p>\n<p>2) Its close enough to the water to allow the rebels to go for a refreshing dip between intense training sessions.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-793\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"374\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/41.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/41.jpg 674w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/41-300x166.jpg 300w\" width=\"674\"/></div></p>\n<p>3) Based off the colouring and condition of the shacks in the video, the camp may be located at an old camping ground or children’s camp.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-794\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"395\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/51.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/51.jpg 705w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/51-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"705\"/></div></p>\n<p>In order to begin our search for a Luhans’k waterfront camping ground we turn to a <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/\">Wikimapia.org</a>, an open-content collaborative mapping tool which allows users to mark locations on a map similar to the way they would add information into a Wikipedia page.  Wikimapia gives us the option to search for certain categories such as military bases, schools, hospitals, and yes… even campsites.</p>\n<p>Here is a screen shot of the map with the ‘campsite’ category selected.  You can see that we there is a handful of marked locations that are near water.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-795\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"558\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/61.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/61.jpg 573w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/61-300x292.jpg 300w\" width=\"573\"/></div></p>\n<p>Now we can go through each location to see if we can either find a match.  Here is a campsite right along the water, but it doesn’t have a dock which should be visible in satellite imagery.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-796\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"530\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/71.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/71.jpg 726w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/71-300x219.jpg 300w\" width=\"726\"/></div></p>\n<p>The same is true with this one…</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-797\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"657\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/81.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/81.jpg 708w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/81-300x278.jpg 300w\" width=\"708\"/></div></p>\n<p>And then there’s this one, “Campsite Yaseny”, located approximately 800 meters from the Russian border. Not only does the location make sense, but you can even see a dock in the water the same shape and size as the one in the video. But due to the lack of recent satellite imagery and tree cover, we cannot verify the location using only imagery.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"9\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-798\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"490\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/9.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/9.jpg 779w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/9-300x188.jpg 300w\" width=\"779\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"10\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-799\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1000\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/10-1200x1000.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/10-1200x1000.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/10-300x250.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/10.jpg 1387w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"11\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-800\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"459\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1073px) 100vw, 1073px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/111.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/111.jpg 1073w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/111-300x128.jpg 300w\" width=\"1073\"/></div></p>\n<p>Wikimapia provides users with the ability to add details about the location they created.  At this particular location, a user added a note implying the campsite may be the venue for a music festival.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"12\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-801\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"478\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/121.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/121.jpg 335w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/121-210x300.jpg 210w\" width=\"335\"/></div></p>\n<p>Here is the text Google translated into English.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"13\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-802\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"141\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/13.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/13.jpg 756w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/13-300x55.jpg 300w\" width=\"756\"/></div></p>\n<p>The user also added a website into the details: venichkina.narod.ru.  Let’s investigate further.  This is a screen shot from the home page of the website provided… The title of the page Google translates into”Venichkina Rainbow 2010 held!” From this information we can gather than a music festival may have been held at this campsite in 2010.  Lucky for us, we can assume there are pictures somewhere on the World Wide Web that may allow us to confirm our location.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"14\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-803\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"394\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/14.jpg 636w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/14-300x185.jpg 300w\" width=\"636\"/></div></p>\n<p>We can also assume that someone may post the pictures on the Russian social media site, VKontakte.  So we turn to our trusty friend Google and search for “Веничкина радуга vk.com”.  Most of the time you will get better results by searching in the target language than you would if you search in English. Anyway, here are the results.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"15\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-804\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"412\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/15.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/15.jpg 727w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/15-300x170.jpg 300w\" width=\"727\"/></div></p>\n<p>It doesn’t take long to see that the first result is exactly what we were looking for.  This VK page seems to be the music festival’s community page where attendees discuss future/pass festivals and of course, post photos.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"16\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-805\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"352\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 835px) 100vw, 835px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/16.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/16.jpg 835w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/16-300x126.jpg 300w\" width=\"835\"/></div></p>\n<p>Now we can view the page’s photo albums and see there are several mentioning the festival in 2010.  Let’s take a look and see if any help us verify our location.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"17\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-806\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"712\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/17.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/17.jpg 698w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/17-294x300.jpg 294w\" width=\"698\"/></div></p>\n<p>And there it is.  Same paint scheme on the outside.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"19\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-807\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"461\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 823px) 100vw, 823px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/19.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/19.jpg 823w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/19-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"823\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"18\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-808\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"408\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 725px) 100vw, 725px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/18.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/18.jpg 725w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/18-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"725\"/></div></p>\n<p>Same paint scheme on the inside.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"21\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-809\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"389\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/211.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/211.jpg 701w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/211-300x166.jpg 300w\" width=\"701\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"20\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-810\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"362\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/20.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/20.jpg 672w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/20-300x161.jpg 300w\" width=\"672\"/></div></p>\n<p>Same three buildings from a different angle.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"23\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-811\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"470\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/23.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/23.jpg 853w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/23-300x165.jpg 300w\" width=\"853\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"22\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-812\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"416\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/22.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/22.jpg 794w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/22-300x157.jpg 300w\" width=\"794\"/></div></p>\n<p>And then there’s the dock that lead us to this location.  I’d say we’ve confirmed the location!</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"25\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-813\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"435\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 785px) 100vw, 785px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/25.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/25.jpg 785w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/25-300x166.jpg 300w\" width=\"785\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"24\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-814\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"452\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 887px) 100vw, 887px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/24.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/24.jpg 887w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/24-300x152.jpg 300w\" width=\"887\"/></div></p>\n<p>Even though we don’t always have clear satellite imagery, Streetview, Panoramio photos, or may be looking for a campsite deep in the forest along the Russian border, it is in fact possible to find by combining multiple tools and techniques learned here at Bellingcat.</p>\n<p><strong>Extra:</strong></p>\n<p>Here is another <a href=\"http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=228_1402147264\">video</a> posted in June showing heavy weapons training at the same training camp… Just 800 meters from the Russian border.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"29\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-815\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"371\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/29.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/29.jpg 759w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/29-300x146.jpg 300w\" width=\"759\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"28\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-816\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"384\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/28.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/28.jpg 759w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/28-300x151.jpg 300w\" width=\"759\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"27\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-817\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"382\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/27.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/27.jpg 710w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/27-300x161.jpg 300w\" width=\"710\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"26\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-818\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"426\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/26.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/26.jpg 791w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/26-300x161.jpg 300w\" width=\"791\"/></div></p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nSometimes when geolocating events we can’t rely solely on imagery from sites like Google Earth and Yandex Maps, but instead, we have to utilize several tools and combine multiple sources to come up with an accurate location and complete assessment.\nIn late May, BBC published a\nYouTube Video\ntitled “Secret training base for Ukraine’s militias”. The video highlighted a secret militia camp used to train over 100 new recruits seeking to join the fight in eastern Ukraine. The video was obviously created in such a way as to not give away its location and lucky for us, giving open source investigators a decent challenge\nThe first step to geolocating a location from a video is always to gather as much information about the location to help narrow our search. As we go through this particular video, we can conclude three major points about the location that will get us started in right direction.\n1) The camp is most likely near the city of Luhans’k. In this screenshot, we can see recent graduates from the camp standing in a formation in front of the Luhans’k SBU building.\n2) Its close enough to the water to allow the rebels to go for a refreshing dip between intense training sessions.\n3) Based off the colouring and condition of the shacks in the video, the camp may be located at an old camping ground or children’s camp.\nIn order to begin our search for a Luhans’k waterfront camping ground we turn to a\nWikimapia.org\n, an open-content collaborative mapping tool which allows users to mark locations on a map similar to the way they would add information into a Wikipedia page. Wikimapia gives us the option to search for certain categories such as military bases, schools, hospitals, and yes… even campsites.\nHere is a screen shot of the map with the ‘campsite’ category selected. You can see that we there is a handful of marked locations that are near water.\nNow we can go through each location to see if we can either find a match. Here is a campsite right along the water, but it doesn’t have a dock which should be visible in satellite imagery.\nThe same is true with this one…\nAnd then there’s this one, “Campsite Yaseny”, located approximately 800 meters from the Russian border. Not only does the location make sense, but you can even see a dock in the water the same shape and size as the one in the video. But due to the lack of recent satellite imagery and tree cover, we cannot verify the location using only imagery.\nWikimapia provides users with the ability to add details about the location they created. At this particular location, a user added a note implying the campsite may be the venue for a music festival.\nHere is the text Google translated into English.\nThe user also added a website into the details: venichkina.narod.ru. Let’s investigate further. This is a screen shot from the home page of the website provided… The title of the page Google translates into”Venichkina Rainbow 2010 held!” From this information we can gather than a music festival may have been held at this campsite in 2010. Lucky for us, we can assume there are pictures somewhere on the World Wide Web that may allow us to confirm our location.\nWe can also assume that someone may post the pictures on the Russian social media site, VKontakte. So we turn to our trusty friend Google and search for “Веничкина радуга vk.com”. Most of the time you will get better results by searching in the target language than you would if you search in English. Anyway, here are the results.\nIt doesn’t take long to see that the first result is exactly what we were looking for. This VK page seems to be the music festival’s community page where attendees discuss future/pass festivals and of course, post photos.\nNow we can view the page’s photo albums and see there are several mentioning the festival in 2010. Let’s take a look and see if any help us verify our location.\nAnd there it is. Same paint scheme on the outside.\nSame paint scheme on the inside.\nSame three buildings from a different angle.\nAnd then there’s the dock that lead us to this location. I’d say we’ve confirmed the location!\nEven though we don’t always have clear satellite imagery, Streetview, Panoramio photos, or may be looking for a campsite deep in the forest along the Russian border, it is in fact possible to find by combining multiple tools and techniques learned here at Bellingcat.\nExtra:\nHere is another\nvideo\nposted in June showing heavy weapons training at the same training camp… Just 800 meters from the Russian border.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-08-23_the-hills-of-raqqa-geolocating-the-james-foley-video.json

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+{
+  "slug": "the-hills-of-raqqa-geolocating-the-james-foley-video",
+  "title": "The Hills of Raqqa - Geolocating the James Foley Video",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/08/23/the-hills-of-raqqa-geolocating-the-james-foley-video/",
+  "date": "2014-08-23T16:46:26+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-09-03T16:58:30+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Earlier this week the Guardian reported on claims made by hostages held by the Islamic State, identifying the speaker in the James Foley video as being an Islamic State member based in Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold in north-central Syria. Based on that claim, and information in the James Foley video it’s possible to narrow down the […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/08/23/the-hills-of-raqqa-geolocating-the-james-foley-video/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Earlier this week <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/20/isis-militant-islamic-state-james-foley-guards-british\" target=\"_blank\">the Guardian reported</a> on claims made by hostages held by the Islamic State, identifying the speaker in <a href=\"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28867627\" target=\"_blank\">the James Foley video</a> as being an Islamic State member based in <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar-Raqqah\" target=\"_blank\">Raqqa</a>, an Islamic State stronghold in north-central Syria. Based on that claim, and information in the James Foley video it’s possible to narrow down the location the video was filmed at.</p>\n<p>In the video there’s not a great deal of information, however, it is possible to determine some information from the images.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Angle 5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-889\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"722\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1302px) 100vw, 1302px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Angle-5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Angle-5.jpg 1302w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Angle-5-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Angle-5-1200x665.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1302\"/></div></p>\n<p>It appears to be a hilly area, with barely any plants or grass, and in the distance we can see a green plain below the hills. In the below map we can see <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.930000&amp;lon=39.020000&amp;z=13&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">Raqqa</a>, surrounded by green plains, with hills to the south</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Sat map Raqqa\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-890\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"680\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1108px) 100vw, 1108px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Sat-map-Raqqa.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Sat-map-Raqqa.jpg 1108w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Sat-map-Raqqa-300x184.jpg 300w\" width=\"1108\"/></div></p>\n<p>The position of the shadows in the video suggest this was filmed in the morning, with the camera pointing northwards. Based on that it seems reasonable to search the hills to the south of Raqqa for a possible location. But what details are available in the video to match to the featureless terrain in the area?</p>\n<p>It appears the video was filmed on an area of raised ground, with the edge of the raised area circled in red in the below image.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Raised 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-891\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-1.jpg 990w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-1-300x110.jpg 300w\" width=\"990\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Raised 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-892\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"428\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-2.jpg 585w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-2-300x219.jpg 300w\" width=\"585\"/></div></p>\n<p>Also visible is the edge of a track, circled in green, leading to a break in the rocks, circled in purple, which is also visible in this picture.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Raised 3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-893\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"308\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-3.jpg 297w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-3-289x300.jpg 289w\" width=\"297\"/></div></p>\n<p>In this image, filmed face on to James Foley, the break in the rocks is visible on the left, with another small break in the rocks visible on the right.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Break 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-894\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"722\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1302px) 100vw, 1302px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-1.jpg 1302w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-1-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-1-1200x665.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1302\"/></div></p>\n<p>It also appears that in the distance there’s no obvious structures beyond what may be trees or small individual buildings.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Break 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-895\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"509\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-2.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Break-2-300x254.jpg 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p>After examining the hill in the area, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.882190&amp;lon=39.036170&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">I believe this is a likely match for what’s visible in the video</a>.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Location 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-896\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"620\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-1.jpg 868w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-1-300x214.jpg 300w\" width=\"868\"/></div></p>\n<p>The below images show the track entrance to the area, and you can see in the satellite map images the rock outcrop would be partly covering the entryway, as it does in the video.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Jut 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-898\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"357\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-1.jpg 1244w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-1-300x86.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-1-1200x344.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1244\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Jut 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-899\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"452\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1108px) 100vw, 1108px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-2.jpg 1108w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-2-300x122.jpg 300w\" width=\"1108\"/></div></p>\n<p>Also visible on the satellite map imagery is the raised area the video is filmed on.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Outcrop\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-900\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"556\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Outcrop.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Outcrop.jpg 1800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Outcrop-300x92.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Outcrop-1200x370.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1800\"/></div></p>\n<p>Based on that information it appears these are the approximate positions of what we can see in the video.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Location 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-897\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"472\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 429px) 100vw, 429px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-2.jpg 429w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-2-272x300.jpg 272w\" width=\"429\"/></div></p>\n<p>When the camera is positioned to the right it appears trees are visible in the distance that are a possible match to the trees on the road to the north-west. It’s also worth noting buildings or other structures are not visible on the satellite map or on the video.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Background 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-904\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"409\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-1.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-1-300x204.jpg 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Background 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-905\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"668\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-2.jpg 1240w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-2-300x161.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-2-1200x646.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1240\"/></div></p>\n<p>In the below images we see the view north, through the break in the hillside.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Background 3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-901\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-3.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-3-300x224.jpg 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Background 4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-902\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-4.jpg 674w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-4-300x284.jpg 300w\" width=\"674\"/></div></p>\n<p>Again, we see very little beyond fields, and the occasional tree or structure. For example, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.892738&amp;lon=39.035679&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">this tree</a> is roughly 1km directly north of the camera.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Background 5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-903\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"537\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-5.jpg 621w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-5-300x259.jpg 300w\" width=\"621\"/></div></p>\n<p>Having reviewed locations along the hills south of Raqqa this appears to be the only location which fits what little information is available in the video. Along the hills this appears to be the most isolated spot with any sort of road access, with most other areas with road access appearing to have structures that would be visible in the video. Based on all available information we can say that at the very minimum the James Foley video was filmed in the hills south of Raqqa, and likely at the location shown above, supporting the claims made in the Guardian that Raqqa is the possible location of the remaining hostages.</p>\n<p><b>Update </b>ISSE Net has produced <a href=\"http://www.issenet.org/jamesfoleylocation_part1/\" target=\"_blank\">this interesting counter-argument</a> to the above location being the site of the James Foley execution.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nEarlier this week\nthe Guardian reported\non claims made by hostages held by the Islamic State, identifying the speaker in\nthe James Foley video\nas being an Islamic State member based in\nRaqqa\n, an Islamic State stronghold in north-central Syria. Based on that claim, and information in the James Foley video it’s possible to narrow down the location the video was filmed at.\nIn the video there’s not a great deal of information, however, it is possible to determine some information from the images.\nIt appears to be a hilly area, with barely any plants or grass, and in the distance we can see a green plain below the hills. In the below map we can see\nRaqqa\n, surrounded by green plains, with hills to the south\nThe position of the shadows in the video suggest this was filmed in the morning, with the camera pointing northwards. Based on that it seems reasonable to search the hills to the south of Raqqa for a possible location. But what details are available in the video to match to the featureless terrain in the area?\nIt appears the video was filmed on an area of raised ground, with the edge of the raised area circled in red in the below image.\nAlso visible is the edge of a track, circled in green, leading to a break in the rocks, circled in purple, which is also visible in this picture.\nIn this image, filmed face on to James Foley, the break in the rocks is visible on the left, with another small break in the rocks visible on the right.\nIt also appears that in the distance there’s no obvious structures beyond what may be trees or small individual buildings.\nAfter examining the hill in the area,\nI believe this is a likely match for what’s visible in the video\n.\nThe below images show the track entrance to the area, and you can see in the satellite map images the rock outcrop would be partly covering the entryway, as it does in the video.\nAlso visible on the satellite map imagery is the raised area the video is filmed on.\nBased on that information it appears these are the approximate positions of what we can see in the video.\nWhen the camera is positioned to the right it appears trees are visible in the distance that are a possible match to the trees on the road to the north-west. It’s also worth noting buildings or other structures are not visible on the satellite map or on the video.\nIn the below images we see the view north, through the break in the hillside.\nAgain, we see very little beyond fields, and the occasional tree or structure. For example,\nthis tree\nis roughly 1km directly north of the camera.\nHaving reviewed locations along the hills south of Raqqa this appears to be the only location which fits what little information is available in the video. Along the hills this appears to be the most isolated spot with any sort of road access, with most other areas with road access appearing to have structures that would be visible in the video. Based on all available information we can say that at the very minimum the James Foley video was filmed in the hills south of Raqqa, and likely at the location shown above, supporting the claims made in the Guardian that Raqqa is the possible location of the remaining hostages.\nUpdate\nISSE Net has produced\nthis interesting counter-argument\nto the above location being the site of the James Foley execution.",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Angle-5.jpg",
+      "alt": "Angle 5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Sat-map-Raqqa.jpg",
+      "alt": "Sat map Raqqa",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "Raised 1",
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+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-2.jpg",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Raised-3.jpg",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-1.jpg",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Jut-1.jpg",
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+      "alt": "Outcrop",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Location-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "Location 2",
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+    },
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "Background 1",
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+      "alt": "Background 2",
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+    },
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+      "alt": "Background 3",
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+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-4.jpg",
+      "alt": "Background 4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/08/Background-5.jpg",
+      "alt": "Background 5",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-09-29_geolocating-the-mh17-buk-convoy-in-russia.json

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-the-mh17-buk-convoy-in-russia",
+  "title": "Geolocating the MH17 Buk Convoy in Russia",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/09/29/geolocating-the-mh17-buk-convoy-in-russia/",
+  "date": "2014-09-29T10:34:52+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-09-29T11:08:23+00:00",
+  "author": "Veli-Pekka Kivimäki",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Over the last few weeks Bellingcat has been examining footage of a Buk missile launcher filmed inside Russia that matches the Buk missile launcher linked to the down of MH17. The movements of the Buk launcher unit linked to the downing of MH17 were previously examined on Bellingcat, and the reporting relied on several […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/09/29/geolocating-the-mh17-buk-convoy-in-russia/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Over the last few weeks Bellingcat <a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2014/09/08/images-show-the-buk-that-downed-flight-mh17-inside-russia-controlled-by-russian-troops/\" target=\"_blank\">has been examining footage</a> of a Buk missile launcher filmed inside Russia that matches the Buk missile launcher linked to the down of MH17. The movements of the Buk launcher unit linked to the downing of MH17 were previously examined on Bellingcat, and the reporting relied on several videos of a convoy moving through Belgorod oblast in Russia. Further analysis of the videos yields information which can be used to accurately locate where the videos were filmed.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://instagram.com/p/pmHfidCSJU/\">The first video examined was one posted on Instagram</a>, with the location tagged as Neznamovo (Незнамово), south of Stary Oskol and uploaded on June 23rd. First observation upon watching the video is that at the beginning of it the vehicles of the convoy are on a road slightly elevated compared to the vehicles where the video was filmed from, sloping downwards as the clip progresses and finally merging with the main road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/16.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1185\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"385\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/16.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/16.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/16-300x96.jpg 300w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Towards the end of the video, an important clue is revealed: the sign with the letters ‘ОГК’ and ‘АГЗС’, the latter being a Russian shorthand for a gas station. Searching for these terms quickly yields results to the proximity Stary Oskol and Neznamovo, and a <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/17620858/ru/%D0%90%D0%93%D0%97%D0%A1-%D0%9E%D0%93%D0%9A\">Wikimapia link</a> gives us a location where the area features (roads, road markings, buildings) are a strong match to the video. The elevated stretch of the road is an on-ramp to road P-188 heading south. Street View being available for this location, the site can be confirmed with confidence. [Coordinates: 51.233946, 37.940584]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1186\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"734\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1397px) 100vw, 1397px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2.jpg 1397w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2-300x157.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2-1200x630.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1397\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://vk.com/video135321380_169811617?list=03e8088fdba765b187\">The second video referenced was posted to VK</a> on the morning of June 24<sup>th</sup>, said to show the convoy in Alexeyevka (Алексеевка), also referencing ‘Magnit’, a major Russian supermarket chain. This narrows down the search area, and section of the road where the trucks are turning give a good reference point to look for in satellite images. A Yandex map search for “Алексеевка Магнит” for gives list of seven locations, one of which is next to a section of road which resembles the area where the trucks can be seen turning.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/31.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1187\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"521\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/31.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/31.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/31-300x130.jpg 300w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>A closer look confirms this location as a strong candidate, as buildings opposite to the reported Magnit location seem like they could match what was shown on the video. Checking Google Maps reveals Street View is available at this location, making verification easy: the location is identical to what can be seen on the video. [Coordinates: 50.624196, 38.649911]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/41.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1188\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"783\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1032px) 100vw, 1032px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/41.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/41.jpg 1032w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/41-300x227.jpg 300w\" width=\"1032\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://youtu.be/i2MNraWgubs\">A third video</a>, reportedly from Stary Oskol, seems to have been filmed at dusk or dawn. <a href=\"https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/i2MNraWgubs?v=2\">Viewing the metadata for the video</a> reveals the upload time to be 04:16 ‘Zulu time’, another term used for Coordinated Universal Time, a.k.a. UTC. During the summer months Ukraine is on daylight savings time, meaning the time difference to UTC is +3 hours, so the local upload time of the video has been 07:16 in the morning of June 24<sup>th</sup>. The video alone provides a few clues about the shooting location, but it’s useful to first look at the other videos to narrow down the search area.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://youtu.be/aLtzYEHolmg\">Video number four</a> shows the convoy of vehicles during the daytime, reportedly at Krasnensky district of Belgorod oblast. The scenery in the video appears to show countryside with scarce buildings, but it does offer some details for analysis. First, there are fairly long stretches of straight road, with a curve at around 1 minute into the video. Near the curve, a pair of bus stops is visible, as well as an intersection and a tall structure to the right. Two minutes in, two large structures are visible to the right of the road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/52.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1189\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"359\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/52.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/52.jpg 843w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/52-300x127.jpg 300w\" width=\"843\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1190\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"566\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/6.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/6-300x141.jpg 300w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As the Krasnensky district presents a fairly large search area, the road shape gives a good starting point for narrowing the possibilities down. Looking at the main roadways of the area, a stretch of road near Raskhovets (Расховец) appears to be a possible match. Overview satellite imagery also shows two large structures along the road, and zooming in on the satellite imagery of this area reveals two promising details: a pair of bus stops near an intersection, as well as a tall structure casting a long shadow. As there’s Street View images available of the location, these findings can be verified, and the location definitely matches the video. [Coordinates: 50.902533, 38.458406]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1191\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"577\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1765px) 100vw, 1765px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71.jpg 1765w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71-300x98.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71-1200x392.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1765\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://youtu.be/i2MNraWgubs\">As the third video</a>’s upload time was morning on June 24<sup>th</sup>, it likely was shot sometime between the Neznamovo and Raskhovets videos. With the knowledge of the shooting location of the previous videos, it’s possible to make estimations of the routes the convoy may have taken between Neznamovo and Raskhovets.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/81.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1192\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"607\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/81.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/81.jpg 713w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/81-300x255.jpg 300w\" width=\"713\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>One such suggested route goes through the village of Gorodishche (Городище) in the Starooskolsky district. In the video, some small buildings are visible on both sides of the road, mixed together with trees. Gorodishche matched this description, warranting a further look.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/91.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"9\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1193\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"518\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 898px) 100vw, 898px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/91.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/91.jpg 898w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/91-300x173.jpg 300w\" width=\"898\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Fortunately, this route is covered by Street View, so a virtual drive-through of the village is possible. One unique feature clearly visible at the beginning of the video is an arch on the building next to where the video was shot, and scrolling through the Street View images, on the east side of the village a building can be found with arches similar to the video. A closer look at the site confirms this to very likely be the shooting location of the video: the fence and buildings on the opposite side of the road match the video, the intersection briefly visible can be seen, and from the frames where the camera is pointing towards the convoy, a nearby church’s dome is visible, with the buildings and treeline also matching the video. [Coordinates: 51.137286, 38.064599]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/101.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"10\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1194\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"985\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 951px) 100vw, 951px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/101.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/101.jpg 951w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/101-289x300.jpg 289w\" width=\"951\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/111.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"11\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1195\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"887\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 949px) 100vw, 949px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/111.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/111.jpg 949w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/111-300x280.jpg 300w\" width=\"949\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>While not referenced in the published article, Magnitsky had located <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryTmwvgfXXs\">another video of the same convoy</a>, again from Stary Oskol. The video is fairly short and shaky with lots of panning, but the units are clearly identifiable. With the footage, it was possible to create a rudimentary panorama to get a better sense of the overall area where the video was filmed.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/121.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"12\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1196\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"401\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/121.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/121.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/121-300x100.jpg 300w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From the footage, a few key details stood out: on the very left of the scene, rails and cables are visible. This seemed to indicate the footage might have been filmed near a light rail or tram station. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_town_tramway_systems_in_Russia\">English Wikipedia confirmed</a> that there was one operating in the city, and <a href=\"https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B9\">Russian Wikipedia provided more details</a> on this. It became apparent the Stary Oskol light rail operated on a single rail line, so checking the assumption would be fairly simple: find the end of the line, and follow it down to see if there are any matching locations.</p>\n<p>Following the rail line south, a location can be found on Street View where the brick wall and the building on the right appear to match the video. Further orienting the camera confirms the features match the site exactly, with the video seemingly filmed from the light rail station. [Coordinates: 51.311605, 37.897013]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/131.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"13\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1197\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"493\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1336px) 100vw, 1336px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/131.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/131.jpg 1336w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/131-300x110.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/131-1200x442.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1336\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>Exploring the city streets on Street View also gave an indication that the <a href=\"https://instagram.com/p/pmJZkzSA0s/\">Instagram image</a> of the convoy might be from along the same route. In fact, the picture can be located to approx. 1km of the previous video, based on the red apartment building and pavement features. The picture appears to have been taken from the Eldorado store parking lot. [Coordinates: 51.323770, 37.882489]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/141.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"14\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1198\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"412\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/141.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/141.jpg 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/141-300x120.jpg 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Further searches for additional material from the same dates has uncovered <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TIVzgj7884\">another video from Kursk</a>, reportedly from June 23<sup>rd</sup>, the same date the convoy had been filmed passing through Stary Oskol. The dashcam video is of poor quality and many details are not visible, but composition of the convoy gives a strong indication this may indeed be the same one. In fact, compared to the convoy seen near Raskhovets, the first 16 vehicles seem to be in the same order.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/151.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"15\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1199\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"738\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/151.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/151.jpg 608w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/151-247x300.jpg 247w\" width=\"608\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>To locate this video, there are a few clues: reported location (Kursk), treelines on both sides of the road, a large blue sign on the side of the road, a crosswalk and a small reddish object on road’s wide shoulder on the right. From overhead satellite imagery, it can be seen that the road A144 on the east side of Kursk is lined by trees, and zooming in on this area further reveals crosswalks on this road. One section of this road has a wide shoulder near an intersection, and having a look with Street View again reveals matching details: a wide shoulder as in the video with a dark orange colored bus stop and a crosswalk next to it, and looking in the opposite direction a big blue sign on the side of the road. [Coordinates: 51.722592, 36.336530]</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/161.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"16\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1200\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"722\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/161.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/161.jpg 969w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/161-300x223.jpg 300w\" width=\"969\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Putting all these data points together we can plot these points on a map, which would fit on a possible route from Kursk to Alexeevka. Compared to the shortest routing suggested by Google, only one manual adjustment to the route has been made in Stary Oskol, which adds 1km to the route, but avoids smaller roads and turns. The green markers show the locations at which the BUK unit had been filmed as part of the convoy, and the yellow markers show where other vehicles of the same convoy were filmed.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/17.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"17\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1201\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"773\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1053px) 100vw, 1053px\" src=\"https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/17.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/17.jpg 1053w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/17-300x220.jpg 300w\" width=\"1053\"/></div></a></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nOver the last few weeks Bellingcat\nhas been examining footage\nof a Buk missile launcher filmed inside Russia that matches the Buk missile launcher linked to the down of MH17. The movements of the Buk launcher unit linked to the downing of MH17 were previously examined on Bellingcat, and the reporting relied on several videos of a convoy moving through Belgorod oblast in Russia. Further analysis of the videos yields information which can be used to accurately locate where the videos were filmed.\nThe first video examined was one posted on Instagram\n, with the location tagged as Neznamovo (Незнамово), south of Stary Oskol and uploaded on June 23rd. First observation upon watching the video is that at the beginning of it the vehicles of the convoy are on a road slightly elevated compared to the vehicles where the video was filmed from, sloping downwards as the clip progresses and finally merging with the main road.\nTowards the end of the video, an important clue is revealed: the sign with the letters ‘ОГК’ and ‘АГЗС’, the latter being a Russian shorthand for a gas station. Searching for these terms quickly yields results to the proximity Stary Oskol and Neznamovo, and a\nWikimapia link\ngives us a location where the area features (roads, road markings, buildings) are a strong match to the video. The elevated stretch of the road is an on-ramp to road P-188 heading south. Street View being available for this location, the site can be confirmed with confidence. [Coordinates: 51.233946, 37.940584]\nThe second video referenced was posted to VK\non the morning of June 24\nth\n, said to show the convoy in Alexeyevka (Алексеевка), also referencing ‘Magnit’, a major Russian supermarket chain. This narrows down the search area, and section of the road where the trucks are turning give a good reference point to look for in satellite images. A Yandex map search for “Алексеевка Магнит” for gives list of seven locations, one of which is next to a section of road which resembles the area where the trucks can be seen turning.\nA closer look confirms this location as a strong candidate, as buildings opposite to the reported Magnit location seem like they could match what was shown on the video. Checking Google Maps reveals Street View is available at this location, making verification easy: the location is identical to what can be seen on the video. [Coordinates: 50.624196, 38.649911]\nA third video\n, reportedly from Stary Oskol, seems to have been filmed at dusk or dawn.\nViewing the metadata for the video\nreveals the upload time to be 04:16 ‘Zulu time’, another term used for Coordinated Universal Time, a.k.a. UTC. During the summer months Ukraine is on daylight savings time, meaning the time difference to UTC is +3 hours, so the local upload time of the video has been 07:16 in the morning of June 24\nth\n. The video alone provides a few clues about the shooting location, but it’s useful to first look at the other videos to narrow down the search area.\nVideo number four\nshows the convoy of vehicles during the daytime, reportedly at Krasnensky district of Belgorod oblast. The scenery in the video appears to show countryside with scarce buildings, but it does offer some details for analysis. First, there are fairly long stretches of straight road, with a curve at around 1 minute into the video. Near the curve, a pair of bus stops is visible, as well as an intersection and a tall structure to the right. Two minutes in, two large structures are visible to the right of the road.\nAs the Krasnensky district presents a fairly large search area, the road shape gives a good starting point for narrowing the possibilities down. Looking at the main roadways of the area, a stretch of road near Raskhovets (Расховец) appears to be a possible match. Overview satellite imagery also shows two large structures along the road, and zooming in on the satellite imagery of this area reveals two promising details: a pair of bus stops near an intersection, as well as a tall structure casting a long shadow. As there’s Street View images available of the location, these findings can be verified, and the location definitely matches the video. [Coordinates: 50.902533, 38.458406]\nAs the third video\n’s upload time was morning on June 24\nth\n, it likely was shot sometime between the Neznamovo and Raskhovets videos. With the knowledge of the shooting location of the previous videos, it’s possible to make estimations of the routes the convoy may have taken between Neznamovo and Raskhovets.\nOne such suggested route goes through the village of Gorodishche (Городище) in the Starooskolsky district. In the video, some small buildings are visible on both sides of the road, mixed together with trees. Gorodishche matched this description, warranting a further look.\nFortunately, this route is covered by Street View, so a virtual drive-through of the village is possible. One unique feature clearly visible at the beginning of the video is an arch on the building next to where the video was shot, and scrolling through the Street View images, on the east side of the village a building can be found with arches similar to the video. A closer look at the site confirms this to very likely be the shooting location of the video: the fence and buildings on the opposite side of the road match the video, the intersection briefly visible can be seen, and from the frames where the camera is pointing towards the convoy, a nearby church’s dome is visible, with the buildings and treeline also matching the video. [Coordinates: 51.137286, 38.064599]\nWhile not referenced in the published article, Magnitsky had located\nanother video of the same convoy\n, again from Stary Oskol. The video is fairly short and shaky with lots of panning, but the units are clearly identifiable. With the footage, it was possible to create a rudimentary panorama to get a better sense of the overall area where the video was filmed.\nFrom the footage, a few key details stood out: on the very left of the scene, rails and cables are visible. This seemed to indicate the footage might have been filmed near a light rail or tram station.\nEnglish Wikipedia confirmed\nthat there was one operating in the city, and\nRussian Wikipedia provided more details\non this. It became apparent the Stary Oskol light rail operated on a single rail line, so checking the assumption would be fairly simple: find the end of the line, and follow it down to see if there are any matching locations.\nFollowing the rail line south, a location can be found on Street View where the brick wall and the building on the right appear to match the video. Further orienting the camera confirms the features match the site exactly, with the video seemingly filmed from the light rail station. [Coordinates: 51.311605, 37.897013]\nExploring the city streets on Street View also gave an indication that the\nInstagram image\nof the convoy might be from along the same route. In fact, the picture can be located to approx. 1km of the previous video, based on the red apartment building and pavement features. The picture appears to have been taken from the Eldorado store parking lot. [Coordinates: 51.323770, 37.882489]\nFurther searches for additional material from the same dates has uncovered\nanother video from Kursk\n, reportedly from June 23\nrd\n, the same date the convoy had been filmed passing through Stary Oskol. The dashcam video is of poor quality and many details are not visible, but composition of the convoy gives a strong indication this may indeed be the same one. In fact, compared to the convoy seen near Raskhovets, the first 16 vehicles seem to be in the same order.\nTo locate this video, there are a few clues: reported location (Kursk), treelines on both sides of the road, a large blue sign on the side of the road, a crosswalk and a small reddish object on road’s wide shoulder on the right. From overhead satellite imagery, it can be seen that the road A144 on the east side of Kursk is lined by trees, and zooming in on this area further reveals crosswalks on this road. One section of this road has a wide shoulder near an intersection, and having a look with Street View again reveals matching details: a wide shoulder as in the video with a dark orange colored bus stop and a crosswalk next to it, and looking in the opposite direction a big blue sign on the side of the road. [Coordinates: 51.722592, 36.336530]\nPutting all these data points together we can plot these points on a map, which would fit on a possible route from Kursk to Alexeevka. Compared to the shortest routing suggested by Google, only one manual adjustment to the route has been made in Stary Oskol, which adds 1km to the route, but avoids smaller roads and turns. The green markers show the locations at which the BUK unit had been filmed as part of the convoy, and the yellow markers show where other vehicles of the same convoy were filmed.",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/2.jpg",
+      "alt": "2",
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+    },
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/31.jpg",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/41.jpg",
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+    {
+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/71.jpg",
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+      "url": "https://bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/09/121.jpg",
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+    {
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+      "alt": "16",
+      "caption": ""
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+      "alt": "17",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-11-07_geolocated-july-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia.json

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocated-july-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia",
+  "title": "Geolocated July BUK convoy videos in Russia",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2014/11/07/geolocated-july-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia/",
+  "date": "2014-11-07T22:38:16+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-11-08T23:53:51+00:00",
+  "author": "Veli-Pekka Kivimäki",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)In July, movements of Buk system elements were again on the move in Russia. The Bellingcat team has discovered and analyzed 12 videos reportedly from between July 19-20. Some of the sightings of individual units have been previously discussed in relation to MH17, but they can now be placed in the greater context of […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/11/07/geolocated-july-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>In July, movements of Buk system elements were again on the move in Russia. The Bellingcat team has discovered and analyzed 12 videos reportedly from between July 19-20. Some of the sightings of individual units have been previously discussed in relation to MH17, but they can now be placed in the greater context of a military convoy’s movements. In addition, there is a newly discovered video of a unit from June’s convoy moving alone through Kamensk-Shaktinsky down a road which leads to the Russian border town of Donetsk.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http://vk.com/video24370305_169486086\">first video</a> examined has a self-reported location of “Федосе”, which can be found to refer to Федосеевка, or Fedoseevka, north of Stary Oskol. The location in the video can be found on eastbound P189, which passes through Fedoseevka.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-01-fedoseevka.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-01-fedoseevka\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1478\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"946\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 874px) 100vw, 874px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-01-fedoseevka.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-01-fedoseevka.jpg 874w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-01-fedoseevka-277x300.jpg 277w\" width=\"874\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/16467692105\">Another video</a> with the reported location of Stary Oskol can be linked to the same exact location, seemingly during the time the convoy was stopped by the side of the road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-02-fedoseevka.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-02-fedoseevka\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1479\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"650\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-02-fedoseevka.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-02-fedoseevka.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-02-fedoseevka-300x162.jpg 300w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, two screen shots from the video. Right, same landmarks on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://vk.com/video134625783_169606649\">Video number three</a> is not dashcam footage, but shot while stationary. The location provided is Stary Oskol, and based on the visible poles of the light rail power line can be narrowed down to P188 through Stary Oskol. Landmarks reveal the exact location.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-03-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-03-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1480\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"751\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-03-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-03-staryoskol.jpg 686w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-03-staryoskol-274x300.jpg 274w\" width=\"686\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/15162083871\">The fourth video</a> of the convoy is again said to be located in Stary Oskol. In this case, the video is long enough to give several landmarks, which can be used to locate the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-04-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-04-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1481\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"812\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-04-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-04-staryoskol.jpg 900w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-04-staryoskol-300x270.jpg 300w\" width=\"900\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IptBPrLvD78\">video number five</a>, we see the reported location as Stary Oskol, but the date marked as July 30th. This is interesting, because we see an exact match in the vehicles of the convoy to all the videos marked as having been filmed on July 19th. Comparing the tarp-covered trailers, we can see an exact match to a July 19th video. It seems highly unlikely two identifical convoys with exactly the same kind of vehicles, including the tarped loads, would have moved through the city 11 days apart, especially when no other footage from July 30th has been found.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/truck-comparison-left-right.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"truck-comparison-left-right\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1494\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"804\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/truck-comparison-left-right.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/truck-comparison-left-right.png 716w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/truck-comparison-left-right-267x300.png 267w\" width=\"716\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, screen shot from the video. Right, comparisons to vehicles from July 19th videos.</em></p>\n<p>As for the location of the video, it can be placed at the center of Stary Oskol, with match confirmed on Street View.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-05-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-05-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1482\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"962\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-05-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-05-staryoskol.jpg 900w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-05-staryoskol-280x300.jpg 280w\" width=\"900\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://vk.com/video179560948_169752185\">The sixth video</a> shows familiar surroundings from previous geolocation work, and the filming location can be found in Stary Oskol.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-06-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-06-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1483\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"837\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-06-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-06-staryoskol.jpg 900w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-06-staryoskol-300x279.jpg 300w\" width=\"900\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p>Moving out of the city, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vhghnAjCA\">the next video</a> said to be from Stary Oskol can be located to south of the city. The immediate surroundings provide few clues, but by also looking at the view from the rear view mirror, the general area can be narrowed down, and exact the location found.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-07-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-07-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1484\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1009\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-07-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-07-staryoskol.jpg 850w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-07-staryoskol-252x300.jpg 252w\" width=\"850\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N4ztJNkclY\">The eigth video</a> has has quite a suggestive title, talking about a “Buk driven to dismantling”. This would seem unlikely, as the vehicles are in Neznamovo, far from Luhansk, and heading south. <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6giuAnr5U\">The ninth video</a> is related, and filmed in the same area.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-08-neznamovo.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-08-neznamovo\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1485\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"786\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-08-neznamovo.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-08-neznamovo.jpg 850w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-08-neznamovo-300x277.jpg 300w\" width=\"850\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-09-neznamovo.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-09-neznamovo\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1486\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"795\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-09-neznamovo.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-09-neznamovo.jpg 850w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-09-neznamovo-300x280.jpg 300w\" width=\"850\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p>Next, as <a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/15899953701\">number 10</a>, we have a video reportedly from Alexeevka. The quality of the video is not great, but it does provide an overview of the surrounding terrain, which was useful in matches from satellite imagery. Ultimately, the search leads to the following location, giving a very likely match as the location, south of Alexeyevka, with the vehicles heading east.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-11-alexeyevka.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-11-alexeyevka\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1488\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"588\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-11-alexeyevka.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-11-alexeyevka.jpg 1000w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-11-alexeyevka-300x176.jpg 300w\" width=\"1000\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, location on Street View. Below, screen shot from the video.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JHDOqwjqQs\">The final video of this convoy</a>, number 11, provided no reference location, and was one of the more difficult ones to locate. One tool used was <a href=\"http://suncalc.net\">SunCalc</a>, as likely time of the video filmed was known, so the shadows of the vehicles provided a clue about road orientation. Then, the matching road shapes were searched from the likely convoy route based on the June convoys movements, giving a match to the Olkhovatka. Finally, Street View was used to confirm the match.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-12-olkhovatka.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-12-olkhovatka\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1489\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"703\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-12-olkhovatka.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-12-olkhovatka.jpg 850w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-12-olkhovatka-300x248.jpg 300w\" width=\"850\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p>Summary of the convoy’s movements on a map looks as follows:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map-july1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1499\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"744\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july1.jpg 714w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july1-287x300.jpg 287w\" width=\"714\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/14505413218\">The last video</a> discussed here is a very interesting one, as it shows a lone Buk TEL unit with obscured markings traveling alone. The video is short and provides very few clues about the likely location. The reported location, “пос. Южный” or “pos. Yuzhnyy”, is alone ambiguous, as it is a common name for villages in Russia. The necessary context was provided by the uploaders reported location on Russian social media sites, placing him in Kamensk-Shaktinsky. With this additional information, it was possible to find a church listing its location as “пос. Южный г. Каменск-Шахтинский”, on the south side of Kamensk-Shaktinsky, and searching the surroundings there lead to the the location pictured below. The unit was traveling south on E40/M21, which leads to the Russian border town of Donetsk.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1487\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"854\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky.jpg 1066w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky-300x240.jpg 300w\" width=\"1066\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View. </em></p>\n<p>Location on a map:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map-july2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1500\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"515\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 858px) 100vw, 858px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july2.jpg 858w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july2-300x180.jpg 300w\" width=\"858\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>To wrap up, here is a summary table of all the locations.</p>\n<table style=\"text-align: left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>#</th>\n<th>Location</th>\n<th>Coordinates</th>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">1</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video24370305_169486086\">Fedoseevka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.340488,37.7983139,3a,75y,68.76h,75.77t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sulwJSBiAKHwyBueaEMFQ_g!2e0\">51.340488,37.7983139</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">2</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/16467692105\">Fedoseevka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3404795,37.7977605,3a,75y,229.87h,91.05t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scXHm3ECxDRkGmw6Q8yIdWg!2e0?hl=en\">51.3404795,37.7977605</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">3</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video134625783_169606649\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3324537,37.8736081,3a,75y,217.33h,78.59t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1syb6AJMoKiuHF_zuxie_uAw!2e0?hl=en\">51.3324537,37.8736081</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">4</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/15162083871\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3247281,37.8818285,3a,75y,161.25h,83.31t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s-r6uJslwlkcogkzajYpbVw!2e0?hl=en\">51.3247281,37.8818285</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">5</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IptBPrLvD78\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3164918,37.8912864,3a,75y,211.07h,82.21t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1slWLD6ZrClZBtWJbeOhXucA!2e0?hl=en\">51.3164918,37.8912864</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">6</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video179560948_169752185\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3114993,37.8968766,3a,52.3y,257.9h,87.81t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sd0GUm4_-oY-7b8oZ2TGMxw!2e0?hl=en\">51.3114993,37.8968766</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">7</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vhghnAjCA\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.2874736,37.9203471,3a,75y,307.78h,81.69t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1shSkCE305TaSEtOrhbv7aIw!2e0\">51.2874736,37.9203471</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">8</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N4ztJNkclY\">Neznamovo</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.2491165,37.9340878,3a,75y,250.5h,87.49t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1smLx-uqCcSmapZTvET5wk3A!2e0?hl=en\">51.2491165,37.9340878</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">9</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6giuAnr5U\">Neznamovo</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.242226,37.9368639,3a,75y,114.33h,92.21t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWfE_Jyk0FqbxdkJlSseMMw!2e0?hl=en\">51.242226,37.9368639</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">10</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/15899953701\">Alexeyevka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@50.6090816,38.645594,3a,90y,182.92h,79.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s7uL8debGocrBkHBeuSdnWg!2e0?hl=en\">50.6090816,38.645594</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">11</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JHDOqwjqQs\">Olkhovatka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@50.6090816,38.645594,3a,90y,182.92h,79.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s7uL8debGocrBkHBeuSdnWg!2e0?hl=en\">50.6090816,38.645594</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">12</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/14505413218\">Kamensk-Shakhtinsky</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@48.2985814,40.2435022,3a,75y,137.69h,84.93t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sX2uL3g5BIeJeSH5h3wO_wQ!2e0?hl=en\">48.2985814,40.2435022</a></td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nIn July, movements of Buk system elements were again on the move in Russia. The Bellingcat team has discovered and analyzed 12 videos reportedly from between July 19-20. Some of the sightings of individual units have been previously discussed in relation to MH17, but they can now be placed in the greater context of a military convoy’s movements. In addition, there is a newly discovered video of a unit from June’s convoy moving alone through Kamensk-Shaktinsky down a road which leads to the Russian border town of Donetsk.\nThe\nfirst video\nexamined has a self-reported location of “Федосе”, which can be found to refer to Федосеевка, or Fedoseevka, north of Stary Oskol. The location in the video can be found on eastbound P189, which passes through Fedoseevka.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nAnother video\nwith the reported location of Stary Oskol can be linked to the same exact location, seemingly during the time the convoy was stopped by the side of the road.\nLeft, two screen shots from the video. Right, same landmarks on Street View.\nVideo number three\nis not dashcam footage, but shot while stationary. The location provided is Stary Oskol, and based on the visible poles of the light rail power line can be narrowed down to P188 through Stary Oskol. Landmarks reveal the exact location.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nThe fourth video\nof the convoy is again said to be located in Stary Oskol. In this case, the video is long enough to give several landmarks, which can be used to locate the video.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nWith\nvideo number five\n, we see the reported location as Stary Oskol, but the date marked as July 30th. This is interesting, because we see an exact match in the vehicles of the convoy to all the videos marked as having been filmed on July 19th. Comparing the tarp-covered trailers, we can see an exact match to a July 19th video. It seems highly unlikely two identifical convoys with exactly the same kind of vehicles, including the tarped loads, would have moved through the city 11 days apart, especially when no other footage from July 30th has been found.\nLeft, screen shot from the video. Right, comparisons to vehicles from July 19th videos.\nAs for the location of the video, it can be placed at the center of Stary Oskol, with match confirmed on Street View.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nThe sixth video\nshows familiar surroundings from previous geolocation work, and the filming location can be found in Stary Oskol.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nMoving out of the city,\nthe next video\nsaid to be from Stary Oskol can be located to south of the city. The immediate surroundings provide few clues, but by also looking at the view from the rear view mirror, the general area can be narrowed down, and exact the location found.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nThe eigth video\nhas has quite a suggestive title, talking about a “Buk driven to dismantling”. This would seem unlikely, as the vehicles are in Neznamovo, far from Luhansk, and heading south.\nThe ninth video\nis related, and filmed in the same area.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nNext, as\nnumber 10\n, we have a video reportedly from Alexeevka. The quality of the video is not great, but it does provide an overview of the surrounding terrain, which was useful in matches from satellite imagery. Ultimately, the search leads to the following location, giving a very likely match as the location, south of Alexeyevka, with the vehicles heading east.\nAbove, location on Street View. Below, screen shot from the video.\nThe final video of this convoy\n, number 11, provided no reference location, and was one of the more difficult ones to locate. One tool used was\nSunCalc\n, as likely time of the video filmed was known, so the shadows of the vehicles provided a clue about road orientation. Then, the matching road shapes were searched from the likely convoy route based on the June convoys movements, giving a match to the Olkhovatka. Finally, Street View was used to confirm the match.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nSummary of the convoy’s movements on a map looks as follows:\nThe last video\ndiscussed here is a very interesting one, as it shows a lone Buk TEL unit with obscured markings traveling alone. The video is short and provides very few clues about the likely location. The reported location, “пос. Южный” or “pos. Yuzhnyy”, is alone ambiguous, as it is a common name for villages in Russia. The necessary context was provided by the uploaders reported location on Russian social media sites, placing him in Kamensk-Shaktinsky. With this additional information, it was possible to find a church listing its location as “пос. Южный г. Каменск-Шахтинский”, on the south side of Kamensk-Shaktinsky, and searching the surroundings there lead to the the location pictured below. The unit was traveling south on E40/M21, which leads to the Russian border town of Donetsk.\nAbove, screen shot from the video. Below, location on Street View.\nLocation on a map:\nTo wrap up, here is a summary table of all the locations.\n#\nLocation\nCoordinates\n1\nFedoseevka\n51.340488,37.7983139\n2\nFedoseevka\n51.3404795,37.7977605\n3\nStary Oskol\n51.3324537,37.8736081\n4\nStary Oskol\n51.3247281,37.8818285\n5\nStary Oskol\n51.3164918,37.8912864\n6\nStary Oskol\n51.3114993,37.8968766\n7\nStary Oskol\n51.2874736,37.9203471\n8\nNeznamovo\n51.2491165,37.9340878\n9\nNeznamovo\n51.242226,37.9368639\n10\nAlexeyevka\n50.6090816,38.645594\n11\nOlkhovatka\n50.6090816,38.645594\n12\nKamensk-Shakhtinsky\n48.2985814,40.2435022",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-01-fedoseevka.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-01-fedoseevka",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-02-fedoseevka.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-02-fedoseevka",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-03-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-03-staryoskol",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-04-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-04-staryoskol",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/truck-comparison-left-right.png",
+      "alt": "truck-comparison-left-right",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-05-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-05-staryoskol",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-06-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-06-staryoskol",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-07-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-07-staryoskol",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-08-neznamovo.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-08-neznamovo",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-09-neznamovo.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-09-neznamovo",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-11-alexeyevka.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-11-alexeyevka",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-12-olkhovatka.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-12-olkhovatka",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july1.jpg",
+      "alt": "map-july1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky.jpg",
+      "alt": "july-10-kamensk-shakhtinsky",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-july2.jpg",
+      "alt": "map-july2",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-11-07_geolocated-june-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia.json

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocated-june-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia",
+  "title": "Geolocated June BUK convoy videos in Russia",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/11/07/geolocated-june-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia/",
+  "date": "2014-11-07T21:11:57+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-11-08T23:53:38+00:00",
+  "author": "Veli-Pekka Kivimäki",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)In September, the discovery of six videos of a Buk convoy in Russia was reported on Bellingcat. During the research done by the Bellingcat team, another 10 videos have been discovered from June 23-25, which can be linked to the same convoy. As the basis for the geolocation work, the previous videos from June […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/11/07/geolocated-june-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>In September, the discovery of six videos of a Buk convoy in Russia was <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/09/29/geolocating-the-mh17-buk-convoy-in-russia/\">reported on Bellingcat</a>. During the research done by the Bellingcat team, another 10 videos have been discovered from June 23-25, which can be linked to the same convoy. As the basis for the geolocation work, the previous videos from June were utilized both as reference material, as well as to give indications of a possible route which would narrow down the search area.</p>\n<p>At the end of the post, there is a summary map and a table with links to all the locations.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/14723648043\">The first video</a> examined here is one with the reported location of Troitskiy. The town can be found east and slightly north of Stary Oskol. One possible route from Kursk to Stary Oskol would take the convoy down P190 which passes through Troitskiy, making this a possible match. Looking at maps and overhead satellite imagery, it can be seen there are not too many intersections to check. One location in particular has matching features, and jumping into Street View confirms the match.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/01-troitsky.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"01-troitsky\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1437\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"322\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/01-troitsky.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/01-troitsky.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/01-troitsky-300x102.jpg 300w\" width=\"939\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, video from Troitskiy. Right, Google Street View.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13856344715\">The second video</a> is an important one, because it provides a lot of detail on many of the convoy’s vehicles, including clear view of the license plates. The video’s description places it in Stary Oskol, and the video provides many landmarks to make the process of locating the video easier. A few such landmarks are the overpass, car dealerships and light rail track. These place the video on P188, which runs through the city.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/02-staryoskol.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"02-staryoskol\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1438\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"534\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1176px) 100vw, 1176px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/02-staryoskol.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/02-staryoskol.jpg 1176w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/02-staryoskol-300x136.jpg 300w\" width=\"1176\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, video from Stary Oskol. Right, Google Street View.</em><br/>\n<!--more--></p>\n<p>Next, we have <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVq9lGZjbx8\">a video from YouTube</a>, which doesn’t include location information. It also includes only a single Buk TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) vehicle, so the link to the bigger convoy also needs to be established. This can be done by looking at the unique markings on the Buk TEL itself, as well as the trailer it’s on. The TEL has paint scratched off in a pattern that matches a TEL seen in our previous video. There are also missiles loaded on both units, the markings and sticker placement on trailer match, and based on frame-by-frame analysis of the video from 0:55 to 1:20 the license plate would appear to match as well. </p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/03-tel-comparison.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"03-tel-comparison\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1439\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"403\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/03-tel-comparison.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/03-tel-comparison.jpg 704w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/03-tel-comparison-300x171.jpg 300w\" width=\"704\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, Buk TEL in Stary Oskol. Right, Buk TEL in YouTube video.</em></p>\n<p>As for the location, the video offers an important clue: a sign on the side of the road. The sign reads “Поповы Дворы”, Popovy Dvory. This can be found to be a location in the Kursk region, leading us to the exact location on road A144 / E38, as pictured below.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/04-popovy-dvory-sign.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"04-popovy-dvory-sign\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1440\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"953\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/04-popovy-dvory-sign.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/04-popovy-dvory-sign.jpg 990w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/04-popovy-dvory-sign-300x288.jpg 300w\" width=\"990\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, screenshot from video. Below, Google Street View.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13328779944\">Number four</a>, we have a video again from Stary Oskol. This video is also along the light rail, which means this video locates along the same path as some previous videos. </p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/05-stary-oskol-bldg.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"05-stary-oskol-bldg\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1441\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"473\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/05-stary-oskol-bldg.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/05-stary-oskol-bldg.jpg 973w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/05-stary-oskol-bldg-300x145.jpg 300w\" width=\"973\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, two screen shots from the video. Below, two Street View pictures from matching location.</em></p>\n<p>The fifth video has been deleted from VK since the Bellingcat team discovered it, but geolocation was done for it based on an archived copy. Based on previous experience, it was thought that the overall appearance of the roadways matches the Stary Oskol region, and further support this was the apparent rail track on the right of the image. Overhead satellite imagery was examined to find possible matches, and a suitable stretch of road was found just north of Neznamovo.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/06-stary-oskol-deleted.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"06-stary-oskol-deleted\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1446\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"540\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1071px) 100vw, 1071px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/06-stary-oskol-deleted.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/06-stary-oskol-deleted.jpg 1071w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/06-stary-oskol-deleted-300x151.jpg 300w\" width=\"1071\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, two screen shots from deleted VK video. Below, two Street View pictures for comparison.</em></p>\n<p>Moving along to <a href=\"http://vk.com/video10664535_169016142\">number six</a>, we have another video from Stary Oskol, of which many copies have been circulating on VK. One of the videos is uploaded June 24th, meaning it’s the likely close to the source, if not the original. The vehicles in this video again match to the other videos of the June 23-25 convoy, down to the license plates. The video is filmed on the same major road from Stary Oskol, as many of the other videos.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/07-stary-bridge.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"07-stary-bridge\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1442\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1034\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/07-stary-bridge.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/07-stary-bridge.jpg 1000w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/07-stary-bridge-290x300.jpg 290w\" width=\"1000\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, convoy in the video. Below, reference image from Street View.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://vk.com/video13319404_168999975\">The 7th video</a> helpful is helpfully titled “Трасса Старый Оскол – ОЭМК”, meaning the light rail track between Stary Oskol and OEMK steel works.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/08-stary-rail.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"08-stary-rail\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1443\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"891\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/08-stary-rail.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/08-stary-rail.jpg 945w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/08-stary-rail-300x282.jpg 300w\" width=\"945\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Above, convoy in the video. Below, reference image from Street View.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13959301836\">Number eight</a> is a video from a previously known location. It is showing the convoy vehicles at a turnaround in Alexeyevka, with a familiar building in background from the older Alexeyevka video. In the screen captures below, you can see the back of a DFDS Transport truck on the left, and the front of the same truck at the left edge of the frame in the right picture.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/09-alexeyevka.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"09-alexeyevka\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1444\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"331\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1106px) 100vw, 1106px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/09-alexeyevka.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/09-alexeyevka.jpg 1106w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/09-alexeyevka-300x89.jpg 300w\" width=\"1106\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, new Alexeyevka video. Right, video reported in September.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://vk.com/video91220754_168802710\">Number nine</a> is another video reportedly from Alexeyevka. The video shows a 3-minute stretch of the same road, giving a good understanding of the overall surroundings, and what kind of road shape to look for in overhead satellite imagery. A suitable search area with matching landmarks was found south of the city, and again it was possible to confirm the location with Street View.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-alexeyevka-rural.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"10-alexeyevka-rural\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1445\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"414\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1171px) 100vw, 1171px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-alexeyevka-rural.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-alexeyevka-rural.jpg 1171w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-alexeyevka-rural-300x106.jpg 300w\" width=\"1171\"/></div></a><br/>\n<em>Left, new rural Alexeyevka video. Right, Street View.</em></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13597280818\">The tenth video</a> is from Millerovo, and is <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/uncategorized/2014/11/07/geolocating-the-russian-buk-convoy-in-millerovo\">addressed in a separate case study</a>, walking through the geolocation process.</p>\n<p>Summing up all the locations, we get the following map:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-june-mb.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"map-june-mb\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1474\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"901\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-june-mb.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-june-mb.jpg 870w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-june-mb-289x300.jpg 289w\" width=\"870\"/></div></a></p>\n<table style=\"text-align: left\">\n<tr>\n<th>#</th>\n<th>Location</th>\n<th>Coordinates</th>\n<th>Buk TELAR 3×2 in video?</th>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">1</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/14723648043\">Troitskiy</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3590587,37.500688,3a,75y,224.89h,78.44t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAFKiLsYQTENA3b3SxXfVNQ!2e0?hl=en\">51.3590587,37.500688</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">Yes, 00:24</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">2</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13856344715\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3432667,37.8612503,3a,75y,160.27h,72.06t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1soM4zzP7WG6vUOYAB92GhGw!2e0?hl=en\">51.3590587,37.500688</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">Yes, 02:01</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">3</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVq9lGZjbx8\">Popovy Dvory</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3590587,37.500688,3a,75y,224.89h,78.44t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAFKiLsYQTENA3b3SxXfVNQ!2e0?hl=en\">51.6544589,36.7921105</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">4</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://goroskop.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13328779944\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.3065105,37.9023863,3a,75y,218.55h,83.1t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sflXfr7zvw71tdV1vfYXkUw!2e0?hl=en\">51.3065105,37.9023863</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">5</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">Stary Oskol</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.2707467,37.9254813,3a,75y,318.82h,76.79t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sLELtWiuEt1ACR6sXI5OdZg!2e0!4m2!6m1!1szYoR8exT-OBg.kUvTvI3h4yFM?hl=en\">51.2707467,37.9254813</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">6</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video10664535_169016142\">Stary Oskol</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/place/Stary+Oskol,+Belgorod+Oblast,+Russia/@51.3203988,37.886651,3a,75y,204.99h,83.43t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skKDwgqHFEbKT2tY9LGP7Rw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x41250900aa6164bb:0x2b7a7ec5dcfa01a0?hl=en\">51.3203988,37.886651</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">7</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video13319404_168999975\">Neznamovo</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@51.2441558,37.9365475,3a,75y,256.72h,75.54t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sae4pOq1z68os6d7Ot71ASg!2e0?hl=en\">51.2441558,37.9365475</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">8</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13959301836\">Alexeyevka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@50.624703,38.6503823,3a,75y,130.88h,79.31t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1slNDiUd7XWHzm2S39EDAksA!2e0?hl=en\">50.624703,38.6503823</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">Yes, 6:22</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">9</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://vk.com/video91220754_168802710\">Alexeyevka</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@50.5831713,38.7146552,3a,75y,333.72h,75.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sq6eSC19LucMuczG66JK2NQ!2e0\">50.5831713,38.7146552</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">Yes, 0:52</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">10</td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13597280818\">Millerovo</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\"><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/place/Millerovo,+Rostov+Oblast,+Russia/@48.9022482,40.4421337,669m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x411ee3aa865e9805:0x33cce3efc853ac80\">48.902343, 40.444658</a></td>\n<td style=\"padding: 8px\">No</td>\n</tr>\n</table>\n<p>In the follow-on post, we will examine a <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2014/11/07/geolocated-july-buk-convoy-videos-in-russia\">Buk convoy’s movements in Russia in July</a>.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nIn September, the discovery of six videos of a Buk convoy in Russia was\nreported on Bellingcat\n. During the research done by the Bellingcat team, another 10 videos have been discovered from June 23-25, which can be linked to the same convoy. As the basis for the geolocation work, the previous videos from June were utilized both as reference material, as well as to give indications of a possible route which would narrow down the search area.\nAt the end of the post, there is a summary map and a table with links to all the locations.\nThe first video\nexamined here is one with the reported location of Troitskiy. The town can be found east and slightly north of Stary Oskol. One possible route from Kursk to Stary Oskol would take the convoy down P190 which passes through Troitskiy, making this a possible match. Looking at maps and overhead satellite imagery, it can be seen there are not too many intersections to check. One location in particular has matching features, and jumping into Street View confirms the match.\nLeft, video from Troitskiy. Right, Google Street View.\nThe second video\nis an important one, because it provides a lot of detail on many of the convoy’s vehicles, including clear view of the license plates. The video’s description places it in Stary Oskol, and the video provides many landmarks to make the process of locating the video easier. A few such landmarks are the overpass, car dealerships and light rail track. These place the video on P188, which runs through the city.\nLeft, video from Stary Oskol. Right, Google Street View.\nNext, we have\na video from YouTube\n, which doesn’t include location information. It also includes only a single Buk TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) vehicle, so the link to the bigger convoy also needs to be established. This can be done by looking at the unique markings on the Buk TEL itself, as well as the trailer it’s on. The TEL has paint scratched off in a pattern that matches a TEL seen in our previous video. There are also missiles loaded on both units, the markings and sticker placement on trailer match, and based on frame-by-frame analysis of the video from 0:55 to 1:20 the license plate would appear to match as well.\nLeft, Buk TEL in Stary Oskol. Right, Buk TEL in YouTube video.\nAs for the location, the video offers an important clue: a sign on the side of the road. The sign reads “Поповы Дворы”, Popovy Dvory. This can be found to be a location in the Kursk region, leading us to the exact location on road A144 / E38, as pictured below.\nAbove, screenshot from video. Below, Google Street View.\nNumber four\n, we have a video again from Stary Oskol. This video is also along the light rail, which means this video locates along the same path as some previous videos.\nAbove, two screen shots from the video. Below, two Street View pictures from matching location.\nThe fifth video has been deleted from VK since the Bellingcat team discovered it, but geolocation was done for it based on an archived copy. Based on previous experience, it was thought that the overall appearance of the roadways matches the Stary Oskol region, and further support this was the apparent rail track on the right of the image. Overhead satellite imagery was examined to find possible matches, and a suitable stretch of road was found just north of Neznamovo.\nAbove, two screen shots from deleted VK video. Below, two Street View pictures for comparison.\nMoving along to\nnumber six\n, we have another video from Stary Oskol, of which many copies have been circulating on VK. One of the videos is uploaded June 24th, meaning it’s the likely close to the source, if not the original. The vehicles in this video again match to the other videos of the June 23-25 convoy, down to the license plates. The video is filmed on the same major road from Stary Oskol, as many of the other videos.\nAbove, convoy in the video. Below, reference image from Street View.\nThe 7th video\nhelpful is helpfully titled “Трасса Старый Оскол – ОЭМК”, meaning the light rail track between Stary Oskol and OEMK steel works.\nAbove, convoy in the video. Below, reference image from Street View.\nNumber eight\nis a video from a previously known location. It is showing the convoy vehicles at a turnaround in Alexeyevka, with a familiar building in background from the older Alexeyevka video. In the screen captures below, you can see the back of a DFDS Transport truck on the left, and the front of the same truck at the left edge of the frame in the right picture.\nLeft, new Alexeyevka video. Right, video reported in September.\nNumber nine\nis another video reportedly from Alexeyevka. The video shows a 3-minute stretch of the same road, giving a good understanding of the overall surroundings, and what kind of road shape to look for in overhead satellite imagery. A suitable search area with matching landmarks was found south of the city, and again it was possible to confirm the location with Street View.\nLeft, new rural Alexeyevka video. Right, Street View.\nThe tenth video\nis from Millerovo, and is\naddressed in a separate case study\n, walking through the geolocation process.\nSumming up all the locations, we get the following map:\n#\nLocation\nCoordinates\nBuk TELAR 3×2 in video?\n1\nTroitskiy\n51.3590587,37.500688\nYes, 00:24\n2\nStary Oskol\n51.3590587,37.500688\nYes, 02:01\n3\nPopovy Dvory\n51.6544589,36.7921105\nNo\n4\nStary Oskol\n51.3065105,37.9023863\nNo\n5\nStary Oskol\n51.2707467,37.9254813\nNo\n6\nStary Oskol\n51.3203988,37.886651\nNo\n7\nNeznamovo\n51.2441558,37.9365475\nNo\n8\nAlexeyevka\n50.624703,38.6503823\nYes, 6:22\n9\nAlexeyevka\n50.5831713,38.7146552\nYes, 0:52\n10\nMillerovo\n48.902343, 40.444658\nNo\nIn the follow-on post, we will examine a\nBuk convoy’s movements in Russia in July\n.",
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+      "alt": "01-troitsky",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/02-staryoskol.jpg",
+      "alt": "02-staryoskol",
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+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/03-tel-comparison.jpg",
+      "alt": "03-tel-comparison",
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+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/04-popovy-dvory-sign.jpg",
+      "alt": "04-popovy-dvory-sign",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/05-stary-oskol-bldg.jpg",
+      "alt": "05-stary-oskol-bldg",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/06-stary-oskol-deleted.jpg",
+      "alt": "06-stary-oskol-deleted",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/07-stary-bridge.jpg",
+      "alt": "07-stary-bridge",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/08-stary-rail.jpg",
+      "alt": "08-stary-rail",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/09-alexeyevka.jpg",
+      "alt": "09-alexeyevka",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-alexeyevka-rural.jpg",
+      "alt": "10-alexeyevka-rural",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/map-june-mb.jpg",
+      "alt": "map-june-mb",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-11-08_geolocating-the-russian-buk-convoy-in-millerovo.json

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-the-russian-buk-convoy-in-millerovo",
+  "title": "Geolocating the June Russian Buk Convoy in Millerovo",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/11/08/geolocating-the-russian-buk-convoy-in-millerovo/",
+  "date": "2014-11-08T23:52:44+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)One of a series of videos that shows a convoy containing the Buk linked to the downing of MH17 was reportedly filmed near the town of Millerovo. The following demonstrates how it’s possible to use a combination of satellite map imagery and Google Street View imagery to find the exact location the video was […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/11/08/geolocating-the-russian-buk-convoy-in-millerovo/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>One of a series of videos that shows a convoy containing the Buk linked to the downing of MH17 was reportedly filmed near the town of Millerovo. The following demonstrates how it’s possible to use a combination of satellite map imagery and Google Street View imagery to find the exact location the video was filmed.</p>\n<p>The video was originally uploaded <a href=\"http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/video/13597280818\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>, with the date and time on the camera shown to be 11:31am on June 25th.</p>\n<p>Based on details visible in the video it seems clear the video was filmed on <a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@48.9022288,40.4453742,320m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\">this road</a> running south of Millerovo towards the Ukrainian border 25km to the west, with the road in Ukraine continuing to rebel held Luhansk.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.google.fi/maps/@48.9026203,40.4482505,3a,48.2y,269.21h,84.94t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sLgLc5p5CeM9SScQyaxjaIQ!2e0?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview</a> in that area ends at the point where the video begins.</p>\n<p>There’s a number of elements of the Streetview image and video that matches. For example, here the position of large poles and the shape of the tree line matches</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1421\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"345\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/1.jpg 608w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/1-300x170.jpg 300w\" width=\"608\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>At the start of the video, on the right hand side of the road the small pole with a blue sign is also visible (left three images from the video, right hand image from Google Streetview)</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1422\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"317\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/2.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/2-300x158.jpg 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Several elements visible in the Streetview image are also present in the satellite map imagery, and are visible in the video. The matches between the satellite imagery (<a href=\"https://maps.yandex.com/?text=millerovo&amp;sll=-93.891545%2C33.312173000018845&amp;sspn=2.169800%2C0.942034&amp;ll=40.445505%2C48.902427&amp;spn=0.008476%2C0.002889&amp;z=18&amp;l=sat\">from Yandax Maps</a>) and the Streetview image is shown below</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1423\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"597\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1031px) 100vw, 1031px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/3.jpg 1031w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/3-300x173.jpg 300w\" width=\"1031\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1424\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"692\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1480px) 100vw, 1480px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4.jpg 1480w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4-300x140.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4-1200x561.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1480\"/></div></a>Green = The billboard that’s is just out of view at the start of the video.</p>\n<p>Red = Four large poles, either side of the road.</p>\n<p>Yellow = A large sign on the north side of the road.</p>\n<p>Pink = Two rows of smaller poles.</p>\n<p>8 seconds into the video the large sign on the north side of the road is visible, just before the large poles, and the two rows of smaller poles</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1425\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"878\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1739px) 100vw, 1739px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5.jpg 1739w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5-300x151.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5-1200x605.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1739\"/></div></a>Slightly further along the road the large poles are visible, as are individual smaller poles</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1426\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"880\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1572px) 100vw, 1572px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6.jpg 1572w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6-300x167.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6-1200x671.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1572\"/></div></a>After 6 of the smaller poles pass by next to the road, the tree line ends and opens up to a large field. It’s possible to count 6 of the small poles in the video and on the satellite map before the tree line ends.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1427\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"342\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 994px) 100vw, 994px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/7.jpg 994w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/7-300x103.jpg 300w\" width=\"994\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1428\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"865\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1572px) 100vw, 1572px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8.jpg 1572w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8-300x165.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8-1200x660.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1572\"/></div></a>It’s also possible to count the number of smaller poles the car passes, and based on this we can say the car stops at the end of the video at the 9<sup>th</sup> pole, shown below in red, with a sign on the right hand side of the road also visible, shown below in yellow</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"9\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1429\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"676\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1412px) 100vw, 1412px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9.jpg 1412w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9-300x143.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9-1200x574.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1412\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"10\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1430\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"878\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1586px) 100vw, 1586px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10.jpg 1586w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10-1200x664.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1586\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Also visible are scattered trees to the left of the car visible on the satellite map imagery</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"11\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1431\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"694\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1101px) 100vw, 1101px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/11.jpg 1101w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/11-300x189.jpg 300w\" width=\"1101\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"12\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1432\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"869\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1556px) 100vw, 1556px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12.jpg 1556w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12-300x167.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12-1200x670.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1556\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nOne of a series of videos that shows a convoy containing the Buk linked to the downing of MH17 was reportedly filmed near the town of Millerovo. The following demonstrates how it’s possible to use a combination of satellite map imagery and Google Street View imagery to find the exact location the video was filmed.\nThe video was originally uploaded\nhere\n, with the date and time on the camera shown to be 11:31am on June 25th.\nBased on details visible in the video it seems clear the video was filmed on\nthis road\nrunning south of Millerovo towards the Ukrainian border 25km to the west, with the road in Ukraine continuing to rebel held Luhansk.\nGoogle Streetview\nin that area ends at the point where the video begins.\nThere’s a number of elements of the Streetview image and video that matches. For example, here the position of large poles and the shape of the tree line matches\nAt the start of the video, on the right hand side of the road the small pole with a blue sign is also visible (left three images from the video, right hand image from Google Streetview)\nSeveral elements visible in the Streetview image are also present in the satellite map imagery, and are visible in the video. The matches between the satellite imagery (\nfrom Yandax Maps\n) and the Streetview image is shown below\nGreen = The billboard that’s is just out of view at the start of the video.\nRed = Four large poles, either side of the road.\nYellow = A large sign on the north side of the road.\nPink = Two rows of smaller poles.\n8 seconds into the video the large sign on the north side of the road is visible, just before the large poles, and the two rows of smaller poles\nSlightly further along the road the large poles are visible, as are individual smaller poles\nAfter 6 of the smaller poles pass by next to the road, the tree line ends and opens up to a large field. It’s possible to count 6 of the small poles in the video and on the satellite map before the tree line ends.\nIt’s also possible to count the number of smaller poles the car passes, and based on this we can say the car stops at the end of the video at the 9\nth\npole, shown below in red, with a sign on the right hand side of the road also visible, shown below in yellow\nAlso visible are scattered trees to the left of the car visible on the satellite map imagery",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/1.jpg",
+      "alt": "1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/2.jpg",
+      "alt": "2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/3.jpg",
+      "alt": "3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/4.jpg",
+      "alt": "4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/5.jpg",
+      "alt": "5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/6.jpg",
+      "alt": "6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/7.jpg",
+      "alt": "7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/8.jpg",
+      "alt": "8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/9.jpg",
+      "alt": "9",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/10.jpg",
+      "alt": "10",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/11.jpg",
+      "alt": "11",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/11/12.jpg",
+      "alt": "12",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2014-12-19_geolocating-tunisian-jihadists-in-raqqa.json

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-tunisian-jihadists-in-raqqa",
+  "title": "Geolocating Tunisian Jihadists in Raqqa",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/12/19/geolocating-tunisian-jihadists-in-raqqa/",
+  "date": "2014-12-19T14:49:37+00:00",
+  "modified": "2014-12-19T20:19:48+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)This article is available in French here. Earlier this week a video was posted online showing Tunisian Jihadists claiming responsibility for the murders of two Tunisian secular politicians in 2013. It was claimed that the video was filmed in territory controlled by the Islamic State, and using a variety of geolocation techniques it is […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2014/12/19/geolocating-tunisian-jihadists-in-raqqa/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p><em>This article is available in French <a href=\"http://nawaat.org/portail/2014/12/19/decryptage-lidentification-du-lieu-de-la-video-revendiquant-lassassinat-de-belaid-et-brahmi/\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</em></p>\n<p>Earlier this week <a href=\"https://archive.org/details/msg_tunis/\" target=\"_blank\">a video</a> was posted online showing Tunisian Jihadists claiming responsibility for <a href=\"http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2014/12/18/ISIS-fighters-claim-2013-murders-of-Tunisia-politicians-.html\" target=\"_blank\">the murders of two Tunisian secular politicians in 201</a>3. It was claimed that the video was filmed in territory controlled by the Islamic State, and using a variety of geolocation techniques it is possible to find the position the video was filmed.</p>\n<p>The video is heavily edited, and includes the statements of the men filmed from multiple angles. 39 seconds into the video there’s a shot of a flag pole with buildings visible in the background</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1901\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"894\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1585px) 100vw, 1585px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1.jpg 1585w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1-1200x676.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1585\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>One building was of particular interest, the large red roofed building just behind the flag pole. The same building is also visible at the opening of the video (around 28 seconds onwards), when the four men sit down, revealing more details about the building.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 2\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1902\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1576px) 100vw, 1576px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2.jpg 1576w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2-1200x667.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1576\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Using simple picture editing software such as <a href=\"http://www.getpaint.net/\" target=\"_blank\">Paint.net</a> it’s possible to create a composite image of that scene showing all the buildings in the background, providing a clearer view of the building.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-3.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 3\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1903\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"394\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-3.png 652w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-3-300x181.png 300w\" width=\"652\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on this we can see we are looking for a large building with a red roof, with rectangular windows on the top floor, and at least two floors with arched windows below that.</p>\n<p>We then began looking at satellite map imagery of the cities controlled by the Islamic State, starting with Raqqa. We quickly found one large red roofed building, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.944543&amp;lon=39.015788&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">the Faculty of Civil Engineering</a>, and began to look for any images of the building. It was possible to <a href=\"http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&amp;position=1&amp;with_photo_id=58598753&amp;order=date_desc&amp;user=6292258\" target=\"_blank\">find images of the building on Panoramio</a>, and compare the photographs to the building visible in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 4\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1904\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1628\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1847px) 100vw, 1847px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4.jpg 1847w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4-300x264.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4-1200x1057.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1847\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>300 meters west of this building is a public square with a large flagpole visible, with the shadow cast by it and the flag visible in the below satellite map imagery.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 6\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1906\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"604\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1142px) 100vw, 1142px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-6.jpg 1142w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-6-300x158.jpg 300w\" width=\"1142\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Also from the start of the video is a short section where the men are shown entering the frame from the right, giving a different view from the filming location. It was possible to create another composite image of the buildings in the background using simple picture editing software.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 5\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1905\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"817\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1446px) 100vw, 1446px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5.jpg 1446w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5-1200x678.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1446\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>South of the public square satellite map imagery <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.941706&amp;lon=39.010262&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">shows a building</a> that matches to what’s visible in the above image. In the below image, the top satellite image shows the red paint around the edge of the roof. In the bottom satellite image, taken from 2011, the north side of the building is visible, and the pattern of windows visible in the video match to that visible in the satellite map image.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 7\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1907\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"798\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-7.jpg 700w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-7-263x300.jpg 263w\" width=\"700\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>To the south-west of the above building is <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.938392&amp;lon=39.009305&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">another building visible</a> in the composite image. A number of elements are a clear match, including the position of the windows on the front of the building, and the structure on the top of the building.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 8\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1908\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"615\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1431px) 100vw, 1431px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8.jpg 1431w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8-300x128.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8-1200x515.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1431\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Also visible are the trees behind that building, and all of these elements suggest this location is an extremely strong match to what’s visible in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-9.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 9\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1909\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"749\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1001px) 100vw, 1001px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-9.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-9.jpg 1001w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-9-300x224.jpg 300w\" width=\"1001\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It was also possible to estimate the position of the camera from the above image. As it’s possible to see the exact parts of the two buildings that line up with each other it’s also possible to draw a line between them which points towards the camera’s location. In the below image a line has been drawn between the areas on the building marked red and green, which corresponds with the position on the satellite map imagery.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-10.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 10\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1910\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1047\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 855px) 100vw, 855px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-10.jpg 855w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-10-244x300.jpg 244w\" width=\"855\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Following the line northwards along the same heading it points towards the same location west of the Faculty of Civil Engineering that we found earlier. It seems based on this information it’s very likely the video was filmed somewhere in that location.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 11\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1911\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"696\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 930px) 100vw, 930px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-11.jpg 930w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-11-300x224.jpg 300w\" width=\"930\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>At this point it’s worth noting an object in the background in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-12.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 12\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1912\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"573\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-12.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-12.png 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-12-300x167.png 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>This balcony belongs to the <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.945302&amp;lon=39.010938&amp;z=18&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">Raqqa Governorate building</a>, is exactly in the same spot as the line we drew from the two buildings in the south, and is shown in the below image.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-13.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 13\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1913\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"353\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-13.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-13.png 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-13-300x103.png 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on this information alone it seems very likely the video is filmed on the roof of this building. It’s also possible to find additional information pointing to this location. In the below image we can see the flagpole lines up between the windows 3rd and 4th from the right corner of the top floor of the Faculty of Civil Engineering building.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 14\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1914\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"257\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14.jpg 1023w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14-300x75.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14-600x150.jpg 600w\" width=\"1023\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As with the other buildings it’s possible to draw a line from that position, through the flagpole, pointing to the location of the camera.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Tunis 15\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1915\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"670\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1301px) 100vw, 1301px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15.jpg 1301w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15-300x154.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15-1200x617.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1301\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>This again points to the same location as before, and confirms the video is being filmed from the roof of the Raqqa Governorate building, currently occupied by the Islamic State. It’s also possible to establish this video was filmed after a specific date. In one section of the video an antennae is visible, one of a pair that were <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.945676&amp;lon=39.013149&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\" target=\"_blank\">just east of the Governorate building</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1916\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"560\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024.png 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024-300x164.png 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>In late September one of the two antennae <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/23/raqqa-residents-divided-us-air-strikes-isis-syria\" target=\"_blank\">was destroyed in an air strike</a>, so it’s possible to confirm that this video was filmed not online on the roof of the Raqqa Governorate building, but also after late September 2014.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nThis article is available in French\nhere\n.\nEarlier this week\na video\nwas posted online showing Tunisian Jihadists claiming responsibility for\nthe murders of two Tunisian secular politicians in 201\n3. It was claimed that the video was filmed in territory controlled by the Islamic State, and using a variety of geolocation techniques it is possible to find the position the video was filmed.\nThe video is heavily edited, and includes the statements of the men filmed from multiple angles. 39 seconds into the video there’s a shot of a flag pole with buildings visible in the background\nOne building was of particular interest, the large red roofed building just behind the flag pole. The same building is also visible at the opening of the video (around 28 seconds onwards), when the four men sit down, revealing more details about the building.\nUsing simple picture editing software such as\nPaint.net\nit’s possible to create a composite image of that scene showing all the buildings in the background, providing a clearer view of the building.\nBased on this we can see we are looking for a large building with a red roof, with rectangular windows on the top floor, and at least two floors with arched windows below that.\nWe then began looking at satellite map imagery of the cities controlled by the Islamic State, starting with Raqqa. We quickly found one large red roofed building,\nthe Faculty of Civil Engineering\n, and began to look for any images of the building. It was possible to\nfind images of the building on Panoramio\n, and compare the photographs to the building visible in the video.\n300 meters west of this building is a public square with a large flagpole visible, with the shadow cast by it and the flag visible in the below satellite map imagery.\nAlso from the start of the video is a short section where the men are shown entering the frame from the right, giving a different view from the filming location. It was possible to create another composite image of the buildings in the background using simple picture editing software.\nSouth of the public square satellite map imagery\nshows a building\nthat matches to what’s visible in the above image. In the below image, the top satellite image shows the red paint around the edge of the roof. In the bottom satellite image, taken from 2011, the north side of the building is visible, and the pattern of windows visible in the video match to that visible in the satellite map image.\nTo the south-west of the above building is\nanother building visible\nin the composite image. A number of elements are a clear match, including the position of the windows on the front of the building, and the structure on the top of the building.\nAlso visible are the trees behind that building, and all of these elements suggest this location is an extremely strong match to what’s visible in the video.\nIt was also possible to estimate the position of the camera from the above image. As it’s possible to see the exact parts of the two buildings that line up with each other it’s also possible to draw a line between them which points towards the camera’s location. In the below image a line has been drawn between the areas on the building marked red and green, which corresponds with the position on the satellite map imagery.\nFollowing the line northwards along the same heading it points towards the same location west of the Faculty of Civil Engineering that we found earlier. It seems based on this information it’s very likely the video was filmed somewhere in that location.\nAt this point it’s worth noting an object in the background in the video.\nThis balcony belongs to the\nRaqqa Governorate building\n, is exactly in the same spot as the line we drew from the two buildings in the south, and is shown in the below image.\nBased on this information alone it seems very likely the video is filmed on the roof of this building. It’s also possible to find additional information pointing to this location. In the below image we can see the flagpole lines up between the windows 3rd and 4th from the right corner of the top floor of the Faculty of Civil Engineering building.\nAs with the other buildings it’s possible to draw a line from that position, through the flagpole, pointing to the location of the camera.\nThis again points to the same location as before, and confirms the video is being filmed from the roof of the Raqqa Governorate building, currently occupied by the Islamic State. It’s also possible to establish this video was filmed after a specific date. In one section of the video an antennae is visible, one of a pair that were\njust east of the Governorate building\nIn late September one of the two antennae\nwas destroyed in an air strike\n, so it’s possible to confirm that this video was filmed not online on the roof of the Raqqa Governorate building, but also after late September 2014.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-3.png",
+      "alt": "Tunis 3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-4.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-6.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-5.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-7.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-8.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-9.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 9",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-10.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 10",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-11.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 11",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-12.png",
+      "alt": "Tunis 12",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-13.png",
+      "alt": "Tunis 13",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-14.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 14",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/Tunis-15.jpg",
+      "alt": "Tunis 15",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2014/12/screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024.png",
+      "alt": "screen_shot_2014-12-19_at_1.48.54_pm_1024",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-03-03_stunt-geolocation-verifying-the-unverifiable.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "stunt-geolocation-verifying-the-unverifiable",
+  "title": "Stunt Geolocation - Verifying the Unverifiable",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/03/03/stunt-geolocation-verifying-the-unverifiable/",
+  "date": "2015-03-03T09:43:07+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-03-03T17:15:22+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "When working on open source and social media investigation there's occasional images that at first seem as if they would be impossible to verify. The following picture, showing a 9S470 Self Propelled Command Post, was shared with us on Twitter.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2015/03/03/stunt-geolocation-verifying-the-unverifiable/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>When working on open source and social media investigation there’s occasional images that at first seem as if they would be impossible to verify. The following picture, showing a 9S470 Self Propelled Command Post, was shared with us on Twitter.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" lang=\"en\"><p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/vpkivimaki\">@vpkivimaki</a> Also found this June 24th photo from Rossosh (50.202944, 39.510314) <a href=\"https://t.co/uxQfC7qWn5\">https://t.co/uxQfC7qWn5</a> <a href=\"http://t.co/KU9PS7OpL0\">pic.twitter.com/KU9PS7OpL0</a></p>\n<p>— surpher (@5urpher) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/5urpher/status/572417217482133504\">March 2, 2015</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>The image is significant because it shows what appeared to be one of the units that was part of the military convoy seen travelling through Russia in late June 2014 that contained the Buk missile launcher Bellingcat identified as also being seen in Ukraine on July 17th, and linked to the downing of MH17. In the Bellingcat report <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2014/11/08/origin-of-the-separatists-buk-a-bellingcat-investigation/\" target=\"_blank\">Origin of the Separatists’ Buk</a> we were able to track the convoy using images from multiple sources as it travelled through Russia to the Ukrainian border.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/23.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"23\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2888\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"901\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/23.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/23.jpg 870w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/23-290x300.jpg 290w\" width=\"870\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>At the very least this new image would add to the details we had gathered about the route of the convoy, and the <a href=\"http://vk.com/photo72407443_333012690\" target=\"_blank\">original version of the image</a> on VK.com already had location information tagged to it, indicating it was taken in Rossosh, Russia (<a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/50%C2%B012'10.6%22N+39%C2%B030'37.1%22E/@50.202944,39.510314,638m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0\" target=\"_blank\">50.202944, 39.510314</a>). However, despite having co-ordinates it’s still important to match what’s visible in the image with images from the ground, to confirm that the co-ordinates provided are accurate. <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/50%C2%B012'10.6%22N+39%C2%B030'37.1%22E/@50.202884,39.510323,3a,90y,103.39h,71.94t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJ1Kzt_fn_dM9itYaDNsSEQ!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview images</a> of the area are available, but the photograph appears to provide little information that could be used to find its precise location.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"G8NQGeq7u4Y\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2885\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1440\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y.jpg 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>However, there is in fact plenty of information in the image that can be used to match the location. First it is possible to establish the position of the camera in relation to the vehicle by examining the road markings. The vehicle is between two sets of dashed lines, the set that is furthest away extending further to the right than the set closest to the camera.<a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/dash.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"dash\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2889\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 871px) 100vw, 871px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/dash.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/dash.jpg 871w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/dash-300x155.jpg 300w\" width=\"871\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.202753,39.510323,3a,26.3y,13.16h,70.09t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sMm71Z8uSk7Fk2z94GuoNzg!2e0\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview imagery</a> the same pattern of dashed lines can be seen, and based on the position of the dashed lines in relation to the solid lines the camera must be on the left side of the below image pointing across the road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-dash.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"SV dash\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2890\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"464\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 827px) 100vw, 827px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-dash.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-dash.jpg 827w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-dash-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"827\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Street markings are not unique, but other elements of the photograph match to what’s visible in the Google Streetview imagery. Barely visible behind the tire of the vehicle is a white pole that’s also visible in the <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.202884,39.510323,3a,82.9y,101.58h,64.13t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJ1Kzt_fn_dM9itYaDNsSEQ!2e0\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview imagery</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"SV comp verge\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2891\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"848\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1271px) 100vw, 1271px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge.jpg 1271w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1271\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Also visible in the top left corner of the photograph is a pole that also matches the <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.202884,39.510323,3a,15y,101.88h,91.28t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJ1Kzt_fn_dM9itYaDNsSEQ!2e0\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview imagery</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-poll-comp.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"SV poll comp\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2892\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"702\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-poll-comp.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-poll-comp.jpg 990w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-poll-comp-300x213.jpg 300w\" width=\"990\"/></div></a>Individually these features are not uncommon, but there is one element of the photograph that is very unusual, and confirms the exact location of the vehicle. A crack is visible in the photograph, running through the middle dashed line, with a patch of discolouration around it that matches to what’s visible in the <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.203014,39.510322,3a,15y,194.81h,67.26t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sqZ7XI9tGeqBoLZl35u2_qg!2e0\" target=\"_blank\">Google Streetview imagery</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/Crack.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Crack\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2893\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"872\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 857px) 100vw, 857px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/Crack.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/Crack.jpg 857w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/Crack-295x300.jpg 295w\" width=\"857\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Unlike other matches in the photograph this pattern of cracks and discolouration would be something that’s very unusual, and combined with the other matching element would establish this as the exact location. This shows that even when a photograph appears to provide no useful information it’s still possible to find the exact location it was taken.</p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nWhen working on open source and social media investigation there’s occasional images that at first seem as if they would be impossible to verify. The following picture, showing a 9S470 Self Propelled Command Post, was shared with us on Twitter.\n@vpkivimaki\nAlso found this June 24th photo from Rossosh (50.202944, 39.510314)\nhttps://t.co/uxQfC7qWn5\npic.twitter.com/KU9PS7OpL0\n— surpher (@5urpher)\nMarch 2, 2015\nThe image is significant because it shows what appeared to be one of the units that was part of the military convoy seen travelling through Russia in late June 2014 that contained the Buk missile launcher Bellingcat identified as also being seen in Ukraine on July 17th, and linked to the downing of MH17. In the Bellingcat report\nOrigin of the Separatists’ Buk\nwe were able to track the convoy using images from multiple sources as it travelled through Russia to the Ukrainian border.\nAt the very least this new image would add to the details we had gathered about the route of the convoy, and the\noriginal version of the image\non VK.com already had location information tagged to it, indicating it was taken in Rossosh, Russia (\n50.202944, 39.510314\n). However, despite having co-ordinates it’s still important to match what’s visible in the image with images from the ground, to confirm that the co-ordinates provided are accurate.\nGoogle Streetview images\nof the area are available, but the photograph appears to provide little information that could be used to find its precise location.\nHowever, there is in fact plenty of information in the image that can be used to match the location. First it is possible to establish the position of the camera in relation to the vehicle by examining the road markings. The vehicle is between two sets of dashed lines, the set that is furthest away extending further to the right than the set closest to the camera.\nIn the\nGoogle Streetview imagery\nthe same pattern of dashed lines can be seen, and based on the position of the dashed lines in relation to the solid lines the camera must be on the left side of the below image pointing across the road.\nStreet markings are not unique, but other elements of the photograph match to what’s visible in the Google Streetview imagery. Barely visible behind the tire of the vehicle is a white pole that’s also visible in the\nGoogle Streetview imagery\n.\nAlso visible in the top left corner of the photograph is a pole that also matches the\nGoogle Streetview imagery\n.\nIndividually these features are not uncommon, but there is one element of the photograph that is very unusual, and confirms the exact location of the vehicle. A crack is visible in the photograph, running through the middle dashed line, with a patch of discolouration around it that matches to what’s visible in the\nGoogle Streetview imagery\n.\nUnlike other matches in the photograph this pattern of cracks and discolouration would be something that’s very unusual, and combined with the other matching element would establish this as the exact location. This shows that even when a photograph appears to provide no useful information it’s still possible to find the exact location it was taken.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/23.jpg",
+      "alt": "23",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/G8NQGeq7u4Y.jpg",
+      "alt": "G8NQGeq7u4Y",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/dash.jpg",
+      "alt": "dash",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-dash.jpg",
+      "alt": "SV dash",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-comp-verge.jpg",
+      "alt": "SV comp verge",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/SV-poll-comp.jpg",
+      "alt": "SV poll comp",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/03/Crack.jpg",
+      "alt": "Crack",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-04-12_geolocating-the-walter-scott-shooting.json

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-the-walter-scott-shooting",
+  "title": "Geolocating the Walter Scott Shooting",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/04/12/geolocating-the-walter-scott-shooting/",
+  "date": "2015-04-12T09:09:40+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-04-12T11:39:41+00:00",
+  "author": "Andrew Haggard",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)On April 4, 2015, a police officer named Michael Slager of the North Chaleston Police Department shot and killed Walter Scott as he attempted to flee from the officer. The case has made national headlines in the United States and has been picked up in international media as well. Since the shooting, several major […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/04/12/geolocating-the-walter-scott-shooting/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>On April 4, 2015, a police officer named Michael Slager of the North Chaleston Police Department shot and killed Walter Scott as he attempted to flee from the officer. The case has made national headlines in the United States and has been picked up in international media as well.</p>\n<p>Since the shooting, several major events have taken place. Firstly, an eyewitness to the shooting came forward and provided video of the shooting to Mr. Scott’s family, which has been widely seen in the public. Secondly, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which is investigating the shooting, released dashboard camera video from Michael Slager’s police car. The final major developments are that Michael Slager has been fired from the police department, arrested, and charged with murder.</p>\n<p>Using the videos released by SLED and an eyewitness, it’s possible to determine the location of the shooting. The video below is from the police officer’s dashboard camera.</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/124576400\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://vimeo.com/124576400\">Walter Scott: Dash camera video</a> from <a href=\"https://vimeo.com/postandcourier\">The Post and Courier</a> on <a href=\"https://vimeo.com\">Vimeo</a>.</p>\n<p>The police dashboard camera video reveals that Scott pulled into the parking lot of an Advance Auto Parts. A quick search of Advance Auto Parts reveals a couple of possible addresses within the North Charleston jurisdiction.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3174\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/1.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/1-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/1-1200x750.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The location of the traffic stop occurred at Advanced Auto Parts store located at 1945 Remount Road in North Charleston.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3175\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"587\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1026px) 100vw, 1026px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/2.jpg 1026w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/2-300x172.jpg 300w\" width=\"1026\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From the video, we can tell that Walter Scott was driving Westbound on Remount Road/State Road S-10-13 since he makes a left into the Advance Auto Parts’ parking lot.</p>\n<p>After turning into the Advance Auto Parts’ parking lot from the street, Scott turns right and stops the vehicle.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3176\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/3.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/3-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/3-1200x750.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Immediately, there are three things of note in this scene.  Firstly and most obviously, the two white sheds in the background (red rectangle); secondly, the fences to the left of the white shed (yellow rectangle); and thirdly, the telephone pole (blue rectangle in front of the vehicle Scott was driving (green rectangle).  As well, the brick building (pink arrow) next to the white sheds is worth noting.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3177\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/4.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/4-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/4-1200x750.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>All of these buildings can be found in satellite imagery or Google Street View.  The green circle in the satellite overview shows the approximate location of the vehicle Scott was driving.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3178\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1272px) 100vw, 1272px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/5.jpg 1272w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/5-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/5-1200x586.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1272\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3179\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1278px) 100vw, 1278px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/6.jpg 1278w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/6-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/6-1200x583.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1278\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3180\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"587\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1026px) 100vw, 1026px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/7.jpg 1026w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/7-300x172.jpg 300w\" width=\"1026\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s also worth noting the flag of South Carolina is fluttering in the background.  What’s more, it looks like the banner on the white shed says “Got Tint?”</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3181\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/8.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/8-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/8-1200x750.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Using Google’s Street View service and going in the eastbound direction down Remount Road, it’s possible to find the same flag fluttering in front of a window tinting business.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/9.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"9\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3182\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"622\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1266px) 100vw, 1266px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/9.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/9.jpg 1266w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/9-300x147.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/9-1200x590.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1266\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>After exiting the vehicle for the second time, Scott runs from the car, heading left of the camera’s position, which would be south from the location of the car.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/10.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"10\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3183\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/10.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/10-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/10-1200x750.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>A man by the name of Feidin Santana happened to be walking by the location where Officer Michael Slager later shot and killed Walter Scott.  Santana pulled out his phone and recorded Officer Slager shooting Walter Scott.  Apparently, Santana stopped recording for several minutes and resumed recording as more officers arrived on scene.  The videos is graphic in that it shows Walter Scott being shot and his body.  Screen captures from these videos will be censored to not show Mr. Scott’s body.<br/>\n<iframe allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/us-news/video/2015/apr/08/us-police-fatal-shooting-south-carolina-phone-footage-viral-video\" width=\"560\"></iframe></p>\n<p>Several clues from Santana’s videos also help us to geolocate the near precise location of the shooting.</p>\n<p>Firstly, as Scott flees from and is shot by Slager, we can see a white building (dark blue rectangle), which is to the right of Santana and west of vehicle Scott was driving. We can also see there is a fence separating the Santana from Slager and Scott. You can also notice a red sign (pink square).</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"11\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3184\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"723\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/11.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/11-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/11-1200x678.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As well, we can also see another building (orange arrow) at another scene from the video that is to the north of Santana and west of Scott’s car.  We can also clearly make out the pathway (red arrow) that links the white building from the previous screen capture with Craig Road.  Finally, off to the right-hand side of the video is the Advance Auto Parts store (light blue arrow).</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/12.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"12\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3185\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"734\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/12.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/12.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/12-300x172.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/12-1200x688.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Again, all of these buildings and features can be spotted in Google Earth.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/13.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"13\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3186\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"587\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1026px) 100vw, 1026px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/13.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/13.jpg 1026w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/13-300x172.jpg 300w\" width=\"1026\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From Google Street View, it’s possible to view the pathway from Craig Road, which is perpendicular to Remount Road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/14.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"14\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3187\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"628\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1270px) 100vw, 1270px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/14.jpg 1270w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/14-300x148.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/14-1200x593.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1270\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on signs posted at the entrance to the path, it appears the path is actually the driveway to Mega Pawn.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/15.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"15\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3188\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1273px) 100vw, 1273px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/15.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/15.jpg 1273w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/15-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/15-1200x585.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1273\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The sign seen behind the white building appears to be the LED sign for Mega Pawn, which can be seen from Rivers Avenue.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/16.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"16\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3189\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"628\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1278px) 100vw, 1278px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/16.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/16.jpg 1278w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/16-300x147.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/04/16-1200x590.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1278\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Based on all the video evidence available, it appears Scott died approximately 150 – 170 meters from the spot where he was pulled over by Slager.  Approximately, 160 meters away from the location Scott’s death was North Charleston’s Fire Station Number Three.  <a href=\"http://www.northcharleston.org/Residents/Fire-Department/Equipment.aspx\">That station, like all other fire stations in North Charleston, does not have an ambulance</a>.  EMS services in both North Charleston and Charleston, South Carolina are provided by the county.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nOn April 4, 2015, a police officer named Michael Slager of the North Chaleston Police Department shot and killed Walter Scott as he attempted to flee from the officer. The case has made national headlines in the United States and has been picked up in international media as well.\nSince the shooting, several major events have taken place. Firstly, an eyewitness to the shooting came forward and provided video of the shooting to Mr. Scott’s family, which has been widely seen in the public. Secondly, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which is investigating the shooting, released dashboard camera video from Michael Slager’s police car. The final major developments are that Michael Slager has been fired from the police department, arrested, and charged with murder.\nUsing the videos released by SLED and an eyewitness, it’s possible to determine the location of the shooting. The video below is from the police officer’s dashboard camera.\nWalter Scott: Dash camera video\nfrom\nThe Post and Courier\non\nVimeo\n.\nThe police dashboard camera video reveals that Scott pulled into the parking lot of an Advance Auto Parts. A quick search of Advance Auto Parts reveals a couple of possible addresses within the North Charleston jurisdiction.\nThe location of the traffic stop occurred at Advanced Auto Parts store located at 1945 Remount Road in North Charleston.\nFrom the video, we can tell that Walter Scott was driving Westbound on Remount Road/State Road S-10-13 since he makes a left into the Advance Auto Parts’ parking lot.\nAfter turning into the Advance Auto Parts’ parking lot from the street, Scott turns right and stops the vehicle.\nImmediately, there are three things of note in this scene. Firstly and most obviously, the two white sheds in the background (red rectangle); secondly, the fences to the left of the white shed (yellow rectangle); and thirdly, the telephone pole (blue rectangle in front of the vehicle Scott was driving (green rectangle). As well, the brick building (pink arrow) next to the white sheds is worth noting.\nAll of these buildings can be found in satellite imagery or Google Street View. The green circle in the satellite overview shows the approximate location of the vehicle Scott was driving.\nIt’s also worth noting the flag of South Carolina is fluttering in the background. What’s more, it looks like the banner on the white shed says “Got Tint?”\nUsing Google’s Street View service and going in the eastbound direction down Remount Road, it’s possible to find the same flag fluttering in front of a window tinting business.\nAfter exiting the vehicle for the second time, Scott runs from the car, heading left of the camera’s position, which would be south from the location of the car.\nA man by the name of Feidin Santana happened to be walking by the location where Officer Michael Slager later shot and killed Walter Scott. Santana pulled out his phone and recorded Officer Slager shooting Walter Scott. Apparently, Santana stopped recording for several minutes and resumed recording as more officers arrived on scene. The videos is graphic in that it shows Walter Scott being shot and his body. Screen captures from these videos will be censored to not show Mr. Scott’s body.\nSeveral clues from Santana’s videos also help us to geolocate the near precise location of the shooting.\nFirstly, as Scott flees from and is shot by Slager, we can see a white building (dark blue rectangle), which is to the right of Santana and west of vehicle Scott was driving. We can also see there is a fence separating the Santana from Slager and Scott. You can also notice a red sign (pink square).\nAs well, we can also see another building (orange arrow) at another scene from the video that is to the north of Santana and west of Scott’s car. We can also clearly make out the pathway (red arrow) that links the white building from the previous screen capture with Craig Road. Finally, off to the right-hand side of the video is the Advance Auto Parts store (light blue arrow).\nAgain, all of these buildings and features can be spotted in Google Earth.\nFrom Google Street View, it’s possible to view the pathway from Craig Road, which is perpendicular to Remount Road.\nBased on signs posted at the entrance to the path, it appears the path is actually the driveway to Mega Pawn.\nThe sign seen behind the white building appears to be the LED sign for Mega Pawn, which can be seen from Rivers Avenue.\nBased on all the video evidence available, it appears Scott died approximately 150 – 170 meters from the spot where he was pulled over by Slager. Approximately, 160 meters away from the location Scott’s death was North Charleston’s Fire Station Number Three.\nThat station, like all other fire stations in North Charleston, does not have an ambulance\n. EMS services in both North Charleston and Charleston, South Carolina are provided by the county.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-05-21_air-rescue-in-ramadi-geolocating-made-easy-with-heads-up-display.json

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+{
+  "slug": "air-rescue-in-ramadi-geolocating-made-easy-with-heads-up-display",
+  "title": "Air Rescue in Ramadi: Geolocating Made Easy with Head-Up Display",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/21/air-rescue-in-ramadi-geolocating-made-easy-with-heads-up-display/",
+  "date": "2015-05-21T12:39:04+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-05-21T17:49:50+00:00",
+  "author": "Nathan Patin",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK) The strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State (IS), bringing the number of provincial capitals under the militant group’s control to three (the others being Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria). IS reportedly used the cover provided by a dust storm to gain a military advantage during the start of […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/21/air-rescue-in-ramadi-geolocating-made-easy-with-heads-up-display/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/header.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"header\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3598\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"461\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/header.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/header.jpg 828w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/header-300x167.jpg 300w\" width=\"828\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State (IS), bringing the number of provincial capitals under the militant group’s control to three (the others being Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria).</p>\n<p>IS reportedly <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/world/middleeast/isis-fighters-seized-advantage-in-iraq-attack-by-striking-during-sandstorm.html&amp;gwt&amp;_r=0&amp;gwt\">used</a> the cover provided by a dust storm to gain a military advantage during the start of their assault last week; American warplanes were unable to provide air support for the Iraqi forces under attack owing to poor visibility. The momentum gained from this tactical maneuver <a href=\"http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/05/islamic-state-overruns-anbar-operations-command-takes-full-control-of-ramadi.php\">culminated</a> on Sunday with the militants overrunning the Anbar Operations Command and 8<sup>th</sup> Brigade Headquarters at Camp Ar-Ramadi, the last remaining government strongholds in the city.</p>\n<p>Iraqi security forces were seen <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhDSeuUhJZo\">fleeing</a> the IS onslaught in dozens of Humvees and other military vehicles, scenes distressingly <a href=\"http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266937/islamic-state-routs-last-elite.html\">reminiscent</a> of the fall of Mosul nearly a year ago. Commenting on the rout, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey didn’t <a href=\"http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128866\">mince</a> words, saying on Wednesday that Iraqi forces weren’t “driven from” Ramadi, they “drove out of Ramadi.”</p>\n<p>So, with yet another defeat at the hands of IS, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MoD) might want to put a good face on a situation that is nothing less than a serious setback. On May 19<sup>th</sup>, the Iraqi MoD posted to its YouTube channel footage purporting to be of a successful <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Air_Force\">Iraqi Air Force</a> rescue mission of Iraqi security forces trapped in Ramadi. While not exactly a propaganda coup, when your forces have once again melted away in the face of adversity, it’s arguably better than nothing.</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/N72-W6nGdXg?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>Interestingly, the MoD doesn’t redact any of the data on the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display\">head-up display</a> (HUD) overlaid on the video. Here’s what these videos typically look like:</p>\n<p>US Central Command, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1WVmtqkgu0\">earlier this month</a>:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/CENTCOM.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"CENTCOM\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3581\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"549\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/CENTCOM.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/CENTCOM.jpg 553w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/CENTCOM-300x253.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Iraqi MoD, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzegM89TeBY\">last month</a>:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mod.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"mod\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3582\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"393\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mod.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mod.jpg 751w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mod-300x181.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a>The HUD overlay in the Ramadi air rescue video, by contrast, is completely visible, save for the date and time in the top-left corner:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/hud1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"hud1\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3583\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"371\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/hud1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/hud1.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/hud1-300x171.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Even the date and time, however, can be seen on the screenshot in the Iraqi MoD’s <a href=\"http://www.mod.mil.iq/index.php?name=News&amp;file=article&amp;sid=677\">press release</a>:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/date-and-time.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"date and time\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3584\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"420\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/date-and-time.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/date-and-time.jpg 928w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/date-and-time-300x194.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The 18<sup>th</sup> of May was Monday, which is consistent with the reported timeline of events. (Corroborating the date of the rescue may not seem particularly important, but the Iraqi MoD has been known to <a href=\"http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/13/iraq-s-b-s-about-killing-isis-bosses.html?via=mobile&amp;source=twitter\">stretch the truth</a> to boost morale.)</p>\n<p>Because the HUD data isn’t redacted, it’s possible to geolocate exactly where the Iraqi security forces were rescued with the longitude and latitude visible in the bottom-right corner of the image. Because those coordinates refer to the target (“TGT”) in the HUD crosshairs, we have to wait for the security forces to come into view to determine their location.</p>\n<p>The first 30-odd seconds of the video are spent searching for the security forces until the camera zooms in on a group of individuals who signal the aircraft:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/signal.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"signal\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3585\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"371\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/signal.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/signal.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/signal-300x171.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Now that the stranded security forces have been spotted, we can use the TGT coordinates (33°24’49N 43°20’47E) to determine their location. But before doing so, it’s helpful to get a better idea of what the location looks like from the video. At 2:46, the video zooms out to reveal that the security forces are situated in the corner of a facility with a number of large, circular structures:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/zoomout.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"zoomout\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3586\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"366\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/zoomout.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/zoomout.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/zoomout-300x169.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Entering the aforementioned coordinates into Google Earth takes us to this location, which looks somewhat similar but lacks the circular structures seen in the video:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/GE.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"GE\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3587\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"406\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/GE.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/GE.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/GE-300x187.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It turns out that this is because Google Earth’s imagery was taken in 2010. Bing, on the other hand, has more recent satellite imagery of the area:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Bing.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Bing\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3588\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"488\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Bing.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Bing.jpg 365w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Bing-300x225.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Here the circular structures present in video are clearly visible, confirming that the TGT coordinates indeed mark the exact location where the rescue mission took place.</p>\n<p>It’s also interesting to note that the newer Bing imagery, which was <a href=\"https://mvexel.dev.openstreetmap.org/bing/\">taken</a> in August 2013, can be seen side-by-side with Bing’s older imagery taken in August 2011, which is still more recent than the imagery used by Google Earth for this location:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/bingdate.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"bingdate\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3589\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"470\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/bingdate.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/bingdate.jpg 401w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/bingdate-300x218.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Here’s the rendezvous location in relation to the rest of Ramadi:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/relation-to-ramadi.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"relation to ramadi\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3590\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"405\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/relation-to-ramadi.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/relation-to-ramadi.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/relation-to-ramadi-300x187.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The Iraqi MoD describes the rescue as taking place “in the district of the stadium”بمنطقة الملعب)<span class=\"watch-title\" dir=\"rtl\" id=\"eow-title\" title=\"قيادة طيران الجيش تنفذ عملية إنقاذ جوي بمنطقة الملعب في الرمادي\"> </span>). Indeed, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=33.414392&amp;lon=43.346729&amp;z=14&amp;m=b&amp;show=/13329497/Al-Mala´ab&amp;search=33%C2%B024'49N%2043%C2%B020'47E\">that neighborhood</a> is less than a mile from the site of the rescue operation.</p>\n<p>The video ends with understandably relieved Iraqis embracing one another and trotting down an airstrip. Once again, we can use the TGT coordinates (33°20’31N 43°35’58E) and Wikimapia to determine which airfield the rescued Iraqis were flown to.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/happy.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"happy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3591\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/happy.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/happy.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/happy-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As would be expected, the mission was conducted from <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=33.334687&amp;lon=43.595209&amp;z=14&amp;m=b&amp;show=/351572/Al-Taqaddum-Airbase&amp;search=al%20taqaddum\">al-Taqaddum Airbase</a>, roughly 15 miles away:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/taqaddum.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"taqaddum\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3592\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"348\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/taqaddum.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/taqaddum.jpg 468w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/taqaddum-300x160.jpg 300w\" width=\"650\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Finally, the heartfelt coda on the runway provides the best view of the helicopters flown during the operation, which appear to be <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-17\">Mil Mi-17s</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mi-17.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"mi-17\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3593\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"214\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mi-17.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mi-17.jpg 906w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mi-17-300x100.jpg 300w\" width=\"649\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nThe strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State (IS), bringing the number of provincial capitals under the militant group’s control to three (the others being Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria).\nIS reportedly\nused\nthe cover provided by a dust storm to gain a military advantage during the start of their assault last week; American warplanes were unable to provide air support for the Iraqi forces under attack owing to poor visibility. The momentum gained from this tactical maneuver\nculminated\non Sunday with the militants overrunning the Anbar Operations Command and 8\nth\nBrigade Headquarters at Camp Ar-Ramadi, the last remaining government strongholds in the city.\nIraqi security forces were seen\nfleeing\nthe IS onslaught in dozens of Humvees and other military vehicles, scenes distressingly\nreminiscent\nof the fall of Mosul nearly a year ago. Commenting on the rout, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey didn’t\nmince\nwords, saying on Wednesday that Iraqi forces weren’t “driven from” Ramadi, they “drove out of Ramadi.”\nSo, with yet another defeat at the hands of IS, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MoD) might want to put a good face on a situation that is nothing less than a serious setback. On May 19\nth\n, the Iraqi MoD posted to its YouTube channel footage purporting to be of a successful\nIraqi Air Force\nrescue mission of Iraqi security forces trapped in Ramadi. While not exactly a propaganda coup, when your forces have once again melted away in the face of adversity, it’s arguably better than nothing.\nInterestingly, the MoD doesn’t redact any of the data on the\nhead-up display\n(HUD) overlaid on the video. Here’s what these videos typically look like:\nUS Central Command,\nearlier this month\n:\nIraqi MoD,\nlast month\n:\nThe HUD overlay in the Ramadi air rescue video, by contrast, is completely visible, save for the date and time in the top-left corner:\nEven the date and time, however, can be seen on the screenshot in the Iraqi MoD’s\npress release\n:\nThe 18\nth\nof May was Monday, which is consistent with the reported timeline of events. (Corroborating the date of the rescue may not seem particularly important, but the Iraqi MoD has been known to\nstretch the truth\nto boost morale.)\nBecause the HUD data isn’t redacted, it’s possible to geolocate exactly where the Iraqi security forces were rescued with the longitude and latitude visible in the bottom-right corner of the image. Because those coordinates refer to the target (“TGT”) in the HUD crosshairs, we have to wait for the security forces to come into view to determine their location.\nThe first 30-odd seconds of the video are spent searching for the security forces until the camera zooms in on a group of individuals who signal the aircraft:\nNow that the stranded security forces have been spotted, we can use the TGT coordinates (33°24’49N 43°20’47E) to determine their location. But before doing so, it’s helpful to get a better idea of what the location looks like from the video. At 2:46, the video zooms out to reveal that the security forces are situated in the corner of a facility with a number of large, circular structures:\nEntering the aforementioned coordinates into Google Earth takes us to this location, which looks somewhat similar but lacks the circular structures seen in the video:\nIt turns out that this is because Google Earth’s imagery was taken in 2010. Bing, on the other hand, has more recent satellite imagery of the area:\nHere the circular structures present in video are clearly visible, confirming that the TGT coordinates indeed mark the exact location where the rescue mission took place.\nIt’s also interesting to note that the newer Bing imagery, which was\ntaken\nin August 2013, can be seen side-by-side with Bing’s older imagery taken in August 2011, which is still more recent than the imagery used by Google Earth for this location:\nHere’s the rendezvous location in relation to the rest of Ramadi:\nThe Iraqi MoD describes the rescue as taking place “in the district of the stadium”بمنطقة الملعب)\n). Indeed,\nthat neighborhood\nis less than a mile from the site of the rescue operation.\nThe video ends with understandably relieved Iraqis embracing one another and trotting down an airstrip. Once again, we can use the TGT coordinates (33°20’31N 43°35’58E) and Wikimapia to determine which airfield the rescued Iraqis were flown to.\nAs would be expected, the mission was conducted from\nal-Taqaddum Airbase\n, roughly 15 miles away:\nFinally, the heartfelt coda on the runway provides the best view of the helicopters flown during the operation, which appear to be\nMil Mi-17s\n.",
+  "images": [
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+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/header.jpg",
+      "alt": "header",
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+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/CENTCOM.jpg",
+      "alt": "CENTCOM",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mod.jpg",
+      "alt": "mod",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/hud1.jpg",
+      "alt": "hud1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/date-and-time.jpg",
+      "alt": "date and time",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/signal.jpg",
+      "alt": "signal",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/zoomout.jpg",
+      "alt": "zoomout",
+      "caption": ""
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+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/GE.jpg",
+      "alt": "GE",
+      "caption": ""
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+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/Bing.jpg",
+      "alt": "Bing",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/bingdate.jpg",
+      "alt": "bingdate",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/relation-to-ramadi.jpg",
+      "alt": "relation to ramadi",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/happy.jpg",
+      "alt": "happy",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/taqaddum.jpg",
+      "alt": "taqaddum",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/05/mi-17.jpg",
+      "alt": "mi-17",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-05-26_mamai-geolocation.json

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+{
+  "slug": "mamai-geolocation",
+  "title": "Confirmed: Active Russian Spetsnaz Serviceman Photographed in Luhansk",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2015/05/26/mamai-geolocation/",
+  "date": "2015-05-26T13:12:33+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-05-26T13:25:11+00:00",
+  "author": "Ruslan Leviev",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Ruslan Leviev and his team of investigators recently released an in-depth report on three Russian soldiers who died fighting in Ukraine. Leviev and his team members managed to track down the gravesites of each of these soldiers, all of which belonged to and were still active servicemen in the Russian 16th Separate Spetsnaz Brigade, military unit 54607. One […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/26/mamai-geolocation/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p><em>Ruslan Leviev and his team of investigators recently released an </em><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/22/three-graves/\"><em>in-depth report </em></a><em>on three Russian soldiers who died fighting in Ukraine. Leviev and his team members managed to track down the gravesites of each of these soldiers, all of which belonged to and were still active servicemen in the Russian 16th Separate Spetsnaz Brigade, military unit 54607. One of these soldiers was Timur “Mamai” Mamayusupov, photographed in May next to a distinct APC with shark teeth. This location was assumed to be Luhansk, but only now can this location be confirmed via geolocation. Below is a summary of the English translation of </em><a href=\"https://medium.com/@ReggaeMortis1/confirmed-russian-spetsnaz-serviceman-sighted-in-luhansk-bba5dee7047b\"><em>a report detailing the investigation</em></a><em> from Leviev and his investigation team</em>.</p>\n<p>Our <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/22/three-graves/\">investigation</a> of three Spetsnaz servicemen killed in Ukraine featured several pieces of evidence that they really did visit Eastern Ukraine. A photo shows Ivan “Kardan” and Timur “Mamai” with weapons in a semi-ruined building, Kardan having white leg bands characteristic of rebels. “Mamai” was photographed close to two APCs, one of them bearing a distinct “shark” paint job.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/mourning.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"mourning\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3821\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"735\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 616px) 100vw, 616px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/mourning.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/mourning.jpg 616w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/mourning-251x300.jpg 251w\" width=\"616\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://vk.com/wall32365046_4877\" href=\"https://vk.com/wall32365046_4877\" rel=\"nofollow\" style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">(original message</a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"> | </span><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor hoverZoomLink\" data-href=\"https://pp.vk.me/c624521/v624521010/2b6a1/uNFTPKD7r8Y.jpg\" href=\"https://pp.vk.me/c624521/v624521010/2b6a1/uNFTPKD7r8Y.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\" style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">original photo</a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"> | </span><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://archive.is/AIyI8\" href=\"https://archive.is/AIyI8\" rel=\"nofollow\" style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">saved copy</a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">).</span></p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\" id=\"1977\">However, until now we had not managed to find photographic or video evidence conclusively proving that the killed Spetsnaz servicemen were in the Donbass. So, we went back to Timur “Mamai”’s photo in front of the painted APC (we called “the shark APC”).</p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\" id=\"bafa\">In the comments to the translation of our investigation published on <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/22/three-graves/\" href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/22/three-graves/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bellingcat</a>, a reader noted that Mamai’s photo was probably mirrored. This is visible by the APC’s paint job, as well as that in the photo Mamai apparently has his left hand on the trigger. We can also see a part of the inverted “P” (from the word “ЛНР” meaning “Luhansk People’s Republic”), confirming that the image was mirrored. Thus, the tree branch is actually to the left of Mamai, not the right. The below photograph of Mamai is properly mirrored, showing the original photograph with distinguishable landmarks:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"luh1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3781\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1334\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1.jpg 700w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1-157x300.jpg 157w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1-630x1200.jpg 630w\" width=\"700\"/></div></a></p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\" id=\"1977\">After searching for photos of the Shark APC, it turned out that this vehicle had already been noticed by many Ukrainian and Western investigators. We found an array of photos that show some of the landmarks visible in the photo with Mamai, including <a href=\"https://archive.is/hNbEP\">this photograph found on VK</a>, which was taken at the same location as the Mamai photo, with several landmarks visible in both images.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/GHMRwTU71H8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"GHMRwTU71H8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3775\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"816\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1088px) 100vw, 1088px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/GHMRwTU71H8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/GHMRwTU71H8.jpg 1088w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/GHMRwTU71H8-300x225.jpg 300w\" width=\"1088\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>There are five landmarks that are visible in these two images; all of these places must be located in order to verify a geolocation:</p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">A distinct light-yellow two-storey building with white shutters (in both photos, <strong>purple</strong>)</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">A red fence (in both photos, <strong>red)</strong></li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">A bent tree with distinct branch (in both photos, <strong>green</strong>)</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">A tall chimney (only in Mamai photo, <strong>blue</strong>)</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">A yellow marker on top of the red fence directly behind Mamai (only in Mamai photo, <strong>yellow</strong>)</li>\n</ul>\n<p>All of these landmarks can be identified in photographs available in open source data.</p>\n<p>On April 8, a local tweeted a picture of a rebel base, giving the location as the backyard of Mafia restaurant on Oboronna street:</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"ru\">ул Оборонная, во дворе \"Мафии\" <a href=\"http://t.co/PZKX1lNgxi\">pic.twitter.com/PZKX1lNgxi</a></p>\n<p>— Voroshilovgrad (@UkroSpider) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UkroSpider/status/585775504982220800\">April 8, 2015</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\" id=\"e1e2\">In April, a Ukrainian English-language website lugansk-news.com <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://lugansk-news.com/russian-army-barracks-located-in-lugansk-ukraine-photos-and-video/\" href=\"http://lugansk-news.com/russian-army-barracks-located-in-lugansk-ukraine-photos-and-video/\" rel=\"nofollow\">investigated</a> the likely separatist base in Luhansk quite thoroughly, giving, in particular, this geolocation near Oboronna and Sasyury streets:</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_3805\" style=\"width: 600px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/base.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Screenshot of satellite map geolocation from lugansk-news.com. Note that building #4 is not visible in the street-level photo, and that the building numbers are slightly off from the depicted buildings, not directly over them.\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3805\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3805\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"869\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/base.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/base.jpg 590w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/base-204x300.jpg 204w\" width=\"590\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-3805\">Screenshot of satellite map geolocation from lugansk-news.com. Note that building #4 is not visible in the street-level photo, and that the building numbers are slightly off from the depicted buildings, not directly over them.</p></div>\n<p class=\"graf--p\">The red fence, distinct tree, yellow marker, and yellow building are all visible in this photograph, showing a rebel base in Luhansk with numerous APCs.</p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"RussianArmy1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3792\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"768\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/RussianArmy11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/RussianArmy11.jpg 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/RussianArmy11-300x225.jpg 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\">But another landmark still remains–the tall chimney. A similar chimney <a href=\"https://maps.yandex.ru/-/CVWRiTps\">is visible</a> at a boiler near the location specified by lugansk-news.com, and in line with the previous geolocation:</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_3793\" style=\"width: 701px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/chimney.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"chimney\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3793\" class=\"wp-image-3793 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"334\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/chimney.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/chimney.jpg 691w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/chimney-300x145.jpg 300w\" width=\"691\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-3793\">Screenshot from <a href=\"https://maps.yandex.ru/-/CVWRiTps\">Yandex street-level imagery</a></p></div>\n<p class=\"graf--p\">After locating this chimney, we can now give exact coordinates for each of the landmarks visible in the photos:</p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">Distinct light-yellow two-storey building: located at exactly 48.5604442, 39.3163428</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">Red fence: located at exactly 48.560453, 39.316130</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">Bent tree with distinct branch: shadow visible on current Yandex satellite imagery, located at exactly 48.560457, 39.316202</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">Tall chimney: located at exactly 48.558031, 39.319053</li>\n<li class=\"graf--p\">Yellow marker on top of the red fence directly behind Mamai: located on fence at exactly 48.560453, 39.316130</li>\n</ul>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_3806\" style=\"width: 678px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/geoloc_map.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"geoloc_map\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3806\" class=\"wp-image-3806 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"499\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/geoloc_map.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/geoloc_map.jpg 668w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/geoloc_map-300x224.jpg 300w\" width=\"668\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-3806\">Camera perspective of Mamai photograph, with the white lines designating the line of sight, green circle showing the shadow of the bent tree, red circle the red fence, and purple the two-storey light-yellow building. The tall chimney is one block to the south of this site.</p></div>\n<p class=\"graf--p\">This base, and the location of the Russian soldier “Mamai,” is near the “Gratsiya” factory and “Mafia” restaurant in central Luhansk at 48.5605241, 39.316147.</p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\"><a href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/webcasts/hiding-in-plain-sight-putin-s-war-in-ukraine-and-boris-nemtsov-s-putin-war\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3811 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"331\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_.jpg 620w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_-300x160.jpg 300w\" width=\"620\"/></div></a></p>\n<p class=\"graf--p\"><em>This article is a summary of a more detailed geolocation report found <a href=\"https://medium.com/@ReggaeMortis1/confirmed-russian-spetsnaz-serviceman-sighted-in-luhansk-bba5dee7047b\">here </a>in English translation. The authors and translators have included information for supporting their research through donations to their Yandex wallet at <a href=\"https://medium.com/@ReggaeMortis1/confirmed-russian-spetsnaz-serviceman-sighted-in-luhansk-bba5dee7047b\">the end of the detailed article</a>.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nRuslan Leviev and his team of investigators recently released an\nin-depth report\non three Russian soldiers who died fighting in Ukraine. Leviev and his team members managed to track down the gravesites of each of these soldiers, all of which belonged to and were still active servicemen in the Russian 16th Separate Spetsnaz Brigade, military unit 54607. One of these soldiers was Timur “Mamai” Mamayusupov, photographed in May next to a distinct APC with shark teeth. This location was assumed to be Luhansk, but only now can this location be confirmed via geolocation. Below is a summary of the English translation of\na report detailing the investigation\nfrom Leviev and his investigation team\n.\nOur\ninvestigation\nof three Spetsnaz servicemen killed in Ukraine featured several pieces of evidence that they really did visit Eastern Ukraine. A photo shows Ivan “Kardan” and Timur “Mamai” with weapons in a semi-ruined building, Kardan having white leg bands characteristic of rebels. “Mamai” was photographed close to two APCs, one of them bearing a distinct “shark” paint job.\n(original message\n|\noriginal photo\n|\nsaved copy\n).\nHowever, until now we had not managed to find photographic or video evidence conclusively proving that the killed Spetsnaz servicemen were in the Donbass. So, we went back to Timur “Mamai”’s photo in front of the painted APC (we called “the shark APC”).\nIn the comments to the translation of our investigation published on\nBellingcat\n, a reader noted that Mamai’s photo was probably mirrored. This is visible by the APC’s paint job, as well as that in the photo Mamai apparently has his left hand on the trigger. We can also see a part of the inverted “P” (from the word “ЛНР” meaning “Luhansk People’s Republic”), confirming that the image was mirrored. Thus, the tree branch is actually to the left of Mamai, not the right. The below photograph of Mamai is properly mirrored, showing the original photograph with distinguishable landmarks:\nAfter searching for photos of the Shark APC, it turned out that this vehicle had already been noticed by many Ukrainian and Western investigators. We found an array of photos that show some of the landmarks visible in the photo with Mamai, including\nthis photograph found on VK\n, which was taken at the same location as the Mamai photo, with several landmarks visible in both images.\nThere are five landmarks that are visible in these two images; all of these places must be located in order to verify a geolocation:\nA distinct light-yellow two-storey building with white shutters (in both photos,\npurple\n)\nA red fence (in both photos,\nred)\nA bent tree with distinct branch (in both photos,\ngreen\n)\nA tall chimney (only in Mamai photo,\nblue\n)\nA yellow marker on top of the red fence directly behind Mamai (only in Mamai photo,\nyellow\n)\nAll of these landmarks can be identified in photographs available in open source data.\nOn April 8, a local tweeted a picture of a rebel base, giving the location as the backyard of Mafia restaurant on Oboronna street:\nул Оборонная, во дворе \"Мафии\"\npic.twitter.com/PZKX1lNgxi\n— Voroshilovgrad (@UkroSpider)\nApril 8, 2015\nIn April, a Ukrainian English-language website lugansk-news.com\ninvestigated\nthe likely separatist base in Luhansk quite thoroughly, giving, in particular, this geolocation near Oboronna and Sasyury streets:\nScreenshot of satellite map geolocation from lugansk-news.com. Note that building #4 is not visible in the street-level photo, and that the building numbers are slightly off from the depicted buildings, not directly over them.\nThe red fence, distinct tree, yellow marker, and yellow building are all visible in this photograph, showing a rebel base in Luhansk with numerous APCs.\nBut another landmark still remains–the tall chimney. A similar chimney\nis visible\nat a boiler near the location specified by lugansk-news.com, and in line with the previous geolocation:\nScreenshot from\nYandex street-level imagery\nAfter locating this chimney, we can now give exact coordinates for each of the landmarks visible in the photos:\nDistinct light-yellow two-storey building: located at exactly 48.5604442, 39.3163428\nRed fence: located at exactly 48.560453, 39.316130\nBent tree with distinct branch: shadow visible on current Yandex satellite imagery, located at exactly 48.560457, 39.316202\nTall chimney: located at exactly 48.558031, 39.319053\nYellow marker on top of the red fence directly behind Mamai: located on fence at exactly 48.560453, 39.316130\nCamera perspective of Mamai photograph, with the white lines designating the line of sight, green circle showing the shadow of the bent tree, red circle the red fence, and purple the two-storey light-yellow building. The tall chimney is one block to the south of this site.\nThis base, and the location of the Russian soldier “Mamai,” is near the “Gratsiya” factory and “Mafia” restaurant in central Luhansk at 48.5605241, 39.316147.\nThis article is a summary of a more detailed geolocation report found\nhere\nin English translation. The authors and translators have included information for supporting their research through donations to their Yandex wallet at\nthe end of the detailed article\n.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/mourning.jpg",
+      "alt": "mourning",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/luh1.jpg",
+      "alt": "luh1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/GHMRwTU71H8.jpg",
+      "alt": "GHMRwTU71H8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/base.jpg",
+      "alt": "Screenshot of satellite map geolocation from lugansk-news.com. Note that building #4 is not visible in the street-level photo, and that the building numbers are slightly off from the depicted buildings, not directly over them.",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/RussianArmy11.jpg",
+      "alt": "RussianArmy1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/chimney.jpg",
+      "alt": "chimney",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/geoloc_map.jpg",
+      "alt": "geoloc_map",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_.jpg",
+      "alt": "cfsvpbuw0aaayyv__1_",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-05-28_geolocating-stanislav-tarasov.json

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-stanislav-tarasov",
+  "title": "Geolocating Stanislav Tarasov",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/05/28/geolocating-stanislav-tarasov/",
+  "date": "2015-05-28T19:43:52+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-06-01T21:14:08+00:00",
+  "author": "Aric Toler",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)When searching for images near Pavlovka, a site of artillery attacks from Russia to Ukraine, we find a series of images from a soldier named Stanislav Tarasov. These photos can be found on various geomapping services for photos posted to Instagram, including Gramfeed. By looking at other images in his Instagram, one stands out, […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/28/geolocating-stanislav-tarasov/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>When searching for images near Pavlovka, a site of artillery attacks from Russia to Ukraine, we find a series of images from a soldier named Stanislav Tarasov. These photos can be found on various geomapping services for photos posted to Instagram, including Gramfeed.</p>\n<p>By looking at other images in his Instagram, one stands out, showing the soldier holding his gun, facing a village in the background. This image has since been deleted from Instagram, but can still be found on Tarasov’s other social media accounts, including <a href=\"https://vk.com/stanislavbest?w=wall8311148_1496&amp;z=photo8311148_350555967%2Falbum8311148_0%2Frev\">VK</a> (<a href=\"https://archive.is/BsTX9\">archive</a>) and <a href=\"https://ok.ru/profile/203064117511/pphotos/615938912775\">Odnoklassniki</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"pav1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3550\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1072\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1429px) 100vw, 1429px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1.jpg 1429w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1429\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>When looking for suitable locations that fit this image around Pavlovka, numerous views facing the small village seem plausible, yet only one will fit all visible features.  Using Google Earth, we can use the historical imagery that most closely matches the time of the photo (Summer 2014). Luckily, there are numerous satellite images of Pavlovka, Russia from August 2014, allowing us to closely match the satellite imagery with the ground-level view from Tarasov’s social media account.</p>\n<p>By changing the angle of the camera in Google earth, we are able to recreate the view of the image. By matching the roofs, path, and crop patterns, we can come closer to geolocating this photo. By facing east from the point at 47°56’10.33″N 39°50’2.55″E, the road, brush, and roof patterns match perfectly.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"pav2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3551\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"783\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav2.jpg 796w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav2-300x295.jpg 300w\" width=\"796\"/></div></a></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_3553\" style=\"width: 1779px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"pav3\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3553\" class=\"wp-image-3553 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"558\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1769px) 100vw, 1769px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31.jpg 1769w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31-300x95.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31-1200x379.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1769\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-3553\">Only the top part of this path (marked with a blue arrow) is visible in the above satellite image, thus the road’s bend is not depicted.</p></div>\n<p>Many factors have changed in the satellite image since the photograph was taken—the wear on the fields with additional roads, some grass patterns, and so on. Additionally, some landmarks visible in the satellite photos, such as additional houses and what appears to be bales of hay, are not visible in the original photo due to the soldier obscuring the view. However, most importantly, the static landmarks match— an especially strong match with the angles of the roofs and the spacing between and sequencing of the houses matching. Due to this, along with the circumstantial evidence of this soldier being in Pavlovka at the time of the photograph’s upload, we can confidently say that this photograph was taken facing east towards the village of Pavlovka in the summer of 2014.</p>\n<p>Stanislav Tarasov was featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available <a href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/hiding-in-plain-sight-putin-s-war-in-ukraine-and-boris-nemtsov-s-putin-war\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n<p><strong>Update:</strong></p>\n<p>Comment “Markus W.” submitted the following images that further solidify the geolocation above, using extra landmarks visible in satellite imagery. <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/05/28/geolocating-stanislav-tarasov/comment-page-1/#comment-18521\">With his permission</a>, below are his findings:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"uFA3scj\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3929\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"4935\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2525px) 100vw, 2525px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj.jpg 2525w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj-153x300.jpg 153w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj-614x1200.jpg 614w\" width=\"2525\"/></div></a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3fgnLfz\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3930\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1660\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz.jpg 2400w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz-300x208.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz-1200x830.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2400\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nWhen searching for images near Pavlovka, a site of artillery attacks from Russia to Ukraine, we find a series of images from a soldier named Stanislav Tarasov. These photos can be found on various geomapping services for photos posted to Instagram, including Gramfeed.\nBy looking at other images in his Instagram, one stands out, showing the soldier holding his gun, facing a village in the background. This image has since been deleted from Instagram, but can still be found on Tarasov’s other social media accounts, including\nVK\n(\narchive\n) and\nOdnoklassniki\n.\nWhen looking for suitable locations that fit this image around Pavlovka, numerous views facing the small village seem plausible, yet only one will fit all visible features. Using Google Earth, we can use the historical imagery that most closely matches the time of the photo (Summer 2014). Luckily, there are numerous satellite images of Pavlovka, Russia from August 2014, allowing us to closely match the satellite imagery with the ground-level view from Tarasov’s social media account.\nBy changing the angle of the camera in Google earth, we are able to recreate the view of the image. By matching the roofs, path, and crop patterns, we can come closer to geolocating this photo. By facing east from the point at 47°56’10.33″N 39°50’2.55″E, the road, brush, and roof patterns match perfectly.\nOnly the top part of this path (marked with a blue arrow) is visible in the above satellite image, thus the road’s bend is not depicted.\nMany factors have changed in the satellite image since the photograph was taken—the wear on the fields with additional roads, some grass patterns, and so on. Additionally, some landmarks visible in the satellite photos, such as additional houses and what appears to be bales of hay, are not visible in the original photo due to the soldier obscuring the view. However, most importantly, the static landmarks match— an especially strong match with the angles of the roofs and the spacing between and sequencing of the houses matching. Due to this, along with the circumstantial evidence of this soldier being in Pavlovka at the time of the photograph’s upload, we can confidently say that this photograph was taken facing east towards the village of Pavlovka in the summer of 2014.\nStanislav Tarasov was featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available\nhere\n.\nUpdate:\nComment “Markus W.” submitted the following images that further solidify the geolocation above, using extra landmarks visible in satellite imagery.\nWith his permission\n, below are his findings:",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav1.jpg",
+      "alt": "pav1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav2.jpg",
+      "alt": "pav2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/pav31.jpg",
+      "alt": "pav3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/uFA3scj.jpg",
+      "alt": "uFA3scj",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3fgnLfz.jpg",
+      "alt": "3fgnLfz",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-05-28_russias-pantsir-s1s-geolocated-in-ukraine.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "russias-pantsir-s1s-geolocated-in-ukraine",
+  "title": "Russia's Pantsir-S1s Geolocated in Ukraine",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/05/28/russias-pantsir-s1s-geolocated-in-ukraine/",
+  "date": "2015-05-28T20:38:49+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-05-29T07:15:25+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)During the conflict in Ukraine a number of Russian military vehicles not known to be in service in Ukraine have appeared under the control of separatists inside Ukraine. One of these systems is the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft system, with a number of sightings in separatist controlled Ukraine. Using geolocation it has been possible to establish […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/28/russias-pantsir-s1s-geolocated-in-ukraine/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>During the conflict in Ukraine a number of Russian military vehicles not known to be in service in Ukraine have appeared under the control of separatists inside Ukraine. One of these systems is the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantsir-S1\">Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft system</a>, with a number of sightings in separatist controlled Ukraine. Using geolocation it has been possible to establish the exact location the images of the Pantsir-S1s have been captured, further confirming the appearance of these Russian system inside Ukraine.</p>\n<p><strong>Luhansk</strong></p>\n<p>The following video was shared online in February 2015 showing a Pantsir-S1 in separatist controlled Luhansk.</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/MjFwWQbmp3Q?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>Luhansk is well covered by Yandex Maps street view imagery, and the location the video was filmed can be found <a href=\"https://maps.yandex.ru/?ll=39.331582%2C48.545923&amp;z=18&amp;l=sat%2Cskl%2Cstv%2Csta&amp;panorama%5Bpoint%5D=39.331220%2C48.546293&amp;panorama%5Bdirection%5D=147.020000%2C0.000000&amp;panorama%5Bspan%5D=130.000000%2C65.744792\">here</a>. At the start of the video the large building on the left of the screen can also be found on the street view imagery.<a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3559\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"359\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/11.jpg 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/11-300x135.jpg 300w\" width=\"800\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Shortly after that the same building can be seen in both the video and the street view imagery on the right side of the road.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3560\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"591\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1150px) 100vw, 1150px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/2.jpg 1150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/2-300x154.jpg 300w\" width=\"1150\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Then on the left arched structures are also visible in both the video and street view imagery.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3561\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"435\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1123px) 100vw, 1123px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3.jpg 1123w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3-300x116.jpg 300w\" width=\"1123\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Those structures are then followed by two distinct buildings.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3562\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"387\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1146px) 100vw, 1146px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/4.jpg 1146w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/4-300x100.jpg 300w\" width=\"1146\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>There are many other matches between the video and street view imagery, clearly establishing the exact location in separatist controlled Luhansk the Pantsir-S1 the video was filmed.</p>\n<p><strong>Makeevka</strong></p>\n<p>Another sighting of a Pantsir-S1 was shared on January 24<sup>th</sup> 2015, with a photograph showing it in what was claimed to be separatist controlled Makeevka.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/5.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3563\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"674\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/5.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/5.png 712w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/5-300x284.png 300w\" width=\"712\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The photograph was geolocated by the <a href=\"http://conflictreport.info/2015/01/29/the-most-modern-russian-army-air-defense-system-is-in-makeevka-what-does-this-mean/\">Conflict Report blog</a>, with additional analysis done on <a href=\"http://vatahis.livejournal.com/34980.html\">Russian social media sites</a>. This work established the location as <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/48%C2%B003'29.9%22N+38%C2%B000'36.1%22E/@48.0583,38.01003,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0\">48.05830,38.01003</a>, and it is possible to confirm the geolocation using the information provided by the earlier analysis.</p>\n<p>A number of structure are visible in the image that match the location, but one is of particular interest. The building, described as an unfinished shopping centre <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=48.057232&amp;lon=38.012674&amp;z=19&amp;m=b&amp;show=/11844113/ru/Недострой-на-Поле-чудес-\">on Wikimapia</a>, has a distinct shape and arrangement of windows, which is visible in the satellite imagery of the area.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3564\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"523\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1168px) 100vw, 1168px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/6.jpg 1168w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/6-300x134.jpg 300w\" width=\"1168\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Not only is the shape of the building a perfect match for what’s visible in the photograph, but the windows are also visible in the satellite imagery in the same positions as those on the building in the photograph. Along with other matching features detailed in earlier analysis of this photograph, the unusual design of the building visible in the photograph matching with the satellite imagery confirms that this is the correction location.</p>\n<p>These images were collected as part of the <a href=\"https://bellingcat-vehicles.silk.co/\" target=\"_blank\">Bellingcat Ukraine Conflict Vehicle Tracking Project</a>, a crowd sourced project aimed at collecting and organising images of military vehicles involved in the conflict with Ukraine.</p>\n<p>Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft systems were featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available <a href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/hiding-in-plain-sight-putin-s-war-in-ukraine-and-boris-nemtsov-s-putin-war\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nDuring the conflict in Ukraine a number of Russian military vehicles not known to be in service in Ukraine have appeared under the control of separatists inside Ukraine. One of these systems is the\nPantsir-S1 anti-aircraft system\n, with a number of sightings in separatist controlled Ukraine. Using geolocation it has been possible to establish the exact location the images of the Pantsir-S1s have been captured, further confirming the appearance of these Russian system inside Ukraine.\nLuhansk\nThe following video was shared online in February 2015 showing a Pantsir-S1 in separatist controlled Luhansk.\nLuhansk is well covered by Yandex Maps street view imagery, and the location the video was filmed can be found\nhere\n. At the start of the video the large building on the left of the screen can also be found on the street view imagery.\nShortly after that the same building can be seen in both the video and the street view imagery on the right side of the road.\nThen on the left arched structures are also visible in both the video and street view imagery.\nThose structures are then followed by two distinct buildings.\nThere are many other matches between the video and street view imagery, clearly establishing the exact location in separatist controlled Luhansk the Pantsir-S1 the video was filmed.\nMakeevka\nAnother sighting of a Pantsir-S1 was shared on January 24\nth\n2015, with a photograph showing it in what was claimed to be separatist controlled Makeevka.\nThe photograph was geolocated by the\nConflict Report blog\n, with additional analysis done on\nRussian social media sites\n. This work established the location as\n48.05830,38.01003\n, and it is possible to confirm the geolocation using the information provided by the earlier analysis.\nA number of structure are visible in the image that match the location, but one is of particular interest. The building, described as an unfinished shopping centre\non Wikimapia\n, has a distinct shape and arrangement of windows, which is visible in the satellite imagery of the area.\nNot only is the shape of the building a perfect match for what’s visible in the photograph, but the windows are also visible in the satellite imagery in the same positions as those on the building in the photograph. Along with other matching features detailed in earlier analysis of this photograph, the unusual design of the building visible in the photograph matching with the satellite imagery confirms that this is the correction location.\nThese images were collected as part of the\nBellingcat Ukraine Conflict Vehicle Tracking Project\n, a crowd sourced project aimed at collecting and organising images of military vehicles involved in the conflict with Ukraine.\nPantsir-S1 anti-aircraft systems were featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available\nhere\n.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/11.jpg",
+      "alt": "1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/2.jpg",
+      "alt": "2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/3.jpg",
+      "alt": "3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/4.jpg",
+      "alt": "4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/5.png",
+      "alt": "5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/6.jpg",
+      "alt": "6",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-05-29_confirming-the-location-of-the-same-msta-s-in-russia-and-ukraine.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "confirming-the-location-of-the-same-msta-s-in-russia-and-ukraine",
+  "title": "Confirming the Location of the Same Msta-S in Russia and Ukraine",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/05/29/confirming-the-location-of-the-same-msta-s-in-russia-and-ukraine/",
+  "date": "2015-05-29T13:56:28+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)During the conflict in Ukraine it has been possible to identify units sighted in Russia that have also been filmed and photographed in Ukraine. The following is an example of the same Msta-S self-propelled 152 mm howitzer filmed in both Ukraine and Russia. Rostov-na-Donu, Russia A video uploaded to YouTube on July 30 shows various pieces […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/05/29/confirming-the-location-of-the-same-msta-s-in-russia-and-ukraine/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>During the conflict in Ukraine it has been possible to identify units sighted in Russia that have also been filmed and photographed in Ukraine. The following is an example of the same Msta-S self-propelled 152 mm howitzer filmed in both Ukraine and Russia.</p>\n<p><strong>Rostov-na-Donu, Russia</strong></p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_yZBMtAQ\">video</a> uploaded to YouTube on July 30 shows various pieces of Russian military equipment, including two Msta-S self-propelled howitzers.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3567\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"749\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1509px) 100vw, 1509px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1.jpg 1509w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1-300x149.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1-1200x596.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1509\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The self-reported location of the video was in Rostov on the Taganrog highway, making that the first location we should check to either verify or disprove. The general location of the video can be established by the license plates visible in the photo—all of which end in either “61” or “161,” the regional plate numbers for the Rostov oblast.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Plates1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Plates1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3568\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"346\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Plates1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Plates1.jpg 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Plates1-300x130.jpg 300w\" width=\"800\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The road has four lanes and has a distinct series of shops on one side of the road—a flower shop (ЦВЕТЫ), construction material shop (СТРОЙМАТЕРИАЛЫ), repair shop (РЕМОНТ), and hardware shop (КРЕПЕЖ), along with a lemonade / kvas kiosk kiosk on the corner.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3569\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"459\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m2.jpg 1149w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m2-300x120.jpg 300w\" width=\"1149\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>By following the self-reported location (the highway that goes from Rostov to Taganrog) on Google street view, eventually we come to a location that shows the exact same series of shops, located at the intersection of Taganroskaya ulitsa (Taganrog Street) and Solovyinaya ulitsa. Even though some of the image is distorted or blurred out, this is clearly the same location:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3570\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"383\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 822px) 100vw, 822px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m3.jpg 822w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m3-300x140.jpg 300w\" width=\"822\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Therefore, we can confidently say that this video was shot near the coordinates of 47.262757, 39.660493 in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia.</p>\n<p><strong>Novoazovsk, Ukraine</strong></p>\n<p>The same Msta-S appeared in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRprccyNmFI\">a September video</a>, filmed in Novoazovsk, Ukraine, driving along a road at <a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/M14,+Ukraine/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x40e6b8980702550f:0xc03ae0e533b56f78?sa=X&amp;ei=HJVUVcmbJYfj7AaO2IH4Ag&amp;ved=0CCAQ8gEwAA\">47.1275441, 38.0892229</a>. While the video contains multiple shots filmed at different positions and angles, it’s possible to confirm the location of the road the Msta-S was driving along.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3571\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"834\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1059px) 100vw, 1059px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m4.jpg 1059w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m4-300x236.jpg 300w\" width=\"1059\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Signs visible in the September video are also visible in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zheX2iflqUg&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=708\">an earlier video filmed in 2012</a> showing an extremely lengthy section of the road. Due to the length of the video it is possible to match multiple features along the road, showing the camera is facing to the west. It’s also possible to establish the shot that shows the Msta-S also sighted in Russia was filmed from approximately the same location.</p>\n<p>In the 2012 video, just before the car reaches the signs filmed in the September 2014 video, a single story blue building is visible, opposite a junction, and with a pole in front of it. This matches with the shot in the September 2014 video showing the Msta-S previously sighted in Russia.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3572\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1503\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1883px) 100vw, 1883px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5.jpg 1883w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5-300x239.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5-1200x958.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1883\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s possible to establish the location of the camera in each of those two shots as follows, therefore confirming the same Msta-S was seen in both Russia in July 2014 and later Ukraine in September 2014.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"m6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3573\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1409px) 100vw, 1409px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6.jpg 1409w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6-300x176.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6-1200x703.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1409\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>These images were collected as part of the <a href=\"https://bellingcat-vehicles.silk.co/\" target=\"_blank\">Bellingcat Ukraine Conflict Vehicle Tracking Project</a>, a crowd sourced project aimed at collecting and organising images of military vehicles involved in the conflict with Ukraine.</p>\n<p>This example is featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available <a href=\"http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/hiding-in-plain-sight-putin-s-war-in-ukraine-and-boris-nemtsov-s-putin-war\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nDuring the conflict in Ukraine it has been possible to identify units sighted in Russia that have also been filmed and photographed in Ukraine. The following is an example of the same Msta-S self-propelled 152 mm howitzer filmed in both Ukraine and Russia.\nRostov-na-Donu, Russia\nA\nvideo\nuploaded to YouTube on July 30 shows various pieces of Russian military equipment, including two Msta-S self-propelled howitzers.\nThe self-reported location of the video was in Rostov on the Taganrog highway, making that the first location we should check to either verify or disprove. The general location of the video can be established by the license plates visible in the photo—all of which end in either “61” or “161,” the regional plate numbers for the Rostov oblast.\nThe road has four lanes and has a distinct series of shops on one side of the road—a flower shop (ЦВЕТЫ), construction material shop (СТРОЙМАТЕРИАЛЫ), repair shop (РЕМОНТ), and hardware shop (КРЕПЕЖ), along with a lemonade / kvas kiosk kiosk on the corner.\nBy following the self-reported location (the highway that goes from Rostov to Taganrog) on Google street view, eventually we come to a location that shows the exact same series of shops, located at the intersection of Taganroskaya ulitsa (Taganrog Street) and Solovyinaya ulitsa. Even though some of the image is distorted or blurred out, this is clearly the same location:\nTherefore, we can confidently say that this video was shot near the coordinates of 47.262757, 39.660493 in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia.\nNovoazovsk, Ukraine\nThe same Msta-S appeared in\na September video\n, filmed in Novoazovsk, Ukraine, driving along a road at\n47.1275441, 38.0892229\n. While the video contains multiple shots filmed at different positions and angles, it’s possible to confirm the location of the road the Msta-S was driving along.\nSigns visible in the September video are also visible in\nan earlier video filmed in 2012\nshowing an extremely lengthy section of the road. Due to the length of the video it is possible to match multiple features along the road, showing the camera is facing to the west. It’s also possible to establish the shot that shows the Msta-S also sighted in Russia was filmed from approximately the same location.\nIn the 2012 video, just before the car reaches the signs filmed in the September 2014 video, a single story blue building is visible, opposite a junction, and with a pole in front of it. This matches with the shot in the September 2014 video showing the Msta-S previously sighted in Russia.\nIt’s possible to establish the location of the camera in each of those two shots as follows, therefore confirming the same Msta-S was seen in both Russia in July 2014 and later Ukraine in September 2014.\nThese images were collected as part of the\nBellingcat Ukraine Conflict Vehicle Tracking Project\n, a crowd sourced project aimed at collecting and organising images of military vehicles involved in the conflict with Ukraine.\nThis example is featured in Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine, available\nhere\n.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m1.jpg",
+      "alt": "m1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Plates1.jpg",
+      "alt": "Plates1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m2.jpg",
+      "alt": "m2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m3.jpg",
+      "alt": "m3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m4.jpg",
+      "alt": "m4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m5.jpg",
+      "alt": "m5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/m6.jpg",
+      "alt": "m6",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-06-05_google-earth-image-verification.json

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+{
+  "slug": "google-earth-image-verification",
+  "title": "Who to Trust, Google or the Russian MoD? A Guide to Verifying Google Earth Satellite Image Dates",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2015/06/05/google-earth-image-verification/",
+  "date": "2015-06-05T06:54:53+00:00",
+  "modified": "2022-01-18T15:49:19+00:00",
+  "author": "Aric Toler",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Этот пост также доступен на русском языке в переводе @Mortis_Banned Bellingcat recently published an in-depth investigation finding that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) fabricated and misrepresented their satellite photographs in a July 21, 2014 press conference, immediately following the July 17 downing of MH17. The most obvious and compelling evidence of this investigation […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2015/06/05/google-earth-image-verification/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p><a href=\"https://medium.com/@ReggaeMortis1/%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%83-%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C-google-earth-%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%BC%D0%BE-%D1%80%D1%84-%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE-%D0%BF%D0%BE-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5-%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%85-%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2-google-8e62cdab5a00#.gff8kp84q\">Этот пост также доступен на русском языке в переводе</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mortis_banned\">@Mortis_Banned</a></p>\n<p>Bellingcat recently published an in-depth investigation finding that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) fabricated and misrepresented their satellite photographs in a July 21, 2014 press conference, immediately following the July 17 downing of MH17. The most obvious and compelling evidence of this investigation was in the clear differences in the landscape between Russian MoD satellite images–supposedly taken in mid-July–and the publicly available images taken in the week before and after the downing of MH17. While Bellingcat provided a guide for accessing this imagery in Google Earth, a question that has arisen is in the accuracy of these dates on Google Earth. As described in this guide, the findings of Bellingcat regarding the July 21 Russian MoD satellite images will be reaffirmed, along with a walk-through for anyone to verify Google Earth imagery via free and precisely dated image previews on Digital Globe.</p>\n<p>The Russian MoD satellite images under consideration show a Ukrainian base with Buk anti-aircraft systems at the coordinates of 48.098403, 37.754424, just north of Donetsk. While the Russian MoD claims that these photos are from mid-July, a comparison with Google Earth satellite photos dated in May, early July, and late July show that this cannot be true.</p>\n<p>These comparisons of the field and vegetation patterns to the immediate west and east of the Ukrainian base are damning, in that they clearly show that the Russian MoD satellite photos were taken in June, and not July. However, a question that has arisen is how to verify the exact dates of the Google Earth satellite photos. This verification can be done through checking the previews of imagery from Digital Globe, which supplies Google Earth imagery at a higher resolution for Google Satellite. <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2015/05/31/how-to-find-historical-imagery-of-russias-faked-satellite-photos/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This simple guide</a> demonstrates how easily this imagery can be checked by anyone using Google Earth.</p>\n<p>Much of the confusion over the correct date of satellite photos is from how Google Earth handles the dating of their satellite imagery, where “strips” of images are overlaid over different captured days. The patchwork nature of the variant dated imagery is not visible unless you specifically turn it on with Google Earth, where it appears as such:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/strips.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strips\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4005\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"505\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/strips.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/strips.jpg 716w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/strips-300x212.jpg 300w\" width=\"716\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Each strip represents the most recent satellite image up to the date selected on Google Earth (in this case, it was April 26, 2015). We can determine the specific date of each strip by zooming in, which is the date determined in each Google Earth satellite snapshot in the Bellingcat report in the Russian MoD satellite photos. Instead of just relying on the Google Earth date, we can also check the publicly available image previews on Digital Earth to verify–without any doubt–the correct date of each satellite image.</p>\n<p>From the Digital Globe’s ImageFinder page, we can input coordinates to find the historical satellite imagery for a site.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4008\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"554\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1045px) 100vw, 1045px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe.jpg 1045w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe-300x159.jpg 300w\" width=\"1045\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>After selecting “Enter Coordinates,” you can enter the coordinates of the base just north of Donetsk: 48.098403, 37.754424. I selected a 2 square-kilometer radius, but you can do any parameters you would like.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/coords.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"coords\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4009\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"435\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/coords.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/coords.jpg 588w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/coords-300x222.jpg 300w\" width=\"588\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>After clicking “Continue,” something like this will show up, displaying the area that is selected by the selected parameters. Click “Search” to display all available imagery. Be prepared to wait a while–it can sometimes take a bit for a window to pop up after clicking “Search.”</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_search.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_search\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4011\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"648\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_search.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_search.jpg 1050w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_search-300x185.jpg 300w\" width=\"1050\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>A window will now pop up (check your ad blocking plug-ins and pop-up window settings!) showing all available imagery for the selected coordinates with your parameters. Click “Acquisition Date” (red box) to sort the available images by the date the images were taken.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_acquisition.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_acquisition\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4012\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"565\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 897px) 100vw, 897px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_acquisition.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_acquisition.jpg 897w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_acquisition-300x189.jpg 300w\" width=\"897\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From that, we get the following list of images taken in the past year with varying angles, cloud cover, image band type, and so on. Select “View” for your desired satellite image to find the free preview available for the image, so that we can verify that the Google Satellite image is the same as the Digital Globe image, thus verifying the capture date.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_results.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_results\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4013\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"726\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 884px) 100vw, 884px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_results.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_results.jpg 884w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_results-300x246.jpg 300w\" width=\"884\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>After clicking “View,” a window like this will come up, showing the satellite image along with its metadata. You want to re-size the image to “max available resolution,” and then save the image so that it is easier to examine the finer details. This particular image is for July 24, exactly a week after the shoot-down of MH17.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_max.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_max\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4014\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"662\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 732px) 100vw, 732px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_max.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_max.jpg 732w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_max-300x271.jpg 300w\" width=\"732\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Be sure to save the image to examine it more closely.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_save.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_save\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4015\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"662\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_save.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_save.jpg 731w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_save-300x272.jpg 300w\" width=\"731\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Now, we can finally conduct a close comparison of the Digital Globe image and Google Earth satellite image to make sure they are the same, thus verifying the date of the Google Satellite image. The previews of the Digital Globe imagery will be a much lower resolution and quality than the Google Satellite version, but the key features that have changed since May and June will be visible.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4017\" style=\"width: 851px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_7.24.14.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"ge_7.24.14\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4017\" class=\"wp-image-4017 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"459\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_7.24.14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_7.24.14.jpg 841w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_7.24.14-300x164.jpg 300w\" width=\"841\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4017\">Google Earth Satellite, July 24, 2014 (UTC)</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4016\" style=\"width: 771px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_7242014.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_7242014\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4016\" class=\"wp-image-4016 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"431\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 761px) 100vw, 761px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_7242014.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_7242014.jpg 761w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_7242014-300x170.jpg 300w\" width=\"761\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4016\">Digital Globe, July 24, 2014, ID: 10300100333BC100</p></div>\n<p>We can do the same thing for July 2, 2014:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_july2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"ge_july2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4019\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"661\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_july2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_july2.jpg 1037w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_july2-300x191.jpg 300w\" width=\"1037\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_july2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_july2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4020\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"403\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 623px) 100vw, 623px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_july2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_july2.jpg 623w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_july2-300x194.jpg 300w\" width=\"623\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>And May 30, 2014:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_may30.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"ge_may30\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4021\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"674\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1070px) 100vw, 1070px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_may30.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_may30.jpg 1070w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_may30-300x189.jpg 300w\" width=\"1070\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_may30.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"globe_may30\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4022\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"354\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_may30.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_may30.jpg 619w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_may30-300x172.jpg 300w\" width=\"619\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Though you may need to squint your eyes a bit, it is undeniable that the Google Satellite images are these same as the Digital Globe images taken on the same day. Thus, we can put to rest any notions that the dates in the Bellingcat report in the Russian Ministry of Defense were incorrect or estimated.</p>\n<p>Just to recap, take another look at red and yellow-boxed features of the vegetation and field in the the Russian Ministry of Defense’s satellite photo that was supposedly taken in mid-July, as compared with the (now double verified) dates of the Google Satellite images:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Russia-MoD-2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Russia MoD 2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3919\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1106\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1073px) 100vw, 1073px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Russia-MoD-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Russia-MoD-2.jpg 1073w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Russia-MoD-2-291x300.jpg 291w\" width=\"1073\"/></div></a></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4039\" style=\"width: 1061px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/MoD-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"An example of incorrectly dated imagery used by the Russian Ministry of Defence\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4039\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4039\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"515\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1051px) 100vw, 1051px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/MoD-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/MoD-1.jpg 1051w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/MoD-1-300x147.jpg 300w\" width=\"1051\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4039\">An example of incorrectly dated imagery used by the Russian Ministry of Defence</p></div>\n<p>Unless a patch of vegetation disappeared, reappeared, then disappeared again, the Russian Ministry of Defense falsely presented their satellite images. Their satellite images were taken in June, not on July, as they told the world while accusing Ukraine of shooting down MH17 just four days after the tragedy took place.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nЭтот пост также доступен на русском языке в переводе\n@Mortis_Banned\nBellingcat recently published an in-depth investigation finding that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) fabricated and misrepresented their satellite photographs in a July 21, 2014 press conference, immediately following the July 17 downing of MH17. The most obvious and compelling evidence of this investigation was in the clear differences in the landscape between Russian MoD satellite images–supposedly taken in mid-July–and the publicly available images taken in the week before and after the downing of MH17. While Bellingcat provided a guide for accessing this imagery in Google Earth, a question that has arisen is in the accuracy of these dates on Google Earth. As described in this guide, the findings of Bellingcat regarding the July 21 Russian MoD satellite images will be reaffirmed, along with a walk-through for anyone to verify Google Earth imagery via free and precisely dated image previews on Digital Globe.\nThe Russian MoD satellite images under consideration show a Ukrainian base with Buk anti-aircraft systems at the coordinates of 48.098403, 37.754424, just north of Donetsk. While the Russian MoD claims that these photos are from mid-July, a comparison with Google Earth satellite photos dated in May, early July, and late July show that this cannot be true.\nThese comparisons of the field and vegetation patterns to the immediate west and east of the Ukrainian base are damning, in that they clearly show that the Russian MoD satellite photos were taken in June, and not July. However, a question that has arisen is how to verify the exact dates of the Google Earth satellite photos. This verification can be done through checking the previews of imagery from Digital Globe, which supplies Google Earth imagery at a higher resolution for Google Satellite.\nThis simple guide\ndemonstrates how easily this imagery can be checked by anyone using Google Earth.\nMuch of the confusion over the correct date of satellite photos is from how Google Earth handles the dating of their satellite imagery, where “strips” of images are overlaid over different captured days. The patchwork nature of the variant dated imagery is not visible unless you specifically turn it on with Google Earth, where it appears as such:\nEach strip represents the most recent satellite image up to the date selected on Google Earth (in this case, it was April 26, 2015). We can determine the specific date of each strip by zooming in, which is the date determined in each Google Earth satellite snapshot in the Bellingcat report in the Russian MoD satellite photos. Instead of just relying on the Google Earth date, we can also check the publicly available image previews on Digital Earth to verify–without any doubt–the correct date of each satellite image.\nFrom the Digital Globe’s ImageFinder page, we can input coordinates to find the historical satellite imagery for a site.\nAfter selecting “Enter Coordinates,” you can enter the coordinates of the base just north of Donetsk: 48.098403, 37.754424. I selected a 2 square-kilometer radius, but you can do any parameters you would like.\nAfter clicking “Continue,” something like this will show up, displaying the area that is selected by the selected parameters. Click “Search” to display all available imagery. Be prepared to wait a while–it can sometimes take a bit for a window to pop up after clicking “Search.”\nA window will now pop up (check your ad blocking plug-ins and pop-up window settings!) showing all available imagery for the selected coordinates with your parameters. Click “Acquisition Date” (red box) to sort the available images by the date the images were taken.\nFrom that, we get the following list of images taken in the past year with varying angles, cloud cover, image band type, and so on. Select “View” for your desired satellite image to find the free preview available for the image, so that we can verify that the Google Satellite image is the same as the Digital Globe image, thus verifying the capture date.\nAfter clicking “View,” a window like this will come up, showing the satellite image along with its metadata. You want to re-size the image to “max available resolution,” and then save the image so that it is easier to examine the finer details. This particular image is for July 24, exactly a week after the shoot-down of MH17.\nBe sure to save the image to examine it more closely.\nNow, we can finally conduct a close comparison of the Digital Globe image and Google Earth satellite image to make sure they are the same, thus verifying the date of the Google Satellite image. The previews of the Digital Globe imagery will be a much lower resolution and quality than the Google Satellite version, but the key features that have changed since May and June will be visible.\nGoogle Earth Satellite, July 24, 2014 (UTC)\nDigital Globe, July 24, 2014, ID: 10300100333BC100\nWe can do the same thing for July 2, 2014:\nAnd May 30, 2014:\nThough you may need to squint your eyes a bit, it is undeniable that the Google Satellite images are these same as the Digital Globe images taken on the same day. Thus, we can put to rest any notions that the dates in the Bellingcat report in the Russian Ministry of Defense were incorrect or estimated.\nJust to recap, take another look at red and yellow-boxed features of the vegetation and field in the the Russian Ministry of Defense’s satellite photo that was supposedly taken in mid-July, as compared with the (now double verified) dates of the Google Satellite images:\nAn example of incorrectly dated imagery used by the Russian Ministry of Defence\nUnless a patch of vegetation disappeared, reappeared, then disappeared again, the Russian Ministry of Defense falsely presented their satellite images. Their satellite images were taken in June, not on July, as they told the world while accusing Ukraine of shooting down MH17 just four days after the tragedy took place.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/strips.jpg",
+      "alt": "strips",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/coords.jpg",
+      "alt": "coords",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_search.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_search",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_acquisition.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_acquisition",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_results.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_results",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_max.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_max",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_save.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_save",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_7.24.14.jpg",
+      "alt": "ge_7.24.14",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_7242014.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_7242014",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_july2.jpg",
+      "alt": "ge_july2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_july2.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_july2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/ge_may30.jpg",
+      "alt": "ge_may30",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/globe_may30.jpg",
+      "alt": "globe_may30",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/05/Russia-MoD-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "Russia MoD 2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/06/MoD-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "An example of incorrectly dated imagery used by the Russian Ministry of Defence",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-07-25_searching-the-earth-essential-geolocation-tools-for-verification.json

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+  "slug": "searching-the-earth-essential-geolocation-tools-for-verification",
+  "title": "Searching the Earth: Essential Geolocation Tools for Verification",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2015/07/25/searching-the-earth-essential-geolocation-tools-for-verification/",
+  "date": "2015-07-25T07:30:15+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)As verification and open source investigation techniques and methodologies have been developed over the last few years various tools and platforms have been used to access the information that makes this kind of work possible. This includes pre-existing tools such as Google Earth and new tools developed over the last few years. In this […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2015/07/25/searching-the-earth-essential-geolocation-tools-for-verification/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>As verification and open source investigation techniques and methodologies have been developed over the last few years various tools and platforms have been used to access the information that makes this kind of work possible. This includes pre-existing tools such as Google Earth and new tools developed over the last few years. In this article we’ll examine some of these tools, and the different uses they have in the verification and investigation process.</p>\n<p><strong>Googling Earth</strong></p>\n<p>For many investigations Google Earth has become a key tool for verifying images and videos, playing a key role in the process of geolocation. Geolocation is a verification method where landmarks and features visible in photographs or videos can be compared to other images, frequently satellite imagery, to confirm the location an image was recorded. At its most basic, Google Earth allows access to satellite imagery from across the globe, a key resource in geolocation. It also has a number of other useful features that can also play a useful role in verification.</p>\n<p>One feature that is often overlooked is historical imagery, which can be easily found under the “view” menu. By turning this on the user is presented with a slider that allows them to change the displayed image to any historical image available on Google Earth. This is useful for a number of reasons; for example, the position of the satellite when it records an image might give you one view of a side of a building, and other images take at different times might give you a different view of the building, which is useful when you’re trying to match the features of a building in a photograph or video to a satellite image. The below example shows the same location on two different dates, providing a view of two different sides of the buildings.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4722\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"511\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 877px) 100vw, 877px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/11.jpg 877w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/11-300x175.jpg 300w\" width=\"877\"/></div></a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/21.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4723\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"513\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 883px) 100vw, 883px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/21.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/21.jpg 883w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/21-300x174.jpg 300w\" width=\"883\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>Another useful feature is the “Photos” layer, which displays photos from a number of sources, but most importantly <a href=\"http://www.panoramio.com/\">Panoramio</a>. Panoramio is a website where users can upload geotagged photographs, and these photographs are visible on Google Earth, making a useful source of ground level images of locations you might be interested in examining in more detail.</p>\n<p><strong>The View from the Street</strong></p>\n<p>Another source of ground level images are street view images available on Google Maps and Google Earth, and also on the Russian website <a href=\"https://maps.yandex.com\">Yandex Maps</a>. While many people are familiar with Google Street View, Yandex Maps is less well known, but has its own collection of street view imagery, much of which is in locations not yet available on Google Street View.</p>\n<p>These images can be hugely useful for geolocation, but it’s also important to consider the date street view images were recorded. For example, in <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/29/whos-lying-an-in-depth-analysis-of-the-luhansk-buk-video/\">this recent piece</a>, verifying the location where a MH17 related video was recorded, Yandex Maps imagery showed the location in question absent of the billboards that were visible in the video being geolocated. However, Google Earth satellite imagery showed the billboard were a recent addition to the area, and the Yandex Maps imagery was recorded before the billboards were constructed.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/31.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4724\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"519\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1141px) 100vw, 1141px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/31.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/31.jpg 1141w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/31-300x136.jpg 300w\" width=\"1141\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>By comparing other images from Yandex Maps with other information about the area (for example, a recently constructed church), it was possible to verify the date of the Yandex Maps imagery. This demonstrates another overlooked facet of geolocation and verification, it’s not only the case that the image you’re investigating needs to be verified, but it’s also valuable to verify the reference image as well. Something like a geotag can be inaccurate or changed, so this is one of the things that needs to be verified as part of a robust verification process.</p>\n<p><strong>A World of Geotags</strong></p>\n<p>Recently new platforms have been developed that makes geotags even more useful as part of the verification process. <a href=\"http://www.yomapic.com/\">Yomapic</a> is a free website that allows for geographical searches for geotagged images of the popular Russian social media site <a href=\"https://vk.com/\">VKontakte</a> and Instagram. In the below example Yomapic displays images posted from the Islamic State controlled town of Raqqa in the last week.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4725\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"909\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1881px) 100vw, 1881px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/4.jpg 1881w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/4-300x145.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/4-1200x580.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1881\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>An interesting feature of Yomapic is it’s possible to select an individual account by clicking on the username, displaying all images on the account, geotagged or not. The below image shows on Instagram user as they travel from the Seychelles to Kenya, then onto Turkey and finally Raqqa, Syria.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/51.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4726\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"711\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 919px) 100vw, 919px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/51.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/51.jpg 919w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/51-300x232.jpg 300w\" width=\"919\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>An alternative to Yomapic is <a href=\"https://www.echosec.net/\">EchoSec</a>, which includes many more social media sites in its searches, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Panoramio, and Flickr. It also has a date range search, which allows for searches around specific date ranges, which is very useful when investigating past events.</p>\n<p>While the obvious use for Yomapic and EchoSec is looking for posts related to specific events in an area, it’s also useful in another way. When geolocating images it might not be possible to find street view imagery or Panoramio photographs, but thanks to Yomapic and EchoSec it’s possible to see if anyone in the local area may have posted an Instagram photo or YouTube video showing the location you’re interested in. This adds to the range of option you have when searching for reference images as part of any geolocation, and by combining these tools it makes efforts to verify content far more effective.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nAs verification and open source investigation techniques and methodologies have been developed over the last few years various tools and platforms have been used to access the information that makes this kind of work possible. This includes pre-existing tools such as Google Earth and new tools developed over the last few years. In this article we’ll examine some of these tools, and the different uses they have in the verification and investigation process.\nGoogling Earth\nFor many investigations Google Earth has become a key tool for verifying images and videos, playing a key role in the process of geolocation. Geolocation is a verification method where landmarks and features visible in photographs or videos can be compared to other images, frequently satellite imagery, to confirm the location an image was recorded. At its most basic, Google Earth allows access to satellite imagery from across the globe, a key resource in geolocation. It also has a number of other useful features that can also play a useful role in verification.\nOne feature that is often overlooked is historical imagery, which can be easily found under the “view” menu. By turning this on the user is presented with a slider that allows them to change the displayed image to any historical image available on Google Earth. This is useful for a number of reasons; for example, the position of the satellite when it records an image might give you one view of a side of a building, and other images take at different times might give you a different view of the building, which is useful when you’re trying to match the features of a building in a photograph or video to a satellite image. The below example shows the same location on two different dates, providing a view of two different sides of the buildings.\nAnother useful feature is the “Photos” layer, which displays photos from a number of sources, but most importantly\nPanoramio\n. Panoramio is a website where users can upload geotagged photographs, and these photographs are visible on Google Earth, making a useful source of ground level images of locations you might be interested in examining in more detail.\nThe View from the Street\nAnother source of ground level images are street view images available on Google Maps and Google Earth, and also on the Russian website\nYandex Maps\n. While many people are familiar with Google Street View, Yandex Maps is less well known, but has its own collection of street view imagery, much of which is in locations not yet available on Google Street View.\nThese images can be hugely useful for geolocation, but it’s also important to consider the date street view images were recorded. For example, in\nthis recent piece\n, verifying the location where a MH17 related video was recorded, Yandex Maps imagery showed the location in question absent of the billboards that were visible in the video being geolocated. However, Google Earth satellite imagery showed the billboard were a recent addition to the area, and the Yandex Maps imagery was recorded before the billboards were constructed.\nBy comparing other images from Yandex Maps with other information about the area (for example, a recently constructed church), it was possible to verify the date of the Yandex Maps imagery. This demonstrates another overlooked facet of geolocation and verification, it’s not only the case that the image you’re investigating needs to be verified, but it’s also valuable to verify the reference image as well. Something like a geotag can be inaccurate or changed, so this is one of the things that needs to be verified as part of a robust verification process.\nA World of Geotags\nRecently new platforms have been developed that makes geotags even more useful as part of the verification process.\nYomapic\nis a free website that allows for geographical searches for geotagged images of the popular Russian social media site\nVKontakte\nand Instagram. In the below example Yomapic displays images posted from the Islamic State controlled town of Raqqa in the last week.\nAn interesting feature of Yomapic is it’s possible to select an individual account by clicking on the username, displaying all images on the account, geotagged or not. The below image shows on Instagram user as they travel from the Seychelles to Kenya, then onto Turkey and finally Raqqa, Syria.\nAn alternative to Yomapic is\nEchoSec\n, which includes many more social media sites in its searches, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Panoramio, and Flickr. It also has a date range search, which allows for searches around specific date ranges, which is very useful when investigating past events.\nWhile the obvious use for Yomapic and EchoSec is looking for posts related to specific events in an area, it’s also useful in another way. When geolocating images it might not be possible to find street view imagery or Panoramio photographs, but thanks to Yomapic and EchoSec it’s possible to see if anyone in the local area may have posted an Instagram photo or YouTube video showing the location you’re interested in. This adds to the range of option you have when searching for reference images as part of any geolocation, and by combining these tools it makes efforts to verify content far more effective.",
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+      "alt": "1",
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+    },
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+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/31.jpg",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-08-07_shadow-of-a-doubt.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "shadow-of-a-doubt",
+  "title": "Shadow of a Doubt: Crowdsourcing Time Verification of the MH17 Missile Launch Photo",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/08/07/shadow-of-a-doubt/",
+  "date": "2015-08-07T12:53:32+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-08-08T13:29:00+00:00",
+  "author": "Aric Toler",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)While much open source investigation is done through crowd sourcing, the administrator of the MH17 webtalk.ru forum has taken a unique approach: a single-blind poll to collaboratively determine the timing of a photograph. While this experiment does not have the scientific rigor of a pharmaceutical trial, the methodology of administrator “bootblack” is worthwhile of some examination. […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2015/08/07/shadow-of-a-doubt/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>While much open source investigation is done through crowd sourcing, the administrator of the MH17 webtalk.ru forum has taken a unique approach:<a href=\"http://mh17.webtalk.ru/viewtopic.php?id=328\"> a single-blind poll to collaboratively determine the </a><a href=\"http://mh17.webtalk.ru/viewtopic.php?id=328\">timing of a photograph</a>. While this experiment does not have the scientific rigor of a pharmaceutical trial, the methodology of administrator “bootblack” is worthwhile of some examination.</p>\n<p>The photograph in question is the infamous MH17 launch image, which was posted by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wowihay/status/489807649509478400\">@Wowiha</a><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wowihay/status/489807649509478400\">Y</a> after he received it from a friend shortly after the downing of MH17 (4:20pm local time). The photograph shows a missile contrail south of Snizhne and southeast of the photographer’s location. Significantly, the EXIF data on this photograph shows that it was taken–according to the camera’s internal clock–at 4:25pm local time, July 17, 2014. This time places the photograph at just five minutes after the downing of MH17; however, the internal clock’s time was likely not perfectly synced and accurate the same way a cell phone would be. The circumstances of this photograph have been hotly debated online, even though the photograph has been verified as true <a href=\"http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/binnenland/hoe-onderzocht-rtl-nieuws-de-nieuwe-mh17-fotos\">by multiple international experts</a>. The Dutch criminal investigation into the downing of MH17 have interviewed the photographer, and are taking the photograph into account in its investigation. Needless to say, this image is a very important piece of evidence into the tragedy’s investigation, and a more accurate time-frame for the photograph (other than the camera’s internal clock) would further confirm its value.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4802\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/BswldgYIUAAV7A_.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"BswldgYIUAAV7A_\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4802\" class=\"wp-image-4802 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"678\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/BswldgYIUAAV7A_.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/BswldgYIUAAV7A_.jpg 1024w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/BswldgYIUAAV7A_-300x199.jpg 300w\" width=\"1024\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4802\">The brightened version of the smoke trail photograph. The original photograph was darker, while this one was retouched by the photographer to better depict the smoke trail in question.</p></div>\n<p>Bootblack, the administrator of the popular MH17 forum of webtalk.ru, acquired numerous photographs from a local of the shadow on a particular rooftop in Torez. The administrator also received the exact time each photograph was taken. This roof in question is the same one that appears in the photograph above (bottom-left/center, to the left of a tall pole). The purpose of Bootblack’s experiment is to crowdsource the opinions of the forum to select which of the photographs most accurately depicts the angle of the rooftop shadow when compared to the July 17 launch photograph. As anyone who has ever seen a sundial will know, the time can be determined by a shadow once various factors (angle of object casting shadow, azimuth, etc) are determined.</p>\n<p>The administrator received the time of each photograph, but chose not to share them with the forum, hoping for unbiased assessments of which photograph was the most accurate. Theoretically, with some adjustments with the azimuth and the exact conditions recorded for the day of the MH17 shootdown, we would be able to know–down to a very narrow time-frame–when the launch photo was taken without relying on the reading of a camera’s internal clock in the EXIF data. We probably cannot get the exact second of the photograph with this shadow angle method, but we would be able to refute an argument that the photograph was actually taken in the morning or early afternoon.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4984\" style=\"width: 781px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/house.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"house\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4984\" class=\"wp-image-4984 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"545\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/house.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/house.jpg 771w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/house-300x212.jpg 300w\" width=\"771\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4984\">The house and shadow in question from the launch photo</p></div>\n<p>Bootblack set out the following procedures for the thread:</p>\n<blockquote><p><em>1) In a joint effort (poll and comments) we will select a photo with the shadow that matches the shadow in the [photographer’s] photo. If someone’s eye fixes upon an intermediate position, just tell me.</em></p>\n<p><em>2) Knowing the recorded time of the selected photo, we will calculate the azimuth of the shadow. The EXIF has already been deleted to eliminate subjectivity.</em></p>\n<p><em>3) We will recalculate the obtained azimuth to July 17, 2014 and from that we will calculate the exact time the photographer shot the shadow.</em></p></blockquote>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_4986\" style=\"width: 1610px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"One of the photographs provided by the forum administrator\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4986\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4986\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325.jpg 1600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1600\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-4986\">One of the photographs provided by the forum administrator</p></div>\n<p>For three pages, the forum users debated which of the twelve provided photographs best matched the shadow on the launch photo. Different users, including the administrator, threw their lots in to different ones, with various creative uses of overlaying lines over the given photographs to judge the correct angles:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8-5-2015 6-54-14 PM\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4987\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"558\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1291px) 100vw, 1291px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM.jpg 1291w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM-300x130.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM-1200x519.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1291\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8-6-2015 5-07-14 PM\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4999\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"712\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1265px) 100vw, 1265px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM.jpg 1265w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1265\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8-5-2015 6-52-46 PM\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4989\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"486\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1077px) 100vw, 1077px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM.jpg 1077w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM-300x135.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM-1000x450.jpg 1000w\" width=\"1077\"/></div></a></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>Eventually, the administrator revealed the time of the photograph numbered 4328, which was in between the two leading vote-getters (4325 and 4330). This photograph was taken at August 1, 2015 at 4:35:46pm with the azimuth of 260.52, which corresponds to a July 17, 2014 time of 4:21:29pm. The administrator later calculated what he saw as a more accurate time based on the line alignment in the two photographs: 4:22:40pm on July 17, 2014.</p>\n<p>If the results of the “shadow poll” experiment are trusted, the camera’s internal clock was about 3 minutes fast. It is difficult to conclusively say the exact minute–let alone the second–that the launch photograph was taken due to the margin of error in the shadow exercise and the impreciseness of the camera’s internal clock. However, this exercise in tandem with the self-reported EXIF data demonstrates that the launch photograph was indeed taken soon after 4:20pm, the time of the MH17 downing.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nWhile much open source investigation is done through crowd sourcing, the administrator of the MH17 webtalk.ru forum has taken a unique approach:\na single-blind poll to collaboratively determine the\ntiming of a photograph\n. While this experiment does not have the scientific rigor of a pharmaceutical trial, the methodology of administrator “bootblack” is worthwhile of some examination.\nThe photograph in question is the infamous MH17 launch image, which was posted by\n@Wowiha\nY\nafter he received it from a friend shortly after the downing of MH17 (4:20pm local time). The photograph shows a missile contrail south of Snizhne and southeast of the photographer’s location. Significantly, the EXIF data on this photograph shows that it was taken–according to the camera’s internal clock–at 4:25pm local time, July 17, 2014. This time places the photograph at just five minutes after the downing of MH17; however, the internal clock’s time was likely not perfectly synced and accurate the same way a cell phone would be. The circumstances of this photograph have been hotly debated online, even though the photograph has been verified as true\nby multiple international experts\n. The Dutch criminal investigation into the downing of MH17 have interviewed the photographer, and are taking the photograph into account in its investigation. Needless to say, this image is a very important piece of evidence into the tragedy’s investigation, and a more accurate time-frame for the photograph (other than the camera’s internal clock) would further confirm its value.\nThe brightened version of the smoke trail photograph. The original photograph was darker, while this one was retouched by the photographer to better depict the smoke trail in question.\nBootblack, the administrator of the popular MH17 forum of webtalk.ru, acquired numerous photographs from a local of the shadow on a particular rooftop in Torez. The administrator also received the exact time each photograph was taken. This roof in question is the same one that appears in the photograph above (bottom-left/center, to the left of a tall pole). The purpose of Bootblack’s experiment is to crowdsource the opinions of the forum to select which of the photographs most accurately depicts the angle of the rooftop shadow when compared to the July 17 launch photograph. As anyone who has ever seen a sundial will know, the time can be determined by a shadow once various factors (angle of object casting shadow, azimuth, etc) are determined.\nThe administrator received the time of each photograph, but chose not to share them with the forum, hoping for unbiased assessments of which photograph was the most accurate. Theoretically, with some adjustments with the azimuth and the exact conditions recorded for the day of the MH17 shootdown, we would be able to know–down to a very narrow time-frame–when the launch photo was taken without relying on the reading of a camera’s internal clock in the EXIF data. We probably cannot get the exact second of the photograph with this shadow angle method, but we would be able to refute an argument that the photograph was actually taken in the morning or early afternoon.\nThe house and shadow in question from the launch photo\nBootblack set out the following procedures for the thread:\n1) In a joint effort (poll and comments) we will select a photo with the shadow that matches the shadow in the [photographer’s] photo. If someone’s eye fixes upon an intermediate position, just tell me.\n2) Knowing the recorded time of the selected photo, we will calculate the azimuth of the shadow. The EXIF has already been deleted to eliminate subjectivity.\n3) We will recalculate the obtained azimuth to July 17, 2014 and from that we will calculate the exact time the photographer shot the shadow.\nOne of the photographs provided by the forum administrator\nFor three pages, the forum users debated which of the twelve provided photographs best matched the shadow on the launch photo. Different users, including the administrator, threw their lots in to different ones, with various creative uses of overlaying lines over the given photographs to judge the correct angles:\nEventually, the administrator revealed the time of the photograph numbered 4328, which was in between the two leading vote-getters (4325 and 4330). This photograph was taken at August 1, 2015 at 4:35:46pm with the azimuth of 260.52, which corresponds to a July 17, 2014 time of 4:21:29pm. The administrator later calculated what he saw as a more accurate time based on the line alignment in the two photographs: 4:22:40pm on July 17, 2014.\nIf the results of the “shadow poll” experiment are trusted, the camera’s internal clock was about 3 minutes fast. It is difficult to conclusively say the exact minute–let alone the second–that the launch photograph was taken due to the margin of error in the shadow exercise and the impreciseness of the camera’s internal clock. However, this exercise in tandem with the self-reported EXIF data demonstrates that the launch photograph was indeed taken soon after 4:20pm, the time of the MH17 downing.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/07/BswldgYIUAAV7A_.jpg",
+      "alt": "BswldgYIUAAV7A_",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/house.jpg",
+      "alt": "house",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/DSCN4325.jpg",
+      "alt": "One of the photographs provided by the forum administrator",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-54-14-PM.jpg",
+      "alt": "8-5-2015 6-54-14 PM",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-6-2015-5-07-14-PM.jpg",
+      "alt": "8-6-2015 5-07-14 PM",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/08/8-5-2015-6-52-46-PM.jpg",
+      "alt": "8-5-2015 6-52-46 PM",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-09-22_geolocating-russian-military-aircraft-in-syria.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-russian-military-aircraft-in-syria",
+  "title": "Geolocating Russian Military Aircraft in Syria",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/09/22/geolocating-russian-military-aircraft-in-syria/",
+  "date": "2015-09-22T12:01:14+00:00",
+  "modified": "2015-09-22T12:05:48+00:00",
+  "author": "Eliot Higgins",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Over the last week there’s been a great deal of interest in the movement of Russian military equipment and troops to Syria, with images published by AllSource Analysis of al-Assad International Airport showing the arrival of military aircraft supporting Russia’s growing presence. Today a photograph was shared on Twitter showing what claimed to be the aircraft visible […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/09/22/geolocating-russian-military-aircraft-in-syria/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>Over the last week there’s been a great deal of interest in the movement of Russian military equipment and troops to Syria, with images published by AllSource Analysis of al-Assad International Airport showing the arrival of military aircraft supporting Russia’s growing presence.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5627\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"769\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/1.jpg 1023w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/1-300x226.jpg 300w\" width=\"1023\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Today a photograph was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/finriswolf/status/646210662973091840\" target=\"_blank\">shared on Twitter</a> showing what claimed to be the aircraft visible in the above satellite image.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5630\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/2.jpg 576w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/2-169x300.jpg 169w\" width=\"576\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The immediate question is whether or not this image can be verified as being taken at al-Assad International Airport, something that can be easily answered using Google Earth and the original satellite image provided by AllSource Analysis. The first question to answer is where is the camera located? We can see the aircraft are on the left of the photograph, and the white stripes are directly in front of the camera. It’s quite easy to establish that the only location that matches in the satellite image is on the left hand side of the image, with the likely camera position marked in the below image in red.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5631\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"615\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/3.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/3-293x300.jpg 293w\" width=\"600\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s also possible to identify the four aircraft closest to the camera as Su-30Ms, as shown in the satellite imagery, and the remaining aircraft, while not completely clear, fit with the shape of the SU-25s, also seen in the satellite imagery. It’s also possible to the see distinct markings in front of the Su-30Ms on the photograph, as shown below.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5632\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"620\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/4.jpg 594w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/4-287x300.jpg 287w\" width=\"594\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>While not visible on the AllSource Analysis image, a radar is visible on Google Earth satellite imagery that’s also visible in the photograph.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5633\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1351\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1247px) 100vw, 1247px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7.jpg 1247w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7-277x300.jpg 277w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7-1108x1200.jpg 1108w\" width=\"1247\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Finally it’s possible to use the ground eye view in Google Earth to see that the terrain in the area matches the photograph, with the hills in the background of the photograph clearly visible on Google Earth.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5634\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1363\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1248px) 100vw, 1248px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8.jpg 1248w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8-275x300.jpg 275w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8-1099x1200.jpg 1099w\" width=\"1248\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Using these few simple geolocation techniques it is possible to confirm that this photograph shows the recent Russian arrivals at al-Assad International Airport.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nOver the last week there’s been a great deal of interest in the movement of Russian military equipment and troops to Syria, with images published by AllSource Analysis of al-Assad International Airport showing the arrival of military aircraft supporting Russia’s growing presence.\nToday a photograph was\nshared on Twitter\nshowing what claimed to be the aircraft visible in the above satellite image.\nThe immediate question is whether or not this image can be verified as being taken at al-Assad International Airport, something that can be easily answered using Google Earth and the original satellite image provided by AllSource Analysis. The first question to answer is where is the camera located? We can see the aircraft are on the left of the photograph, and the white stripes are directly in front of the camera. It’s quite easy to establish that the only location that matches in the satellite image is on the left hand side of the image, with the likely camera position marked in the below image in red.\nIt’s also possible to identify the four aircraft closest to the camera as Su-30Ms, as shown in the satellite imagery, and the remaining aircraft, while not completely clear, fit with the shape of the SU-25s, also seen in the satellite imagery. It’s also possible to the see distinct markings in front of the Su-30Ms on the photograph, as shown below.\nWhile not visible on the AllSource Analysis image, a radar is visible on Google Earth satellite imagery that’s also visible in the photograph.\nFinally it’s possible to use the ground eye view in Google Earth to see that the terrain in the area matches the photograph, with the hills in the background of the photograph clearly visible on Google Earth.\nUsing these few simple geolocation techniques it is possible to confirm that this photograph shows the recent Russian arrivals at al-Assad International Airport.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/1.jpg",
+      "alt": "1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/2.jpg",
+      "alt": "2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/3.jpg",
+      "alt": "3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/4.jpg",
+      "alt": "4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/7.jpg",
+      "alt": "7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/09/8.jpg",
+      "alt": "8",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2015-11-11_geolocation-once-again-disproves-russias-targeting-claims-in-syria.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocation-once-again-disproves-russias-targeting-claims-in-syria",
+  "title": "Geolocation Once Again Disproves Russia's Targeting Claims in Syria",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/11/11/geolocation-once-again-disproves-russias-targeting-claims-in-syria/",
+  "date": "2015-11-11T07:18:54+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Nathan Patin",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)In just three days, Russian aircraft have carried out 137 sorties, targeting 448 “terrorist objects” throughout Syria, according to a Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) press briefing held by spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on 9 November 2015. Three airstrikes previously posted on the MoD’s YouTube page were singled out by Konashenkov for closer examination. Given the Russian MoD’s well-documented propensity for fabricating information, it’s […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/11/11/geolocation-once-again-disproves-russias-targeting-claims-in-syria/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><p>In just three days, Russian aircraft have carried out 137 sorties, targeting 448 “terrorist objects” throughout Syria, according to a Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydel4NbNI3I\">press briefing</a> held by spokesperson <a href=\"http://tass.ru/en/defense/834924\">Igor Konashenkov</a> on 9 November 2015. Three airstrikes previously posted on the MoD’s YouTube page were singled out by Konashenkov for closer examination. Given the Russian MoD’s <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/06/12/july-17-imagery-mod-comparison/\">well-documented</a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/05/31/mh17-forensic-analysis-of-satellite-images-released-by-the-russian-ministry-of-defence/\">propensity</a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2015/11/04/fact-checking-russias-claim-that-it-didnt-bomb-a-hospital-in-syria/\">for fabricating</a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2015/10/26/what-russias-own-videos-and-maps-reveal-about-who-they-are-bombing-in-syria/\">information</a>, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to verify the Russian MoD’s version of events.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW9RqQYGa0Y\">first video</a> purports to show an airstrike on an “ammunition depot” in the governorate of Raqqa. According to Konashenkov, the depot contained “anti-tank systems, grenade launchers, and small arms,” and heavy vehicles were seen being loaded with weapons, which were “delivered to terrorist groups of the region.” Highlighting that the bombed depot was indeed located in Raqqa, the MoD presentation transitions to the video by having it zoom out from the approximate location where the strike allegedly took place:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-10-16_27_35.gif\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2015-11-10 16_27_35\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6526\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"720\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-10-16_27_35.gif\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>In this instance, the MoD implies that the strike occurred near al-Tabqa in the west of Raqqa Governorate. However, as has been the case <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2015/10/26/what-russias-own-videos-and-maps-reveal-about-who-they-are-bombing-in-syria/\">dozens of times before</a>, Russia incorrectly described the video’s location in both the press conference and the video itself. The airstrike was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AEJKhalil/status/663902671057920000\">geolocated</a> 115 kilometers (km) away near al-Bab, which is in the governorate of Aleppo:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/video-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"video 1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6531\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1175\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 901px) 100vw, 901px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/video-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/video-1.jpg 901w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/video-1-230x300.jpg 230w\" width=\"901\"/></div></a><br/>\nIt’s unclear why the Russian MoD would claim that it was targeting “terrorists” in Raqqa when al-Bab is controlled by the Islamic State (IS) and has been since <a href=\"http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/08/10-dead-in-Syria-regime-raids-on-ISIS-held-town-.html\">early 2014</a>.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARcSIQDv9eI\">second video</a> is described as showing an airstrike against an IS training camp in Idlib Governorate. The difficulty here is that there hasn’t been an IS presence in Idlib since <a href=\"http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/russia-accused-striking-civilian-targets-syria-151002072135928.html\">January 2014</a>, when they were expelled by a coalition of rebel groups. Nonetheless, a Su-34 fighter jet “performed a pinpoint strike against the ammunition and weapon depot,” according to Konashenkov. The attack was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArtWendeley/status/663749522531737600\">geolocated</a> in Idlib Governorate as claimed by the Russian MoD:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-21.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Video 2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6532\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1263\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-21.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-21.jpg 1000w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-21-238x300.jpg 238w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-21-950x1200.jpg 950w\" width=\"1000\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Curiously, however, the video in the MoD press conference zooms out from an area south of Ma’saran (or “Масеран” on the map in the Russian MoD presentation), roughly 20 km away from the actual site of the attack:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"ge2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6535\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"691\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1113px) 100vw, 1113px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge2.jpg 1113w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge2-300x186.jpg 300w\" width=\"1113\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Finally, the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jo6HEy6fJ4&amp;feature=youtu.be\">third video</a> that Konashenkov discusses also claims to show an attack on IS in Idlib, this time against a “strong point” containing a both a communication and command center and an ammunition depot. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/obretix/status/663761243346464768\">Geolocation</a> of the strike places the airstrike not in Idlib but in Aleppo Governorate, near Sabiqiyah, where IS has no presence:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-31.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"Video 3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6533\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1287\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-31.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-31.jpg 950w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-31-221x300.jpg 221w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/Video-31-886x1200.jpg 886w\" width=\"950\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>It’s possible that the airstrike was <a href=\"http://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-airstrikes-syria-october-29-november-8-2015\">carried out in order to aid Assad’s forces</a> fighting rebels in the area. The location of the video on the map in the Russian MoD presentation is also incorrect, presenting the attack as having taken place southwest of Ariha in Idlib Governorate, when, in fact, the attack took place in another governorate entirely, just less than 70 km away.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge3.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"ge3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6536\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"691\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1113px) 100vw, 1113px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge3.jpg 1113w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2015/11/ge3-300x186.jpg 300w\" width=\"1113\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Russia’s persistent inaccuracy regarding the identities of the groups it’s targeting and the locations where it’s targeting them is all the more odd given that the Russian MoD has <a href=\"https://youtu.be/Ydel4NbNI3I?t=55s\">stated</a> that it only carries out airstrikes when “the data on the engaged objects has been checked through several channels.” Konashenkov claims that targeting and verification information comes from the Syrian government, the Baghdad information center, and “representatives of the Syrian opposition,” though the latter source is particularly <a href=\"http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34632483\">dubious</a>. Taking the MoD spokesman at his word means that, even after triple-checking its targets before it destroys them, Russian airstrikes have still managed to exact an <a href=\"http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/hundreds-killed-russian-air-strikes-syria-151029130146883.html\">immense toll</a> on <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/world/middleeast/syria-russian-air-strike-refugees.html\">civilians</a>.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nIn just three days, Russian aircraft have carried out 137 sorties, targeting 448 “terrorist objects” throughout Syria, according to a Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD)\npress briefing\nheld by spokesperson\nIgor Konashenkov\non 9 November 2015. Three airstrikes previously posted on the MoD’s YouTube page were singled out by Konashenkov for closer examination. Given the Russian MoD’s\nwell-documented\npropensity\nfor fabricating\ninformation\n, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to verify the Russian MoD’s version of events.\nThe\nfirst video\npurports to show an airstrike on an “ammunition depot” in the governorate of Raqqa. According to Konashenkov, the depot contained “anti-tank systems, grenade launchers, and small arms,” and heavy vehicles were seen being loaded with weapons, which were “delivered to terrorist groups of the region.” Highlighting that the bombed depot was indeed located in Raqqa, the MoD presentation transitions to the video by having it zoom out from the approximate location where the strike allegedly took place:\nIn this instance, the MoD implies that the strike occurred near al-Tabqa in the west of Raqqa Governorate. However, as has been the case\ndozens of times before\n, Russia incorrectly described the video’s location in both the press conference and the video itself. The airstrike was\ngeolocated\n115 kilometers (km) away near al-Bab, which is in the governorate of Aleppo:\nIt’s unclear why the Russian MoD would claim that it was targeting “terrorists” in Raqqa when al-Bab is controlled by the Islamic State (IS) and has been since\nearly 2014\n.\nThe\nsecond video\nis described as showing an airstrike against an IS training camp in Idlib Governorate. The difficulty here is that there hasn’t been an IS presence in Idlib since\nJanuary 2014\n, when they were expelled by a coalition of rebel groups. Nonetheless, a Su-34 fighter jet “performed a pinpoint strike against the ammunition and weapon depot,” according to Konashenkov. The attack was\ngeolocated\nin Idlib Governorate as claimed by the Russian MoD:\nCuriously, however, the video in the MoD press conference zooms out from an area south of Ma’saran (or “Масеран” on the map in the Russian MoD presentation), roughly 20 km away from the actual site of the attack:\nFinally, the\nthird video\nthat Konashenkov discusses also claims to show an attack on IS in Idlib, this time against a “strong point” containing a both a communication and command center and an ammunition depot.\nGeolocation\nof the strike places the airstrike not in Idlib but in Aleppo Governorate, near Sabiqiyah, where IS has no presence:\nIt’s possible that the airstrike was\ncarried out in order to aid Assad’s forces\nfighting rebels in the area. The location of the video on the map in the Russian MoD presentation is also incorrect, presenting the attack as having taken place southwest of Ariha in Idlib Governorate, when, in fact, the attack took place in another governorate entirely, just less than 70 km away.\nRussia’s persistent inaccuracy regarding the identities of the groups it’s targeting and the locations where it’s targeting them is all the more odd given that the Russian MoD has\nstated\nthat it only carries out airstrikes when “the data on the engaged objects has been checked through several channels.” Konashenkov claims that targeting and verification information comes from the Syrian government, the Baghdad information center, and “representatives of the Syrian opposition,” though the latter source is particularly\ndubious\n. Taking the MoD spokesman at his word means that, even after triple-checking its targets before it destroys them, Russian airstrikes have still managed to exact an\nimmense toll\non\ncivilians\n.",
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+      "alt": "2015-11-10 16_27_35",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
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+      "alt": "Video 3",
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+    },
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+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2016-02-25_geolocating-mexican-sicarios-in-chihuahua.json

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-mexican-sicarios-in-chihuahua",
+  "title": "Geolocating Mexican Sicarios in Chihuahua",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2016/02/25/geolocating-mexican-sicarios-in-chihuahua/",
+  "date": "2016-02-25T21:12:50+00:00",
+  "modified": "2016-02-27T19:57:46+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "On April 08 2015, the person behind the “La Polaka” Youtube profile posted this video (YouTube). It features an unidentified cameraman walking alongside a resting convoy of about 15 vehicles and 50 heavily armed men wearing assault gears, military fatigues or civilian clothing. As the cameraman is cheering the column, radio communications can be heard between a group leader and “Meny” – likely an advanced element of the commando, scouting for possible enemies or security forces. One can hear the cameraman repeating “Animo, sicarios” which can be translated as “let’s go get them, hitmen”. The scene was reportedly filmed during late fall 2014, prior to clashes with a rival gang. Based on what can be observed in the video, it is possible to pinpoint the exact location of the deadly convoy.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2016/02/25/geolocating-mexican-sicarios-in-chihuahua/\">English (UK)</a></li></ul></div><h3><strong>Background information</strong></h3>\n<p>On April 08 2015, the person behind the “La Polaka” Youtube profile posted this video (<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2j5oeHsd4\">YouTube</a>). It features an unidentified cameraman walking alongside a resting convoy of about 15 vehicles and 50 heavily armed men wearing assault gears, military fatigues or civilian clothing. As the cameraman is cheering the column, radio communications can be heard between a group leader and “Meny” – likely an advanced element of the commando, scouting for possible enemies or security forces. One can hear the cameraman repeating “Animo, sicarios” which can be translated as “let’s go get them, hitmen”. The scene was reportedly filmed during late fall 2014, prior to clashes with a rival gang. Based on what can be observed in the video, it is possible to pinpoint the exact location of the deadly convoy.</p>\n<h3><strong>Locating the video </strong></h3>\n<p>“La Polaka” mentions that the video took place in Chihuahua and indications for the towns of Guachochi and Creel can be seen at 02:00 in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/1-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8061\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8061\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"419\" sizes=\"(max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/1-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/1-2.jpg 621w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/1-2-300x202.jpg 300w\" width=\"621\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The most direct route connecting Guachochi and Creel is a paved road with a length of 158 kilometres. Considering that the indication for Creel points towards the left side of the screen and that Guachochi is on the opposite side, it can be deducted that the filming location is on the Western side of the main road linking both towns.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8062\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8062\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"625\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 907px) 100vw, 907px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2.jpg 907w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2-300x207.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2-768x529.jpg 768w\" width=\"907\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>By looking at the featured environment, it appears that the location is at a T-junction, with the convoy resting on a paved secondary route connecting to the Guachochi-Creel main road. As there are very few similar sites along the way, the terrain at 27.29842, -107.5267 offers a similar landscape to what can be observed in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8063\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"3\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8063\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"677\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 938px) 100vw, 938px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2.jpg 938w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2-300x217.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2-768x554.jpg 768w\" width=\"938\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>During the first minute of the video, the cameraman is filming the tail end of the convoy. One can see that the road is going into a steep curve (1) and that rock walls made from excavation (2) are on both sides of the road. A serie of building (3-4-5) and vegetation (6) can also be perceived on top of the small cliff on the right-hand side of the road from the cameraman point of view – which is conform with the features of the commercial imagery.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8064\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8064\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"729\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1103px) 100vw, 1103px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2.jpg 1103w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2-300x198.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2-768x508.jpg 768w\" width=\"1103\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8065\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"5\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8065\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"599\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2.jpg 983w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2-300x183.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2-768x468.jpg 768w\" width=\"983\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>As the cameraman is moving towards the head of the convoy, the left side of the road is open ground (7) while the right side presents more dense vegetation (8). Considering that the vehicles in the convoy have an average length of six meters, with an average five meters of spacing between them, the resting convoy would occupy approximately 160 meters, which is consistent with what can be measured on Google Map.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8066\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"6\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8066\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"673\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 997px) 100vw, 997px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1.jpg 997w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1-768x518.jpg 768w\" width=\"997\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8067\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"7\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8067\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"657\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 917px) 100vw, 917px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1.jpg 917w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1-300x215.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1-768x550.jpg 768w\" width=\"917\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>At the end of the video, the lead elements of the convoy are seen next to a T-junction at the main Guachochi-Creel road. At the intersection, there are a road sign (9) and a building of rectangular shape (10). However, the billboard (11), also located on the far side of the road, is not present in any commercial imagery available. According to Google Earth, the last satellite images accessible of the area were taken in June 2010, four years before the video was taken. This certainly explains why the billboard can be seen in the video, but is missing from the satellite photo.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8068\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"8\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8068\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"725\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1057px) 100vw, 1057px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1.jpg 1057w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1-300x206.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1-768x527.jpg 768w\" width=\"1057\"/></div></a><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8070\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"9.1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8070\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"646\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 906px) 100vw, 906px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1.jpg 906w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1-300x214.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1-768x548.jpg 768w\" width=\"906\"/></div></a></p>\n<h3><strong>Analysis </strong></h3>\n<p>Online medias have widely discussed this video. Although no one has been able to positively identify to which group the convoy of sicarios belongs to, they have been linked to different clashes that occurred around the time the video was recorded. <a href=\"http://www.proceso.com.mx/400706/difunden-un-video-de-convoy-de-sicarios-en-la-sierra-tarahumara\">Proceso specified</a> that a couple of vehicles seen in the video were later found on the location of a November 2014 violent shootout in Samachique, Chihuahua, in which dozens of people were killed. <a href=\"http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/new-video-appears-of-hit-squad-in-mine-rich-mexico-region\">InSight Crime further indicates</a> that some of the sicarios pictured in the video were found dead on the site of a March 2015 gunfight in a ranch close to this area.</p>\n<p>During fall 2014, armed factions of the Sinaloa Cartel (Gente Nueva) and the Juarez Cartel (La Linea) were still fighting in Southern Chihuahua over trafficking routes – with the Sinaloa Cartel having the upper hand. Experts also suspect that the fighting was linked to control over resource extraction. In the recent years, drug trafficking organizations in Mexico have started to diversify their business activities and turned their attention to mining and energy industries. It is thus believed that the commando outlined in the video belongs to either the Gente Nueva or the Juarez Cartel.</p>\n<p>Gente Nueva’s soldiers originate from the Mexican security forces and are considered to be an “elite force” within the Sinaloa Cartel. They are known to operate mostly in military uniforms but in several cases, they have been seen wearing civilian clothing.</p>\n<p>La Linea is also composed of ex-members of the Mexican security forces but tend to wear civilian clothes, with only a few individuals dressing in military fashion. In 2015, La Linea reportedly separated from the Juarez Cartel and formed the Nuevo Cártel de Juarez, thus indicating the influence of the group in the area.</p>\n<p>Nevertheless, these images offer a rare insight into the crude world of armed enforcers and are a cold reminder of the level of freedom and firepower these groups still retain in some rural parts of Mexico.</p>\n<p>Since Felipe Calderón became President of Mexico in 2006, drug-related violence <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2014/12/17/mexicos-guerra-al-narco-a-disaster-rooted-in-misinterpretations/\">skyrocketed in the country</a>. Following his decision to deploy 50, 000 soldiers by 2012 on the Mexican streets, the number of homicides tripled from 10, 452 in 2006 to 27, 213 in 2011. As Mexico and the US went after heads of cartels, they atomised the main ones into smaller entities that grew larger. Higher rates of crime were thus the direct outcome of inter- and intra-cartel gunfights as well as battles between Mexican security forces and drug trafficking organizations. The new President, Enrique Peña Nieto, has vowed to not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor. Yet events such as the 2015 Hollywood-style escape of El Chapo and the disappearance of 43 students in the city of Iguala back in 2014 have shown the extent to which cartels have penetrated the Mexican government at all levels. The only positive note was the rapid recapture of El Chapo, which has been hailed as a victory for the Mexican fight against drug trafficking organizations. This view however underestimates the rise of new and smaller cartels, such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which according to experts are the future of drug trafficking in opposition to large and centralized groups like the Sinaloa cartel.</p>\n<h3><strong>Sources</strong></h3>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/new-video-appears-of-hit-squad-in-mine-rich-mexico-region\">http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/new-video-appears-of-hit-squad-in-mine-rich-mexico-region</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/11/04/politica/010n2pol\">http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/11/04/politica/010n2pol</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=400706\">http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=400706</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://archive.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27916069/video-narco-gunmen-convoy-was-filmed-last-year/\">http://archive.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27916069/video-narco-gunmen-convoy-was-filmed-last-year/</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2j5oeHsd4\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2j5oeHsd4</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.lapolaka.com/animo-sicarios/\">http://www.lapolaka.com/animo-sicarios/</a></p>\n<p>La Linea</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/06/fotos-al-igual-que-los-zetas-y-el-cjng.html\">http://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/06/fotos-al-igual-que-los-zetas-y-el-cjng.html</a></p>\n<p>Gente Nueva</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/02/la-gente-nueva-sus-origenes-del.html\">http://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/02/la-gente-nueva-sus-origenes-del.html</a></p>\n<p><em>By Vince. Edited by <span class=\"il\">Aliaume</span> Leroy</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nBackground information\nOn April 08 2015, the person behind the “La Polaka” Youtube profile posted this video (\nYouTube\n). It features an unidentified cameraman walking alongside a resting convoy of about 15 vehicles and 50 heavily armed men wearing assault gears, military fatigues or civilian clothing. As the cameraman is cheering the column, radio communications can be heard between a group leader and “Meny” – likely an advanced element of the commando, scouting for possible enemies or security forces. One can hear the cameraman repeating “Animo, sicarios” which can be translated as “let’s go get them, hitmen”. The scene was reportedly filmed during late fall 2014, prior to clashes with a rival gang. Based on what can be observed in the video, it is possible to pinpoint the exact location of the deadly convoy.\nLocating the video\n“La Polaka” mentions that the video took place in Chihuahua and indications for the towns of Guachochi and Creel can be seen at 02:00 in the video.\nThe most direct route connecting Guachochi and Creel is a paved road with a length of 158 kilometres. Considering that the indication for Creel points towards the left side of the screen and that Guachochi is on the opposite side, it can be deducted that the filming location is on the Western side of the main road linking both towns.\nBy looking at the featured environment, it appears that the location is at a T-junction, with the convoy resting on a paved secondary route connecting to the Guachochi-Creel main road. As there are very few similar sites along the way, the terrain at 27.29842, -107.5267 offers a similar landscape to what can be observed in the video.\nDuring the first minute of the video, the cameraman is filming the tail end of the convoy. One can see that the road is going into a steep curve (1) and that rock walls made from excavation (2) are on both sides of the road. A serie of building (3-4-5) and vegetation (6) can also be perceived on top of the small cliff on the right-hand side of the road from the cameraman point of view – which is conform with the features of the commercial imagery.\nAs the cameraman is moving towards the head of the convoy, the left side of the road is open ground (7) while the right side presents more dense vegetation (8). Considering that the vehicles in the convoy have an average length of six meters, with an average five meters of spacing between them, the resting convoy would occupy approximately 160 meters, which is consistent with what can be measured on Google Map.\nAt the end of the video, the lead elements of the convoy are seen next to a T-junction at the main Guachochi-Creel road. At the intersection, there are a road sign (9) and a building of rectangular shape (10). However, the billboard (11), also located on the far side of the road, is not present in any commercial imagery available. According to Google Earth, the last satellite images accessible of the area were taken in June 2010, four years before the video was taken. This certainly explains why the billboard can be seen in the video, but is missing from the satellite photo.\nAnalysis\nOnline medias have widely discussed this video. Although no one has been able to positively identify to which group the convoy of sicarios belongs to, they have been linked to different clashes that occurred around the time the video was recorded.\nProceso specified\nthat a couple of vehicles seen in the video were later found on the location of a November 2014 violent shootout in Samachique, Chihuahua, in which dozens of people were killed.\nInSight Crime further indicates\nthat some of the sicarios pictured in the video were found dead on the site of a March 2015 gunfight in a ranch close to this area.\nDuring fall 2014, armed factions of the Sinaloa Cartel (Gente Nueva) and the Juarez Cartel (La Linea) were still fighting in Southern Chihuahua over trafficking routes – with the Sinaloa Cartel having the upper hand. Experts also suspect that the fighting was linked to control over resource extraction. In the recent years, drug trafficking organizations in Mexico have started to diversify their business activities and turned their attention to mining and energy industries. It is thus believed that the commando outlined in the video belongs to either the Gente Nueva or the Juarez Cartel.\nGente Nueva’s soldiers originate from the Mexican security forces and are considered to be an “elite force” within the Sinaloa Cartel. They are known to operate mostly in military uniforms but in several cases, they have been seen wearing civilian clothing.\nLa Linea is also composed of ex-members of the Mexican security forces but tend to wear civilian clothes, with only a few individuals dressing in military fashion. In 2015, La Linea reportedly separated from the Juarez Cartel and formed the Nuevo Cártel de Juarez, thus indicating the influence of the group in the area.\nNevertheless, these images offer a rare insight into the crude world of armed enforcers and are a cold reminder of the level of freedom and firepower these groups still retain in some rural parts of Mexico.\nSince Felipe Calderón became President of Mexico in 2006, drug-related violence\nskyrocketed in the country\n. Following his decision to deploy 50, 000 soldiers by 2012 on the Mexican streets, the number of homicides tripled from 10, 452 in 2006 to 27, 213 in 2011. As Mexico and the US went after heads of cartels, they atomised the main ones into smaller entities that grew larger. Higher rates of crime were thus the direct outcome of inter- and intra-cartel gunfights as well as battles between Mexican security forces and drug trafficking organizations. The new President, Enrique Peña Nieto, has vowed to not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor. Yet events such as the 2015 Hollywood-style escape of El Chapo and the disappearance of 43 students in the city of Iguala back in 2014 have shown the extent to which cartels have penetrated the Mexican government at all levels. The only positive note was the rapid recapture of El Chapo, which has been hailed as a victory for the Mexican fight against drug trafficking organizations. This view however underestimates the rise of new and smaller cartels, such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which according to experts are the future of drug trafficking in opposition to large and centralized groups like the Sinaloa cartel.\nSources\nhttp://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/new-video-appears-of-hit-squad-in-mine-rich-mexico-region\nhttp://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/11/04/politica/010n2pol\nhttp://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=400706\nhttp://archive.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27916069/video-narco-gunmen-convoy-was-filmed-last-year/\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2j5oeHsd4\nhttp://www.lapolaka.com/animo-sicarios/\nLa Linea\nhttp://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/06/fotos-al-igual-que-los-zetas-y-el-cjng.html\nGente Nueva\nhttp://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/2015/02/la-gente-nueva-sus-origenes-del.html\nBy Vince. Edited by\nAliaume\nLeroy",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/1-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/2-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/3-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/4-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "4",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/5-2.jpg",
+      "alt": "5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/6-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/7-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "7",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/8-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "8",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/02/9.1.jpg",
+      "alt": "9.1",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2016-10-21_geolocation-turkish-airstrikes-ypg-positions.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocation-turkish-airstrikes-ypg-positions",
+  "title": "Geolocation of Turkish Airstrikes on YPG Positions",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2016/10/21/geolocation-turkish-airstrikes-ypg-positions/",
+  "date": "2016-10-21T12:52:25+00:00",
+  "modified": "2016-10-23T12:50:30+00:00",
+  "author": "Christiaan Triebert",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On the night from October 19 to October 20, the Turkish Air Force bombed positions allegedly of the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish: Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG) in Syria’s Aleppo governorate. This is a brief overview of open source information on the incident. Geolocation In total, the Turkish Air Force dropped 26 bombs on 18 […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2016/10/21/geolocation-turkish-airstrikes-ypg-positions/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/mena/2016/11/14/geolocation-turkish-kurds-ru/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the night from October 19 to October 20, the Turkish Air Force bombed positions allegedly of the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish: </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yekîneyên Parastina Gel</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, YPG) in Syria’s Aleppo governorate. This is a brief overview of open source information on the incident.<br/>\n</span></p>\n<h2><b>Geolocation</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In total, the Turkish Air Force dropped 26 bombs on 18 different targets, including nine buildings used as shelters, and an arsenal, according to Turkey’s state-run press service </span><a href=\"http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-airstrikes-kill-up-to-200-pkk-pyd-terrorists/668584\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anadolu Agency</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, citing a military source. A</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 1-minute and 56-second video showing six different strikes, all of which have been geolocated by Twitter users [<a href=\"https://twitter.com/anadoluajansi/status/789133179152060416\">tweet</a>, <a href=\"http://aa.com.tr/tr/vg/video-galeri/tskdan-pyd-ypg-teror-orgutune-yonelik-hava-harekati/0\">website</a>].</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Five out of six strikes have been geolocated, as shown on the map below.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><iframe class=\"googlemaps\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1EjNjNX51VXzncFQGUWFjlGA4Nr4&amp;w=640&amp;h=480\"></iframe></span></p>\n<h4><b>Strike 1 (0:00-0:17)</b></h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first airstrike has been geolocated by Twitter user </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wasc_algonquin/status/789148610499870720\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@was_algonquin</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to 36.390068, 37.253568 (</span><a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.390089&amp;lon=37.253555&amp;z=18&amp;m=h&amp;search=36.390068%2C%2037.253568\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wikimapia</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).</span></h4>\n<h4><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strike-1\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-11355\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"472\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-1-1200x472.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-1.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-1-300x118.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-1-768x302.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></h4>\n<h4><b>Strike 2 (0:17-0:38)</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The second strike has been also geolocated by </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wasc_algonquin/status/789152328024723457\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@was_algonquin</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to 36.39277, 37.25621 (</span><a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.392770&amp;lon=37.256210&amp;z=13&amp;m=h&amp;search=36.39277%2C%2037.25621\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wikimapia</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strike-2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11356\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"401\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-2-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-2-1.jpg 1199w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-2-1-300x100.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-2-1-768x257.jpg 768w\" width=\"1199\"/></div></p>\n<h4><b>Strike 3 (0:38-0:56)</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The third airstrike has again been geolocated by </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wasc_algonquin/status/789167452575772672\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@was_algonquin</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to 36.399254, 37.256873 (</span><a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.399250&amp;lon=37.256870&amp;z=13&amp;m=h&amp;search=36.39925%2C%2037.25687\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wikimapia</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strike-3\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-11357\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"387\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-3-1200x387.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-3.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-3-300x97.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-3-768x248.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<h4><b>Strike 4 (0:56-1:15)</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fourth airstrike has not been geolocated yet.</span></p>\n<h4><b>Strike 5 (1:15-1:36)</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The airstrike has been geolocated by Twitter user </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/fevziincii/status/789145538306383872\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@fevciinzii</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was geolocated to 36.411509, 37.2348118 (</span><a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.411509&amp;lon=37.234812&amp;z=16&amp;m=bs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wikimapia</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strike-5\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-11358\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"487\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-5-1200x487.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-5.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-5-300x122.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-5-768x312.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<h4><b>Strike 6 (1:36-1:56) </b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The sixth strike was also geolocated by </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/fevziincii/status/789145538306383872\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@fevciinzii</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to 36.4051194, 37.2297049 (</span><a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.405223&amp;lon=37.229726&amp;z=16&amp;m=bs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wikimapia</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"strike-6\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-11360\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"498\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-6-1200x498.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-6.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-6-300x125.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-6-768x319.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mapped on a base layer of <a href=\"http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/time/19.10.2016\">syria.liveuamap.com</a>, the airstrikes were indeed in YPG-held territory, close to the frontline with Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. The locations of the airstrikes are marked in pink.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"overview\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11361\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"621\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 971px) 100vw, 971px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/overview.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/overview.png 971w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/overview-300x192.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/overview-768x491.png 768w\" width=\"971\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The location of the airstrikes is very close near the village of Hassadjek, the location where Russia accused Belgium of killing six civilians due to airstrikes on October 18, 2016. Hassadjek was </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/warcoresponted/status/780292690034425856\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reportedly</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> captured by the YPG on September 26, 2016.</span></p>\n<p>Information related the incident was “handed over to the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria by the local council of the Syrian city of Afrin,” <em><a href=\"https://www.rt.com/news/363228-aleppo-airstrike-belgian-jets/\">Russia Today</a> </em>wrote. <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Russian Ministry of Defence said neither Syrian nor Russian jets were carrying out airstrikes in the area</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, Belgium has accused the Russian MoD of faking data about the airstrike (</span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/novaya_gazeta/status/789332730999963648\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Novaya Gazeta</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). Belgian Defence Minister Steven Vandeput <a href=\"https://twitter.com/svandeput/status/788637408782852096\">tweeted</a> that it is “Russian disinformation” [<a href=\"http://archive.is/1qsgA\">archived</a>]: </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"vandeput\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11373\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"241\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/vandeput-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/vandeput-1.png 556w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/vandeput-1-300x130.png 300w\" width=\"556\"/></div></p>\n<h2><b>Casualties</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Turkish military said it killed between 160 and 200 YPG fighters, according to </span><a href=\"http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-airstrikes-kill-up-to-200-pkk-pyd-terrorists/668584\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anadolu Agency</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, senior YPG-commander Mahmoud Barkhadan told </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Associated Press</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that the death toll was much lower, putting it at no more than ten casualties and around twenty injured. Mr. Barkhadan said that Turkish tanks had been shelling their positions since October 20 and were joined by military aircraft overnight.</span></p>\n<h2><b>Context</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Both Turkey and the YPG are fighting against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria. But despite their common goal, Turkey perceives the YPG, and it’s political arm PYD as well as the broader coalition it fronts, the SDF, as extensions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Kurdish: <em>Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê</em>, PKK‎). Turkey views YPG and SDF territorial gains long its border with Syria as a national seucrity threat.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This has caused friction between Turkey and its NATO ally the United States (US), as the latter has provided military support to the SDF/YPG. In other words, NATO-member “Turkey Bombs U.S.-Backed Kurds in Syria’s Aleppo Province” (</span><a href=\"http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-bombs-u-s-backed-kurds-syria-s-aleppo-province-n669951\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NBC News</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). However, not much support has been provided to the YPG in Afrin.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Turkey has started a cross-border operation with allied groups on August 24, code-named by Turkey as Operation Euphrates Shield.</span></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn the night from October 19 to October 20, the Turkish Air Force bombed positions allegedly of the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish:\nYekîneyên Parastina Gel\n, YPG) in Syria’s Aleppo governorate. This is a brief overview of open source information on the incident.\nGeolocation\nIn total, the Turkish Air Force dropped 26 bombs on 18 different targets, including nine buildings used as shelters, and an arsenal, according to Turkey’s state-run press service\nAnadolu Agency\n, citing a military source. A\n1-minute and 56-second video showing six different strikes, all of which have been geolocated by Twitter users [\ntweet\n,\nwebsite\n].\nFive out of six strikes have been geolocated, as shown on the map below.\nStrike 1 (0:00-0:17)\nThe first airstrike has been geolocated by Twitter user\n@was_algonquin\nto 36.390068, 37.253568 (\nWikimapia\n).\nStrike 2 (0:17-0:38)\nThe second strike has been also geolocated by\n@was_algonquin\nto 36.39277, 37.25621 (\nWikimapia\n).\nStrike 3 (0:38-0:56)\nThe third airstrike has again been geolocated by\n@was_algonquin\nto 36.399254, 37.256873 (\nWikimapia\n).\nStrike 4 (0:56-1:15)\nThe fourth airstrike has not been geolocated yet.\nStrike 5 (1:15-1:36)\nThe airstrike has been geolocated by Twitter user\n@fevciinzii\nwas geolocated to 36.411509, 37.2348118 (\nWikimapia\n).\nStrike 6 (1:36-1:56)\nThe sixth strike was also geolocated by\n@fevciinzii\nto 36.4051194, 37.2297049 (\nWikimapia\n).\nMapped on a base layer of\nsyria.liveuamap.com\n, the airstrikes were indeed in YPG-held territory, close to the frontline with Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. The locations of the airstrikes are marked in pink.\nThe location of the airstrikes is very close near the village of Hassadjek, the location where Russia accused Belgium of killing six civilians due to airstrikes on October 18, 2016. Hassadjek was\nreportedly\ncaptured by the YPG on September 26, 2016.\nInformation related the incident was “handed over to the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria by the local council of the Syrian city of Afrin,”\nRussia Today\nwrote.\nThe Russian Ministry of Defence said neither Syrian nor Russian jets were carrying out airstrikes in the area\n.\nHowever, Belgium has accused the Russian MoD of faking data about the airstrike (\nNovaya Gazeta\n). Belgian Defence Minister Steven Vandeput\ntweeted\nthat it is “Russian disinformation” [\narchived\n]:\nCasualties\nThe Turkish military said it killed between 160 and 200 YPG fighters, according to\nAnadolu Agency\n.\nHowever, senior YPG-commander Mahmoud Barkhadan told\nThe Associated Press\nthat the death toll was much lower, putting it at no more than ten casualties and around twenty injured. Mr. Barkhadan said that Turkish tanks had been shelling their positions since October 20 and were joined by military aircraft overnight.\nContext\nBoth Turkey and the YPG are fighting against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria. But despite their common goal, Turkey perceives the YPG, and it’s political arm PYD as well as the broader coalition it fronts, the SDF, as extensions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Kurdish:\nPartiya Karkerên Kurdistanê\n, PKK‎). Turkey views YPG and SDF territorial gains long its border with Syria as a national seucrity threat.\nThis has caused friction between Turkey and its NATO ally the United States (US), as the latter has provided military support to the SDF/YPG. In other words, NATO-member “Turkey Bombs U.S.-Backed Kurds in Syria’s Aleppo Province” (\nNBC News\n). However, not much support has been provided to the YPG in Afrin.\nTurkey has started a cross-border operation with allied groups on August 24, code-named by Turkey as Operation Euphrates Shield.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-1-1200x472.jpg",
+      "alt": "strike-1",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-2-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "strike-2",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/Strike-3-1200x387.jpg",
+      "alt": "strike-3",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-5-1200x487.jpg",
+      "alt": "strike-5",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/strike-6-1200x498.png",
+      "alt": "strike-6",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/overview.png",
+      "alt": "overview",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2016/10/vandeput-1.png",
+      "alt": "vandeput",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2017-04-04_photographs-ukrainian-buks-geolocated-nearly-three-years-later.json

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "slug": "photographs-ukrainian-buks-geolocated-nearly-three-years-later",
+  "title": "Photographs of Ukrainian Buks Geolocated in Poltava Oblast, Nearly Three Years Later",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2017/04/04/photographs-ukrainian-buks-geolocated-nearly-three-years-later/",
+  "date": "2017-04-04T18:41:32+00:00",
+  "modified": "2022-01-18T15:52:09+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On July 15, 2014, a chaplain for the Ukrainian Armed Forces named O. (short for “otets,” or “father”) Gredil Mykhailo uploaded a handful of photographs showing a Ukrainian Buk missile launcher in a field that appeared to function as a Ukrainian military camp. We can now say that this Buk missile launcher was not located […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2017/04/04/photographs-ukrainian-buks-geolocated-nearly-three-years-later/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/ukraine/2017/04/21/ukrainian-buks-geolocated/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>On July 15, 2014, a chaplain for the Ukrainian Armed Forces named O. (short for “otets,” or “father”) Gredil Mykhailo uploaded a handful of photographs showing a Ukrainian Buk missile launcher in a field that appeared to function as a Ukrainian military camp. We can now say that <strong>this Buk missile launcher was not located in eastern Ukraine</strong>, but instead in the Poltava Oblast in central Ukraine.</p>\n<p>The photographs would not be noteworthy if it were not for two things: the fact that Mykhailo uploaded the photographs two days before the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (July 17, 2014), and that he included geotags indicating that the photographs were taken near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The apparent location of these photographs seemed to contradict statements from the Ukrainian government claiming that there were no operational Buks in the zone of the “Anti-Terrorist Operation,” or the “ATO zone.”  These photographs gained minor popularity in some circles online after a user uploaded a series of photographs to <a href=\"https://imgur.com/a/yapZ7\">an imgur album</a> showing saved copies of Mykhailo’s photographs, including a geotagged photograph of the Buk missile launcher. One of these photographs shows Buk missile launcher 210 of the second battalion of the 223<sup>rd</sup> Anti-Aircraft Regiment, which is based in Stryi in western Ukraine. The photograph was geotagged in the Yasinuvatsky rayon (district), north of Donetsk. Another photograph, uploaded to the popular Russian forum <a href=\"http://www.yaplakal.com/forum2/topic875128.html\">Yaplakal</a>, shows Mykhailo inside a control unit, geotagged in the Perevalsky rayon near Debaltseve.</p>\n<p>However, after nearly three years, the photographs have been geolocated thanks to members of the <a href=\"http://forum.smolensk.ws/index.php\">Smolensk Forum</a>. Mykhailo’s photographs were not actually taken in eastern Ukraine, but instead on the Myrhorod Air Base in the Poltava Oblast, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines of the war.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_13736\" style=\"width: 1290px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13736\" class=\"wp-image-13736 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"960\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw.jpg 1280w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw-768x576.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/0mvEb4QXPjw-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1280\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13736\">The most notable photograph uploaded by Mykhailo, showing Buk missile launcher 210 with an unusual paint job typical for Buks of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment. <a href=\"https://vk.com/omikhaylo?z=photo100681165_336989261%2Fwall100681165_510\">Source (geotag removed)</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_13737\" style=\"width: 1106px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/lRNxJUF.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13737\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13737\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"832\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1096px) 100vw, 1096px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/lRNxJUF.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/lRNxJUF.jpg 1096w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/lRNxJUF-300x228.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/03/lRNxJUF-768x583.jpg 768w\" width=\"1096\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13737\">Geotag for the photograph with the Buk missile launcher, indicating the location of the Yasinuvatsky area, north of Donetsk.</p></div>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http://imgur.com/a/yapZ7\">imgur post</a>, Mykhailo replaced the geotags with a location near Moscow, Russia after people found out about some of his photographs geotagged in the ATO zone. He also claimed that the previous images were photoshopped. However, Mykhailo’s own reaction of <a href=\"http://archive.is/zjJn3\">2 August 2014</a> does not mention this, but only that the location is hundreds of kilometers from Donetsk.</p>\n<p>An article and photographs of <a href=\"http://cerkva.horodok.lviv.ua/uncategorized/vijskovi-kapelany-stryjskoho-harnizonu-vidviduyut-z-dushpastyrskym-vizytom-peredyslokovani-vch-na-shodi-ukrajiny.html\">May 10, 2014</a> on Mykhailo’s church website make clear that he visited a military camp before in May 2014. Two photographs in the article show Buk missile launcher 231 and Buk missile loader 222, which belong to the 2<sup>nd</sup> battalion of the 223<sup>rd</sup> Anti-Aircraft Regiment. One of the photographs shows, apparently, an airfield landing strip. Comparing May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visits to the air defense base makes clear that he visited the same military camp in the area.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_13795\" style=\"width: 1237px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13795\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13795\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"712\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1227px) 100vw, 1227px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo.jpg 1227w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo-300x174.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo-768x446.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comp_mykhailo-1200x696.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1227\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13795\">Comparison between May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visit to a military camp.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_13796\" style=\"width: 1198px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/mykhailo_comp2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13796\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13796\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"374\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1188px) 100vw, 1188px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/mykhailo_comp2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/mykhailo_comp2.jpg 1188w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/mykhailo_comp2-300x94.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/mykhailo_comp2-768x242.jpg 768w\" width=\"1188\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13796\">Another comparison between May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visit to a military camp, with the May 2014 photograph showing what seems to be an airfield landing strip.</p></div>\n<p><strong>Geolocation</strong></p>\n<p>User “Vam” from the Smolensk Forum <a href=\"http://forum.smolensk.ws/viewtopic.php?f=74&amp;t=77846&amp;start=16400\">began reexamining the location of the “chaplain photos”</a> and also <a href=\"http://forum.smolensk.ws/viewtopic.php?f=74&amp;t=77846&amp;start=16480\">noticed similarities</a> between the July 2014 photographs posted by Mykhailo and May 2014 photographs on Mykhailo’s church website. The same user later noticed an article on the site “<a href=\"http://catholicnews.org.ua/viyskovi-kapelani-dopomagayut-ukrayinskim-soldatam\">Catholic Columnist</a>” published on July 14, 2014 about a visit from Mykhailo to air defense troops. In this article, it’s described how the chaplain brought supplies to soldiers near Poltava before moving to the ATO zone, further south and east. This is a likely explanation for why the geotags were set for the Yasinuvatsky and Perevalsky areas, as Mykhailo may have uploaded the photographs of the air defense military camp a a few days later while traveling in the ATO zone.</p>\n<p>Users “Andrew Andreev” and “Vam” from the Smolensk Forum then connected all the dots and figured out the location — Myrhorod, in the Poltava Oblast, located in between Kyiv and Donetsk. A grain elevator in the distance of Mykhailo’s July 15, 2014 photograph showing Buk missile launcher 210 was geolocated to <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=49.940650&amp;lon=33.607816&amp;z=18&amp;m=b&amp;search=49%2C940772%2C%2033.607480\">49,940772, 33.607480</a>.</p>\n<p>Furthermore, an April 2014 video of military equipment–including Buk vehicles–being transported in Myrhorod in April 2014 was found. This video includes Buk missile launchers 210 and 231, along with Buk missile loader 222 of the 2nd battalion of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment–visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs.</p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/xrfRQqXeg14?feature=oembed\" title=\"Миргород, важка техніка\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>Finally, and most importantly, the military camp that includes the Buks were found on satellite imagery, at <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=49.919630&amp;lon=33.629099&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\">49.919630, 33.629099</a>.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_13797\" style=\"width: 1585px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13797\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13797\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"908\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1575px) 100vw, 1575px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo.jpg 1575w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo-300x173.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo-768x443.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/2014buksmykhiailo-1200x692.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1575\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13797\">Buks and other military equipment on August 14, 2014 (Google Earth)</p></div>\n<p>The satellite imagery of August 14, 2014 does not show the Buk missile launchers very clearly, but satellite imagery from August 17, 2015 and February 21, 2016 show the same military camp, including Buk missile launchers, more clearly. The missiles mounted to the missile launchers are clearly visible with this higher-quality satellite imagery.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_13808\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13808\" class=\"wp-image-13808 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"446\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comb-1-1200x446.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comb-1-1200x446.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comb-1-300x112.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comb-1-768x286.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/comb-1.jpg 1680w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13808\">Comparison between August 14, 2014 and February 21, 2016 satellite imagery, showing the same military camp, including Buk missile launchers loaded with missiles.</p></div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Aside from the <a href=\"http://archive.is/HpPlr\">grain elevator</a> from a company named <a href=\"http://elevator.com.ua/pages/421.html\">‘Myrhorod feed mill’</a>, several other structures visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs can be found in satellite imagery. A <a href=\"http://archive.is/sbG7M\">chimney</a> of a factory named <a href=\"http://ustic.com.ua/object/oao-armaprom\">‘Armaprom’</a>, is visible <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=49.940558&amp;lon=33.614168&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\">here</a>, another <a href=\"http://archive.is/2SvH1\">grain elevator</a> and two other buildings of a company named <a href=\"http://elevator.com.ua/pages/420.html\">‘Mirgorodsky elevator’</a>, are visible <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=49.941660&amp;lon=33.618733&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\">here</a>, and two high <a href=\"http://archive.is/8RwaV\">apartment buildings</a>, are visible <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=49.939055&amp;lon=33.623998&amp;z=19&amp;m=b\">here</a>.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_13798\" style=\"width: 686px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/features_mykhailo.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13798\" class=\"wp-image-13798 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"789\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/features_mykhailo.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/features_mykhailo.jpg 676w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/features_mykhailo-257x300.jpg 257w\" width=\"676\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-13798\">Several structures visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs include: a grain elevator (top left),  a chimney (second from left), another grain elevator and two other buildings (second from right) and two tall apartment buildings (right).</p></div>\n<h3>Another question answered</h3>\n<p>With this photograph geolocated, another question regarding the location of Buk missile launchers at the time of the downing of MH17 has been answered. Previously, footage aired on Ukrainian Military TV the day before the downing was a significant question, but we were able to geolocate this footage in March 2016 in the article “<a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2016/03/09/8188/\">Ukrainian Buk Footage from July 16, 2014 Geolocated</a>.” Now, with the geolocation of the Mykhailo photographs, we see another instance in which Ukrainian Buks thought to be within range of downing MH17 were, in reality, quite far from the MH17 crash site, let alone the front lines. Still, after nearly three years, the only <a href=\"https://ukraineatwar.blogspot.com/2014/10/ukraine-destroyed-buks-that-were-at.html\">operational</a> Buk missile launcher observed within firing range of MH17 on July 17, 2014 was the Russian Buk 332, from the Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn July 15, 2014, a chaplain for the Ukrainian Armed Forces named O. (short for “otets,” or “father”) Gredil Mykhailo uploaded a handful of photographs showing a Ukrainian Buk missile launcher in a field that appeared to function as a Ukrainian military camp. We can now say that\nthis Buk missile launcher was not located in eastern Ukraine\n, but instead in the Poltava Oblast in central Ukraine.\nThe photographs would not be noteworthy if it were not for two things: the fact that Mykhailo uploaded the photographs two days before the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (July 17, 2014), and that he included geotags indicating that the photographs were taken near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The apparent location of these photographs seemed to contradict statements from the Ukrainian government claiming that there were no operational Buks in the zone of the “Anti-Terrorist Operation,” or the “ATO zone.” These photographs gained minor popularity in some circles online after a user uploaded a series of photographs to\nan imgur album\nshowing saved copies of Mykhailo’s photographs, including a geotagged photograph of the Buk missile launcher. One of these photographs shows Buk missile launcher 210 of the second battalion of the 223\nrd\nAnti-Aircraft Regiment, which is based in Stryi in western Ukraine. The photograph was geotagged in the Yasinuvatsky rayon (district), north of Donetsk. Another photograph, uploaded to the popular Russian forum\nYaplakal\n, shows Mykhailo inside a control unit, geotagged in the Perevalsky rayon near Debaltseve.\nHowever, after nearly three years, the photographs have been geolocated thanks to members of the\nSmolensk Forum\n. Mykhailo’s photographs were not actually taken in eastern Ukraine, but instead on the Myrhorod Air Base in the Poltava Oblast, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines of the war.\nThe most notable photograph uploaded by Mykhailo, showing Buk missile launcher 210 with an unusual paint job typical for Buks of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment.\nSource (geotag removed)\nGeotag for the photograph with the Buk missile launcher, indicating the location of the Yasinuvatsky area, north of Donetsk.\nAccording to the\nimgur post\n, Mykhailo replaced the geotags with a location near Moscow, Russia after people found out about some of his photographs geotagged in the ATO zone. He also claimed that the previous images were photoshopped. However, Mykhailo’s own reaction of\n2 August 2014\ndoes not mention this, but only that the location is hundreds of kilometers from Donetsk.\nAn article and photographs of\nMay 10, 2014\non Mykhailo’s church website make clear that he visited a military camp before in May 2014. Two photographs in the article show Buk missile launcher 231 and Buk missile loader 222, which belong to the 2\nnd\nbattalion of the 223\nrd\nAnti-Aircraft Regiment. One of the photographs shows, apparently, an airfield landing strip. Comparing May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visits to the air defense base makes clear that he visited the same military camp in the area.\nComparison between May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visit to a military camp.\nAnother comparison between May and July 2014 photographs of Mykhailo’s visit to a military camp, with the May 2014 photograph showing what seems to be an airfield landing strip.\nGeolocation\nUser “Vam” from the Smolensk Forum\nbegan reexamining the location of the “chaplain photos”\nand also\nnoticed similarities\nbetween the July 2014 photographs posted by Mykhailo and May 2014 photographs on Mykhailo’s church website. The same user later noticed an article on the site “\nCatholic Columnist\n” published on July 14, 2014 about a visit from Mykhailo to air defense troops. In this article, it’s described how the chaplain brought supplies to soldiers near Poltava before moving to the ATO zone, further south and east. This is a likely explanation for why the geotags were set for the Yasinuvatsky and Perevalsky areas, as Mykhailo may have uploaded the photographs of the air defense military camp a a few days later while traveling in the ATO zone.\nUsers “Andrew Andreev” and “Vam” from the Smolensk Forum then connected all the dots and figured out the location — Myrhorod, in the Poltava Oblast, located in between Kyiv and Donetsk. A grain elevator in the distance of Mykhailo’s July 15, 2014 photograph showing Buk missile launcher 210 was geolocated to\n49,940772, 33.607480\n.\nFurthermore, an April 2014 video of military equipment–including Buk vehicles–being transported in Myrhorod in April 2014 was found. This video includes Buk missile launchers 210 and 231, along with Buk missile loader 222 of the 2nd battalion of the 223rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment–visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs.\nFinally, and most importantly, the military camp that includes the Buks were found on satellite imagery, at\n49.919630, 33.629099\n.\nBuks and other military equipment on August 14, 2014 (Google Earth)\nThe satellite imagery of August 14, 2014 does not show the Buk missile launchers very clearly, but satellite imagery from August 17, 2015 and February 21, 2016 show the same military camp, including Buk missile launchers, more clearly. The missiles mounted to the missile launchers are clearly visible with this higher-quality satellite imagery.\nComparison between August 14, 2014 and February 21, 2016 satellite imagery, showing the same military camp, including Buk missile launchers loaded with missiles.\nAside from the\ngrain elevator\nfrom a company named\n‘Myrhorod feed mill’\n, several other structures visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs can be found in satellite imagery. A\nchimney\nof a factory named\n‘Armaprom’\n, is visible\nhere\n, another\ngrain elevator\nand two other buildings of a company named\n‘Mirgorodsky elevator’\n, are visible\nhere\n, and two high\napartment buildings\n, are visible\nhere\n.\nSeveral structures visible in Mykhailo’s May and July 2014 photographs include: a grain elevator (top left), a chimney (second from left), another grain elevator and two other buildings (second from right) and two tall apartment buildings (right).\nAnother question answered\nWith this photograph geolocated, another question regarding the location of Buk missile launchers at the time of the downing of MH17 has been answered. Previously, footage aired on Ukrainian Military TV the day before the downing was a significant question, but we were able to geolocate this footage in March 2016 in the article “\nUkrainian Buk Footage from July 16, 2014 Geolocated\n.” Now, with the geolocation of the Mykhailo photographs, we see another instance in which Ukrainian Buks thought to be within range of downing MH17 were, in reality, quite far from the MH17 crash site, let alone the front lines. Still, after nearly three years, the only\noperational\nBuk missile launcher observed within firing range of MH17 on July 17, 2014 was the Russian Buk 332, from the Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.",
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+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2017-05-05_geolocated-coalition-videos.json

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocated-coalition-videos",
+  "title": "Crowdsourced Geolocation and Analysis of Coalition Airstrike Videos from Syria and Iraq",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2017/05/05/geolocated-coalition-videos/",
+  "date": "2017-05-05T13:12:16+00:00",
+  "modified": "2017-07-10T17:33:33+00:00",
+  "author": "Christiaan Triebert",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)A version of this article was also published on Airwars. The international Coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) has published dozens of videos purportedly showing airstrikes against targets of the group in Syria and Iraq through the video-sharing social medium YouTube. Bellingcat has crowdsourced the geolocation of these videos, and this article serves […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2017/05/05/geolocated-coalition-videos/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/mena/2017/09/10/coalition-airstrikes-iraq-syria/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><em>A version of this article was also published on </em>Airwars<em>.</em></p>\n<p>The international Coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) has published dozens of videos purportedly showing airstrikes against targets of the group in Syria and Iraq through the video-sharing social medium YouTube. <em>Bellingcat</em> has crowdsourced the geolocation of these videos, and this article serves as an analysis of those geolocated airstrike videos.</p>\n<h1>Content</h1>\n<ol>\n<li>Introduction</li>\n<li>Background Information on ‘The Coalition’</li>\n<li>Geolocation and ‘Strike Regions’</li>\n<li>Claimed Targets: ‘Vehicles’, ‘Factories’ and ‘Fighting Positions’</li>\n<li>Mapping the Coalition’s Region Labels</li>\n<li>Highlighted Incidents</li>\n</ol>\n<h1>Introduction</h1>\n<p>In reaction to the rapid territorial gains made by the so-called Islamic State (IS) in the first half of 2014, accompanied by the reported human rights abuses and the fear of further conflict spill-overs, the United States (US) started to intervene militarily against the group in Syria and Iraq. In October of that same year, the US started coordinating the military efforts of a dozen of allied countries under the banner of the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF; often referred to as ‘the Coalition’) engaging in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). Today, May 5, 2017, marks the 1,001 day of the campaign.</p>\n<p>While earlier videos were posted by the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the first video depicting an airstrike was uploaded to the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgv7fFrpktGrcJtanYifRYw\">Coalition’s official YouTube channel</a> on April 11, 2015. Over 200 airstrike videos followed in the nearly two years since, which Bellingcat has aimed to geolocated by using the collaborative crowdsourcing platform <a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/\"><em>Check</em></a> developed by <a href=\"https://meedan.com/en/\"><em>Meedan</em></a>, a company that builds digital tools for global journalism and translation.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14325\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14325\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14325\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"884\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/YT-interface-1-1200x884.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/YT-interface-1-1200x884.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/YT-interface-1-300x221.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/YT-interface-1-768x565.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/YT-interface-1.jpg 1426w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14325\">A typical airstrike video uploaded by the Coalition to their YouTube channel. This airstrike video, allegedly on <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“</span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEwOKpOv-mA\">three ISIL buildings near Ramadi, Iraq</a><em>”</em>  is one of the very few videos that is still accessible via the YouTube channel.</p></div>\n<p>The Coalition is composed of several countries, but by far the majority (around 68% as of April 24, 2017) of OIR’s airstrikes have been conducted by the US Air Force, as the following tables by monitoring organisation <a href=\"https://airwars.org/\">Airwars</a> show. The tables are estimates of US and allied strikes in both Iraq and Syria.</p>\n<p>It is important to note that Coalition airstrike videos are also disseminated through other channels, such as the Ministries of Defence of Coalition members, including the Brits, the French, the Jordanians, and the Iraqis. Besides, videos have been uploaded by YouTube users seemingly affiliated with US Air Force’s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dTuQ6hA640&amp;feature=youtu.be\">F/A-18 Hornets</a> and <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpGAi5zHoh8&amp;\">Rockwell B-1 Lancer</a> aircraft conducting bombing raids above Syria and Iraq. These airstrike videos were not published previously elsewhere to our knowledge. While we have crowdsourcing projects running for those specific MoD videos as well, they are not included in this analysis.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14326\" style=\"width: 1140px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14326\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14326\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"618\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1130px) 100vw, 1130px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/number-of-airstrikes-per-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/number-of-airstrikes-per-1.jpg 1130w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/number-of-airstrikes-per-1-300x164.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/number-of-airstrikes-per-1-768x420.jpg 768w\" width=\"1130\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14326\">The number of airstrikes by the US and its allies, accurate as of April 24, 2017. Courtesy of Airwars.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14327\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14327\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14327\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"584\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/estimate-1-1200x584.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/estimate-1-1200x584.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/estimate-1-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/estimate-1-768x374.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/estimate-1.jpg 1409w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14327\">The estimated number of airstrikes in Iraq. The chart on the left shows the US and allied strikes in Iraq, while the right-hand chart gives a breakdown of allied-only strikes. All data is drawn by Airwars from official military reports of the Coalition (CJTF-OIR), France, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. Courtesy of Airwars.</p></div>\n<p>In recent weeks, official videos showing airstrikes against targets of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq have been removed from the public YouTube channel of the Coalition. In a written statement to Bellingcat, Coalition says it has removed the videos from YouTube and <a href=\"https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CJTF-OIR\">now posts higher-quality videos to DVIDS</a> for “greater transparency and increased availability”. However, an initial assessment appears to show that not all videos have been migrated. Coalition officials have also given a different account to Airwars in the past as to why the videos were removed, suggesting their presence on the official YouTube channel no longer matched strategic goals. Airwars is permanently archiving all known Coalition and CENTCOM videos issued since August 2014, to ensure their continied availability.</p>\n<p>Given the recent removal of these videos from YouTube, Bellingcat presents its analysis of all those geolocated YouTube videos. We will continue to monitor, analyse, and geolocate the videos published to DVIDS. You can join the effort via <a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/join\">Check</a>‘s Bellingcat page, where you can register an account.</p>\n<h1>Overview of Geolocations</h1>\n<p>So far, 67 percent of the airstrikes shown in the Coalition airstrike videos have been successfully geolocated. You can access all our data, which will be updated as soon as there are new geolocations, including from DVIDS HUB, <a href=\"http://geolocated-cjtf-oir-airstrikes.silk.co/explore\">on Silk</a>.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-14390\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"554\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/05/locations-1200x554.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/05/locations-1200x554.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/05/locations-300x139.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/05/locations-768x355.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/05/locations.png 1576w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>The term ‘airstrike’ is somewhat imprecise, but in this analysis we consider ‘one airstrike’ as one or more multiple airstrikes at one location. Geolocation is the determination of the exact locations that are being targeted by airstrikes in the videos. Most of the videos have been geolocated by Twitter users <a href=\"https://twitter.com/obretix\">@obretix</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/miminas999\">@miminas999</a>, as well as the author of this article.</p>\n<p>By far most of the strikes shown in videos uploaded to YouTube (as of April 28, 2017) were geolocated to Iraq.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14328\" style=\"width: 1163px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14328\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14328\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"780\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1153px) 100vw, 1153px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/geolocated-airstrkes-per-country.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/geolocated-airstrkes-per-country.jpg 1153w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/geolocated-airstrkes-per-country-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/geolocated-airstrkes-per-country-768x520.jpg 768w\" width=\"1153\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14328\">By far most of the strikes shown in videos uploaded to YouTube (as of April 28, 2017) were geolocated to Iraq.</p></div>\n<p>Broken down by provinces, the highest number of airstrikes were geolocated to the Iraqi governorates of Nineveh and Anbar, followed by the Syrian governorate of Aleppo, as of April 28, 2017.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14329\" style=\"width: 1163px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14329\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14329\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"780\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1153px) 100vw, 1153px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/closest-location-governorate.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/closest-location-governorate.jpg 1153w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/closest-location-governorate-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/closest-location-governorate-768x520.jpg 768w\" width=\"1153\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14329\">Most airstrike shown in videos were geolocated to the Iraqi governorates of Nineveh and Anbar, followed by the Syrian governorate of Aleppo, as of April 28, 2017.</p></div>\n<h1>Exploring the Coalition’s Location Accuracy</h1>\n<p>Generally, the Coalition gives an indication of a geographical location by labelling the videos “near [location X]”. There are only a handful of videos that do not contain the word “near” but simply mention a location. This analysis considers “near” as being within a 10 km range of the claimed location and is labelled as “accurate” when it falls within that range. Of all geolocated videos, 68 percent was labelled as accurate. The video outside of the 10 km range went up to around 93 km of the claimed location, and for one video no location approximation was given.</p>\n<p>Many of the videos with a significant distance from the claimed location are oil-related facilities that are indeed ‘near’ Deir ez-Zor or Al-Bukamal, such as an oil separation facility at the Al-Ahmar oil field. With the locations being in the desert with no other locations near, these location claims can still be considerate as relatively accurate.</p>\n<p>However, there are other incidents that appear to be less concisely located. Perhaps the most interesting incident of all the geolocated videos was a strike on an IS “concealed tactical vehicle” that was claimed to have been conducted on March 23, 2015, which was labelled as “near Al Hawl”, a town in north-eastern Syria. However, the targeted building has been successfully geolocated to a building in Jayar Ghalfas, a town in northwest Iraq.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14330\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14330\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14330\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"426\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-3-1-1200x426.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-3-1-1200x426.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-3-1-300x106.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-3-1-768x272.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-3-1.jpg 1421w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14330\">A screenshot from a Coalition video claiming to show an airstrike on an IS ‘concealed tactical vehicle’ near Al-Hawl, a town in eastern Syria. The building was geolocated to Jayar Ghalfas, a town in northwest Iraq, as the Microsoft Bing satellite imagery (36.137411, 41.297414) on the right shows. The location is around 30 km southwest of Al-Hawl.</p></div>\n<p>Though this video was labelled as being in a different country than where it actually took place, it is still relatively near Al-Hawl — around 30 km away.</p>\n<p>When Col. Steve Warren, at the time the Coalition’s spokesperson, <a href=\"http://archive.is/mwqPm\">gave an “Ask Me Anything”</a> on the social media and news aggregation website Reddit, the author asked him about this particular incident. Col. Warren replied that this was “an administrative error that it’s listed as Syria rather than Iraq”, explaining that Al-Hawl in Syria “was the nearest identifiable city to the strike.”</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14331\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14331\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14331\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"141\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-4-1-1200x141.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-4-1-1200x141.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-4-1-300x35.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-4-1-768x91.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-4-1.jpg 1425w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14331\">The reply by Col. Warren, the Coalition’s spokesperson on the question why it was labelled near to a town in Syria but showed a location in Iraq.</p></div>\n<p>More recently, the US erred in its labelling once more, when <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/03/16/us-missile-remains-reportedly-recovered-from-site-of-aleppo-mosque-bombing/\">a controversial strike on a group of individuals gathered in a mosque in Al-Jinah</a>, Syria, was initially labelled as being in the Idlib governorate. While close, the building was actually in the nearby Aleppo governorate.</p>\n<p>This strike was not an official Coalition attack – and was instead the US unilaterally targeting alleged al-Qaida fighters. The US carries out nearly all of the alliance’s anti-IS bombings in Syria, and military assets can be used for both campaigns.</p>\n<p>When asked for clarification about this incident, a CENTCOM spokesperson told Bellingcat that they “don’t mean to cause any confusion. Different internal reports may have listed this differently.”</p>\n<p>Either way, the Coalition thus seems to use a limited number of labels for their targeted location areas. The “Al Hawl, Syria” label was probably closer than their nearest other Iraqi location label, “Sinjar”, around 50 km northeast of Jayar Ghalfas.</p>\n<h1>The Coalition’s ‘Region Labels’</h1>\n<p>Which region does the Coalition use to label one airstrike as “near Mosul” but the other one as “near Al Hawl”? To get a better insight in which regions are used by the Coalition, the geolocator @obretix mapped all geolocated airstrike videos and then used a Voronoi diagram which is a partitioning of a plane into regions based on distance to points in a specific subset of the plane. In this case, the points are thus all “near” locations mentioned by the Coalition. The geolocations are then corresponding to a region that is closer than any other point.</p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"520px\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" msallowfullscreen=\"\" oallowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https://sami-r.carto.com/viz/dc7a04e6-f284-11e5-8e3d-0ea31932ec1d/embed_map\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"100%\"></iframe></p>\n<p>As the following image shows, Al-Hawl is indeed the closest location to the target struck by the Coalition (circled in red) in the number of areas the Coalition has used.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14332\" style=\"width: 881px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14332\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"682\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 871px) 100vw, 871px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-5-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-5-1.jpg 871w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-5-1-300x235.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-5-1-768x601.jpg 768w\" width=\"871\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14332\">An excerpt from a Voronoi diagram of an impression of the regions used by the Coalition, based on the geolocated videos. The geolocated airstrike of March 23, 2016 that was labelled near ‘Al Hawl’ is circled in red. Map by ‘obretix’.</p></div>\n<p>There are more interesting insights the maps reveals. While the Coalition does use a label for “near Kubaysah”, a city in Iraq, some strikes within the city’s perimeters were labelled as “near Hit” — a city nearby but still less accurate than using a label there was for that city.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14333\" style=\"width: 857px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14333\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"324\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-6-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-6-1.jpg 847w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-6-1-300x115.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/checkcoalition-figure-6-1-768x294.jpg 768w\" width=\"847\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14333\">A detailed view on the Kubaysah/Hit region on the Voronoi diagram map, showing that two videos labelled as “near Hit” were in fact closer to Kubaysah, which also has its own ‘location label’.</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another example of remarkable region labels is the use of hamlets, such as “near Washiya” and “near Sultan Abdullah” – places with only a few houses, but close to respectively Aleppo and Mosul. It is worth mentioning that  “near Aleppo” is not used in any of the YouTube videos, while “near Washiya” has been twice for a target only a double dozen kilometres away from Aleppo city. Why would these small hamlets be used as a region label, while the case of Jayar Ghalfas could not get its own region label? Is this intentional? This is a question that remains unanswered.</span></p>\n<p>What is clear is that it the publicly provided locations by the Coalition for its airstrikes in Iraq and Syria may be off as much as 90+ kilometres, making it more difficult for outside monitors to verify and report on the civilian death toll of the air war.</p>\n<p>In its Transparency Audit of the Coalition, published in December 2016, Airwars noted problems with the public reporting process. Difficult to navigate internal logs “in turn led to quite vague military reporting”. Locations, then, could only be taken as approximate. One CENTCOM senior official explained the situation in some detail:</p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When the aircrew come back [from a strike mission], as you drill into a geographic location, some of those areas have towns that consist of three or four people. So typically what’s going to be in the strike log is going to be the largest city nearby. And they’ll annotate, ‘Conducted a strike near Mosul.’ In fact it’s going to be some small town that’s 23 clicks [kilometres] outside of Mosul. If they put that on the strike log, once it goes through the ‘Enterprise’ [slang for the Combined Air Operations Centre] no one knows where that is. Officials were keen to stress that if an incident was being investigated, “we do have the ability to go back and drill down into the detail.”</span></p></blockquote>\n<p>Overall, all location claims were all within a 100 km distance of the claimed location, and all of these claims were relatively accurate as to the location it referred to — unlike the Russian airstrike videos, which were <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/articles/2015/10/05/crowdsourced-geolocation-and-analysis-of-russian-mod-airstrike-videos-from-syria/\">in some cases massively inaccurate</a>.</p>\n<h1>Claimed Targets: ‘Vehicles’, ‘Factories’ and ‘Fighting Positions’</h1>\n<p>With regards to the targets, the most used targets mentioned can be categorised as “fighting positions”, followed by vehicles and facilities for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or suicide vehicle borne IEDs (SVBIEDs).</p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; min-height: 300px;\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14334\" style=\"width: 1204px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14334\" class=\"wp-image-14334 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/example-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/example-1.jpg 1194w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/example-1-300x113.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/example-1-768x289.jpg 768w\" width=\"1194\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14334\">On the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘homemade explosives cache near Bayji, Iraq’ allegedly on October 14, 2015. The location shown in the video, which was uploaded two days later, is around 10 km away from Bayji at <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=35.052918&amp;lon=43.552203&amp;z=19&amp;m=bs\">35.052918, 43.552203</a>.</p></div>\n<p>Most of the targets are classified as ‘fighting positions’ by the Coalition. These are usually buildings that are, reportedly, used by IS militants as positions in battle. An example can be seen in the following airstrikes on buildings in Manbij, reportedly on July 21 and 24, 2016, and geolocated by @obretix to <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.522428&amp;lon=37.962093&amp;z=18&amp;m=b\">36.522428, 37.962093</a> and <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.517496&amp;lon=37.955025&amp;z=18&amp;m=b\">36.517496, 37.955025</a>, respectively. The strikes were in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the Manbij offensive, codenamed Operation Marty and Commander Faysal Abu Layla by the group. The offensive lasted almost three months and resulted in a major SDF victory on August 27, 2016.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14336\" style=\"width: 1071px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14336\" class=\"wp-image-14336 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"431\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1061px) 100vw, 1061px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/manbij-exmaple.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/manbij-exmaple.jpg 1061w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/manbij-exmaple-300x122.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/manbij-exmaple-768x312.jpg 768w\" width=\"1061\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14336\">On the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘fighting position near Manbij, Syria’ allegedly on July 21, 2016. The location shown in the video was indeed geolocated to Manbij at <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.517496&amp;lon=37.955025&amp;z=18&amp;m=b\">36.517496, 37.955025</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14337\" style=\"width: 1204px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14337\" class=\"wp-image-14337 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"505\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/fighting-position-example-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/fighting-position-example-2.jpg 1194w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/fighting-position-example-2-300x127.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/fighting-position-example-2-768x325.jpg 768w\" width=\"1194\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14337\">On the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘fighting position near Hasakah, Syria’ allegedly on May 18, 2015. The location shown in the video was geolocated to Abu Tinah, around 30 km from Hasakah, at <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=36.602799&amp;lon=40.393918&amp;z=16&amp;m=bs\">36.602831, 40.3928205</a>.</p></div>\n<p>Vehicles are the second-most common target mentioned in the Coalition airstrike videos. One of such vehicles is an IS “technical” in Hīt reportedly on May 30, 2016, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=33.626055&amp;lon=42.856722&amp;z=13&amp;m=bs\">geolocated to the outskirts of the town</a>. The date is worth mentioning, as the 2016 Hīt offensive (Operation Desert Lynx) launched by the Iraqi Government claimed the town and its surrounding were already recaptured back in April 2016.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_14338\" style=\"width: 1033px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14338\" class=\"wp-image-14338 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"428\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/vehicle-example.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/vehicle-example.jpg 1023w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/vehicle-example-300x126.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/vehicle-example-768x321.jpg 768w\" width=\"1023\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-14338\">On the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘”technical” vehicle near the town of Hit, Iraq’ allegedly on May 30, 2016. The location shown in the video is indeed near Hit, at <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=33.627078&amp;lon=42.856765&amp;z=17&amp;m=bs\">33.627078, 42.856765</a>.</p></div>\n<p>Targets related to IEDs and VBIEDs combined also account for a higher number airstrike videos, and such alleged targets in Mosul have been discussed before in the Bellingcat article <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“</span><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/11/01/battle-mosul-view-space-operation/\">The Battle for Mosul: A View from Space before the Operation</a>”.</p>\n<p>It is worth mentioning that all of these targets in the Coalition’s videos are “clean” targets like vehicles, factories and fighting positions. It almost looks like video game, just like <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/01/09/mapping-mosuls-vbied-attacks/\">IS’s propaganda videos of suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices</a> (SVBIEDs). The Coalition’s videos appear only to showcase <a href=\"https://warontherocks.com/2016/11/political-airpower-part-ii-the-seductive-allure-of-precision-weapons/\">the precision and efficiency</a> of Coalition bombs and missiles, and rarely show people, let alone victims.</p>\n<h1>Civilian Casualties</h1>\n<p>It is important to mention that civilian casualties take place in many of these videos – even the US has admitted to unintentionally killing civilians. Some videos, such as the airstrikes on the University of Mosul in March 2016, may in fact show the airstrikes that caused significant civilian casualties.</p>\n<p>Perhaps the most striking example of a video showing potentially significant civilian casualties came from an airstrike on September 20-21, 2015, targeting an IS “VBIED network” according to the Coalition. The video was deleted after questioning, but <a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/*/https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Av4Q0EgpKY\">archived</a> and re-uploaded by others, including investigative journalist Azmat Khan.</p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kced_hO9w_4?feature=oembed\" title=\"Civilian Casualty Airstrike Video Removed By The U.S.-Led Coalition\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>But was this really a “VBIED network”? Under the original upload, a commenter starting posting that the houses shown were his family’s residence in Mosul.</p>\n<blockquote><p>“I will NEVER forget my innocent and dear cousins who died in this pointless airstrike. Do you really know who these people were? They were innocent and happy family members of mine.”</p></blockquote>\n<p>Days after the strike, Dr Zareena Grewal, a relative living in the US <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/opinion/when-war-comes-close-to-home.html\">wrote in the New York Times</a> that four family members had died in the strike. On April 2, 2017 – 588 days later – the Coalition <a href=\"https://airwars.org/news/coalition-family-home/\">finally admitted</a> that it indeed bombed a family home which they confused for an IS headquarters and VBIED facility.</p>\n<blockquote><p>“The case was brought to our attention by the media and we discovered the oversight, relooked [at] the case based on the information provided by the journalist and family, which confirmed the 2015 assessment,” Colonel Joe Scrocca, Director of Public Affairs for the Coalition told <em>Airwars</em>.</p></blockquote>\n<p>Even though the published strike video actually depicted the killing of a family, it remained – wrongly captioned – on the official Coalition YouTube channel for more than a year.</p>\n<p>Airwars lowest estimate of civilian casualties killed by the Coalition is 3,111, as of April 25, 2017. To read more about linking Coalition airstrike videos with IS’ videos, please see the article “<a href=\"https://www.hate-speech.org/the-bombers-and-the-bombed/\">The Bombers and the Bombed: </a>” published by <em>Hate Speech International</em>. The approximate locations of these civilian casualties are <a href=\"https://airwars.org/civcas-map\">mapped</a> by the author for Airwars.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14339\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"750\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 813px) 100vw, 813px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/Untitled-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/Untitled-1.jpg 813w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/Untitled-1-300x277.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/04/Untitled-1-768x708.jpg 768w\" width=\"813\"/></div></p>\n<hr/>\n<p><em>The author can be contacted at </em><a href=\"/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c4a7acb6adb7b0ada5a5aab0b6ada1a6a1b6b084a6a1a8a8adaaa3a7a5b0eaa7aba9\"><em><span class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"3b58534952484f525a5a554f49525e595e494f7b595e575752555c585a4f15585456\">[email protected]</span></em></a><em>. Parts of this article were based on the author’s dissertation “A Tale of Two Air Wars” which was submitted in 2016 to complete the Conflict, Security &amp; Development Master of Arts programme at King’s College London. The author would like to thank @obretix, Aric Toler, Samuel Oakford, and Chris J. Woods for their feedback.</em></p>\n</div>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nA version of this article was also published on\nAirwars\n.\nThe international Coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) has published dozens of videos purportedly showing airstrikes against targets of the group in Syria and Iraq through the video-sharing social medium YouTube.\nBellingcat\nhas crowdsourced the geolocation of these videos, and this article serves as an analysis of those geolocated airstrike videos.\nContent\nIntroduction\nBackground Information on ‘The Coalition’\nGeolocation and ‘Strike Regions’\nClaimed Targets: ‘Vehicles’, ‘Factories’ and ‘Fighting Positions’\nMapping the Coalition’s Region Labels\nHighlighted Incidents\nIntroduction\nIn reaction to the rapid territorial gains made by the so-called Islamic State (IS) in the first half of 2014, accompanied by the reported human rights abuses and the fear of further conflict spill-overs, the United States (US) started to intervene militarily against the group in Syria and Iraq. In October of that same year, the US started coordinating the military efforts of a dozen of allied countries under the banner of the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF; often referred to as ‘the Coalition’) engaging in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). Today, May 5, 2017, marks the 1,001 day of the campaign.\nWhile earlier videos were posted by the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the first video depicting an airstrike was uploaded to the\nCoalition’s official YouTube channel\non April 11, 2015. Over 200 airstrike videos followed in the nearly two years since, which Bellingcat has aimed to geolocated by using the collaborative crowdsourcing platform\nCheck\ndeveloped by\nMeedan\n, a company that builds digital tools for global journalism and translation.\nA typical airstrike video uploaded by the Coalition to their YouTube channel. This airstrike video, allegedly on\n“\nthree ISIL buildings near Ramadi, Iraq\n”\nis one of the very few videos that is still accessible via the YouTube channel.\nThe Coalition is composed of several countries, but by far the majority (around 68% as of April 24, 2017) of OIR’s airstrikes have been conducted by the US Air Force, as the following tables by monitoring organisation\nAirwars\nshow. The tables are estimates of US and allied strikes in both Iraq and Syria.\nIt is important to note that Coalition airstrike videos are also disseminated through other channels, such as the Ministries of Defence of Coalition members, including the Brits, the French, the Jordanians, and the Iraqis. Besides, videos have been uploaded by YouTube users seemingly affiliated with US Air Force’s\nF/A-18 Hornets\nand\nRockwell B-1 Lancer\naircraft conducting bombing raids above Syria and Iraq. These airstrike videos were not published previously elsewhere to our knowledge. While we have crowdsourcing projects running for those specific MoD videos as well, they are not included in this analysis.\nThe number of airstrikes by the US and its allies, accurate as of April 24, 2017. Courtesy of Airwars.\nThe estimated number of airstrikes in Iraq. The chart on the left shows the US and allied strikes in Iraq, while the right-hand chart gives a breakdown of allied-only strikes. All data is drawn by Airwars from official military reports of the Coalition (CJTF-OIR), France, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. Courtesy of Airwars.\nIn recent weeks, official videos showing airstrikes against targets of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq have been removed from the public YouTube channel of the Coalition. In a written statement to Bellingcat, Coalition says it has removed the videos from YouTube and\nnow posts higher-quality videos to DVIDS\nfor “greater transparency and increased availability”. However, an initial assessment appears to show that not all videos have been migrated. Coalition officials have also given a different account to Airwars in the past as to why the videos were removed, suggesting their presence on the official YouTube channel no longer matched strategic goals. Airwars is permanently archiving all known Coalition and CENTCOM videos issued since August 2014, to ensure their continied availability.\nGiven the recent removal of these videos from YouTube, Bellingcat presents its analysis of all those geolocated YouTube videos. We will continue to monitor, analyse, and geolocate the videos published to DVIDS. You can join the effort via\nCheck\n‘s Bellingcat page, where you can register an account.\nOverview of Geolocations\nSo far, 67 percent of the airstrikes shown in the Coalition airstrike videos have been successfully geolocated. You can access all our data, which will be updated as soon as there are new geolocations, including from DVIDS HUB,\non Silk\n.\nThe term ‘airstrike’ is somewhat imprecise, but in this analysis we consider ‘one airstrike’ as one or more multiple airstrikes at one location. Geolocation is the determination of the exact locations that are being targeted by airstrikes in the videos. Most of the videos have been geolocated by Twitter users\n@obretix\nand\n@miminas999\n, as well as the author of this article.\nBy far most of the strikes shown in videos uploaded to YouTube (as of April 28, 2017) were geolocated to Iraq.\nBy far most of the strikes shown in videos uploaded to YouTube (as of April 28, 2017) were geolocated to Iraq.\nBroken down by provinces, the highest number of airstrikes were geolocated to the Iraqi governorates of Nineveh and Anbar, followed by the Syrian governorate of Aleppo, as of April 28, 2017.\nMost airstrike shown in videos were geolocated to the Iraqi governorates of Nineveh and Anbar, followed by the Syrian governorate of Aleppo, as of April 28, 2017.\nExploring the Coalition’s Location Accuracy\nGenerally, the Coalition gives an indication of a geographical location by labelling the videos “near [location X]”. There are only a handful of videos that do not contain the word “near” but simply mention a location. This analysis considers “near” as being within a 10 km range of the claimed location and is labelled as “accurate” when it falls within that range. Of all geolocated videos, 68 percent was labelled as accurate. The video outside of the 10 km range went up to around 93 km of the claimed location, and for one video no location approximation was given.\nMany of the videos with a significant distance from the claimed location are oil-related facilities that are indeed ‘near’ Deir ez-Zor or Al-Bukamal, such as an oil separation facility at the Al-Ahmar oil field. With the locations being in the desert with no other locations near, these location claims can still be considerate as relatively accurate.\nHowever, there are other incidents that appear to be less concisely located. Perhaps the most interesting incident of all the geolocated videos was a strike on an IS “concealed tactical vehicle” that was claimed to have been conducted on March 23, 2015, which was labelled as “near Al Hawl”, a town in north-eastern Syria. However, the targeted building has been successfully geolocated to a building in Jayar Ghalfas, a town in northwest Iraq.\nA screenshot from a Coalition video claiming to show an airstrike on an IS ‘concealed tactical vehicle’ near Al-Hawl, a town in eastern Syria. The building was geolocated to Jayar Ghalfas, a town in northwest Iraq, as the Microsoft Bing satellite imagery (36.137411, 41.297414) on the right shows. The location is around 30 km southwest of Al-Hawl.\nThough this video was labelled as being in a different country than where it actually took place, it is still relatively near Al-Hawl — around 30 km away.\nWhen Col. Steve Warren, at the time the Coalition’s spokesperson,\ngave an “Ask Me Anything”\non the social media and news aggregation website Reddit, the author asked him about this particular incident. Col. Warren replied that this was “an administrative error that it’s listed as Syria rather than Iraq”, explaining that Al-Hawl in Syria “was the nearest identifiable city to the strike.”\nThe reply by Col. Warren, the Coalition’s spokesperson on the question why it was labelled near to a town in Syria but showed a location in Iraq.\nMore recently, the US erred in its labelling once more, when\na controversial strike on a group of individuals gathered in a mosque in Al-Jinah\n, Syria, was initially labelled as being in the Idlib governorate. While close, the building was actually in the nearby Aleppo governorate.\nThis strike was not an official Coalition attack – and was instead the US unilaterally targeting alleged al-Qaida fighters. The US carries out nearly all of the alliance’s anti-IS bombings in Syria, and military assets can be used for both campaigns.\nWhen asked for clarification about this incident, a CENTCOM spokesperson told Bellingcat that they “don’t mean to cause any confusion. Different internal reports may have listed this differently.”\nEither way, the Coalition thus seems to use a limited number of labels for their targeted location areas. The “Al Hawl, Syria” label was probably closer than their nearest other Iraqi location label, “Sinjar”, around 50 km northeast of Jayar Ghalfas.\nThe Coalition’s ‘Region Labels’\nWhich region does the Coalition use to label one airstrike as “near Mosul” but the other one as “near Al Hawl”? To get a better insight in which regions are used by the Coalition, the geolocator @obretix mapped all geolocated airstrike videos and then used a Voronoi diagram which is a partitioning of a plane into regions based on distance to points in a specific subset of the plane. In this case, the points are thus all “near” locations mentioned by the Coalition. The geolocations are then corresponding to a region that is closer than any other point.\nAs the following image shows, Al-Hawl is indeed the closest location to the target struck by the Coalition (circled in red) in the number of areas the Coalition has used.\nAn excerpt from a Voronoi diagram of an impression of the regions used by the Coalition, based on the geolocated videos. The geolocated airstrike of March 23, 2016 that was labelled near ‘Al Hawl’ is circled in red. Map by ‘obretix’.\nThere are more interesting insights the maps reveals. While the Coalition does use a label for “near Kubaysah”, a city in Iraq, some strikes within the city’s perimeters were labelled as “near Hit” — a city nearby but still less accurate than using a label there was for that city.\nA detailed view on the Kubaysah/Hit region on the Voronoi diagram map, showing that two videos labelled as “near Hit” were in fact closer to Kubaysah, which also has its own ‘location label’.\nAnother example of remarkable region labels is the use of hamlets, such as “near Washiya” and “near Sultan Abdullah” – places with only a few houses, but close to respectively Aleppo and Mosul. It is worth mentioning that “near Aleppo” is not used in any of the YouTube videos, while “near Washiya” has been twice for a target only a double dozen kilometres away from Aleppo city. Why would these small hamlets be used as a region label, while the case of Jayar Ghalfas could not get its own region label? Is this intentional? This is a question that remains unanswered.\nWhat is clear is that it the publicly provided locations by the Coalition for its airstrikes in Iraq and Syria may be off as much as 90+ kilometres, making it more difficult for outside monitors to verify and report on the civilian death toll of the air war.\nIn its Transparency Audit of the Coalition, published in December 2016, Airwars noted problems with the public reporting process. Difficult to navigate internal logs “in turn led to quite vague military reporting”. Locations, then, could only be taken as approximate. One CENTCOM senior official explained the situation in some detail:\n“When the aircrew come back [from a strike mission], as you drill into a geographic location, some of those areas have towns that consist of three or four people. So typically what’s going to be in the strike log is going to be the largest city nearby. And they’ll annotate, ‘Conducted a strike near Mosul.’ In fact it’s going to be some small town that’s 23 clicks [kilometres] outside of Mosul. If they put that on the strike log, once it goes through the ‘Enterprise’ [slang for the Combined Air Operations Centre] no one knows where that is. Officials were keen to stress that if an incident was being investigated, “we do have the ability to go back and drill down into the detail.”\nOverall, all location claims were all within a 100 km distance of the claimed location, and all of these claims were relatively accurate as to the location it referred to — unlike the Russian airstrike videos, which were\nin some cases massively inaccurate\n.\nClaimed Targets: ‘Vehicles’, ‘Factories’ and ‘Fighting Positions’\nWith regards to the targets, the most used targets mentioned can be categorised as “fighting positions”, followed by vehicles and facilities for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or suicide vehicle borne IEDs (SVBIEDs).\nOn the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘homemade explosives cache near Bayji, Iraq’ allegedly on October 14, 2015. The location shown in the video, which was uploaded two days later, is around 10 km away from Bayji at\n35.052918, 43.552203\n.\nMost of the targets are classified as ‘fighting positions’ by the Coalition. These are usually buildings that are, reportedly, used by IS militants as positions in battle. An example can be seen in the following airstrikes on buildings in Manbij, reportedly on July 21 and 24, 2016, and geolocated by @obretix to\n36.522428, 37.962093\nand\n36.517496, 37.955025\n, respectively. The strikes were in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the Manbij offensive, codenamed Operation Marty and Commander Faysal Abu Layla by the group. The offensive lasted almost three months and resulted in a major SDF victory on August 27, 2016.\nOn the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘fighting position near Manbij, Syria’ allegedly on July 21, 2016. The location shown in the video was indeed geolocated to Manbij at\n36.517496, 37.955025\n.\nOn the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘fighting position near Hasakah, Syria’ allegedly on May 18, 2015. The location shown in the video was geolocated to Abu Tinah, around 30 km from Hasakah, at\n36.602831, 40.3928205\n.\nVehicles are the second-most common target mentioned in the Coalition airstrike videos. One of such vehicles is an IS “technical” in Hīt reportedly on May 30, 2016,\ngeolocated to the outskirts of the town\n. The date is worth mentioning, as the 2016 Hīt offensive (Operation Desert Lynx) launched by the Iraqi Government claimed the town and its surrounding were already recaptured back in April 2016.\nOn the left, a still from a Coalition video showing an airstrike on a IS ‘”technical” vehicle near the town of Hit, Iraq’ allegedly on May 30, 2016. The location shown in the video is indeed near Hit, at\n33.627078, 42.856765\n.\nTargets related to IEDs and VBIEDs combined also account for a higher number airstrike videos, and such alleged targets in Mosul have been discussed before in the Bellingcat article\n“\nThe Battle for Mosul: A View from Space before the Operation\n”.\nIt is worth mentioning that all of these targets in the Coalition’s videos are “clean” targets like vehicles, factories and fighting positions. It almost looks like video game, just like\nIS’s propaganda videos of suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices\n(SVBIEDs). The Coalition’s videos appear only to showcase\nthe precision and efficiency\nof Coalition bombs and missiles, and rarely show people, let alone victims.\nCivilian Casualties\nIt is important to mention that civilian casualties take place in many of these videos – even the US has admitted to unintentionally killing civilians. Some videos, such as the airstrikes on the University of Mosul in March 2016, may in fact show the airstrikes that caused significant civilian casualties.\nPerhaps the most striking example of a video showing potentially significant civilian casualties came from an airstrike on September 20-21, 2015, targeting an IS “VBIED network” according to the Coalition. The video was deleted after questioning, but\narchived\nand re-uploaded by others, including investigative journalist Azmat Khan.\nBut was this really a “VBIED network”? Under the original upload, a commenter starting posting that the houses shown were his family’s residence in Mosul.\n“I will NEVER forget my innocent and dear cousins who died in this pointless airstrike. Do you really know who these people were? They were innocent and happy family members of mine.”\nDays after the strike, Dr Zareena Grewal, a relative living in the US\nwrote in the New York Times\nthat four family members had died in the strike. On April 2, 2017 – 588 days later – the Coalition\nfinally admitted\nthat it indeed bombed a family home which they confused for an IS headquarters and VBIED facility.\n“The case was brought to our attention by the media and we discovered the oversight, relooked [at] the case based on the information provided by the journalist and family, which confirmed the 2015 assessment,” Colonel Joe Scrocca, Director of Public Affairs for the Coalition told\nAirwars\n.\nEven though the published strike video actually depicted the killing of a family, it remained – wrongly captioned – on the official Coalition YouTube channel for more than a year.\nAirwars lowest estimate of civilian casualties killed by the Coalition is 3,111, as of April 25, 2017. To read more about linking Coalition airstrike videos with IS’ videos, please see the article “\nThe Bombers and the Bombed:\n” published by\nHate Speech International\n. The approximate locations of these civilian casualties are\nmapped\nby the author for Airwars.\nThe author can be contacted at\n[email protected]\n. Parts of this article were based on the author’s dissertation “A Tale of Two Air Wars” which was submitted in 2016 to complete the Conflict, Security & Development Master of Arts programme at King’s College London. The author would like to thank @obretix, Aric Toler, Samuel Oakford, and Chris J. Woods for their feedback.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2017-09-04_geolocating-libyas-social-media-executioner.json

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-libyas-social-media-executioner",
+  "title": "Geolocating Libya's Social Media Executioner",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2017/09/04/geolocating-libyas-social-media-executioner/",
+  "date": "2017-09-04T13:40:30+00:00",
+  "modified": "2017-10-03T15:06:36+00:00",
+  "author": "Christiaan Triebert",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)Warning: this article contains graphic material. Update: Incident One, Four and Five have been geolocated. In Short: The International Criminal Court issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence; This warrant is a significant development and aligns the Court with the realities of today’s conflict zones; All seven videos […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2017/09/04/geolocating-libyas-social-media-executioner/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/mena/2017/10/17/geolocating-libyan-executioner/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><em>Warning: this article contains graphic material. Update: Incident One, Four and Five have been geolocated.</em></p>\n<h2><strong>In Short:</strong></h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The International Criminal Court issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence;</li>\n<li>This warrant is a significant development and aligns the Court with the realities of today’s conflict zones;</li>\n<li>All seven videos on which Libyan commander Werfalli is charged with murder as a war crime can be found online;</li>\n<li>With the help of the verification platform <a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859\">Check</a>, Bellingcat is crowdsourcing the geolocation of the locations shown in these videos. Three out of seven videos have been geolocated so far.</li>\n<li>Open source information is a potential goldmine of evidence, though there are potential challenges with using this information in a legal setting, which will be discussed in relation to the Werfalli case.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2><strong>Introduction</strong></h2>\n<p>On August 15, 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on evidence collected on social media.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2017_05031.PDF\">arrest warrant</a> accuses Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, an alleged commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade in Libya, of mass executions in or near Benghazi.</p>\n<p>The use of social media evidence is a significant development, as it aligns the ICC with the realities of many of today’s conflict zones. It also allows anyone with an Internet connection to access the evidence themselves, as it is all open source information – the kind of information we always base our investigations on at Bellingcat. For that reason, this article examines the social media evidence used in the case in further depth.</p>\n<p>Firstly, a contextual background will be given to Werfalli and where the alleged incidents took place related to so-called “Operation Dignity” in and around the Libyan city of Benghazi.</p>\n<p>Secondly, the seven incidents based on seven separate videos will be examined in further detail. We have tried to extract as much information as possible out of the videos, and asking our readers to help geolocate the execution site. (Update: So far, already two videos have been geolocated.)</p>\n<p>Thirdly, the social media evidence of this specific arrest warrant will be discussed in the light of the promise and peril of open source evidence. There is no doubt that open source information is a huge potential source for legal evidence, but what are the methodological challenges in assessing and eventually using these materials?</p>\n<h2><strong>Contextual Background: Operation Dignity</strong></h2>\n<p>Since a bloody uprising started against the government of then-President Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been in a state of unabated violence and conflict. After the relatively quick fall of Qaddafi, the country has been divided into rival political and armed groups. Opposing government and parliaments roughly divide Libya in an eastern and western side.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15813\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"http://libya.liveuamap.com/\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15813\" class=\"wp-image-15813 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/territorial-contorl-1200x826.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/territorial-contorl-1200x826.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/territorial-contorl-300x207.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/territorial-contorl-768x529.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/territorial-contorl.jpg 1304w\" title=\"LiveUAmap\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15813\">Libya is roughly divided into an eastern and western section, as this LiveUAmap of approximate territorial control as of August 31, 2017, shows. The LNA-controlled areas are in red, the Libyan Dawn-controlled areas in blue, and the pink area represents the territory held by Tuareg militias. The black strip at Benghazi are jihadist groups. This is an oversimplified map of territorial control, as it does not show Amazigh (Tuareg) or Toubou controlled areas.</p></div>\n<p>The Government of National Accord (GNA) is seated in the western part of Libya. As a rival of the eastern-based House of Representatives, the GNA has the armed support of several groups, most notably the Libya Dawn group – a coalition of pro-Islamist militias which attacked Tripoli International Airport in the summer of 2014 and has controlled many of Libya’s coastal cities since. The GNA are the internationally recognised authorities of Libya, and has received <a href=\"https://archive.is/AZjZd\">outspoken support</a> from a number of Western countries, including the United States (US), the United Kingdom, and France.</p>\n<p>The eastern part of Libya, and a small area west of Tripoli, are controlled by a coalition of armed groups named the Libyan National Army (LNA). This force of former army units, ex-revolutionary groups and tribal coalitions is under the command of General Khalifa Haftar, a dual citizen of Libya and the US. The eastern-based parliament is known as the House of Representatives.</p>\n<p>Parts of Benghazi, Libya’s second-most populous city on the eastern Mediterranean coast, have been under control of a coalition of Islamist groups since the 2011 revolution. This coalition of Islamist groups became known as the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council (BRSC), which includes groups like Ansar Al-Sharia, the February 17 Revolutionary Martyrs’ Brigade, the Rafallah Al-Sahati militia, and the eastern Libya Shield Brigade.</p>\n<p>In May 2014, General Haftar launched “Operation Dignity” against the BRSC in and around Benghazi. The operation continued until at least March 18, 2017. One of the groups taking part in the anti-BRSC offensive were the Libyan Special Forces, colloquially known as the Al-Saiqa Brigade.</p>\n<p>The Saiqa Brigade was originally part of Qaddafi’s army, but defected in an early stage of the 2011 uprising. Being active especially in western Benghazi in recent years, the group reportedly consists of around 5,000 soldiers. Werfalli, the subject of the ICC arrest warrant, is said to be a Saiqa Brigade commander since at least 2015.</p>\n<p>During the periodic fighting in and around Benghazi, Werfalli is said to have been directly responsible for the execution of 33 persons who were either civilians or persons <em>hors de combat</em>. “There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise”, the arrest warrant states. There was thus an alleged <a href=\"https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-al-werfalli-icc-arrest-warrant-denial-of-fair-trial-as-an-additional-allegation-and-a-hint-at-a-possible-defence/\">denial of fair trial</a> for the killed individuals – making them unlawful.</p>\n<p>Werfalli announced his resignation on May 15 in a video published on <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOGPYBjDIiE\">YouTube</a>, though the reason why is unclear. There has been chatter that it may have to do with an attack on a police station in Benghazi by the Saiqa Brigade that left one officer dead.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15815\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15815\" class=\"wp-image-15815 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Werfalli-resignation-1200x675.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Werfalli-resignation-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Werfalli-resignation-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Werfalli-resignation-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Werfalli-resignation.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15815\">On May 15, 2017, Werfalli announced his resignation. The reason as to why the Saiqa Brigae commander resigned unclear.</p></div>\n<p>Following the ICC arrest warrant, the LNA <a href=\"https://archive.is/9o9l6\">arrested</a> Werfalli, stating he was under investigation by a military prosecutor. The LNA said that it is ready “to cooperate with [the ICC] in informing you of the result and course of the judicial case”. The LNA statement did not mention whether it would hand over Werfalli to the ICC.</p>\n<p>However, a spokesperson for the Saiqa Brigades dismissed the ICC arrest warrant, saying that the ICC should rather arrest the opponents of the armed group, <a href=\"http://archive.is/lqFuh\">Al Jazeera</a> reported.</p>\n<h2><strong>The Footage: Seven Incidents in Seven Videos</strong></h2>\n<p>Al-Werfalli is charged with murder as a war crime under Article 8(2)(c)(i) of the <a href=\"https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf\">Rome Statute</a>, the treaty that established the ICC, which is the “Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture”.</p>\n<p>The charge is based on seven incidents shown in seven separate social media videos. All of these videos have been found online. Each incident and video will be presented and discussed below, following the order of the arrest warrant.</p>\n<h3><strong>Incident One</strong></h3>\n<p><iframe allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/234666212?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" title=\"Werfalli Libya video 1\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5615\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Link to the video on Check</a></em> [geolocated].</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre>Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage to stand near a hooded, unidentified person, who is moving around an open dirt area with his arms in the air. Mr Al-Werfalli is heard saying “Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!”. After that, he shoots the hooded person with his left hand a number of times and the person falls on the ground. Mr Al-Werfalli approaches the body, shoots again the body on the ground for a number of times and states “You have been misled by he who did you harm. You have been misled by Satan”. The video depicting this incident was posted on Facebook on 3 June 2016.</pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The first video is still available online on <a href=\"https://archive.is/0N6rF\">Facebook</a>, with a duration of 2:16. It has been watched almost 200,000 times as of writing this article, and shared over 5,000 times. The logo and the name of the Saiqa Brigades (Arabic: القوات الخاصة الليبية) is visible throughout the video.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15816\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15816\" class=\"wp-image-15816 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-Still-1-1200x675.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-Still-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-Still-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-Still-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-Still-1.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15816\">A still of the video showing Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying what appears to be a Russian-made PK machine gun, moments before he shoots an unidentified person.</p></div>\n<p>The source is a Facebook profile under the name Mohamed Al-Ghali with Facebook identification number 100012315483959 and username hamoalgali01. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video. [<em>Update: Al-Ghali has reached out to Bellingcat to specify that he was <strong>not </strong>the original source of the video]</em></p>\n<p>The accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of a Syrian national who is a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS). In the comments section, the user uploaded a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=120621051691744&amp;set=p.120621051691744&amp;type=3&amp;theater\">photo</a> seemingly of the executed individual at the same scene.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-15817\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-3-1200x576.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-3-1200x576.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-3-300x144.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-3-768x369.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-3.jpg 1483w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>The upload time of the video to Facebook is June 4, 2016, at 1:12 am local time in Benghazi. This means there is an inconsistency with the arrest warrant’s claim that it was uploaded on June 3, though this may have to do with <a href=\"http://archive.is/BMea1\">the time Facebook displays</a> as your local time zone based on your computer time. If you figure out what time settings your computer is in, there are plenty of useful online tools to <a href=\"https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20160603T231200&amp;p1=1314&amp;p2=2178\">convert different time zones</a>.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15818\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"133\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-2.jpg 371w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-2-300x108.jpg 300w\" width=\"371\"/></div></p>\n<p>It is unclear when this video was recorded, though it must have been before June 4, 2017.</p>\n<p>The exact location of this execution site is at 32.014221, 20.113838 (<a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/32%C2%B000'51.2%22N+20%C2%B006'49.8%22E/@32.014221,20.1131698,239m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x0:0x0!2zMzLCsDAwJzUyLjAiTiAyMMKwMDYnNTAuMSJF!3b1!8m2!3d32.0144444!4d20.1139278!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d32.0142207!4d20.1138376?hl=en\">Google Maps</a>, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.014221&amp;lon=20.113837&amp;z=19&amp;m=b&amp;search=32.014221%2C%2020.113838\">Wikimapia</a>), an orchard in between the Benghazi suburbs of Al-Hawari and Al-Qawarishah.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_15820\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15820\" class=\"wp-image-15820 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"293\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-4-1200x293.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-4-1200x293.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-4-300x73.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-One-4-768x188.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15820\">A stitched panorama of still from the execution video gives a wider perspective of the area, which is useful for the geolocation process. Visual clues are the buildings on the left and right edge of the photos, the orchard, the two lines of trees next to what appears to be a narrow road, and an electricity pylon in the background.</p></div>\n<p>The video was geolocated by Bellingcat’s “Daniel”, who first made a map of what was visible in the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI826MwWsAErDJ7.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15876\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"334\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI826MwWsAErDJ7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI826MwWsAErDJ7.jpg 598w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI826MwWsAErDJ7-300x168.jpg 300w\" width=\"598\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Bellingcat’s Timmi Allen created the following image showing some of the elements of the video that match the satellite imagery of the area.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15879\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1133\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2304px) 100vw, 2304px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident1_15-03-2017_matching.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident1_15-03-2017_matching.jpg 2304w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident1_15-03-2017_matching-300x148.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident1_15-03-2017_matching-768x378.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident1_15-03-2017_matching-1200x590.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2304\"/></div></p>\n<h2>Incident Two</h2>\n<p><iframe allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"230\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/234667130?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" title=\"Werfalli Libya video 2\" width=\"400\"></iframe></p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5616\"><em>Link to the video on Check</em></a>.</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage shooting with his left hand three male figures in the head. The three persons are kneeling in front of a wall with their arms tied behind their backs. After the bodies of the three men fall, Mr Al-Werfalli shoots at the bodies a few more times. Two of the victims are alleged to have been revolutionaries in Benghazi. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 20 March 2017.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The second video is available via <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VGbUFSptJk&amp;list=PLOXhupM7Cvrfee0njeAqIjRxc0_1iCbBx\">YouTube</a> as a 18-second clip, uploaded by a user named “Hassan Mahmoud” (Arabic: حسن محمود). It has been watched over 10,000 times at the time of writing this article.</p>\n<p>Using Amnesty International’s YouTube Data Viewer, the exact upload time to YouTube can established at March 21, 2017, at 4:09 am local time in Benghazi. The date is inconsistent with the time mentioned by the ICC warrant, though this may have to do with the display date of YouTube and the actual uploading time (hence the importance of Amnesty’s tool).</p>\n<p>It is unclear when this video was recorded.</p>\n<p>The exact location of this street has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video.</p>\n<h2>Incident Three</h2>\n<p><iframe allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://player.vimeo.com/video/234667483?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" title=\"Werfalli Libya video 3\" width=\"224\"></iframe></p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5617\"><em>Link to the video on Check</em></a>.</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage in a room, with others being present as well. He is standing next to an unidentified man in a white t-shirt, who is kneeling bare feet, with his hands behind his head. Mr Al-Werfalli shoots the person with his left hand in the head and continues to do so after the man falls down. The men around Mr Al-Werfalli cheer in approval and another unidentified man from the group comes forward and shoots the victim two more times. The videos depicting this incident were posted on social media on 7 and 8 May 2017.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The third video is still available online on <a href=\"https://archive.is/UYnPo\">Facebook</a>, and its duration is 1:17. It has been watched over 32,000 times and shared 242 times at the time of writing.</p>\n<p>The source is a Facebook profile going by name Bin Mansour with Facebook identification number 100012980119097. It is unclear whether this profile is the original uploader of the video.</p>\n<p>The accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of “one of the Kharijites” by Werfalli.</p>\n<p>The upload time of the video to Facebook is May 7, 2017, at 5:12 pm local time in Benghazi, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the ICC warrant.</p>\n<p>It is unclear when the video was recorded.</p>\n<p>The exact location of this house has not been found yet, and may be close to impossible without insider knowledge. You can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check.</p>\n<h2>Incident Four</h2>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/fJ6vjeseVOE?feature=oembed\" title=\"Werfalli - Benghazi: executing both terrorists\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5618\">Link to the video on Check</a> </em>[geolocated].</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli is seen in a video footage in an outdoor setting together with two other men who carry weapons and whose heads are covered. The three men stand behind two other men, who are dressed in camouflage and are kneeling bare feet on the ground. The two men are claimed to be, the first, a member of the BRSC, and the second, possibly a member of Ansar al-Sharia. The two men can be seen earlier in the video footage being detained in a cage. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen walking away from the kneeling men, while the other two men with firearms walk towards them. Mr Al-Werfalli has his left hand in the air and sweeps it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering them to proceed with the execution. The two men shoot the kneeling persons who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on or about 22 May 2017.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The fourth video is also still available online on <a href=\"https://archive.is/VexnE\">Facebook</a>, with a duration of 2:47. It has been watched almost 37,000 times and shared 340 times as of writing this article. Only the last 9 seconds of the video show the execution, and the rest of the video shows interviews with the two individuals who are claimed to be members of the BRSC and Ansar Al-Sharia.</p>\n<p>The source is the same Facebook profile as the one that posted the video showing Incident One. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video.</p>\n<p>The accompanying text with the video claims to show “the execution of the death penalty” (Arabic: تنفيذ حكم الإعدام) in Benghazi of a BRSC member and an Ansar Al-Sharia member.</p>\n<p>The upload time of the video to Facebook is May 22, 2017, at 11:27 am local time in Benghazi. This date is consistent with the date mentioned by the ICC.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15821\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15821\" class=\"wp-image-15821 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Four-1200x640.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Four-1200x640.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Four-300x160.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Four-768x409.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Four.jpg 1351w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15821\">In the fourth video, Werfalli is seen in an outdoor setting with two other men wearing balaclavas. They stand behind two other men who are claimed to be a member of the BRSC and Ansar Al-Sharia. Werfalli orders the two man wearing balaclavas to proceed with the execution of the two other men.</p></div>\n<p>The execution site has been <a href=\"https://twitter.com/5urpher/status/904723459246260229\">geolocated</a> by Twitter-user @5urpher to a compound in Al-Hawari, a southern suburb of Benghazi. The coordinates are 32.046755, 20.116750 (<a href=\"https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/32%C2%B002'48.3%22N+20%C2%B007'00.3%22E/@32.046755,20.1145613,783m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.046755!4d20.11675?hl=en\">Google  Maps</a>, <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.046788&amp;lon=20.116825&amp;z=18&amp;m=b&amp;search=32.046755%2C%2020.116750\">Wikimapia</a>).</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15870\" style=\"width: 1187px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15870\" class=\"wp-image-15870 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"774\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1177px) 100vw, 1177px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI448YPW4AAVh7o.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI448YPW4AAVh7o.jpg 1177w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI448YPW4AAVh7o-300x197.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/DI448YPW4AAVh7o-768x505.jpg 768w\" width=\"1177\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15870\">A satellite image of Google Earth of the compound in southern Benghazi where the execution shown in the Incident Four video took place.</p></div>\n<p>It is unclear when this video was recorded, though once it is geolocated it may be able to determine an approximate time of the day based on the clearly visible shadows.</p>\n<h2>Incident Five</h2>\n<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&amp;v=kievfxloCcU</p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5619\"><em>Link to the video on Check</em></a> [geolocated].</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing a full camouflage uniform, is seen in a video footage in an outdoor setting together with five men wearing hoods and camouflage trousers and holding firearms. Those five hooded, armed men stand behind four other hooded men, who are kneeling barefoot on the ground with their hands behind their backs. They point their firearms at each kneeling person’s head. Mr Al-Werfalli raises his left hand in the air and sweeps it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering them to proceed with the execution. The five men shoot the four kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 9 June 2017.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The fifth video can be found online on <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/aalathry1/videos/vb.1797850107/10207306902669654/?type=2&amp;theater\">Facebook</a>, uploaded by someone using the username “aalathry1” with Facebook identification number 1797850107. The execution takes place in the last 47 seconds of the video.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Panorama-Video6.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-15872\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"396\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Panorama-Video6-1200x396.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Panorama-Video6-1200x396.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Panorama-Video6-300x100.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Panorama-Video6-768x253.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The video was uploaded on June 9, 2017 at 2:29 pm local time in Benghazi. This date is consistent with the ICC warrant.</p>\n<p>The exact date when this execution took place is unknown.</p>\n<p>The exact location of this execution site has been <a href=\"https://twitter.com/5urpher/status/904775497246269440\">geolocated</a> by Twitter-user @5urpher to a military compound between Benghazi and the airport. The coordinates are <a href=\"https://www.google.nl/maps/place/32%C2%B007'22.8%22N+20%C2%B009'52.2%22E/@32.1223923,20.1646169,441m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.122988!4d20.164492?hl=en\">32.122988, 20.164492</a>. The location was found by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/5urpher/status/904787434944294913\">using</a> the lines of electricity of OpenStreetMap in Benghazi.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15874\" style=\"width: 1049px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/electricity_poles_visible.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15874\" class=\"wp-image-15874 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"876\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1039px) 100vw, 1039px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/electricity_poles_visible.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/electricity_poles_visible.jpg 1039w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/electricity_poles_visible-300x253.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/electricity_poles_visible-768x648.jpg 768w\" width=\"1039\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15874\">The location of Incident Five (yellow pin) in Google Earth, with an overlay of electricity pylons (black squares).</p></div>\n<h2>Incident Six</h2>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/aZSWFefKwlA?feature=oembed\" title=\"Werfalli - Having desert, calm calm\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5620\"><em>Link to the video on Check</em></a>.</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli is seen in a video footage in an area of desert together with two other men who are holding firearms. They stand behind two other persons, who are kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their back. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen speaking into the camera and then raising his left hand in the air and sweeping it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering the two men to proceed with the execution. The men shoot the persons kneeling, who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 19 June 2017.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The sixth video is available on both <a href=\"https://archive.is/6bjd0\">Facebook</a> and <a href=\"https://archive.is/?run=1&amp;url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DCUIdE_L9KTY\">YouTube</a> with a duration of 59 seconds. The video has been watched 80,000 times on Facebook and 18,000 times on YouTube.</p>\n<p>The Facebook source is a page – not an account – with username “Benghazi2”.</p>\n<p>The YouTube source is a channel named “Libya Al-Mostakbal”, which has over 1,000 subscribers. The accompanying text states that the video was published on social media, suggesting Libya Al-Mostakbal reuploaded the video and is not the original source. It says that Werfalli is shown in the video, ordering the execution of two men on an unknown date at an unknown place.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-15823\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Six-1200x675.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Six-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Six-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Six-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Six.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>The upload time of the video to Facebook is June 19, 2017, at 9:19 pm, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the ICC arrest warrant.</p>\n<p>It is unclear when this video was recorded.</p>\n<p>The exact location of this desert area has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video.</p>\n<h2>Incident Seven</h2>\n<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMfohLyw8d8</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/859/media/5621\"><em>Link to the video on Check</em></a>.</p>\n<p>The ICC arrest warrant states the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<pre><em>Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing a black cap, camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt bearing the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, is seen in a video footage, together with two other persons wearing camouflage trousers, black t-shirts, and holding firearms. Mr Al-Werfalli is holding a white document from which he reads. He refers to the document as a “Decree decision” which “shall be executed today 17/07/2017”. The video also depicts 18 persons wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, with their hands tied behind their backs, kneeling bare feet on the ground, in four lines. After reading the document, Mr Al-Werfalli says “Attention! The first group!” and then “Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, five men in camouflage uniform, hooded, and carrying firearms, walk from behind the group of kneeling persons to the front and position themselves behind the first line of five kneeling persons. They raise their firearms at them and shoot. The persons fall on the ground. One person in the second line also falls. The shooters then return behind the group of the other kneeling persons.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Then Mr Al-Werfalli is recorded saying “The second group! Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, five men walk again from behind the group and position themselves behind the second line of five kneeling persons. The person who has collapsed during the first shooting is pulled back to his knees by one of the men. The five men then raise their firearms and shoot the five kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The shooters then return behind the group of the other kneeling persons.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>When Mr Al-Werfalli says “Attention! Attention, the third group!” and “Ready! Aim! Fire!” five men walk again from behind the group, position themselves behind the third line of five kneeling persons, raise their weapons and shoot them. The persons fall on the ground and the shooters return behind the group of the remaining kneeling persons.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Mr Al-Werfalli and the two other persons wearing camouflage trousers, black t-shirts, and holding firearms then walk behind the final line of three remaining kneeling persons. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen to still hold the white document from which he has read earlier. Mr Al-Werfalli and the other two men raise their firearms and shoot the three kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. He and one of the other men fire some additional shots towards the persons on the ground before walking away.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>In the same video, in a new segment, Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing a black cap, camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt bearing the Al-Saiqa Brigade logo, is seen together with two men wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods kneeling on the ground. One of the two kneeling men has his hands in front of him while the other has his hands on the back of his head. Mr Al-Werfalli is holding a white document folded in his hand. He is recorded saying “Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, two hooded men in camouflage, carrying firearms, walk forward, raise their weapons and shoot at the two kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The men fire some additional shots at the victims before walking away.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The video depicting this incident, involving in total 20 executed persons, was posted on social media on 23 July 2017. The data indicates that the video may have been uploaded in the Benghazi area, in Libya.</em></pre>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The seventh and last video is also still available online. A 4:46-long video was posted to <a href=\"https://archive.is/skoAJ\">Facebook</a> by the same account that posted the Incident One and Incident Four videos. Segments of that video have been used by several other YouTube accounts from <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tgCIbF0Gfw\">media organisations</a>. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video(s).</p>\n<p>The accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of twenty “terrorists” sentenced to death because they were allegedly involved in kidnapping, torture, killing, bombing, and slaughtering.</p>\n<p>The upload time of the video to Facebook is July 23, 2017, at 5:14pm local time in Benghazi, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the arrest warrant.</p>\n<p>It likely that the execution took place on July 17, 2017. The accompanying text with the video claims it was filmed in Benghazi.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-15824\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"341\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Seven-1200x341.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Seven-1200x341.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Seven-300x85.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Incident-Seven-768x218.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>The exact location of this location has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video. A stitched panorama shown above may be of help. The buildings in the upper side of the panorama are a potential clue to the location.</p>\n<h2><strong>The Promise and Perils of Open Source Evidence</strong></h2>\n<h3><strong>The Promise: A Goldmine of Potential Evidence</strong></h3>\n<p>The widespread proliferation of new communication technologies, such as smartphones connected to the Internet, has increased the already unprecedented amount of information available about many of today’s conflicts.</p>\n<p>Whether it is an onlooker who recorded an airstrike on his or her mobile phone, or a militant group that filmed an offensive for propaganda purposes, the material is very often published on the Internet and, specifically, social media. It may be that possible human rights violations are recorded in that footage.</p>\n<p>Once corroborated and triangulated, this open source information can be a potential mine of evidence. Some jurisdictions have already used it to convict a suspect. A Swedish district court, for example, <a href=\"https://archive.is/ZSWKF\">convicted</a> a Syrian national of shooting a person with an assault rifle in 2012, partly basing the judgement on a video that was posted to Facebook. The man was sentenced to life in prison.</p>\n<p>The international community has limited ability to collect impartial information and freely assist civilians inside many of today’s conflict zones like Myanmar, Syria, and Iraq due to restriction of movement. With the decrease in international observers that are able to conduct field investigations, open source evidence is promising. Open source information enables anyone with an Internet connection to mine information from places that were once blind spots. International human rights courts and tribunals “have expressed hope that new information technologies might bring about better, cheaper, and safer prosecutions,” Keith Hiatt writes in <a href=\"http://archive.is/cFQuf\"><em>The Yale Law Journal</em></a>.</p>\n<p>Nevertheless, there are also methodological challenges of using open source information in legal cases, such as reliability, availability, and security, which will be discussed in the next section.</p>\n<h3><strong>The Perils: Reliability, Availability, Security</strong></h3>\n<p>Some of these challenges have been outlined by academics, including Hiatt in the aforementioned article, as well as by Emma Irving in an <a href=\"http://archive.is/XXRZ0\"><em>Opinio Juris</em></a> article as a reaction to the ICC arrest warrant.</p>\n<p>Firstly, open source information is “notoriously susceptible to problems of verifiability, which naturally affects its reliability in any kind of criminal proceeding” (Irving). Questions that arise may be the establishment of the exact time, date or location of the evidence, or even potentially digitally altered footage.</p>\n<p>However, there is a wide variety of <a href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1BfLPJpRtyq4RFtHJoNpvWQjmGnyVkfE2HYoICKOGguA/edit\">tools and methods</a> which can be used to determine the exact location of a video or photograph, and sometimes even the approximate date and time. Verifiability is a challenge that can be overcome in many cases. It is unclear whether the ICC knows the exact location of the execution sites.</p>\n<p>With the rapid development of technology and artificial intelligence, a new challenge is on the horizon: Can we be sure a person seen in a video is in fact the same person the video purports to depict? Offenders have been incorrectly identified before, as in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing or the assaults at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. Even more worrying is the possibility to produce a photorealistic video, say, of former US President Barack Obama <a href=\"http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-40598465/fake-obama-created-using-ai-tool-to-make-phoney-speeches\">speaking sentences he never said</a>.</p>\n<p>But neither of these issues are a challenge in the Werfalli case. Most, if not all, of the footage mentioned by the ICC appears to be produced – and shared – by individual members or supporters of the Saiqa Brigade.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]</a>  The more salient question here, if this case goes to trial, is whether the defence team will contest the authenticity of the footage, according to Hiatt. In many international criminal cases, Hiatt says, “the issue is not whether the atrocity occurred, as a matter of actual fact. Instead, it is the context that matters.” For example, was there a fair trial before the execution, or not? That question is unlikely to hinge on whether an execution video was authentic. Indeed, the contested elements of a crime under the Rome Statute are more likely to concern chain of command, or the widespread, systematic nature of a criminal act.</p>\n<p>Secondly, the availability of open source information may be another challenge. While the arrest warrant for Werfalli was issued shortly after the alleged crimes, human rights tribunals are usually only established after the cessation of hostilities. “As a result, today’s investigations concern yesterday’s atrocities,” as the formation of these tribunals may take years (Hiatt).</p>\n<p>This can be a problem, as was highlighted by YouTube’s recent removal of many videos, playlists, accounts, and channels documenting conflict zones. As outlined in a <a href=\"https://archive.is/3JP9m\"><em>New York Times</em></a> article, YouTube “inadvertently removed thousands of videos that could be used to document atrocities in Syria, potentially jeopardizing future war crimes prosecutions.” The same has happened with videos from other areas where human rights violations are reportedly happening, such as <a href=\"https://archive.is/r1MtF\">Myanmar</a>.</p>\n<p>For that very reason, it is important to preserve, for the long term, open source documentation relating to possible human rights violations and other crimes. Projects like the <a href=\"https://syrianarchive.org/p/page/about/\">Syrian Archive</a> are entirely focused on this, and Bellingcat hopes to broaden these efforts to other conflict areas in the future too. (Also, as you may have noticed, most of the hyperlinks in this article link to archived versions of the original page in case a source is taken offline).</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_15855\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15855\" class=\"wp-image-15855 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"447\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/syrian-archive-1200x447.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/syrian-archive-1200x447.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/syrian-archive-300x112.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/syrian-archive-768x286.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/syrian-archive.jpg 1900w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-15855\">The Syrian Archive is entirely focused to preserve, for the long term, open source documentation relating to possible human rights violations and other crimes.</p></div>\n<p>A third challenge is security. Open source evidence may increase threats for eyewitnesses and those who gathered the information first-hand, or even bystanders visible in a photo or video. As Hiatt said,</p>\n<blockquote><p>“By using these materials, investigators may draw unwanted attention to people depicted in them. The disclosure of a photograph to a powerful defendant or a hostile government might expose the identity of a witness, or otherwise endanger third parties.”</p></blockquote>\n<p>This challenge does not seem of particular relevance to the Werfalli case, as all of the material appears to have been recorded and subsequently disseminated on social media by members or sympathisers of the Saiqa Brigade themselves.</p>\n<p>In case eyewitnesses are used, the use of open source evidence may actually decrease the risk for eyewitnesses as fewer witnesses may have to testify, and in case they do their claims can be corroborated with open source information.</p>\n<p>The fourth and last challenge is forward-looking, and was put forward by Irving: the weight of evidence. Will the approach to open source evidence change depending on the stage of proceedings?</p>\n<blockquote><p>“The standard of proof for the issuance of an arrest warrant is ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ (Article 58(1) of the Rome Statute). One might assume that the approach to open source evidence would not be stricter when it came to initiating an investigation (‘reasonable basis to believe’, Article 53(1)(a)) but the situation may be different as regards the higher standards of ‘substantial grounds to believe’ (confirmation of charges, Article 61(5)) and ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ (conviction, Article 66(3)).”</p></blockquote>\n<p>Will it be the case that the higher the burden, the lesser the chance that open source evidence can meet it? The decision on the arrest warrant was not the place to answer such questions, but they will need to be addressed in future.</p>\n<h2>Discussion</h2>\n<p>Human rights organisations like Amnesty International welcomed the arrest warrant, <a href=\"https://archive.is/BuWLJ\">stating</a> the ICC’s decision is “a significant step towards ending the rampant impunity for war crimes in Libya.” Amnesty International has previously <a href=\"https://archive.is/5iVdR\">reported</a> on potential war crimes committed by the LNA.</p>\n<p>The US, the UK, and France welcome the ICC arrest warrant in a joint statement. This statement can be read in two possible ways, Alex Whiting writes for <a href=\"https://archive.is/L8Htw\"><em>Just Security</em></a>.</p>\n<p>The first is that “the U.S. (a non-State Party of the ICC) is joining two ICC State Parties [France and the UK] to support and encourage a positive and pro-active response to the ICC warrant [..meaning..] support for the Court consistent with U.S. law […] as long as it is in the national interest.”</p>\n<p>The second and more plausible read of the joint statement is, according to Whiting, that the US, France, and the UK, “are looking for a way to <em>avoid</em> the ICC. If the LNA did in fact pursue a proper investigation and prosecution of Al-Werfalli for the crimes for which he is charged, an unlikely proposition to be sure, it could render him ineligible to be prosecuted at all by the ICC.”</p>\n<p>The Werfalli case has also potential implications for the US and other states engaged in Libya, since General Haftar is a dual US-Libyan citizen, Whiting notes. For more information on this issue, Whiting’s article is recommended reading.</p>\n<p>On Libyan social media, criticism has been raised about the ICC’s arrest warrant. Questions are asked <a href=\"https://archive.is/mzb4z\">publicly</a> about why “<a href=\"https://archive.is/W4lsQ\">the heroic</a>” Werfalli – who killed alleged Islamic State militants – would be prosecuted. Why are his enemies not prosecuted? Or, for instance, why not culprits of the forced displacement and killing of the <a href=\"https://archive.is/EJD8l\">Rohingya in Myanmar</a>, or occupation forces in the <a href=\"https://archive.is/nrBOx\">West Bank</a>?</p>\n<p>Crimes committed in these areas may have been recorded and, for example, have been uploaded to YouTube. If these videos are deleted by YouTube’s AI, the platform risks losing “the richest source of information about human rights violations in closed societies” Hiatt told the <em>New York Times</em>. The ICC faced similar criticism from many top African officials, who <a href=\"https://archive.is/heBBZ\">accused</a> the court of solely targeting their continent.</p>\n<p>Either way, the decision of the ICC to rely on social media to support an arrest warrant is an important development, and may be only the beginning of a much larger increase of open source evidence by the Court. Open source information is a promise too important to ignore.</p>\n<hr/>\n<p><em><br/>\n</em><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]</a> <em>However, there have been cases in which armed groups were imitated by others, such as a video in which militants from the Ukrainian Azov Battalion threatened the Netherlands. That video turned out to be <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2016/04/03/azov-video/\">fake</a>.</em></p>\n<p> </p>\n<hr/>\n<p><em>Special thanks to </em><a href=\"https://twitter.com/lawrightstech\"><em>Keith Hiatt</em></a><em> and </em><a href=\"https://twitter.com/tomfeneux\"><em>Thomas Feneux</em></a><em>.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nWarning: this article contains graphic material. Update: Incident One, Four and Five have been geolocated.\nIn Short:\nThe International Criminal Court issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence;\nThis warrant is a significant development and aligns the Court with the realities of today’s conflict zones;\nAll seven videos on which Libyan commander Werfalli is charged with murder as a war crime can be found online;\nWith the help of the verification platform\nCheck\n, Bellingcat is crowdsourcing the geolocation of the locations shown in these videos. Three out of seven videos have been geolocated so far.\nOpen source information is a potential goldmine of evidence, though there are potential challenges with using this information in a legal setting, which will be discussed in relation to the Werfalli case.\nIntroduction\nOn August 15, 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on evidence collected on social media.\nThe\narrest warrant\naccuses Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, an alleged commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade in Libya, of mass executions in or near Benghazi.\nThe use of social media evidence is a significant development, as it aligns the ICC with the realities of many of today’s conflict zones. It also allows anyone with an Internet connection to access the evidence themselves, as it is all open source information – the kind of information we always base our investigations on at Bellingcat. For that reason, this article examines the social media evidence used in the case in further depth.\nFirstly, a contextual background will be given to Werfalli and where the alleged incidents took place related to so-called “Operation Dignity” in and around the Libyan city of Benghazi.\nSecondly, the seven incidents based on seven separate videos will be examined in further detail. We have tried to extract as much information as possible out of the videos, and asking our readers to help geolocate the execution site. (Update: So far, already two videos have been geolocated.)\nThirdly, the social media evidence of this specific arrest warrant will be discussed in the light of the promise and peril of open source evidence. There is no doubt that open source information is a huge potential source for legal evidence, but what are the methodological challenges in assessing and eventually using these materials?\nContextual Background: Operation Dignity\nSince a bloody uprising started against the government of then-President Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been in a state of unabated violence and conflict. After the relatively quick fall of Qaddafi, the country has been divided into rival political and armed groups. Opposing government and parliaments roughly divide Libya in an eastern and western side.\nLibya is roughly divided into an eastern and western section, as this LiveUAmap of approximate territorial control as of August 31, 2017, shows. The LNA-controlled areas are in red, the Libyan Dawn-controlled areas in blue, and the pink area represents the territory held by Tuareg militias. The black strip at Benghazi are jihadist groups. This is an oversimplified map of territorial control, as it does not show Amazigh (Tuareg) or Toubou controlled areas.\nThe Government of National Accord (GNA) is seated in the western part of Libya. As a rival of the eastern-based House of Representatives, the GNA has the armed support of several groups, most notably the Libya Dawn group – a coalition of pro-Islamist militias which attacked Tripoli International Airport in the summer of 2014 and has controlled many of Libya’s coastal cities since. The GNA are the internationally recognised authorities of Libya, and has received\noutspoken support\nfrom a number of Western countries, including the United States (US), the United Kingdom, and France.\nThe eastern part of Libya, and a small area west of Tripoli, are controlled by a coalition of armed groups named the Libyan National Army (LNA). This force of former army units, ex-revolutionary groups and tribal coalitions is under the command of General Khalifa Haftar, a dual citizen of Libya and the US. The eastern-based parliament is known as the House of Representatives.\nParts of Benghazi, Libya’s second-most populous city on the eastern Mediterranean coast, have been under control of a coalition of Islamist groups since the 2011 revolution. This coalition of Islamist groups became known as the Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council (BRSC), which includes groups like Ansar Al-Sharia, the February 17 Revolutionary Martyrs’ Brigade, the Rafallah Al-Sahati militia, and the eastern Libya Shield Brigade.\nIn May 2014, General Haftar launched “Operation Dignity” against the BRSC in and around Benghazi. The operation continued until at least March 18, 2017. One of the groups taking part in the anti-BRSC offensive were the Libyan Special Forces, colloquially known as the Al-Saiqa Brigade.\nThe Saiqa Brigade was originally part of Qaddafi’s army, but defected in an early stage of the 2011 uprising. Being active especially in western Benghazi in recent years, the group reportedly consists of around 5,000 soldiers. Werfalli, the subject of the ICC arrest warrant, is said to be a Saiqa Brigade commander since at least 2015.\nDuring the periodic fighting in and around Benghazi, Werfalli is said to have been directly responsible for the execution of 33 persons who were either civilians or persons\nhors de combat\n. “There is no information in the evidence to show that they have been afforded a trial by a legitimate court, whether military or otherwise”, the arrest warrant states. There was thus an alleged\ndenial of fair trial\nfor the killed individuals – making them unlawful.\nWerfalli announced his resignation on May 15 in a video published on\nYouTube\n, though the reason why is unclear. There has been chatter that it may have to do with an attack on a police station in Benghazi by the Saiqa Brigade that left one officer dead.\nOn May 15, 2017, Werfalli announced his resignation. The reason as to why the Saiqa Brigae commander resigned unclear.\nFollowing the ICC arrest warrant, the LNA\narrested\nWerfalli, stating he was under investigation by a military prosecutor. The LNA said that it is ready “to cooperate with [the ICC] in informing you of the result and course of the judicial case”. The LNA statement did not mention whether it would hand over Werfalli to the ICC.\nHowever, a spokesperson for the Saiqa Brigades dismissed the ICC arrest warrant, saying that the ICC should rather arrest the opponents of the armed group,\nAl Jazeera\nreported.\nThe Footage: Seven Incidents in Seven Videos\nAl-Werfalli is charged with murder as a war crime under Article 8(2)(c)(i) of the\nRome Statute\n, the treaty that established the ICC, which is the “Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture”.\nThe charge is based on seven incidents shown in seven separate social media videos. All of these videos have been found online. Each incident and video will be presented and discussed below, following the order of the arrest warrant.\nIncident One\nLink to the video on Check\n[geolocated].\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage to stand near a hooded, unidentified person, who is moving around an open dirt area with his arms in the air. Mr Al-Werfalli is heard saying “Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!”. After that, he shoots the hooded person with his left hand a number of times and the person falls on the ground. Mr Al-Werfalli approaches the body, shoots again the body on the ground for a number of times and states “You have been misled by he who did you harm. You have been misled by Satan”. The video depicting this incident was posted on Facebook on 3 June 2016.\nThe first video is still available online on\nFacebook\n, with a duration of 2:16. It has been watched almost 200,000 times as of writing this article, and shared over 5,000 times. The logo and the name of the Saiqa Brigades (Arabic: القوات الخاصة الليبية) is visible throughout the video.\nA still of the video showing Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying what appears to be a Russian-made PK machine gun, moments before he shoots an unidentified person.\nThe source is a Facebook profile under the name Mohamed Al-Ghali with Facebook identification number 100012315483959 and username hamoalgali01. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video. [\nUpdate: Al-Ghali has reached out to Bellingcat to specify that he was\nnot\nthe original source of the video]\nThe accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of a Syrian national who is a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS). In the comments section, the user uploaded a\nphoto\nseemingly of the executed individual at the same scene.\nThe upload time of the video to Facebook is June 4, 2016, at 1:12 am local time in Benghazi. This means there is an inconsistency with the arrest warrant’s claim that it was uploaded on June 3, though this may have to do with\nthe time Facebook displays\nas your local time zone based on your computer time. If you figure out what time settings your computer is in, there are plenty of useful online tools to\nconvert different time zones\n.\nIt is unclear when this video was recorded, though it must have been before June 4, 2017.\nThe exact location of this execution site is at 32.014221, 20.113838 (\nGoogle Maps\n,\nWikimapia\n), an orchard in between the Benghazi suburbs of Al-Hawari and Al-Qawarishah.\nA stitched panorama of still from the execution video gives a wider perspective of the area, which is useful for the geolocation process. Visual clues are the buildings on the left and right edge of the photos, the orchard, the two lines of trees next to what appears to be a narrow road, and an electricity pylon in the background.\nThe video was geolocated by Bellingcat’s “Daniel”, who first made a map of what was visible in the video.\nBellingcat’s Timmi Allen created the following image showing some of the elements of the video that match the satellite imagery of the area.\nIncident Two\nLink to the video on Check\n.\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage shooting with his left hand three male figures in the head. The three persons are kneeling in front of a wall with their arms tied behind their backs. After the bodies of the three men fall, Mr Al-Werfalli shoots at the bodies a few more times. Two of the victims are alleged to have been revolutionaries in Benghazi. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 20 March 2017.\nThe second video is available via\nYouTube\nas a 18-second clip, uploaded by a user named “Hassan Mahmoud” (Arabic: حسن محمود). It has been watched over 10,000 times at the time of writing this article.\nUsing Amnesty International’s YouTube Data Viewer, the exact upload time to YouTube can established at March 21, 2017, at 4:09 am local time in Benghazi. The date is inconsistent with the time mentioned by the ICC warrant, though this may have to do with the display date of YouTube and the actual uploading time (hence the importance of Amnesty’s tool).\nIt is unclear when this video was recorded.\nThe exact location of this street has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video.\nIncident Three\nLink to the video on Check\n.\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage in a room, with others being present as well. He is standing next to an unidentified man in a white t-shirt, who is kneeling bare feet, with his hands behind his head. Mr Al-Werfalli shoots the person with his left hand in the head and continues to do so after the man falls down. The men around Mr Al-Werfalli cheer in approval and another unidentified man from the group comes forward and shoots the victim two more times. The videos depicting this incident were posted on social media on 7 and 8 May 2017.\nThe third video is still available online on\nFacebook\n, and its duration is 1:17. It has been watched over 32,000 times and shared 242 times at the time of writing.\nThe source is a Facebook profile going by name Bin Mansour with Facebook identification number 100012980119097. It is unclear whether this profile is the original uploader of the video.\nThe accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of “one of the Kharijites” by Werfalli.\nThe upload time of the video to Facebook is May 7, 2017, at 5:12 pm local time in Benghazi, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the ICC warrant.\nIt is unclear when the video was recorded.\nThe exact location of this house has not been found yet, and may be close to impossible without insider knowledge. You can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check.\nIncident Four\nLink to the video on Check\n[geolocated].\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli is seen in a video footage in an outdoor setting together with two other men who carry weapons and whose heads are covered. The three men stand behind two other men, who are dressed in camouflage and are kneeling bare feet on the ground. The two men are claimed to be, the first, a member of the BRSC, and the second, possibly a member of Ansar al-Sharia. The two men can be seen earlier in the video footage being detained in a cage. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen walking away from the kneeling men, while the other two men with firearms walk towards them. Mr Al-Werfalli has his left hand in the air and sweeps it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering them to proceed with the execution. The two men shoot the kneeling persons who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on or about 22 May 2017.\nThe fourth video is also still available online on\nFacebook\n, with a duration of 2:47. It has been watched almost 37,000 times and shared 340 times as of writing this article. Only the last 9 seconds of the video show the execution, and the rest of the video shows interviews with the two individuals who are claimed to be members of the BRSC and Ansar Al-Sharia.\nThe source is the same Facebook profile as the one that posted the video showing Incident One. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video.\nThe accompanying text with the video claims to show “the execution of the death penalty” (Arabic: تنفيذ حكم الإعدام) in Benghazi of a BRSC member and an Ansar Al-Sharia member.\nThe upload time of the video to Facebook is May 22, 2017, at 11:27 am local time in Benghazi. This date is consistent with the date mentioned by the ICC.\nIn the fourth video, Werfalli is seen in an outdoor setting with two other men wearing balaclavas. They stand behind two other men who are claimed to be a member of the BRSC and Ansar Al-Sharia. Werfalli orders the two man wearing balaclavas to proceed with the execution of the two other men.\nThe execution site has been\ngeolocated\nby Twitter-user @5urpher to a compound in Al-Hawari, a southern suburb of Benghazi. The coordinates are 32.046755, 20.116750 (\nGoogle Maps\n,\nWikimapia\n).\nA satellite image of Google Earth of the compound in southern Benghazi where the execution shown in the Incident Four video took place.\nIt is unclear when this video was recorded, though once it is geolocated it may be able to determine an approximate time of the day based on the clearly visible shadows.\nIncident Five\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=kievfxloCcU\nLink to the video on Check\n[geolocated].\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli, wearing a full camouflage uniform, is seen in a video footage in an outdoor setting together with five men wearing hoods and camouflage trousers and holding firearms. Those five hooded, armed men stand behind four other hooded men, who are kneeling barefoot on the ground with their hands behind their backs. They point their firearms at each kneeling person’s head. Mr Al-Werfalli raises his left hand in the air and sweeps it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering them to proceed with the execution. The five men shoot the four kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 9 June 2017.\nThe fifth video can be found online on\nFacebook\n, uploaded by someone using the username “aalathry1” with Facebook identification number 1797850107. The execution takes place in the last 47 seconds of the video.\nThe video was uploaded on June 9, 2017 at 2:29 pm local time in Benghazi. This date is consistent with the ICC warrant.\nThe exact date when this execution took place is unknown.\nThe exact location of this execution site has been\ngeolocated\nby Twitter-user @5urpher to a military compound between Benghazi and the airport. The coordinates are\n32.122988, 20.164492\n. The location was found by\nusing\nthe lines of electricity of OpenStreetMap in Benghazi.\nThe location of Incident Five (yellow pin) in Google Earth, with an overlay of electricity pylons (black squares).\nIncident Six\nLink to the video on Check\n.\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli is seen in a video footage in an area of desert together with two other men who are holding firearms. They stand behind two other persons, who are kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their back. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen speaking into the camera and then raising his left hand in the air and sweeping it down towards the ground in a manner that suggests that he is ordering the two men to proceed with the execution. The men shoot the persons kneeling, who fall on the ground. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 19 June 2017.\nThe sixth video is available on both\nFacebook\nand\nYouTube\nwith a duration of 59 seconds. The video has been watched 80,000 times on Facebook and 18,000 times on YouTube.\nThe Facebook source is a page – not an account – with username “Benghazi2”.\nThe YouTube source is a channel named “Libya Al-Mostakbal”, which has over 1,000 subscribers. The accompanying text states that the video was published on social media, suggesting Libya Al-Mostakbal reuploaded the video and is not the original source. It says that Werfalli is shown in the video, ordering the execution of two men on an unknown date at an unknown place.\nThe upload time of the video to Facebook is June 19, 2017, at 9:19 pm, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the ICC arrest warrant.\nIt is unclear when this video was recorded.\nThe exact location of this desert area has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video.\nIncident Seven\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMfohLyw8d8\nLink to the video on Check\n.\nThe ICC arrest warrant states the following:\nMr Al-Werfalli, wearing a black cap, camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt bearing the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, is seen in a video footage, together with two other persons wearing camouflage trousers, black t-shirts, and holding firearms. Mr Al-Werfalli is holding a white document from which he reads. He refers to the document as a “Decree decision” which “shall be executed today 17/07/2017”. The video also depicts 18 persons wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, with their hands tied behind their backs, kneeling bare feet on the ground, in four lines. After reading the document, Mr Al-Werfalli says “Attention! The first group!” and then “Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, five men in camouflage uniform, hooded, and carrying firearms, walk from behind the group of kneeling persons to the front and position themselves behind the first line of five kneeling persons. They raise their firearms at them and shoot. The persons fall on the ground. One person in the second line also falls. The shooters then return behind the group of the other kneeling persons.\nThen Mr Al-Werfalli is recorded saying “The second group! Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, five men walk again from behind the group and position themselves behind the second line of five kneeling persons. The person who has collapsed during the first shooting is pulled back to his knees by one of the men. The five men then raise their firearms and shoot the five kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The shooters then return behind the group of the other kneeling persons.\nWhen Mr Al-Werfalli says “Attention! Attention, the third group!” and “Ready! Aim! Fire!” five men walk again from behind the group, position themselves behind the third line of five kneeling persons, raise their weapons and shoot them. The persons fall on the ground and the shooters return behind the group of the remaining kneeling persons.\nMr Al-Werfalli and the two other persons wearing camouflage trousers, black t-shirts, and holding firearms then walk behind the final line of three remaining kneeling persons. Mr Al-Werfalli is seen to still hold the white document from which he has read earlier. Mr Al-Werfalli and the other two men raise their firearms and shoot the three kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. He and one of the other men fire some additional shots towards the persons on the ground before walking away.\nIn the same video, in a new segment, Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing a black cap, camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt bearing the Al-Saiqa Brigade logo, is seen together with two men wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods kneeling on the ground. One of the two kneeling men has his hands in front of him while the other has his hands on the back of his head. Mr Al-Werfalli is holding a white document folded in his hand. He is recorded saying “Ready! Aim! Fire!” As he does so, two hooded men in camouflage, carrying firearms, walk forward, raise their weapons and shoot at the two kneeling persons, who fall on the ground. The men fire some additional shots at the victims before walking away.\nThe video depicting this incident, involving in total 20 executed persons, was posted on social media on 23 July 2017. The data indicates that the video may have been uploaded in the Benghazi area, in Libya.\nThe seventh and last video is also still available online. A 4:46-long video was posted to\nFacebook\nby the same account that posted the Incident One and Incident Four videos. Segments of that video have been used by several other YouTube accounts from\nmedia organisations\n. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video(s).\nThe accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of twenty “terrorists” sentenced to death because they were allegedly involved in kidnapping, torture, killing, bombing, and slaughtering.\nThe upload time of the video to Facebook is July 23, 2017, at 5:14pm local time in Benghazi, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the arrest warrant.\nIt likely that the execution took place on July 17, 2017. The accompanying text with the video claims it was filmed in Benghazi.\nThe exact location of this location has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video. A stitched panorama shown above may be of help. The buildings in the upper side of the panorama are a potential clue to the location.\nThe Promise and Perils of Open Source Evidence\nThe Promise: A Goldmine of Potential Evidence\nThe widespread proliferation of new communication technologies, such as smartphones connected to the Internet, has increased the already unprecedented amount of information available about many of today’s conflicts.\nWhether it is an onlooker who recorded an airstrike on his or her mobile phone, or a militant group that filmed an offensive for propaganda purposes, the material is very often published on the Internet and, specifically, social media. It may be that possible human rights violations are recorded in that footage.\nOnce corroborated and triangulated, this open source information can be a potential mine of evidence. Some jurisdictions have already used it to convict a suspect. A Swedish district court, for example,\nconvicted\na Syrian national of shooting a person with an assault rifle in 2012, partly basing the judgement on a video that was posted to Facebook. The man was sentenced to life in prison.\nThe international community has limited ability to collect impartial information and freely assist civilians inside many of today’s conflict zones like Myanmar, Syria, and Iraq due to restriction of movement. With the decrease in international observers that are able to conduct field investigations, open source evidence is promising. Open source information enables anyone with an Internet connection to mine information from places that were once blind spots. International human rights courts and tribunals “have expressed hope that new information technologies might bring about better, cheaper, and safer prosecutions,” Keith Hiatt writes in\nThe Yale Law Journal\n.\nNevertheless, there are also methodological challenges of using open source information in legal cases, such as reliability, availability, and security, which will be discussed in the next section.\nThe Perils: Reliability, Availability, Security\nSome of these challenges have been outlined by academics, including Hiatt in the aforementioned article, as well as by Emma Irving in an\nOpinio Juris\narticle as a reaction to the ICC arrest warrant.\nFirstly, open source information is “notoriously susceptible to problems of verifiability, which naturally affects its reliability in any kind of criminal proceeding” (Irving). Questions that arise may be the establishment of the exact time, date or location of the evidence, or even potentially digitally altered footage.\nHowever, there is a wide variety of\ntools and methods\nwhich can be used to determine the exact location of a video or photograph, and sometimes even the approximate date and time. Verifiability is a challenge that can be overcome in many cases. It is unclear whether the ICC knows the exact location of the execution sites.\nWith the rapid development of technology and artificial intelligence, a new challenge is on the horizon: Can we be sure a person seen in a video is in fact the same person the video purports to depict? Offenders have been incorrectly identified before, as in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing or the assaults at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. Even more worrying is the possibility to produce a photorealistic video, say, of former US President Barack Obama\nspeaking sentences he never said\n.\nBut neither of these issues are a challenge in the Werfalli case. Most, if not all, of the footage mentioned by the ICC appears to be produced – and shared – by individual members or supporters of the Saiqa Brigade.\n[1]\nThe more salient question here, if this case goes to trial, is whether the defence team will contest the authenticity of the footage, according to Hiatt. In many international criminal cases, Hiatt says, “the issue is not whether the atrocity occurred, as a matter of actual fact. Instead, it is the context that matters.” For example, was there a fair trial before the execution, or not? That question is unlikely to hinge on whether an execution video was authentic. Indeed, the contested elements of a crime under the Rome Statute are more likely to concern chain of command, or the widespread, systematic nature of a criminal act.\nSecondly, the availability of open source information may be another challenge. While the arrest warrant for Werfalli was issued shortly after the alleged crimes, human rights tribunals are usually only established after the cessation of hostilities. “As a result, today’s investigations concern yesterday’s atrocities,” as the formation of these tribunals may take years (Hiatt).\nThis can be a problem, as was highlighted by YouTube’s recent removal of many videos, playlists, accounts, and channels documenting conflict zones. As outlined in a\nNew York Times\narticle, YouTube “inadvertently removed thousands of videos that could be used to document atrocities in Syria, potentially jeopardizing future war crimes prosecutions.” The same has happened with videos from other areas where human rights violations are reportedly happening, such as\nMyanmar\n.\nFor that very reason, it is important to preserve, for the long term, open source documentation relating to possible human rights violations and other crimes. Projects like the\nSyrian Archive\nare entirely focused on this, and Bellingcat hopes to broaden these efforts to other conflict areas in the future too. (Also, as you may have noticed, most of the hyperlinks in this article link to archived versions of the original page in case a source is taken offline).\nThe Syrian Archive is entirely focused to preserve, for the long term, open source documentation relating to possible human rights violations and other crimes.\nA third challenge is security. Open source evidence may increase threats for eyewitnesses and those who gathered the information first-hand, or even bystanders visible in a photo or video. As Hiatt said,\n“By using these materials, investigators may draw unwanted attention to people depicted in them. The disclosure of a photograph to a powerful defendant or a hostile government might expose the identity of a witness, or otherwise endanger third parties.”\nThis challenge does not seem of particular relevance to the Werfalli case, as all of the material appears to have been recorded and subsequently disseminated on social media by members or sympathisers of the Saiqa Brigade themselves.\nIn case eyewitnesses are used, the use of open source evidence may actually decrease the risk for eyewitnesses as fewer witnesses may have to testify, and in case they do their claims can be corroborated with open source information.\nThe fourth and last challenge is forward-looking, and was put forward by Irving: the weight of evidence. Will the approach to open source evidence change depending on the stage of proceedings?\n“The standard of proof for the issuance of an arrest warrant is ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ (Article 58(1) of the Rome Statute). One might assume that the approach to open source evidence would not be stricter when it came to initiating an investigation (‘reasonable basis to believe’, Article 53(1)(a)) but the situation may be different as regards the higher standards of ‘substantial grounds to believe’ (confirmation of charges, Article 61(5)) and ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ (conviction, Article 66(3)).”\nWill it be the case that the higher the burden, the lesser the chance that open source evidence can meet it? The decision on the arrest warrant was not the place to answer such questions, but they will need to be addressed in future.\nDiscussion\nHuman rights organisations like Amnesty International welcomed the arrest warrant,\nstating\nthe ICC’s decision is “a significant step towards ending the rampant impunity for war crimes in Libya.” Amnesty International has previously\nreported\non potential war crimes committed by the LNA.\nThe US, the UK, and France welcome the ICC arrest warrant in a joint statement. This statement can be read in two possible ways, Alex Whiting writes for\nJust Security\n.\nThe first is that “the U.S. (a non-State Party of the ICC) is joining two ICC State Parties [France and the UK] to support and encourage a positive and pro-active response to the ICC warrant [..meaning..] support for the Court consistent with U.S. law […] as long as it is in the national interest.”\nThe second and more plausible read of the joint statement is, according to Whiting, that the US, France, and the UK, “are looking for a way to\navoid\nthe ICC. If the LNA did in fact pursue a proper investigation and prosecution of Al-Werfalli for the crimes for which he is charged, an unlikely proposition to be sure, it could render him ineligible to be prosecuted at all by the ICC.”\nThe Werfalli case has also potential implications for the US and other states engaged in Libya, since General Haftar is a dual US-Libyan citizen, Whiting notes. For more information on this issue, Whiting’s article is recommended reading.\nOn Libyan social media, criticism has been raised about the ICC’s arrest warrant. Questions are asked\npublicly\nabout why “\nthe heroic\n” Werfalli – who killed alleged Islamic State militants – would be prosecuted. Why are his enemies not prosecuted? Or, for instance, why not culprits of the forced displacement and killing of the\nRohingya in Myanmar\n, or occupation forces in the\nWest Bank\n?\nCrimes committed in these areas may have been recorded and, for example, have been uploaded to YouTube. If these videos are deleted by YouTube’s AI, the platform risks losing “the richest source of information about human rights violations in closed societies” Hiatt told the\nNew York Times\n. The ICC faced similar criticism from many top African officials, who\naccused\nthe court of solely targeting their continent.\nEither way, the decision of the ICC to rely on social media to support an arrest warrant is an important development, and may be only the beginning of a much larger increase of open source evidence by the Court. Open source information is a promise too important to ignore.\n[1]\nHowever, there have been cases in which armed groups were imitated by others, such as a video in which militants from the Ukrainian Azov Battalion threatened the Netherlands. That video turned out to be\nfake\n.\nSpecial thanks to\nKeith Hiatt\nand\nThomas Feneux\n.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2017-10-03_how-an-execution-site-was-geolocated.json

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+{
+  "slug": "how-an-execution-site-was-geolocated",
+  "title": "How a Werfalli Execution Site Was Geolocated",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2017/10/03/how-an-execution-site-was-geolocated/",
+  "date": "2017-10-03T16:30:33+00:00",
+  "modified": "2018-02-10T00:27:20+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "This article was collaboratively researched and written by the Bellingcat Investigation Team. Introduction In August 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence. The arrest warrant accuses Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli (hereafter referred to as ‘Werfalli’), an alleged commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade of the […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p><em>This article was collaboratively researched and written by the Bellingcat Investigation Team.</em></p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/mPrxMn655lg?feature=oembed\" title=\"Bushes, Buildings, and Blood Stains - Geolocating the Werfalli Executions\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<h1><strong>Introduction</strong></h1>\n<p>In August 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence. The <a href=\"https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2017_05031.PDF\">arrest warrant</a> accuses Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli (hereafter referred to as ‘Werfalli’), an alleged commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA), of mass executions in or near Benghazi.</p>\n<p>Bellingcat has highlighted the importance of this development, which aligns the ICC with the realities of many of today’s conflicts, in an <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/09/04/geolocating-libyas-social-media-executioner/\">earlier article.</a> The article marked the start of a crowdsourcing campaign to geolocate the seven locations of the executions on which the arrest warrant is based. Four execution sites have been geolocated so far, and one of them – Incident Seven – is worth discussing in further depth as it is an excellent example of team work and using a wide variety of open source information such as satellite imagery, geotagged photos, conflict context, geolocations from other sources and news articles.</p>\n<h1><strong>The Evidence: A Facebook Video</strong></h1>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://youtu.be/oMfohLyw8d8?t=65\">video</a> which prompted the ICC arrest warrant was uploaded on July 23, 2017, by a Facebook user named ‘<a href=\"http://archive.is/oOmqU\">Mohammed Al-Gali</a>’. The video has been deleted since, though an <a href=\"http://archive.is/skoAJ\">archived version</a> exists.</p>\n<p>The video shows the execution of twenty individuals who are, according to the description, “terrorists found guilty of kidnapping, torture, killing, bombing, and slaughtering” and members of the so-called Islamic State (IS). Werfalli is visible in the video and gives the order to execute the group of twenty individuals. According to the arrest warrant, Werfalli reads from a white document in the video of Incident Seven, and refers to a ‘decree decision’, which ‘shall be executed today 17/07/2017’.</p>\n<p>The first part of the video shows the execution of eighteen people and the second part the execution of another two people. The long shadows in the video indicate it was filmed in the early morning (from north to south) or late afternoon (from south to north).</p>\n<h1><strong>The Geolocation: </strong><strong>Bushes, Buildings, and Blood Stains</strong></h1>\n<p>At first sight the video seems very difficult to geolocate, because of the apparent lack of identifiable landmarks. Aside from the twenty executed people, their executioners and a white car, mainly a desert landscape with two sand tracks, a few sand hills and some vegetation is visible. However, a stitched panorama of the video, published in Bellingcat’s previous article, shows buildings and a fence on a distance in the background.</p>\n<p>The buildings are visible for less than a second, at 3m25s. A fence consisting of poles is visible in the second part of the video, from 4m19s onward. Besides the vegetation pattern, these are the only visual clues to go on for the geolocation.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16066\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1.png\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16066\" class=\"wp-image-16066 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"307\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1-1200x307.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1-1200x307.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1-300x77.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1-768x197.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-1.png 1430w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16066\"><strong>Image 1.</strong> A panorama of the execution site of Incident Seven. The panorama is composed out of stills of the Facebook video.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16067\" style=\"width: 1143px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16067\" class=\"wp-image-16067 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"622\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1133px) 100vw, 1133px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-2.jpg 1133w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-2-300x165.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-2-768x422.jpg 768w\" width=\"1133\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16067\"><strong>Image 2. </strong>A still from the Incident Seven video at 3m25s, showing the structures in the background of the execution site.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16068\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16068\" class=\"wp-image-16068 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3-1200x675.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-3.jpg 1280w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16068\"><strong>Image 3.</strong> A fence is visible in the background of a still of the video at 4m25s.</p></div>\n<p>The Bellingcat team was able to geolocate the video in <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.023650&amp;lon=20.039234&amp;z=13&amp;m=b&amp;show=/25336952/Qanfuda\">Ghanfuda</a>, which is situated in the western part of Benghazi.</p>\n<p>The video was filmed from north to south, very likely on July 17, 2017, approximately at <a href=\"http://suncalc.net/#/32.0232,20.0292,19/2017.07.17/06:37\">6:37 am</a>. The coordinates of the execution area are <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B001'23.3%22N+20%C2%B001'45.1%22E/@32.0231389,20.0270057,929m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.0231389!4d20.0291944\">32.023144, 20.029181</a>.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16069\" style=\"width: 1059px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-4.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16069\" class=\"wp-image-16069 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"818\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1049px) 100vw, 1049px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-4.jpg 1049w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-4-300x234.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-4-768x599.jpg 768w\" width=\"1049\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16069\"><strong>Image 4.</strong> The location of the execution site as shown on Google Earth. The buildings and the fence shown in the Incident Seven video are highlighted in red rectangles, and the blue lines mark the area that was filmed in the video. Copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16070\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16070\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16070\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5-1200x675.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5-1200x675.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5-768x432.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-5.png 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16070\"><strong>Image 5.</strong> Screenschot of SunCalc at the execution location at 17 July 2017, 6:37 am.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16071\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16071\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16071\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"710\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6-1200x710.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6-1200x710.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6-300x177.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6-768x454.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-6.png 1322w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16071\"><strong>Image 6.</strong> An overlay of a still of the Incident Seven video on satellite imagery with a 3D reconstruction of the buildings in that area.</p></div>\n<p>On satellite imagery, vegetation patches and a hill are visible. These features directly correspond with the vegetation patches and hill which are visible in the Incident Seven video. Furthermore, the two sand tracks shown in the video are clearly visible on the satellite imagery.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16072\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16072\" class=\"wp-image-16072 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"908\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7-1200x908.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7-1200x908.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7-300x227.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7-768x581.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-7.png 1410w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16072\"><strong>Image 7.</strong> Top: Stitched panorama made out of stills from the execution video, vegetation marked in green rectangles, hill in brown rectangle. Bottom: The area on satellite imagery with the same vegetation marked in green rectangles, hill in brown rectangle, the red circle marks the position of the camera. Satellite imagery copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017</p></div>\n<p>Traces of the execution are also distinctly visible on July 17, 2017, satellite imagery of TerraServer. The satellite image’s resolution is 0.30m, the highest resolution available for consumers. Fifteen black spots are visible, which are very likely blood stains of the executed people. These spots are at the exact same location as where the twenty individuals were shot. Satellite imagery of the 11<sup>th</sup> and 14<sup>th</sup> of July 2017 clearly shows these spots were not visible yet on those dates.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16073\" style=\"width: 730px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-8.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16073\" class=\"wp-image-16073 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"358\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-8.jpg 720w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-8-300x149.jpg 300w\" width=\"720\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16073\"><strong>Image 8.</strong> Left: satellite imagery of 11 July 2017, no spots visible inside the red circle. Right: satellite imagery of 17 July 2017, approximately 15 spots visible inside the red circle. Copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16074\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16074\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16074\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9-1200x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9-1200x300.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9-300x75.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9-768x192.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9-600x150.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-9.png 1430w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16074\"><strong>Image 9.</strong> Comparison of the location of the bodies in the video and the spots in the satellite imagery makes clear the bodies in the video and the spots in the satellite imagery are on exactly the same location.</p></div>\n<h1><strong>How Was the Location Found?</strong></h1>\n<p>As mentioned in the previous article about the Werfalli executions, the buildings in the left upper side of the panorama gave a strong clue about the location of the video. The buildings visible in the video seem to be gray concrete buildings with “arches” without doors.</p>\n<p>Twitter user <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ROELart/status/905038892985933824\">@ROELart</a> mentioned that the video possibly was filmed in a southwest area of Benghazi because the color of the sand is more grey than in other areas of Benghazi, where colors of the sand are more orange or yellow.</p>\n<p>In that area we noticed many concrete buildings that were not finished yet, such as an area with new buildings that is named <a href=\"http://www.panoramio.com/photo/71913183\">‘Bingazi Meammar’</a>, located to the southwest of Benghazi, as described on <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=31.961666&amp;lon=19.995461&amp;z=15&amp;m=b\">Wikimapia</a>.</p>\n<p>Another area with ‘Chinese Buildings 24’ is mentioned on <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.020102&amp;lon=20.032582&amp;z=17&amp;m=b\">Wikimapia</a> as an area captured by the Libyan National Army (LNA) from the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council (BRSC) in January 2017. These buildings are a part of a much bigger project of new real estate, developed by China, for <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.011133&amp;lon=20.029020&amp;z=14&amp;m=b\">25.000 housing units</a> in the Ghanfuda area. Construction of the <a href=\"http://archive.is/YKzIV\">‘Chinese Buildings’</a> started in 2008 or 2009, but stopped in 2011 because of the civil war in Libya and <a href=\"http://archive.is/n3pAP\">thousands of Chinese construction workers</a> left Libya. The same year there were plans to continue the <a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20170915211626/http:/www.constructionweekonline.com/article-13577-china-government-eyes-return-to-benghazi-projects/\">construction</a>, but that never happened and the construction never was completed. In January 2017 terrorists were hiding inside ‘<a href=\"https://twitter.com/tomfeneux/status/824270725607555072\">Buildings 12’</a>, likely an area with <a href=\"http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&amp;lat=32.023814&amp;lon=20.039776&amp;z=18&amp;m=b\">12 buildings</a> in Ghanfuda, Benghazi.</p>\n<p>One photograph of the ‘Chinese Buildings’ strongly resembles to the buildings visible in the execution video, especially because of a structure where the front and side of the building are alternated. Satellite imagery of ‘Chinese Buildings’ confirmed the strong similarity. However, since the area consist of hundreds of these buildings, geolocating the right spot seemed a very difficult task.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16075\" style=\"width: 647px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-10.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16075\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16075\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"309\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-10.jpg 637w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-10-300x146.jpg 300w\" width=\"637\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16075\"><strong>Image 10.</strong> Buildings in the execution video (top) compared to the ‘Chinese Buildings’ (bottom).</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16076\" style=\"width: 629px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-11.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16076\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16076\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"454\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-11.jpg 619w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-11-300x220.jpg 300w\" width=\"619\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16076\"><strong>Image 11.</strong> Similarities between the ‘Chinese Buildings’ on satellite imagery (top) and the buildings visible on a distance in the execution video (bottom).</p></div>\n<p>Mohammed Al-Gali uploaded <a href=\"http://archive.is/T1fUh\">several videos</a> where similar unfinished concrete buildings are visible. On <a href=\"http://archive.is/6lbiM\">2 February 2017</a> he uploaded a video showing a panorama view around, filmed from the roof of one of the buildings. This video could be geolocated to  32° 1’31.29″N, 20° 1’48.84″E (<a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B001'31.3%22N+20%C2%B001'48.8%22E/@32.025358,20.0280443,928m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.025358!4d20.030233\">32.025358, 20.030233</a>) in a north western corner of the area with ‘Chinese Buildings’ in Ghanfuda. The description of the video likely refers to the ’12 buildings’ where terrorists were hiding and a battle against these terrorists.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16077\" style=\"width: 1085px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-12.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16077\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16077\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"669\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1075px) 100vw, 1075px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-12.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-12.jpg 1075w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-12-300x187.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-12-768x478.jpg 768w\" width=\"1075\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16077\"><strong>Image 12.</strong> Screenshot of the 2 February 2017 video, showing an area with unfinished concrete buildings and several cranes. The description mentions ’12 buildings’ and a battle with terrorists, who were hiding there.</p></div>\n<p>Two other videos, filmed on the <a href=\"http://archive.is/xMR8g\">12</a><sup>th</sup> (but uploaded at the 13<sup>th</sup>) and <a href=\"http://archive.is/Bwji3\">14<sup>th</sup> of June 2017</a>, show a group of people, including Werfalli and what appear to be soldiers of his unit, digging up a large number of munition and weapons, buried by the terrorists, with a bulldozer. These videos were geolocated at 32° 1’40.13″N, 20° 1’43.89″E (<a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B001'40.1%22N+20%C2%B001'43.9%22E/@32.027814,20.0266693,928m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.027814!4d20.028858\">32.027814, 20.028858</a>) and  32° 1’37.65″N, 20° 1’42.59″E (<a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B001'37.7%22N+20%C2%B001'42.6%22E/@32.027125,20.0263083,928m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.027125!4d20.028497\">32.027125, 20.028497</a>), just a few blocks of buildings away from the 2 February video location. Both videos mention that the ammunition and weapons were buried at sites inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16079\" style=\"width: 1204px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-13.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16079\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16079\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"472\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-13.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-13.jpg 1194w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-13-300x119.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-13-768x304.jpg 768w\" width=\"1194\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16079\"><strong>Image 13.</strong> Screenshots from the 12 and 14 June 2017 videos, showing unfinished concrete buildings, according to the description weapons and munition were buried inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16078\" style=\"width: 1206px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-14.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16078\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16078\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"461\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1196px) 100vw, 1196px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-14.jpg 1196w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-14-300x116.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-14-768x296.jpg 768w\" width=\"1196\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16078\"><strong>Image 14.</strong> Screenshots from the 12 and 14 June 2017 videos, showing unfinished concrete buildings, according to the description weapons and munition were buried inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.</p></div>\n<p>The 12<sup>th</sup> June 2017 video shows similar white cars as visible in the execution video, although a definitive match between these cars could not be made.</p>\n<p>Because the 2<sup>nd</sup> of February and the 12<sup>th</sup> and 14<sup>th</sup> June 2017 videos were filmed in the same area, Bellingcat expected the execution location to be in the same area as well. It was eventually a fence visible in the 12 June 2017 video that led to the execution location.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16080\" style=\"width: 1209px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-15.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16080\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"471\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-15.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-15.jpg 1199w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-15-300x118.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-15-768x302.jpg 768w\" width=\"1199\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16080\"><strong>Image 15.</strong> A fence to the north of the buildings is visible in the 12 June 2017 video (marked in red rectangle).</p></div>\n<p>On the northern side of the area with buildings and continuing to the western side of this area, a long fence consisting of poles leads from north to south. Following that fence to the south reveals an open area with several dirt tracks crossing each other. One of these crossings and the vegetation around turned out to be a perfect match with the landscape in the execution video.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_16081\" style=\"width: 850px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-16.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16081\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16081\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"735\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-16.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-16.jpg 840w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-16-300x263.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/09/Image-16-768x672.jpg 768w\" width=\"840\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-16081\"><strong>Image 16.</strong> Google Earth satellite imagery showing the locations of the 2 February, 12 and 14 June 2017 videos. The 17 July 2017 execution video was filmed in the same area.</p></div>\n<h1><strong>Conclusion</strong></h1>\n<p>The geolocation of the execution video of Incident Seven of the Werfalli executions is a very strong match. The similarities between the vegetation, sand tracks, buildings, fence and spots on the exact location where the twenty individuals were executed, allows the conclusion that the exact location of the executions has been found. Changes to satellite imagery strongly indicates Mahmoud Al-Werfalli commanded the execution of twenty individuals on this location at some point between the 15th and 17th of July, 2017 during the early morning. Werfalli himself states in the video the execution took place on July 17th, which is consistent in the changes in the satellite imagery.</p>\n<p><em>Update: In a previous version of this article, Mohammed Al-Gali was described as a potential person who filmed one or more videos described in this post along with the filmed individuals. Al-Gali has reached out to Bellingcat and refuted this, saying that he had nothing to do with the filming of the video, and that he reshared it from an earlier source. We have updated the article to remove any mention of  Al-Gali as a potential original source of the video.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "This article was collaboratively researched and written by the Bellingcat Investigation Team.\nIntroduction\nIn August 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrant solely based on social media evidence. The\narrest warrant\naccuses Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli (hereafter referred to as ‘Werfalli’), an alleged commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA), of mass executions in or near Benghazi.\nBellingcat has highlighted the importance of this development, which aligns the ICC with the realities of many of today’s conflicts, in an\nearlier article.\nThe article marked the start of a crowdsourcing campaign to geolocate the seven locations of the executions on which the arrest warrant is based. Four execution sites have been geolocated so far, and one of them – Incident Seven – is worth discussing in further depth as it is an excellent example of team work and using a wide variety of open source information such as satellite imagery, geotagged photos, conflict context, geolocations from other sources and news articles.\nThe Evidence: A Facebook Video\nThe\nvideo\nwhich prompted the ICC arrest warrant was uploaded on July 23, 2017, by a Facebook user named ‘\nMohammed Al-Gali\n’. The video has been deleted since, though an\narchived version\nexists.\nThe video shows the execution of twenty individuals who are, according to the description, “terrorists found guilty of kidnapping, torture, killing, bombing, and slaughtering” and members of the so-called Islamic State (IS). Werfalli is visible in the video and gives the order to execute the group of twenty individuals. According to the arrest warrant, Werfalli reads from a white document in the video of Incident Seven, and refers to a ‘decree decision’, which ‘shall be executed today 17/07/2017’.\nThe first part of the video shows the execution of eighteen people and the second part the execution of another two people. The long shadows in the video indicate it was filmed in the early morning (from north to south) or late afternoon (from south to north).\nThe Geolocation:\nBushes, Buildings, and Blood Stains\nAt first sight the video seems very difficult to geolocate, because of the apparent lack of identifiable landmarks. Aside from the twenty executed people, their executioners and a white car, mainly a desert landscape with two sand tracks, a few sand hills and some vegetation is visible. However, a stitched panorama of the video, published in Bellingcat’s previous article, shows buildings and a fence on a distance in the background.\nThe buildings are visible for less than a second, at 3m25s. A fence consisting of poles is visible in the second part of the video, from 4m19s onward. Besides the vegetation pattern, these are the only visual clues to go on for the geolocation.\nImage 1.\nA panorama of the execution site of Incident Seven. The panorama is composed out of stills of the Facebook video.\nImage 2.\nA still from the Incident Seven video at 3m25s, showing the structures in the background of the execution site.\nImage 3.\nA fence is visible in the background of a still of the video at 4m25s.\nThe Bellingcat team was able to geolocate the video in\nGhanfuda\n, which is situated in the western part of Benghazi.\nThe video was filmed from north to south, very likely on July 17, 2017, approximately at\n6:37 am\n. The coordinates of the execution area are\n32.023144, 20.029181\n.\nImage 4.\nThe location of the execution site as shown on Google Earth. The buildings and the fence shown in the Incident Seven video are highlighted in red rectangles, and the blue lines mark the area that was filmed in the video. Copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017\nImage 5.\nScreenschot of SunCalc at the execution location at 17 July 2017, 6:37 am.\nImage 6.\nAn overlay of a still of the Incident Seven video on satellite imagery with a 3D reconstruction of the buildings in that area.\nOn satellite imagery, vegetation patches and a hill are visible. These features directly correspond with the vegetation patches and hill which are visible in the Incident Seven video. Furthermore, the two sand tracks shown in the video are clearly visible on the satellite imagery.\nImage 7.\nTop: Stitched panorama made out of stills from the execution video, vegetation marked in green rectangles, hill in brown rectangle. Bottom: The area on satellite imagery with the same vegetation marked in green rectangles, hill in brown rectangle, the red circle marks the position of the camera. Satellite imagery copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017\nTraces of the execution are also distinctly visible on July 17, 2017, satellite imagery of TerraServer. The satellite image’s resolution is 0.30m, the highest resolution available for consumers. Fifteen black spots are visible, which are very likely blood stains of the executed people. These spots are at the exact same location as where the twenty individuals were shot. Satellite imagery of the 11\nth\nand 14\nth\nof July 2017 clearly shows these spots were not visible yet on those dates.\nImage 8.\nLeft: satellite imagery of 11 July 2017, no spots visible inside the red circle. Right: satellite imagery of 17 July 2017, approximately 15 spots visible inside the red circle. Copyright DigitalGlobe ©​ 2017\nImage 9.\nComparison of the location of the bodies in the video and the spots in the satellite imagery makes clear the bodies in the video and the spots in the satellite imagery are on exactly the same location.\nHow Was the Location Found?\nAs mentioned in the previous article about the Werfalli executions, the buildings in the left upper side of the panorama gave a strong clue about the location of the video. The buildings visible in the video seem to be gray concrete buildings with “arches” without doors.\nTwitter user\n@ROELart\nmentioned that the video possibly was filmed in a southwest area of Benghazi because the color of the sand is more grey than in other areas of Benghazi, where colors of the sand are more orange or yellow.\nIn that area we noticed many concrete buildings that were not finished yet, such as an area with new buildings that is named\n‘Bingazi Meammar’\n, located to the southwest of Benghazi, as described on\nWikimapia\n.\nAnother area with ‘Chinese Buildings 24’ is mentioned on\nWikimapia\nas an area captured by the Libyan National Army (LNA) from the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council (BRSC) in January 2017. These buildings are a part of a much bigger project of new real estate, developed by China, for\n25.000 housing units\nin the Ghanfuda area. Construction of the\n‘Chinese Buildings’\nstarted in 2008 or 2009, but stopped in 2011 because of the civil war in Libya and\nthousands of Chinese construction workers\nleft Libya. The same year there were plans to continue the\nconstruction\n, but that never happened and the construction never was completed. In January 2017 terrorists were hiding inside ‘\nBuildings 12’\n, likely an area with\n12 buildings\nin Ghanfuda, Benghazi.\nOne photograph of the ‘Chinese Buildings’ strongly resembles to the buildings visible in the execution video, especially because of a structure where the front and side of the building are alternated. Satellite imagery of ‘Chinese Buildings’ confirmed the strong similarity. However, since the area consist of hundreds of these buildings, geolocating the right spot seemed a very difficult task.\nImage 10.\nBuildings in the execution video (top) compared to the ‘Chinese Buildings’ (bottom).\nImage 11.\nSimilarities between the ‘Chinese Buildings’ on satellite imagery (top) and the buildings visible on a distance in the execution video (bottom).\nMohammed Al-Gali uploaded\nseveral videos\nwhere similar unfinished concrete buildings are visible. On\n2 February 2017\nhe uploaded a video showing a panorama view around, filmed from the roof of one of the buildings. This video could be geolocated to 32° 1’31.29″N, 20° 1’48.84″E (\n32.025358, 20.030233\n) in a north western corner of the area with ‘Chinese Buildings’ in Ghanfuda. The description of the video likely refers to the ’12 buildings’ where terrorists were hiding and a battle against these terrorists.\nImage 12.\nScreenshot of the 2 February 2017 video, showing an area with unfinished concrete buildings and several cranes. The description mentions ’12 buildings’ and a battle with terrorists, who were hiding there.\nTwo other videos, filmed on the\n12\nth\n(but uploaded at the 13\nth\n) and\n14\nth\nof June 2017\n, show a group of people, including Werfalli and what appear to be soldiers of his unit, digging up a large number of munition and weapons, buried by the terrorists, with a bulldozer. These videos were geolocated at 32° 1’40.13″N, 20° 1’43.89″E (\n32.027814, 20.028858\n) and 32° 1’37.65″N, 20° 1’42.59″E (\n32.027125, 20.028497\n), just a few blocks of buildings away from the 2 February video location. Both videos mention that the ammunition and weapons were buried at sites inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.\nImage 13.\nScreenshots from the 12 and 14 June 2017 videos, showing unfinished concrete buildings, according to the description weapons and munition were buried inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.\nImage 14.\nScreenshots from the 12 and 14 June 2017 videos, showing unfinished concrete buildings, according to the description weapons and munition were buried inside ‘Chinese Buildings’.\nThe 12\nth\nJune 2017 video shows similar white cars as visible in the execution video, although a definitive match between these cars could not be made.\nBecause the 2\nnd\nof February and the 12\nth\nand 14\nth\nJune 2017 videos were filmed in the same area, Bellingcat expected the execution location to be in the same area as well. It was eventually a fence visible in the 12 June 2017 video that led to the execution location.\nImage 15.\nA fence to the north of the buildings is visible in the 12 June 2017 video (marked in red rectangle).\nOn the northern side of the area with buildings and continuing to the western side of this area, a long fence consisting of poles leads from north to south. Following that fence to the south reveals an open area with several dirt tracks crossing each other. One of these crossings and the vegetation around turned out to be a perfect match with the landscape in the execution video.\nImage 16.\nGoogle Earth satellite imagery showing the locations of the 2 February, 12 and 14 June 2017 videos. The 17 July 2017 execution video was filmed in the same area.\nConclusion\nThe geolocation of the execution video of Incident Seven of the Werfalli executions is a very strong match. The similarities between the vegetation, sand tracks, buildings, fence and spots on the exact location where the twenty individuals were executed, allows the conclusion that the exact location of the executions has been found. Changes to satellite imagery strongly indicates Mahmoud Al-Werfalli commanded the execution of twenty individuals on this location at some point between the 15th and 17th of July, 2017 during the early morning. Werfalli himself states in the video the execution took place on July 17th, which is consistent in the changes in the satellite imagery.\nUpdate: In a previous version of this article, Mohammed Al-Gali was described as a potential person who filmed one or more videos described in this post along with the filmed individuals. Al-Gali has reached out to Bellingcat and refuted this, saying that he had nothing to do with the filming of the video, and that he reshared it from an earlier source. We have updated the article to remove any mention of Al-Gali as a potential original source of the video.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2017-10-20_new-mh17-photograph-geolocated-donetsk.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "new-mh17-photograph-geolocated-donetsk",
+  "title": "New MH17 Photograph Geolocated to Donetsk",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2017/10/20/new-mh17-photograph-geolocated-donetsk/",
+  "date": "2017-10-20T15:13:28+00:00",
+  "modified": "2022-01-18T15:51:35+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On October 19, 2017, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the Dutch-led criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine, published a new photograph Buk 332, the Russian Buk missile launcher that downed MH17 on July 17, 2014. Buk 332, previously identified by Bellingcat as ‘Buk 3×2,’ is an […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2017/10/20/new-mh17-photograph-geolocated-donetsk/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/ukraine/2017/10/20/jit-photo-geolocated/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>On October 19, 2017, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the Dutch-led criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine, <a href=\"https://www.politie.nl/themas/flight-mh17/witness-appeal-crash-mh17.html#alinea-title-information-about-photograph-buktelar\">published a new photograph Buk 332</a>, the Russian Buk missile launcher that downed MH17 on July 17, 2014. Buk 332, previously identified by Bellingcat as ‘Buk 3×2,’ is an anti-aircraft missile launcher belonging to Russia’s Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. The image shows the right side of the Buk, loaded on the red low loader. In publishing the photograph, the JIT wrote that the photograph was “probably taken on July 17, 2014 in the town of Makeevka, Ukraine,” but we can now conclusively say that the photograph was actually taken at 78 Prospekt Ilycha, at the intersection with Shakhtostroiteley, in Donetsk.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16437\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"768\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o-600x600.jpg 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o-125x125.jpg 125w\" width=\"768\"/></div></a></p>\n<h3><strong>The Hunt</strong></h3>\n<p>Using Check, a crowdsourced verification platform, <a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/980/media/6382\">we asked our readers</a> to contribute tips regarding the location of this photograph so that we could collectively geolocate this key piece of evidence concerning the downing of MH17.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Geolocating this <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MH17?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MH17</a> photograph seems impossible, but we already have a lead. Help us to crowdsource this task: <a href=\"https://t.co/OuZcd7fZbA\">https://t.co/OuZcd7fZbA</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/2P90SHMhxw\">pic.twitter.com/2P90SHMhxw</a></p>\n<p>— bellingcat (@bellingcat) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/921065663921381377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>One of the strongest candidates was 78 Prospekt Ilycha in Donetsk, due to previous witness accounts identifying a Buk missile launcher with its Russian/separatist convoy at this site.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16459\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1.jpg 806w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1-768x429.jpg 768w\" width=\"806\"/></div></a></p>\n<h5><em><a href=\"https://vk.com/wall-67445695_68330\">Source</a> (<a href=\"https://archive.today/olxfw\">Archive</a>)</em></h5>\n<blockquote><p><em>“Bad news. Around 9am, a hauler was going along the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Makiivs'ke+Hwy,+Donetsk,+Donetsk+Oblast,+Ukraine/@48.0071917,37.874506,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x40e091de49c130d9:0x8d325f71a4afe278\">Makeevka highway </a>from Makeevka in the direction of Donetsk. On the platform was a BukM1-M2? This <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-to-air_missile\">AAMS</a> proceeded to the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@48.0023894,37.8554593,881m/data=!3m1!1e3\">intersection with Shakhtostroiteley Boulevard</a>. The system was accompanied by a convoy that was composed of 1 gray Rav4 SUV, a camouflaged UAZ, and a dark blue Hyundai van with tinted windows. <strong>As of 9:15am, the vehicle was located at the intersection of Shakhtostroiteley and Ilycha. The militants got out of their cars, blocking 2 of the far left lanes.</strong> Obviously, they were waiting for logistical guidance.”</em></p></blockquote>\n<p>Numerous features in the photograph were also visible in Google Street View and Yandex Panorama imagery of the same location, including the two trees in the foreground, a gate beneath the Buk’s low-loader, a rock next to the nearest tree, and notches in the curb blocks.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Our first guess is in Donetsk, at the intersection of Sakhtostroiteley and Ilych (near a beauty salon). Weigh in at the Check page. <a href=\"https://t.co/1TlxxgEAtT\">pic.twitter.com/1TlxxgEAtT</a></p>\n<p>— bellingcat (@bellingcat) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/921060039296679938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The walkway along the salon, where cameraman stood, is much lower than the curb, which explains low position of camera on the \"BUK\" picture. <a href=\"https://t.co/xTb37YesAF\">pic.twitter.com/xTb37YesAF</a></p>\n<p>— Zitty (@zitty055) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/zitty055/status/921339380123471877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">One of the branches behind the hauler looks the same as a tree on Google Maps. <a href=\"https://t.co/1pKh0N3eJq\">pic.twitter.com/1pKh0N3eJq</a></p>\n<p>— Wout Mager (@Eworm_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Eworm_/status/921074835115204608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Looking the other side becomes even clearer; this is at the Illicha Ave in Donetsk. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/mh17?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#mh17</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/TkYpW0O665\">pic.twitter.com/TkYpW0O665</a></p>\n<p>— Roelard Smit (@ROELart) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ROELart/status/921316001341431808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">99% a match <a href=\"https://t.co/mbwHxG5ohE\">pic.twitter.com/mbwHxG5ohE</a></p>\n<p>— Lorenzo Romani (@lorenzoromani) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lorenzoromani/status/921126808485007362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>Taking these tips together, the following comparisons show how some key details match between the two photographs, making the site worthy of  further investigation to confirm the geolocation.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-16461 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"543\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1237px) 100vw, 1237px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation.jpg 1237w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation-300x132.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation-768x337.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation-1200x527.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1237\"/></div></a></p>\n<h5><em>Left: A part of a gate visible in an open space through the red low loader, just under the Buk missile launcher.</em><br/>\n<em>Right: the same type of gate visible on October 2011 Google Street View of Prospekt Illycha in Donetsk, Ukraine.</em></h5>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16472\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"778\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1551px) 100vw, 1551px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches.jpg 1551w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches-300x150.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches-768x385.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches-1200x602.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1551\"/></div></a></p>\n<h5><em>Left: The new Buk 332 photograph with a thick tree, a slanting branch of another tree, a little rock and notches in the curb, all marked in red.</em><br/>\n<em>Right: the same landmarks in Google Street View marked in red.</em></h5>\n<h3></h3>\n<h3><strong>Conclusive Evidence</strong></h3>\n<p>Today, at least one local in Donetsk snapped two photographs from this same location, attempting to confirm or refute a geolocation to Prospekt Ilycha in central Donetsk. These photographs were shared online by Christo Grozev and Rudy Bouma.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Photo from same location TODAY proves <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> &amp; global volunteers were on target <a href=\"https://t.co/TyENGC7qaI\">pic.twitter.com/TyENGC7qaI</a></p>\n<p>— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/921378370176405506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">And here is a more comprehensive angle from today <a href=\"https://t.co/KiQL3aAras\">pic.twitter.com/KiQL3aAras</a></p>\n<p>— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/921383987293147136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">(1) Pictures I had made today in DNR are placing new picture of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Buk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Buk</a> in Donetsk, not in Makeevka like <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JITMH17?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JITMH17</a> is suspecting. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MH17?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MH17</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/yNOTfTyxcM\">pic.twitter.com/yNOTfTyxcM</a></p>\n<p>— rudy bouma (@rudybouma) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rudybouma/status/921392817771106305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"nl\">(1) Gisteren vrijgegeven foto Buk lijkt op foto's die ik vandaag liet maken niet in Makeevka (zoals <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/JIT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#JIT</a> vermoedt) maar hier Donetsk. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MH17?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MH17</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/oJGyGqkvd6\">pic.twitter.com/oJGyGqkvd6</a></p>\n<p>— rudy bouma (@rudybouma) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rudybouma/status/921387895772078080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16466\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1167\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2374px) 100vw, 2374px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison.jpg 2374w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison-300x147.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison-768x378.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison-1200x590.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2374\"/></div></a></p>\n<h3><strong>Conclusion</strong></h3>\n<p>With this geolocation, we now have photographic evidence of a scene that was reported on by numerous locals: Buk 332, originating from Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, arrived in Donetsk from Makiivka around 9am on July 17, 2014, parked at the intersection of Prospekt Ilycha and Shakhtostroiteley, and then eventually turned towards the east-bound Prospekt Ilycha towards the Motel roundabout in Donetsk. The movement is shown in the map below, with the photographer of the original Buk photo facing south from building number 78.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16464\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"884\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2105px) 100vw, 2105px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh.jpg 2105w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh-300x126.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh-768x323.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh-1200x504.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2105\"/></div></a></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn October 19, 2017, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the Dutch-led criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine,\npublished a new photograph Buk 332\n, the Russian Buk missile launcher that downed MH17 on July 17, 2014. Buk 332, previously identified by Bellingcat as ‘Buk 3×2,’ is an anti-aircraft missile launcher belonging to Russia’s Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. The image shows the right side of the Buk, loaded on the red low loader. In publishing the photograph, the JIT wrote that the photograph was “probably taken on July 17, 2014 in the town of Makeevka, Ukraine,” but we can now conclusively say that the photograph was actually taken at 78 Prospekt Ilycha, at the intersection with Shakhtostroiteley, in Donetsk.\nThe Hunt\nUsing Check, a crowdsourced verification platform,\nwe asked our readers\nto contribute tips regarding the location of this photograph so that we could collectively geolocate this key piece of evidence concerning the downing of MH17.\nGeolocating this\n#MH17\nphotograph seems impossible, but we already have a lead. Help us to crowdsource this task:\nhttps://t.co/OuZcd7fZbA\npic.twitter.com/2P90SHMhxw\n— bellingcat (@bellingcat)\nOctober 19, 2017\nOne of the strongest candidates was 78 Prospekt Ilycha in Donetsk, due to previous witness accounts identifying a Buk missile launcher with its Russian/separatist convoy at this site.\nSource\n(\nArchive\n)\n“Bad news. Around 9am, a hauler was going along the\nMakeevka highway\nfrom Makeevka in the direction of Donetsk. On the platform was a BukM1-M2? This\nAAMS\nproceeded to the\nintersection with Shakhtostroiteley Boulevard\n. The system was accompanied by a convoy that was composed of 1 gray Rav4 SUV, a camouflaged UAZ, and a dark blue Hyundai van with tinted windows.\nAs of 9:15am, the vehicle was located at the intersection of Shakhtostroiteley and Ilycha. The militants got out of their cars, blocking 2 of the far left lanes.\nObviously, they were waiting for logistical guidance.”\nNumerous features in the photograph were also visible in Google Street View and Yandex Panorama imagery of the same location, including the two trees in the foreground, a gate beneath the Buk’s low-loader, a rock next to the nearest tree, and notches in the curb blocks.\nOur first guess is in Donetsk, at the intersection of Sakhtostroiteley and Ilych (near a beauty salon). Weigh in at the Check page.\npic.twitter.com/1TlxxgEAtT\n— bellingcat (@bellingcat)\nOctober 19, 2017\nThe walkway along the salon, where cameraman stood, is much lower than the curb, which explains low position of camera on the \"BUK\" picture.\npic.twitter.com/xTb37YesAF\n— Zitty (@zitty055)\nOctober 20, 2017\nOne of the branches behind the hauler looks the same as a tree on Google Maps.\npic.twitter.com/1pKh0N3eJq\n— Wout Mager (@Eworm_)\nOctober 19, 2017\nLooking the other side becomes even clearer; this is at the Illicha Ave in Donetsk.\n#mh17\npic.twitter.com/TkYpW0O665\n— Roelard Smit (@ROELart)\nOctober 20, 2017\n99% a match\npic.twitter.com/mbwHxG5ohE\n— Lorenzo Romani (@lorenzoromani)\nOctober 19, 2017\nTaking these tips together, the following comparisons show how some key details match between the two photographs, making the site worthy of further investigation to confirm the geolocation.\nLeft: A part of a gate visible in an open space through the red low loader, just under the Buk missile launcher.\nRight: the same type of gate visible on October 2011 Google Street View of Prospekt Illycha in Donetsk, Ukraine.\nLeft: The new Buk 332 photograph with a thick tree, a slanting branch of another tree, a little rock and notches in the curb, all marked in red.\nRight: the same landmarks in Google Street View marked in red.\nConclusive Evidence\nToday, at least one local in Donetsk snapped two photographs from this same location, attempting to confirm or refute a geolocation to Prospekt Ilycha in central Donetsk. These photographs were shared online by Christo Grozev and Rudy Bouma.\nPhoto from same location TODAY proves\n@bellingcat\n& global volunteers were on target\npic.twitter.com/TyENGC7qaI\n— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev)\nOctober 20, 2017\nAnd here is a more comprehensive angle from today\npic.twitter.com/KiQL3aAras\n— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev)\nOctober 20, 2017\n(1) Pictures I had made today in DNR are placing new picture of\n#Buk\nin Donetsk, not in Makeevka like\n@JITMH17\nis suspecting.\n#MH17\npic.twitter.com/yNOTfTyxcM\n— rudy bouma (@rudybouma)\nOctober 20, 2017\n(1) Gisteren vrijgegeven foto Buk lijkt op foto's die ik vandaag liet maken niet in Makeevka (zoals\n#JIT\nvermoedt) maar hier Donetsk.\n#MH17\npic.twitter.com/oJGyGqkvd6\n— rudy bouma (@rudybouma)\nOctober 20, 2017\nConclusion\nWith this geolocation, we now have photographic evidence of a scene that was reported on by numerous locals: Buk 332, originating from Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, arrived in Donetsk from Makiivka around 9am on July 17, 2014, parked at the intersection of Prospekt Ilycha and Shakhtostroiteley, and then eventually turned towards the east-bound Prospekt Ilycha towards the Motel roundabout in Donetsk. The movement is shown in the map below, with the photographer of the original Buk photo facing south from building number 78.",
+  "images": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/9OF67tBB15o.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/donetsketoukraina-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/gate_geolocation.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/notches.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/buk_comparison.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2017/10/map-kurazh.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2018-09-04_identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery -case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar.json

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+{
+  "slug": "identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery -case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar",
+  "title": "How to Identify Burnt Villages by Satellite Imagery  — Case-Studies from California, Nigeria and Myanmar",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/09/04/identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery -case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar/",
+  "date": "2018-09-04T05:16:49+00:00",
+  "modified": "2018-09-04T11:53:57+00:00",
+  "author": "Benjamin Strick",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)Evidence of human rights abuses often remains in some of the world’s most regional and unreachable parts. It is in these areas, where a view from satellite imagery above can be the sole method of visual evidence of bombings, attacks, and the destruction of communities. As satellite imagery becomes more available and technology […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/09/04/identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery%e2%80%8a-case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/putevoditeli/2018/10/12/identifying-burned-villages/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p class=\"graf graf--p\">Evidence of human rights abuses often remains in some of the world’s most regional and unreachable parts.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">It is in these areas, where a view from satellite imagery above can be the sole method of visual evidence of bombings, attacks, and the destruction of communities.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">As satellite imagery becomes more available and technology permits for more access, we are seeing overhead mapping play more of an integral role in media and human rights bodies to identify a chronological story of an area.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">For some areas, this may be through infrastructure expansions, military operations, or what new equipment has just landed on the tarmac. For other parts, satellite imagery can reveal signs of chemical attacks or villages that have been burnt to the ground.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">While this imagery does help, it does not replace evidence obtained from the ground — but it goes a long way to help us know what happens in these conflict areas.</p>\n<h2 class=\"graf graf--h3\">Creating a Fire Damage Reference Scale with Google Earth</h2>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_19652\" style=\"width: 810px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19652\" class=\"wp-image-19652 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"362\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS1.jpeg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS1.jpeg 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS1-300x136.jpeg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS1-768x348.jpeg 768w\" width=\"800\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-19652\">Satellite images courtesy of Google Earth / DigitalGlobe.</p></div>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">As a reference point for what fire damage looks like on satellite imagery, we can use California’s devastating 2017 fires as a litmus scale.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">The above images are available on Google Earth and are from <a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/uZ7YdMBigQD2\">Coffey Park</a>, a suburban area in Santa Rosa, California, that saw widespread destruction of houses, buildings, and bordering reserves.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">In the chronological satellite timeline above, you can see specific signs that a fire has taken place. These are signatures left on the earth when damage has been caused by fire, namely:</p>\n<ul class=\"postList\">\n<li class=\"graf graf--li\">Blackening of the earth where any grass or shrub once stood</li>\n<li class=\"graf graf--li\">Levelling of infrastructure exposing its foundations</li>\n<li class=\"graf graf--li\">Clear white patches formed by beds of ash</li>\n</ul>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">The most significant of these indicators to appear on imagery are the white patches of ash left behind, as you will see, these are significant markers when scanning more remote areas for signs of attacks against people and their homes.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">There are also other ways to confirm fire damage in satellite imagery, for this we can use <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https://www.sentinel-hub.com/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sentinel Hub</a> to determine vegetation levels and other useful options.</p>\n<h2 class=\"graf graf--h4\">Using Sentinel Hub to Confirm Fire Damage</h2>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Sentinel Hub’s playground feature has a number of interesting rendering options on its satellite imagery.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">A number of these can support our findings of fire damage. In the example above of the same urban area in Coffey Park, Santa Rosa, we can view the “Color Infrared (vegetation)” band on the satellite imagery.</p>\n<p>The zoom level is limited in Sentinel Hub, however using this filter to identify vegetation reveals a significant difference between pre-burn and post-burn. For widespread bushfires such as California’s fire, much of the red vegetation was burnt and destroyed, but there is a definite change in the level of bright red to a much darker image, indicating a significant loss of vegetation.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">This change in vegetation levels is illustrated in the images below. At the top is the concentration of vegetation in our area in Coffey Park from July, 2017, while on the bottom is the vegetation from October, 2017, after the fire had swept through.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19663\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"327\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS2-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS2-1.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS2-1-300x164.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19664\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"327\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS3-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS3-1.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS3-1-300x164.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Using these open source tools, we can find, identify, and analyse areas that have been caused by means other than natural causes.</p>\n<h2 class=\"graf graf--h3\">Identifying Villages Destroyed by Fire</h2>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Context also plays an important role in satellite imagery, as these overhead views will only go so far as to tell us that a building, hut, or community, has been destroyed.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">They will not tell us how it has been destroyed, or why, but using evidence from satellite imagery provides us with a firm timeline from which we can base our search filters on.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">This is where open source information, through the use of reports from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), human rights bodies, news agencies, and social media, in conjunction with satellite imagery, will create a much better picture of what has occurred.</p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/hkZdghLshK42\">Musari Village</a>, east of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno State, we can see evidence of damage to a number of the village’s huts.</p>\n<div class=\"image-comparator overlay hover\" style=\"width: 100%;\"><div class=\"images\"><div class=\"left\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS4.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"right\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/vs5.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"ic-clear\"><!-- Empty --></div></div><div class=\"slider\"><!-- Empty --></div></div>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">The area surrounding the village is dry with a lack of vegetation, therefore we do not see the blackening of the earth as widespread as in the Californian fires examples. However, it is evident that the small hut infrastructure has burned, leaving ash markings.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">In a closer view, we can see more of those signature markings.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19647 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"780\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS6.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS6.png 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS6-300x293.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS6-768x749.png 768w\" width=\"800\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Correlating this with a <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&amp;gl=us&amp;biw=1448&amp;bih=735&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A08+jan+2018%2Ccd_max%3A17+feb+2018&amp;tbm=nws&amp;ei=1A2NW9rqGtHVwAKV5qB4&amp;q=maiduguri%2C+village+burn&amp;oq=maiduguri%2C+village+burn&amp;gs_l=psy-ab.3...34109.36824.0.37260.14.14.0.0.0.0.63.710.14.14.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.63...33i10k1.0.-W3SYj3KgHM\">Google search</a> using the given dates on the satellite imagery indicate that this is an attack by Boko Haram militants.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/cUsScx9kbuy\">Dalori</a> (below), also near Maiduguri in Nigeria, shows evidence of more permanent structures that have been destroyed by fire.</p>\n<div class=\"image-comparator overlay hover\" style=\"width: 100%;\"><div class=\"images\"><div class=\"left\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS7.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"right\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS8.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"ic-clear\"><!-- Empty --></div></div><div class=\"slider\"><!-- Empty --></div></div>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Using Sentinel Hub’s vegetation feature, we can further highlight the changes we see on Google Earth.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Sentinel Hub imagery is also more frequently updated than Google Earth satellite imagery, so we are able to narrow down dates using these features.</p>\n<div class=\"image-comparator overlay hover\" style=\"width: 100%;\"><div class=\"images\"><div class=\"left\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS9.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"right\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS10.png\"/></div></div><div class=\"ic-clear\"><!-- Empty --></div></div><div class=\"slider\"><!-- Empty --></div></div>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">To substantiate the damage, a comparison between two dates can be made to see what has changed in this village.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">As you can see below, the area is the same, but on a chronological scale, they are completely different. Roofs are missing, walls destroyed, significant trees burnt and there is a blackening of the earth around the structures, indicative of scorching.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19642 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"657\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS11.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS11.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS11-274x300.png 274w\" width=\"600\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19641 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"661\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS12.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS12.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS12-272x300.png 272w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Running a chronologically filtered Google search between these dates provides us with <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/01/boko-haram-attack-children-among-villagers-burned-to-death-in-nigeria\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reports</a> of scores of children and adults that were burned to death in this village by more than 80 militants.</p>\n<h2 class=\"graf graf--h3\">Using the Burned Village Litmus on Myanmar</h2>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">As a standard approach, reporters and human rights researchers can use these tools to identify clear abuses, in conjunction with contextual information.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">For instance, in <a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/piT2xsf9QY32\">Myanmar’s Rakhine State</a>, where mass village destruction has been reported, the signs of village destruction are very evident.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19640 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"427\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS13.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS13.png 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS13-300x160.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS13-768x410.png 768w\" width=\"800\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Using Sentinel Hub, it is very easy to determine where fire has caused a rapid decrease in the vegetation count. You can see this in the following satellite imagery with the view at the top from July, 2017, and on the bottom, from October, 2017.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19639 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"329\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS14.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS14.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS14-300x165.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19638 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"329\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS15.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS15.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS15-300x165.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">As we can see in Sentinel Hub, vegetation can reveal where fires have been, whether it is in a Nigerian desert environment such as in the previous examples, or in a more vegetated environment such as Myanmar.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Taking a closer look at Google Earth imagery provides a more clear image as to the destruction of the overview of villages in the Rakhine State.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19637 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"559\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS16.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS16.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS16-300x280.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div><br/>\n<div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19636 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"558\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS17.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS17.png 600w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS17-300x279.png 300w\" width=\"600\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">In a closer look, we can see the same aspects that both the natural Californian fires had, as well as the deliberately burnt villages in Nigeria.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19635 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"745\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS18.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS18.png 800w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS18-300x279.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/09/VS18-768x715.png 768w\" width=\"800\"/></div></p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">These signature traits of white spots of ash, charred ground and a substantial decrease in vegetation (both visually and via band imaging) are present in all markings of burnt villages.</p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">All in all, satellite imagery allows anyone with an Internet connection to identify potential evidence of new human rights abuses, and such open-source information — from Google Earth or Sentinel Hub — and may just as well assist media and human rights organisations to verify such claims.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nEvidence of human rights abuses often remains in some of the world’s most regional and unreachable parts.\nIt is in these areas, where a view from satellite imagery above can be the sole method of visual evidence of bombings, attacks, and the destruction of communities.\nAs satellite imagery becomes more available and technology permits for more access, we are seeing overhead mapping play more of an integral role in media and human rights bodies to identify a chronological story of an area.\nFor some areas, this may be through infrastructure expansions, military operations, or what new equipment has just landed on the tarmac. For other parts, satellite imagery can reveal signs of chemical attacks or villages that have been burnt to the ground.\nWhile this imagery does help, it does not replace evidence obtained from the ground — but it goes a long way to help us know what happens in these conflict areas.\nCreating a Fire Damage Reference Scale with Google Earth\nSatellite images courtesy of Google Earth / DigitalGlobe.\nAs a reference point for what fire damage looks like on satellite imagery, we can use California’s devastating 2017 fires as a litmus scale.\nThe above images are available on Google Earth and are from\nCoffey Park\n, a suburban area in Santa Rosa, California, that saw widespread destruction of houses, buildings, and bordering reserves.\nIn the chronological satellite timeline above, you can see specific signs that a fire has taken place. These are signatures left on the earth when damage has been caused by fire, namely:\nBlackening of the earth where any grass or shrub once stood\nLevelling of infrastructure exposing its foundations\nClear white patches formed by beds of ash\nThe most significant of these indicators to appear on imagery are the white patches of ash left behind, as you will see, these are significant markers when scanning more remote areas for signs of attacks against people and their homes.\nThere are also other ways to confirm fire damage in satellite imagery, for this we can use\nSentinel Hub\nto determine vegetation levels and other useful options.\nUsing Sentinel Hub to Confirm Fire Damage\nSentinel Hub’s playground feature has a number of interesting rendering options on its satellite imagery.\nA number of these can support our findings of fire damage. In the example above of the same urban area in Coffey Park, Santa Rosa, we can view the “Color Infrared (vegetation)” band on the satellite imagery.\nThe zoom level is limited in Sentinel Hub, however using this filter to identify vegetation reveals a significant difference between pre-burn and post-burn. For widespread bushfires such as California’s fire, much of the red vegetation was burnt and destroyed, but there is a definite change in the level of bright red to a much darker image, indicating a significant loss of vegetation.\nThis change in vegetation levels is illustrated in the images below. At the top is the concentration of vegetation in our area in Coffey Park from July, 2017, while on the bottom is the vegetation from October, 2017, after the fire had swept through.\nUsing these open source tools, we can find, identify, and analyse areas that have been caused by means other than natural causes.\nIdentifying Villages Destroyed by Fire\nContext also plays an important role in satellite imagery, as these overhead views will only go so far as to tell us that a building, hut, or community, has been destroyed.\nThey will not tell us how it has been destroyed, or why, but using evidence from satellite imagery provides us with a firm timeline from which we can base our search filters on.\nThis is where open source information, through the use of reports from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), human rights bodies, news agencies, and social media, in conjunction with satellite imagery, will create a much better picture of what has occurred.\nIn\nMusari Village\n, east of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno State, we can see evidence of damage to a number of the village’s huts.\nThe area surrounding the village is dry with a lack of vegetation, therefore we do not see the blackening of the earth as widespread as in the Californian fires examples. However, it is evident that the small hut infrastructure has burned, leaving ash markings.\nIn a closer view, we can see more of those signature markings.\nCorrelating this with a\nGoogle search\nusing the given dates on the satellite imagery indicate that this is an attack by Boko Haram militants.\nDalori\n(below), also near Maiduguri in Nigeria, shows evidence of more permanent structures that have been destroyed by fire.\nUsing Sentinel Hub’s vegetation feature, we can further highlight the changes we see on Google Earth.\nSentinel Hub imagery is also more frequently updated than Google Earth satellite imagery, so we are able to narrow down dates using these features.\nTo substantiate the damage, a comparison between two dates can be made to see what has changed in this village.\nAs you can see below, the area is the same, but on a chronological scale, they are completely different. Roofs are missing, walls destroyed, significant trees burnt and there is a blackening of the earth around the structures, indicative of scorching.\nRunning a chronologically filtered Google search between these dates provides us with\nreports\nof scores of children and adults that were burned to death in this village by more than 80 militants.\nUsing the Burned Village Litmus on Myanmar\nAs a standard approach, reporters and human rights researchers can use these tools to identify clear abuses, in conjunction with contextual information.\nFor instance, in\nMyanmar’s Rakhine State\n, where mass village destruction has been reported, the signs of village destruction are very evident.\nUsing Sentinel Hub, it is very easy to determine where fire has caused a rapid decrease in the vegetation count. You can see this in the following satellite imagery with the view at the top from July, 2017, and on the bottom, from October, 2017.\nAs we can see in Sentinel Hub, vegetation can reveal where fires have been, whether it is in a Nigerian desert environment such as in the previous examples, or in a more vegetated environment such as Myanmar.\nTaking a closer look at Google Earth imagery provides a more clear image as to the destruction of the overview of villages in the Rakhine State.\nIn a closer look, we can see the same aspects that both the natural Californian fires had, as well as the deliberately burnt villages in Nigeria.\nThese signature traits of white spots of ash, charred ground and a substantial decrease in vegetation (both visually and via band imaging) are present in all markings of burnt villages.\nAll in all, satellite imagery allows anyone with an Internet connection to identify potential evidence of new human rights abuses, and such open-source information — from Google Earth or Sentinel Hub — and may just as well assist media and human rights organisations to verify such claims.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2018-11-08_europols-asian-city-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated.json

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+{
+  "slug": "europols-asian-city-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated",
+  "title": "Europol’s Asian City Child Abuse Photographs Geolocated",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2018/11/08/europols-asian-city-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated/",
+  "date": "2018-11-08T09:21:33+00:00",
+  "modified": "2018-11-08T09:55:32+00:00",
+  "author": "Daniel Romein",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)Since 2017 the European Union Agency of Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known as Europol, has been crowdsourcing parts of or heavily censored photographs, related to child abuse crimes in their “Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object” campaign. Within two weeks after the start of their campaign Europol received 10.000 contributions from the […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/11/08/europols-asian-city-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/casestudies/2018/12/17/europol-asia-geolocated/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p class=\"normal\">Since 2017 the European Union Agency of Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known as Europol, has been crowdsourcing parts of or heavily censored photographs, related to child abuse crimes in their “<a href=\"http://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object</span></a>” campaign.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Within two weeks after the start of their campaign Europol received 10.000 contributions from the public. Bellingcat, among many others, shared this <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2017/06/01/crowdsourcing-europols-stop-child-abuse-trace-object-campaign/\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">campaign</span></a> on the crowdsourcing platform <a href=\"https://checkmedia.org/bellingcat/project/741\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">Check</span></a>. Many followers of this campaign have helped by identifying objects and/or geolocating photographs. The location of a photograph in a hotel room was proved to be taken in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/895978347263668224\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">hotel on Mauritius</span></a> within 48 hours after Europol shared the photograph on Twitter.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Europol published a <a href=\"https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/you-have-identified-70-objects-taken-child-sexual-abuse-images\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">press release</span></a> on the success of their campaign earlier this year and mentioned that out of 70 objects, 25 of them were identified to one country or else to a reasonable number of countries of production and on <a href=\"http://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/your-help-we-are-21-000-steps-closer-to-saving-child-sexual-abuse\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">1 June 2018</span></a>, one year after the start of the campaign, a press release describes that Europol received 21.000 tips and more objects and countries of production were identified. Another press release from <a href=\"http://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/241-victims-of-child-sexual-abuse-safeguarded-thanks-to-global-law-enforcement-efforts\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">October 2018</span></a> makes clear that eight children have been identified and one offender has been arrested because of citizen efforts.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Europol shared new images on their website and via Twitter on 15 October 2018. These were mostly of objects that need to be identified, but there were also a few photographs that were taken outside and are possible to geolocate because of recognizable landmarks. Two of these photographs, taken from a roof of a building, show concrete buildings, and were presumably taken in an Asian city. According to Europol, a child was sexually abused in this city. Europol’s investigators need the location of the photograph to be able to trace the abuser and save a victim. The photographs are heavily censored, because of the sensitivity of the material.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20737\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20737\" class=\"wp-image-20737 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"670\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Europol_tweet_and_image-1200x670.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Europol_tweet_and_image-1200x670.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Europol_tweet_and_image-300x168.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Europol_tweet_and_image-768x429.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Europol_tweet_and_image.jpg 1241w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20737\">Europol’s tweet from 15 October 2018 (left) and the two photographs taken from a roof in an Asian city (right).</p></div>\n<h3><strong>Geolocation of the Photographs</strong></h3>\n<p>At first glance, the photograph doesn’t seem to contain many recognizable landmarks. No text is displayed on the buildings and the concrete architecture of the buildings only indicates that the photographs have been taken in an Asian city. Many Twitter users responded to the tweet and mentioned a former Soviet Republic, Malaysia, Philippines or Indonesia as possible locations where the photographs were taken, yet the majority of the responses indicated Southern China as the most likely location.</p>\n<p>Twitter user “Bo” contacted Bellingcat and mentioned the architecture especially shows similarity to the city of Shenzhen in Southern China. Bellingcat responded to Europol’s tweet with this information, included a photograph of similar architecture and an overlay image of the two photographs, mentioning a blue road sign and a structure similar to a satellite receiver on top of a building visible in the photographs.</p>\n<p>Sixteen days later, on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Olli_Enne/status/1057387644810919936\">31 October 2018</a> Twitter user Olli Enne from Finland geolocated the exact location of the photographs in the Bao’an district of Shenzhen in Southern China. According to Olli, the photographs have been taken from the roof of a building with coordinates <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/22°43'22.5%22N+114°03'11.5%22E/@22.7229167,114.0525651,233m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d22.7229167!4d114.0532\">22.722917, 114.053194</a> and, he explained, several buildings and a hill in the photographs match the buildings visible in satellite imagery. Also, a view line across a building with a blue roof to a building with arch shaped windows in the distance lines up with the view line in satellite imagery. In later tweets, Olli explained that he searched in Shenzhen and other major cities in China for several hours, looking for little green hills and road shapes, and that he draw a map how the area would look on satellite imagery.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20740\" style=\"width: 1230px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20740\" class=\"wp-image-20740 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"552\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1220px) 100vw, 1220px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Tweet_and_image_Olli_Enne.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Tweet_and_image_Olli_Enne.jpg 1220w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Tweet_and_image_Olli_Enne-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Tweet_and_image_Olli_Enne-768x347.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Tweet_and_image_Olli_Enne-1200x543.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1220\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20740\">Tweet from 31 October 2018 from Olli Enne (left) and the image that explains the geolocation of the photographs (right).</p></div>\n<p>The geolocation of the photographs could not be immediately verified by Bellingcat, as it wasn’t easy to match the buildings of the photographs to the buildings visible in satellite imagery, mainly because of the distance from the location where the photographs were presumably taken to these buildings.</p>\n<p>Yet due to street view on <a href=\"http://map.baidu.com/\">Baidu maps</a>, a Chinese web mapping system, we were able to verify that Olli’s geolocation is a perfect match. A white building visible on the left side in one of the photographs shows strong similarity to a building visible in a <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=01005700001402241307070225X&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=45.42&amp;pitch=18&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01005700001402241307070225X\">2014 street view</a> on Baidu, just as a white building with several balconies visible on the right side in one photograph shows a match to a building visible in an <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700011601061520481372C&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=70.1&amp;pitch=31.43&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700011601061520481372C\">older street view</a> as well. Also the buildings with <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700011601091308011072C&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=357.84&amp;pitch=15.39&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700011601091308011072C\">red</a> and <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709171615233118S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=113.97&amp;pitch=22.5&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709171615233118S\">orange</a> tiles on the roof from the photographs, as well as a blue road sign, are visible street view. <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=01005700001312011349400875M&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=122.67&amp;pitch=16.49&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01005700001312011349400875M\">A hotel</a> further away, the building with <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709181329543708S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=129.5&amp;pitch=19.61&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709181329543708S\">arch shaped windows</a> and <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709171545172258S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=39.71&amp;pitch=2.68&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709171545172258S\">several buildings</a> at the end of the road near a hill with trees, one of them <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700011606281628219578Y&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=46.82&amp;pitch=10.6&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700011606281628219578Y\">demolished in 2017</a>, are all visible in recent or older street views as well. Street view shows a white building with <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709171727508608S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=73.76&amp;pitch=33.14&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709171727508608S\">three antennas on the roof</a>, similar to a white building with what looks like three antennas on a roof in the photographs.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20742\" style=\"width: 718px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20742\" class=\"wp-image-20742 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"806\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_overview_lines.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_overview_lines.jpg 708w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_overview_lines-264x300.jpg 264w\" width=\"708\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20742\">Overlay image of Europol’s photographs with enhanced contrast. The distance between the buildings on the left and on the right side, as well as a blue road sign, indicate there’s a bigger road in between these buildings. A smaller street along the white building with balconies crosses this road. Several buildings and also the blue road sign from the photographs are visible in recent or older Baidu maps street views.</p></div>\n<p class=\"normal\">Also, the building from where the photographs were taken can be geolocated because of the red tiles on the eaves. <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=01005700001402241307210625X&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=237.82&amp;pitch=18.35&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01005700001402241307210625X\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">Street view from 2014</span></a> shows red tiles and even a pole on the roof, which is similar to a pole visible in one of the photographs.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20744\" style=\"width: 1076px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20744\" class=\"wp-image-20744 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"666\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_location_2014.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_location_2014.jpg 1066w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_location_2014-300x187.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_location_2014-768x480.jpg 768w\" width=\"1066\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20744\">The location from where the photographs were taken is the roof of a building visible in Baidu street view (red rectangle). Red tiles on the eaves and also a pole on the roof at the same location as in one of the photographs are clearly visible.</p></div>\n<p class=\"normal\">A Google Earth 3D view of the building the photographs were taken from in the same direction as in those photographs shows the same mountainscape. Particularly the shape of the mountain on the left side of the photographs is very similar to the shape of the mountains in the 3D view. A smaller mountain with a relatively high peak is more difficult to spot, but following a view line in the photographs from the location where they were taken in the direction of that mountain shows the same buildings in the 3D view that are visible in the photographs in that view line. Also the partly visible small green hill at the end of the road is clearly visible in Google’s 3D view.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20745\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20745\" class=\"wp-image-20745 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"718\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_view_Google-1200x718.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_view_Google-1200x718.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_view_Google-300x180.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_view_Google-768x460.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_photo_view_Google.jpg 1271w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20745\">Google Earth 3D view shows the same mountainscape and the nearby small green hill as visible in the photographs (marked in red rectangles). The green lines are the view lines that show the area that is visible in the photographs, while the yellow line shows the view from the building where the photographs have been taken to the smaller mountain with high peak.</p></div>\n<h3><strong>Estimating the Year the Photographs Were Taken</strong></h3>\n<p class=\"normal\">Because the buildings in the photographs show more similarity to the same buildings in older street view captures, it is clear that the photographs were not taken recently. A 2017 street view shows one of the buildings was even demolished and the buildings near to the location where the photographs were taken have brown netting, i.e. protective constructions for air conditioning. A 2014 street view capture shows GSM antennas on the white building on the left that are not visible in Europol’s photographs. Recent street view shows many GSM antennas and satellite receivers in the area, while the Europol photographs only show one satellite receiver and three antennas.</p>\n<p>Satellite imagery tells us the photographs had to have been taken after September 2002, as in the photographs one building clearly has a blue painted roof, which is not visible in satellite imagery from September 2002, but is visible in satellite imagery from February 2008. Also, <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=01005700001402241306225425X&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=174.51&amp;pitch=7.7&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01005700001402241306225425X\">two buildings</a> visible slightly in the distance on the right side in one of the two photographs are not visible in 2002 satellite imagery, but are visible in 2008 satellite imagery. <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@22.7274748,114.0629946,243m/data=!3m1!1e3\">A factory and other tall buildings</a>, visible in the photographs behind the building with arch shaped windows were not constructed before February 2003. Satellite imagery from November 2013 shows the construction of a high rise building that should be visible in one of the photographs if they were taken in or after 2013. However, a smaller building is visible in the photograph, but the high rise building that is standing behind it, as visible in <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709191109032788S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=105.32&amp;pitch=12.2&amp;l=15&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709191109032788S\">2016 street view</a>, is not visible in the photograph. It is very difficult, perhaps even impossible, to say exactly in which year the photographs were taken. The roughest estimation is between 2003 and 2013, so it’s most likely they were taken around 2008.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20747\" style=\"width: 1169px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20747\" class=\"wp-image-20747 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"590\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1159px) 100vw, 1159px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/buildings_right_far_away_and_huge_building_missing.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/buildings_right_far_away_and_huge_building_missing.jpg 1159w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/buildings_right_far_away_and_huge_building_missing-300x153.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/buildings_right_far_away_and_huge_building_missing-768x391.jpg 768w\" width=\"1159\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20747\">Left: two buildings visible on the right side in one of the two photographs that have been constructed after September 2002. Right: A high rise building constructed in 2013 that is not visible in Europol’s photographs, but the smaller building in front is visible.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20748\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20748\" class=\"wp-image-20748 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"523\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Google_view_2002_2008-1200x523.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Google_view_2002_2008-1200x523.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Google_view_2002_2008-300x131.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Google_view_2002_2008-768x334.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Google_view_2002_2008.jpg 1876w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20748\">Satellite imagery of the area visible in the photographs from 2002 compared to imagery of 2008: a blue painted roof (blue square) and two buildings (green rectangle) from the photographs are visible in 2008, but not in the 2002 satellite imagery.</p></div>\n<h3><strong>The Initial Research</strong></h3>\n<p>The next part describes the initial research of Bellingcat and others, that eventually helped Olli Enne in finding the exact location. This initial research specifies many details, which mainly are added to show our method of working, but also to show which exact steps were needed to come to our results.</p>\n<p>Bellingcat’s research started when <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HikikoB0\">Twitter user “Bo</a>” shared a <a href=\"https://youtu.be/omH-DyUBzqA?t=256\">video</a> filmed in Shenzhen, China, showing very similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs at the 4:17 time mark.<strong> Important note</strong>: The people in the video have no relation at all to Europol’s campaign, the video is just meant as an illustration of what the architecture in Shenzhen looks like.</p>\n<p>“Bo,” who is very involved in Europol’s campaign, has cooperated with Bellingcat for this cause and is a member of research collective <a href=\"http://socialmediadna.nl/interview-met-burgerspeurneuzen-van-serendip/\">Serendip</a>, which played an important role in solving one of the biggest child abuse cases in the Netherlands.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20749\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20749\" class=\"wp-image-20749 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"834\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_first_location-1200x834.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_first_location-1200x834.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_first_location-300x209.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_first_location-768x534.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_first_location.jpg 1280w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20749\">A screenshot from a video filmed in Shenzhen, China, showing very similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs. The building on the front from the video has similar windows as a building on the left side in one of the photographs. Also, the smaller buildings in the area with red and orange tiles bear similarities to buildings visible in the photographs.</p></div>\n<p>The video doesn’t give much clues as to the several locations where it was filmed, certainly not for people who are not able to read Chinese. One part obviously is filmed in <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@22.4863301,113.9114848,482m/data=!3m1!1e3\">Shekou</a>, a modern harbour area with many high rise buildings and clearly not in the same location as the older buildings.</p>\n<p>A Cantonese restaurant, visible shortly before the part featuring the older buildings and filmed likely in the same area, is geolocatable for a Chinese speaker. However, text recognition with a OCR-tool didn’t work, because the characters are in a particular style and also not filmed in a straight angle. An earlier part in the video, on the other hand, shows a street with shops. At the wall on the side of one of the shops a small blue sign with a street name is visible, but the same street name and house number is also more clearly visible on the store sign itself. The colon after two characters indicates the name of the street starts after that colon.</p>\n<p>An aforementioned free online OCR-tool, <a href=\"http://www.newocr.com\">NewOCR</a>, can be used to recognize text in many languages. However, the tool is quite sensitive in a way that the text has to be straight and no other parts of the image can be included, the smallest deviation results in the tool not recognizing the text. After a few (partly) failed attempts, the tool recognized the text as 南岭东路49号, which (literally) translates as “Nanling East Road 49 number.” <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nan+Ling+Dong+Lu,+Longgang+Qu,+Shenzhen+Shi,+Guangdong+Sheng,+China,+518123/@22.6115069,114.150187,488m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x34047550c1b060bd:0xe88140707ada9964!8m2!3d22.6115069!4d114.1512872\">Google maps</a> doesn’t display the correct location, but it seems to be the correct area. However, Baidu maps shows the <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/#panoid=01005700001311281241352805N&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=154.22&amp;pitch=-2.32&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01005700001311281241352805N\">correct location</a> with a search for 南岭��路49 (without word “number”). The stores have changed between the street view date and the date the video was filmed, but it’s obviously the same location.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20750\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20750\" class=\"wp-image-20750 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_restaurant_shops-1200x449.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_restaurant_shops-1200x449.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_restaurant_shops-300x112.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_restaurant_shops-768x288.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_restaurant_shops.jpg 1239w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20750\">Screenshots from the video showing a Cantonese restaurant (left) and shops on Nanling East Road nr. 49 (right). The name of the street including house number is marked with a blue rectangle and this part of the image was used to read the text with an OCR-tool.</p></div>\n<p class=\"normal\">A short part of the video shows a drone shot from the area and suggests the Cantonese restaurant is one of the buildings visible in the drone shot. <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@22.6133657,114.1502636,276m/data=!3m1!1e3\"><span style=\"color: windowtext\">The area of the drone shot</span></a> is found easily near to the location of the shops on Nanling East Road. Particularly, a building with a blue and white roof is very recognizable.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20751\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20751\" class=\"wp-image-20751 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"339\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_map_comparison-1200x339.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_map_comparison-1200x339.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_map_comparison-300x85.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_map_comparison-768x217.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_map_comparison.jpg 1215w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20751\">Screenshot from the video showing a drone shot (left) and the same location on Google Earth (right).</p></div>\n<p>From here, the exact location of the buildings visible on 4:17 in the video is also not hard to find, as it is just a bit further south from the drone shot area. The high rise buildings visible in the video, but also the area in the video at 4:20 (showing a green edge and a small building with a blue roof next to a higher building) is visible in satellite imagery.</p>\n<p>A closer look at the part of video that shows the Cantonese restaurant at 3:43 shows the same green edge in the distance and the same buildings visible at 4:17. Bellingcat contacted a person living in Shenzhen about the location of the restaurant and the spelling in Chinese characters. This individual told us that the name of the restaurant is spelled 金沙湾茶餐厅, which translates as Golden Sands Bay Tea Restaurant. The restaurant is displayed on <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E9%87%91%E6%B2%99%E6%B9%BE%E8%8C%B6%E9%A4%90%E5%8E%85/@22.609554,114.1499376,948m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3404754e199c5a1f:0x3d2703c8b46e9597!8m2!3d22.608047!4d114.155731\">Google maps</a> in the correct street, but the map doesn’t match the satellite imagery exactly. The map, in fact, moves the restaurant 500 meters to the east of the real location on satellite imagery. <a href=\"http://j.map.baidu.com/aKWp2\">Baidu maps</a> shows the restaurant almost at the right location and displays a few reviews, as well as an older photograph of the restaurant. The address of the restaurant, 深圳市龙岗区樟树布新村一巷10, which translates very odd, is in fact the <a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/place/%E9%87%91%E6%B2%99%E6%B9%BE%E8%8C%B6%E9%A4%90%E5%8E%85/@22.6079259,114.1552763,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x3404754e199c5a1f:0x3d2703c8b46e9597!8m2!3d22.608047!4d114.155731\">first alley</a> on nr. 10 of that neighbourhood (Yushubu new village) in Longgang district, Shenzhen.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20753\" style=\"width: 1164px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20753\" class=\"wp-image-20753 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"706\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1154px) 100vw, 1154px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_roll_area.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_roll_area.jpg 1154w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_roll_area-300x184.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/Shenzhen_roll_area-768x470.jpg 768w\" width=\"1154\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20753\">The exact location marked by a red dot where the video is filmed from at the 4:17 mark: the buildings with similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs and the high rise buildings are visible to the east from the red dot. The green edge and small building with a blue roof are to the south-southwest of the red dot. The Cantonese restaurant is marked in an orange square.</p></div>\n<p class=\"normal\">Unfortunately, no match was found between this eastern suburb of Shenzhen and Europol’s photographs, although the mountainscape in eastern direction seems to be a match. After finding many more areas in Shenzhen with similar architecture and mountain scapes, no precise match to the photographs was found. We realized that the chance to find the exact location in a city of 2000 square kilometers (compare it to London, with 1500 square kilometers) is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At that time it was not even clear the location is in Shenzhen, as other major cities in the area like Dongguan, Guangzhou and likely many more cities in China have similar architecture.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Yet the Bellingcat team found another clue that the photographs possibly were taken in a northern or eastern suburb of Shenzhen: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/VtkD8adNNjk?t=1595\">a video filmed from a tram</a> in Shenzhen shows a building with three antennas on the roof, very similar to what looks like three antennas on top of a building in one of the photographs. We also noticed many satellite receivers on the roofs of many buildings in the same area. By following the direction of the tram in the video simultaneously to the <a href=\"http://map.baidu.com/#panoid=09005700121709221701255708S&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=270.42&amp;pitch=-6.42&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09005700121709221701255708S\">street view in Baidu</a> we were able to find the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@22.7119308,114.0538656,137m/data=!3m1!1e3\">exact location</a> of the building with three antennas.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">In this area, we also could not find an exact match with Europol’s photographs, but we noticed again the similarity between the architecture of this area and the photographs. A few days later, when the exact location was found by Twitter user Olli Enne, we realized how close we were to the exact spot: 1.2 kilometer as the crow flies or a 20 minute, 1.5 kilometer walk. The tram in the video stops at Xinlan, which is even less than a kilometer from the exact photograph’s location.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_20755\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20755\" class=\"wp-image-20755 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/satellite-receiver_and-dish-00002-1200x675.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/satellite-receiver_and-dish-00002-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/satellite-receiver_and-dish-00002-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/satellite-receiver_and-dish-00002-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/satellite-receiver_and-dish-00002.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-20755\">A screenshot of a video filmed from the Qinghu-Xinlan tram in Shenzhen shows three antennas on a roof of a building with a similar shape as a structure visible in Europol’s photographs and a satellite dish is also visible. A street view of the same area shows many more satellite dishes.</p></div>\n<h3><strong>Conclusion</strong></h3>\n<p class=\"normal\">This research shows that in a complex investigation tiny details can be very important. The architecture, the tiles with red and orange colors, the blue roof and the mountainous area narrowed down the research to Southern China. Details in a video lead us to an eastern suburb of Shenzhen with similar architecture. Another video shows us GSM antennas and a satellite dish, also visible in the photographs, and lead us to a northern suburb of Shenzhen. Tiny details as buildings that are not visible in the photographs, but are visible in satellite imagery, and GSM antennas missing in the photographs, but which are visible in street view, show the photographs are at least five years old, likely even older.</p>\n<p class=\"normal\">It takes hours of research, and a complex investigation as this one clearly can not be solved by one person or a small team; a crowdsourced wisdom is required to solve cases like this. When even with crowdsourcing a location or an object can’t be found, it can feel very frustrating. Yet, when a photograph is geolocated or an object is recognized, you realize that there is a chance that the case will be solved and someone will get arrested for a serious crime — and it was you who contributed to that.</p>\n<p><em>Research by Daniel Romein and Timmi Allen, editing by Natalia Antonova.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nSince 2017 the European Union Agency of Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known as Europol, has been crowdsourcing parts of or heavily censored photographs, related to child abuse crimes in their “\nStop Child Abuse – Trace an Object\n” campaign.\nWithin two weeks after the start of their campaign Europol received 10.000 contributions from the public. Bellingcat, among many others, shared this\ncampaign\non the crowdsourcing platform\nCheck\n. Many followers of this campaign have helped by identifying objects and/or geolocating photographs. The location of a photograph in a hotel room was proved to be taken in a\nhotel on Mauritius\nwithin 48 hours after Europol shared the photograph on Twitter.\nEuropol published a\npress release\non the success of their campaign earlier this year and mentioned that out of 70 objects, 25 of them were identified to one country or else to a reasonable number of countries of production and on\n1 June 2018\n, one year after the start of the campaign, a press release describes that Europol received 21.000 tips and more objects and countries of production were identified. Another press release from\nOctober 2018\nmakes clear that eight children have been identified and one offender has been arrested because of citizen efforts.\nEuropol shared new images on their website and via Twitter on 15 October 2018. These were mostly of objects that need to be identified, but there were also a few photographs that were taken outside and are possible to geolocate because of recognizable landmarks. Two of these photographs, taken from a roof of a building, show concrete buildings, and were presumably taken in an Asian city. According to Europol, a child was sexually abused in this city. Europol’s investigators need the location of the photograph to be able to trace the abuser and save a victim. The photographs are heavily censored, because of the sensitivity of the material.\nEuropol’s tweet from 15 October 2018 (left) and the two photographs taken from a roof in an Asian city (right).\nGeolocation of the Photographs\nAt first glance, the photograph doesn’t seem to contain many recognizable landmarks. No text is displayed on the buildings and the concrete architecture of the buildings only indicates that the photographs have been taken in an Asian city. Many Twitter users responded to the tweet and mentioned a former Soviet Republic, Malaysia, Philippines or Indonesia as possible locations where the photographs were taken, yet the majority of the responses indicated Southern China as the most likely location.\nTwitter user “Bo” contacted Bellingcat and mentioned the architecture especially shows similarity to the city of Shenzhen in Southern China. Bellingcat responded to Europol’s tweet with this information, included a photograph of similar architecture and an overlay image of the two photographs, mentioning a blue road sign and a structure similar to a satellite receiver on top of a building visible in the photographs.\nSixteen days later, on\n31 October 2018\nTwitter user Olli Enne from Finland geolocated the exact location of the photographs in the Bao’an district of Shenzhen in Southern China. According to Olli, the photographs have been taken from the roof of a building with coordinates\n22.722917, 114.053194\nand, he explained, several buildings and a hill in the photographs match the buildings visible in satellite imagery. Also, a view line across a building with a blue roof to a building with arch shaped windows in the distance lines up with the view line in satellite imagery. In later tweets, Olli explained that he searched in Shenzhen and other major cities in China for several hours, looking for little green hills and road shapes, and that he draw a map how the area would look on satellite imagery.\nTweet from 31 October 2018 from Olli Enne (left) and the image that explains the geolocation of the photographs (right).\nThe geolocation of the photographs could not be immediately verified by Bellingcat, as it wasn’t easy to match the buildings of the photographs to the buildings visible in satellite imagery, mainly because of the distance from the location where the photographs were presumably taken to these buildings.\nYet due to street view on\nBaidu maps\n, a Chinese web mapping system, we were able to verify that Olli’s geolocation is a perfect match. A white building visible on the left side in one of the photographs shows strong similarity to a building visible in a\n2014 street view\non Baidu, just as a white building with several balconies visible on the right side in one photograph shows a match to a building visible in an\nolder street view\nas well. Also the buildings with\nred\nand\norange\ntiles on the roof from the photographs, as well as a blue road sign, are visible street view.\nA hotel\nfurther away, the building with\narch shaped windows\nand\nseveral buildings\nat the end of the road near a hill with trees, one of them\ndemolished in 2017\n, are all visible in recent or older street views as well. Street view shows a white building with\nthree antennas on the roof\n, similar to a white building with what looks like three antennas on a roof in the photographs.\nOverlay image of Europol’s photographs with enhanced contrast. The distance between the buildings on the left and on the right side, as well as a blue road sign, indicate there’s a bigger road in between these buildings. A smaller street along the white building with balconies crosses this road. Several buildings and also the blue road sign from the photographs are visible in recent or older Baidu maps street views.\nAlso, the building from where the photographs were taken can be geolocated because of the red tiles on the eaves.\nStreet view from 2014\nshows red tiles and even a pole on the roof, which is similar to a pole visible in one of the photographs.\nThe location from where the photographs were taken is the roof of a building visible in Baidu street view (red rectangle). Red tiles on the eaves and also a pole on the roof at the same location as in one of the photographs are clearly visible.\nA Google Earth 3D view of the building the photographs were taken from in the same direction as in those photographs shows the same mountainscape. Particularly the shape of the mountain on the left side of the photographs is very similar to the shape of the mountains in the 3D view. A smaller mountain with a relatively high peak is more difficult to spot, but following a view line in the photographs from the location where they were taken in the direction of that mountain shows the same buildings in the 3D view that are visible in the photographs in that view line. Also the partly visible small green hill at the end of the road is clearly visible in Google’s 3D view.\nGoogle Earth 3D view shows the same mountainscape and the nearby small green hill as visible in the photographs (marked in red rectangles). The green lines are the view lines that show the area that is visible in the photographs, while the yellow line shows the view from the building where the photographs have been taken to the smaller mountain with high peak.\nEstimating the Year the Photographs Were Taken\nBecause the buildings in the photographs show more similarity to the same buildings in older street view captures, it is clear that the photographs were not taken recently. A 2017 street view shows one of the buildings was even demolished and the buildings near to the location where the photographs were taken have brown netting, i.e. protective constructions for air conditioning. A 2014 street view capture shows GSM antennas on the white building on the left that are not visible in Europol’s photographs. Recent street view shows many GSM antennas and satellite receivers in the area, while the Europol photographs only show one satellite receiver and three antennas.\nSatellite imagery tells us the photographs had to have been taken after September 2002, as in the photographs one building clearly has a blue painted roof, which is not visible in satellite imagery from September 2002, but is visible in satellite imagery from February 2008. Also,\ntwo buildings\nvisible slightly in the distance on the right side in one of the two photographs are not visible in 2002 satellite imagery, but are visible in 2008 satellite imagery.\nA factory and other tall buildings\n, visible in the photographs behind the building with arch shaped windows were not constructed before February 2003. Satellite imagery from November 2013 shows the construction of a high rise building that should be visible in one of the photographs if they were taken in or after 2013. However, a smaller building is visible in the photograph, but the high rise building that is standing behind it, as visible in\n2016 street view\n, is not visible in the photograph. It is very difficult, perhaps even impossible, to say exactly in which year the photographs were taken. The roughest estimation is between 2003 and 2013, so it’s most likely they were taken around 2008.\nLeft: two buildings visible on the right side in one of the two photographs that have been constructed after September 2002. Right: A high rise building constructed in 2013 that is not visible in Europol’s photographs, but the smaller building in front is visible.\nSatellite imagery of the area visible in the photographs from 2002 compared to imagery of 2008: a blue painted roof (blue square) and two buildings (green rectangle) from the photographs are visible in 2008, but not in the 2002 satellite imagery.\nThe Initial Research\nThe next part describes the initial research of Bellingcat and others, that eventually helped Olli Enne in finding the exact location. This initial research specifies many details, which mainly are added to show our method of working, but also to show which exact steps were needed to come to our results.\nBellingcat’s research started when\nTwitter user “Bo\n” shared a\nvideo\nfilmed in Shenzhen, China, showing very similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs at the 4:17 time mark.\nImportant note\n: The people in the video have no relation at all to Europol’s campaign, the video is just meant as an illustration of what the architecture in Shenzhen looks like.\n“Bo,” who is very involved in Europol’s campaign, has cooperated with Bellingcat for this cause and is a member of research collective\nSerendip\n, which played an important role in solving one of the biggest child abuse cases in the Netherlands.\nA screenshot from a video filmed in Shenzhen, China, showing very similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs. The building on the front from the video has similar windows as a building on the left side in one of the photographs. Also, the smaller buildings in the area with red and orange tiles bear similarities to buildings visible in the photographs.\nThe video doesn’t give much clues as to the several locations where it was filmed, certainly not for people who are not able to read Chinese. One part obviously is filmed in\nShekou\n, a modern harbour area with many high rise buildings and clearly not in the same location as the older buildings.\nA Cantonese restaurant, visible shortly before the part featuring the older buildings and filmed likely in the same area, is geolocatable for a Chinese speaker. However, text recognition with a OCR-tool didn’t work, because the characters are in a particular style and also not filmed in a straight angle. An earlier part in the video, on the other hand, shows a street with shops. At the wall on the side of one of the shops a small blue sign with a street name is visible, but the same street name and house number is also more clearly visible on the store sign itself. The colon after two characters indicates the name of the street starts after that colon.\nAn aforementioned free online OCR-tool,\nNewOCR\n, can be used to recognize text in many languages. However, the tool is quite sensitive in a way that the text has to be straight and no other parts of the image can be included, the smallest deviation results in the tool not recognizing the text. After a few (partly) failed attempts, the tool recognized the text as 南岭东路49号, which (literally) translates as “Nanling East Road 49 number.”\nGoogle maps\ndoesn’t display the correct location, but it seems to be the correct area. However, Baidu maps shows the\ncorrect location\nwith a search for 南岭东路49 (without word “number”). The stores have changed between the street view date and the date the video was filmed, but it’s obviously the same location.\nScreenshots from the video showing a Cantonese restaurant (left) and shops on Nanling East Road nr. 49 (right). The name of the street including house number is marked with a blue rectangle and this part of the image was used to read the text with an OCR-tool.\nA short part of the video shows a drone shot from the area and suggests the Cantonese restaurant is one of the buildings visible in the drone shot.\nThe area of the drone shot\nis found easily near to the location of the shops on Nanling East Road. Particularly, a building with a blue and white roof is very recognizable.\nScreenshot from the video showing a drone shot (left) and the same location on Google Earth (right).\nFrom here, the exact location of the buildings visible on 4:17 in the video is also not hard to find, as it is just a bit further south from the drone shot area. The high rise buildings visible in the video, but also the area in the video at 4:20 (showing a green edge and a small building with a blue roof next to a higher building) is visible in satellite imagery.\nA closer look at the part of video that shows the Cantonese restaurant at 3:43 shows the same green edge in the distance and the same buildings visible at 4:17. Bellingcat contacted a person living in Shenzhen about the location of the restaurant and the spelling in Chinese characters. This individual told us that the name of the restaurant is spelled 金沙湾茶餐厅, which translates as Golden Sands Bay Tea Restaurant. The restaurant is displayed on\nGoogle maps\nin the correct street, but the map doesn’t match the satellite imagery exactly. The map, in fact, moves the restaurant 500 meters to the east of the real location on satellite imagery.\nBaidu maps\nshows the restaurant almost at the right location and displays a few reviews, as well as an older photograph of the restaurant. The address of the restaurant, 深圳市龙岗区樟树布新村一巷10, which translates very odd, is in fact the\nfirst alley\non nr. 10 of that neighbourhood (Yushubu new village) in Longgang district, Shenzhen.\nThe exact location marked by a red dot where the video is filmed from at the 4:17 mark: the buildings with similar architecture as in Europol’s photographs and the high rise buildings are visible to the east from the red dot. The green edge and small building with a blue roof are to the south-southwest of the red dot. The Cantonese restaurant is marked in an orange square.\nUnfortunately, no match was found between this eastern suburb of Shenzhen and Europol’s photographs, although the mountainscape in eastern direction seems to be a match. After finding many more areas in Shenzhen with similar architecture and mountain scapes, no precise match to the photographs was found. We realized that the chance to find the exact location in a city of 2000 square kilometers (compare it to London, with 1500 square kilometers) is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At that time it was not even clear the location is in Shenzhen, as other major cities in the area like Dongguan, Guangzhou and likely many more cities in China have similar architecture.\nYet the Bellingcat team found another clue that the photographs possibly were taken in a northern or eastern suburb of Shenzhen:\na video filmed from a tram\nin Shenzhen shows a building with three antennas on the roof, very similar to what looks like three antennas on top of a building in one of the photographs. We also noticed many satellite receivers on the roofs of many buildings in the same area. By following the direction of the tram in the video simultaneously to the\nstreet view in Baidu\nwe were able to find the\nexact location\nof the building with three antennas.\nIn this area, we also could not find an exact match with Europol’s photographs, but we noticed again the similarity between the architecture of this area and the photographs. A few days later, when the exact location was found by Twitter user Olli Enne, we realized how close we were to the exact spot: 1.2 kilometer as the crow flies or a 20 minute, 1.5 kilometer walk. The tram in the video stops at Xinlan, which is even less than a kilometer from the exact photograph’s location.\nA screenshot of a video filmed from the Qinghu-Xinlan tram in Shenzhen shows three antennas on a roof of a building with a similar shape as a structure visible in Europol’s photographs and a satellite dish is also visible. A street view of the same area shows many more satellite dishes.\nConclusion\nThis research shows that in a complex investigation tiny details can be very important. The architecture, the tiles with red and orange colors, the blue roof and the mountainous area narrowed down the research to Southern China. Details in a video lead us to an eastern suburb of Shenzhen with similar architecture. Another video shows us GSM antennas and a satellite dish, also visible in the photographs, and lead us to a northern suburb of Shenzhen. Tiny details as buildings that are not visible in the photographs, but are visible in satellite imagery, and GSM antennas missing in the photographs, but which are visible in street view, show the photographs are at least five years old, likely even older.\nIt takes hours of research, and a complex investigation as this one clearly can not be solved by one person or a small team; a crowdsourced wisdom is required to solve cases like this. When even with crowdsourcing a location or an object can’t be found, it can feel very frustrating. Yet, when a photograph is geolocated or an object is recognized, you realize that there is a chance that the case will be solved and someone will get arrested for a serious crime — and it was you who contributed to that.\nResearch by Daniel Romein and Timmi Allen, editing by Natalia Antonova.",
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+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2018-11-19_using-time-lapse-satellite-imagery-detect-infrastructure-changes-case-studies-via-myanmar-nigeria-south-china-sea.json

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+{
+  "slug": "using-time-lapse-satellite-imagery-detect-infrastructure-changes-case-studies-via-myanmar-nigeria-south-china-sea",
+  "title": "Using Time-Lapse Satellite Imagery To Detect Infrastructure Changes: Case-Studies via Myanmar, Nigeria and the South China Sea",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/11/19/using-time-lapse-satellite-imagery-detect-infrastructure-changes-case-studies-via-myanmar-nigeria-south-china-sea/",
+  "date": "2018-11-19T18:52:35+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-09-02T13:17:18+00:00",
+  "author": "Benjamin Strick",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)Identifying changes in infrastructure is an important task for those of us surveilling areas for investigative purposes. Satellite imagery can show evidence of everything from the destruction of buildings, the erection of temporary structures, as well as newly constructed permanent facilities. This kind of information is important for analysis of events in conflict […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/11/19/using-time-lapse-satellite-imagery-detect-infrastructure-changes-case-studies-via-myanmar-nigeria-south-china-sea/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/putevoditeli/2018/12/27/historical-satellite-imagery/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifying changes in infrastructure is an important task for those of us surveilling areas for investigative purposes.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Satellite imagery can show evidence of everything from the destruction of buildings, the erection of temporary structures, as well as newly constructed permanent facilities. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This kind of information is important for analysis of events in conflict areas, as these areas often cannot be reached by unbiased observers. Satellite imagery can therefore tell a truer/more complete account of what occurred in a specific conflict area.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By being able to view changes taking place in a specific area, we can utilize free open-source tools which create what is effectively a time-lapse of the Earth’s surface. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel or NASA Landsat programs, which vary in their daily updates, a timeline of chronological satellite imagery can be compiled, contextualized, and compared to observe and analyze changes taking place below.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those changes, which can be either disastrous or merely eventful, are helpful in telling the facts of what is happening in a particular area. The best part is that tools that can be used to view those changes can be used by anyone. </span></p>\n<h4><b>Using Satellite Time-Lapse Imagery to Identify Infrastructure Changes in Myanmar</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To identify clear signs of the razing of villages and development of new infrastructure, researchers are able to build a time-lapse of satellite imagery using Sentinel Hub’s freely available</span><a href=\"https://www.sentinel-hub.com/explore/eobrowser\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EO browser</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Myanmar’s</span> <a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/yBZFhJcLV882\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rakhine State</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, for example, there have been reports of a mass genocide of the Rohingya. Below is a</span><a href=\"https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/?lat=20.89161&amp;lng=92.34832&amp;zoom=14&amp;time=2018-11-15&amp;preset=1_TRUE_COLOR&amp;datasource=Sentinel-2%20L1C\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">view of an area</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through Sentinel Hub that experienced significant change between 2017 and 2018 via Copernicus’ Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20961 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"762\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-768x406.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-1200x635.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After creating a free account with Sentinel Hub, the function for time-lapse creation becomes available.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20960 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"765\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-768x408.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-1200x638.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To achieve an effective result for your satellite time-lapse, and to observe change during a set period, select your two dates in the window as seen in the image below.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knowing that village razing occurred in the Rakhine State between August to December 2017, the selection should capture that particular timeframe.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20959 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"763\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-768x407.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-1200x636.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be mindful of cloud coverage when selecting the date, as satellite imagery with high cloud coverage may hinder visuals. An advisable setting for cloud coverage is either 20% or less.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20958 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"762\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1438px) 100vw, 1438px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4.png 1438w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-768x407.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-1200x636.png 1200w\" width=\"1438\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having selected the frames to include in the satellite time-lapse, a presentation will be created to play the imagery in a chronological manner. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speed adjustments at the bottom can be selected for viewing more frames per second. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final result for this area shows that a village (previously identified as having been</span><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/09/04/identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery%e2%80%8a-case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">burned</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the ground) was cleared along with surrounding vegetation and a large camp facility was constructed. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20957 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Via this manner of presenting chronological consecutive satellite mapping, we can demonstrate that there is evidence of both the removal of structures and the implementation of new, large-scale facilities. </span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/?lat=20.82819&amp;lng=92.38736&amp;zoom=15&amp;time=2018-11-15&amp;preset=2_FALSE_COLOR&amp;datasource=Sentinel-2%20L1C\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">False colour bands</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be utilised to identify other areas of Rakhine State that underwent significant change.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20949 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"719\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-300x150.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-768x383.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-1200x599.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-935x466.png 935w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an overview, sections with significantly lighter colours can be seen to emerge in early 2018. The previous time-lapse, for example, shows the development of the large facility in the north.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20950\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/7.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A closer view of clearing (below) in the south identifies new infrastructure already in place. The development in the centre of the time-lapse shows what used to be village huts (which were</span> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/09/04/identify-burnt-villages-satellite-imagery%e2%80%8a-case-studies-california-nigeria-myanmar/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">burnt</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and is now government buildings. Here is the location on</span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/TVp8tvx1L3r\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Maps</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20948\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/8.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<h4><b>Adding Сustom Script Banding to Time-Lapse Imagery</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With satellite imagery, custom rendering can also be used to manipulate, highlight and affect the way a satellite image is viewed. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, should you require the identification of areas that are experiencing large-scale fires and devastation, custom scripting can be used to highlight active fire locations. This works with the satellite time-lapse of Sentinel Hub, or can be used with GIS packaging such as</span><a href=\"https://www.qgis.org/en/site/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">QGIS</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A selection of custom scripts for varying differentiations can be found on</span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https://github.com/sentinel-hub/custom-scripts\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">GitHub</a>, and o</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ne</span><a href=\"https://github.com/sentinel-hub/custom-scripts/blob/master/sentinel-2/markuse_fire/script.js\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">specific script</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> highlights active fires for Sentinel-2 imagery. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The custom rendering panel can be viewed under “Visualization” (1), and “Custom” (2).</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20956 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"763\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-768x407.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-1200x636.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Applying the script has the visual effect of highlighting the intended values.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-20955 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"761\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-768x406.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-1200x634.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using this script, in conjunction with the time-lapse function, shows the before, during, and the after-effects of the fire.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20954\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using this type of fire identification works in effect to identify specific dates for when destructive activity may have occurred, which further assists with research. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an example, in the time-lapse below, here is how the Nigerian village</span><a href=\"blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ngudoram</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was engulfed by destructive fire.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20951\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<h4><b>False Colour Banding in the South China Sea</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Repeating the same process in varying satellite banding can produce effective results for monitoring different areas where new infrastructure is identified. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China’s island military expansion in the South China Sea can be evidenced through the manner of time-lapse imagery. Looking at</span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/HBpP98iebgD2\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mischief Reef</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which was once a deserted island, and fusing the time-lapse with false colour banding, the island’s new infrastructure can be viewed.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20953\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further scrutiny of satellite imagery, such as using moisture index banding, can be applied. This identifies the level of moisture through the satellite banding.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20952\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/14.gif\" width=\"512\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this time-lapse above, of Mischief Reef, warmer temperature colours indicate less moisture. The specific areas identified are the tarmac, and one building in the middle of the island — likely to be warm. </span></p>\n<h4><b>Open-Source Remote Sensing Tool Available for Public Use</b></h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ability to view a satellite imagery time-lapse and identify changes taking place on the Earth’s surface is free to use by anyone with a computer and an internet connection. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using the methods identified in this guide allows anyone to monitor unreachable areas with an analytical approach and identify infrastructure destruction/destructive activities, changes and developments in infrastructure, or anything else, for that matter, on the planet.</span></p>\n<p><em>Bellingcat’s research <span class=\"il\">for</span> this publication was supported by <span class=\"il\">PAX</span> <span class=\"il\">for</span> <span class=\"il\">Peace.</span></em></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17211\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"141\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-300x141.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-300x141.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-768x360.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900.jpg 900w\" width=\"300\"/></div></a></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nIdentifying changes in infrastructure is an important task for those of us surveilling areas for investigative purposes.\nSatellite imagery can show evidence of everything from the destruction of buildings, the erection of temporary structures, as well as newly constructed permanent facilities.\nThis kind of information is important for analysis of events in conflict areas, as these areas often cannot be reached by unbiased observers. Satellite imagery can therefore tell a truer/more complete account of what occurred in a specific conflict area.\nBy being able to view changes taking place in a specific area, we can utilize free open-source tools which create what is effectively a time-lapse of the Earth’s surface.\nUsing imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel or NASA Landsat programs, which vary in their daily updates, a timeline of chronological satellite imagery can be compiled, contextualized, and compared to observe and analyze changes taking place below.\nThose changes, which can be either disastrous or merely eventful, are helpful in telling the facts of what is happening in a particular area. The best part is that tools that can be used to view those changes can be used by anyone.\nUsing Satellite Time-Lapse Imagery to Identify Infrastructure Changes in Myanmar\nTo identify clear signs of the razing of villages and development of new infrastructure, researchers are able to build a time-lapse of satellite imagery using Sentinel Hub’s freely available\nEO browser\n.\nIn Myanmar’s\nRakhine State\n, for example, there have been reports of a mass genocide of the Rohingya. Below is a\nview of an area\nthrough Sentinel Hub that experienced significant change between 2017 and 2018 via Copernicus’ Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.\nAfter creating a free account with Sentinel Hub, the function for time-lapse creation becomes available.\nTo achieve an effective result for your satellite time-lapse, and to observe change during a set period, select your two dates in the window as seen in the image below.\nKnowing that village razing occurred in the Rakhine State between August to December 2017, the selection should capture that particular timeframe.\nBe mindful of cloud coverage when selecting the date, as satellite imagery with high cloud coverage may hinder visuals. An advisable setting for cloud coverage is either 20% or less.\nHaving selected the frames to include in the satellite time-lapse, a presentation will be created to play the imagery in a chronological manner.\nSpeed adjustments at the bottom can be selected for viewing more frames per second.\nThe final result for this area shows that a village (previously identified as having been\nburned\nto the ground) was cleared along with surrounding vegetation and a large camp facility was constructed.\nVia this manner of presenting chronological consecutive satellite mapping, we can demonstrate that there is evidence of both the removal of structures and the implementation of new, large-scale facilities.\nFalse colour bands\ncan be utilised to identify other areas of Rakhine State that underwent significant change.\nAs an overview, sections with significantly lighter colours can be seen to emerge in early 2018. The previous time-lapse, for example, shows the development of the large facility in the north.\nA closer view of clearing (below) in the south identifies new infrastructure already in place. The development in the centre of the time-lapse shows what used to be village huts (which were\nburnt\n) and is now government buildings. Here is the location on\nGoogle Maps\n.\nAdding Сustom Script Banding to Time-Lapse Imagery\nWith satellite imagery, custom rendering can also be used to manipulate, highlight and affect the way a satellite image is viewed.\nFor instance, should you require the identification of areas that are experiencing large-scale fires and devastation, custom scripting can be used to highlight active fire locations. This works with the satellite time-lapse of Sentinel Hub, or can be used with GIS packaging such as\nQGIS\n.\nA selection of custom scripts for varying differentiations can be found on\nGitHub\n, and o\nne\nspecific script\nhighlights active fires for Sentinel-2 imagery.\nThe custom rendering panel can be viewed under “Visualization” (1), and “Custom” (2).\nApplying the script has the visual effect of highlighting the intended values.\nUsing this script, in conjunction with the time-lapse function, shows the before, during, and the after-effects of the fire.\nUsing this type of fire identification works in effect to identify specific dates for when destructive activity may have occurred, which further assists with research.\nAs an example, in the time-lapse below, here is how the Nigerian village\nNgudoram\nwas engulfed by destructive fire.\nFalse Colour Banding in the South China Sea\nRepeating the same process in varying satellite banding can produce effective results for monitoring different areas where new infrastructure is identified.\nChina’s island military expansion in the South China Sea can be evidenced through the manner of time-lapse imagery. Looking at\nMischief Reef\n, which was once a deserted island, and fusing the time-lapse with false colour banding, the island’s new infrastructure can be viewed.\nFurther scrutiny of satellite imagery, such as using moisture index banding, can be applied. This identifies the level of moisture through the satellite banding.\nIn this time-lapse above, of Mischief Reef, warmer temperature colours indicate less moisture. The specific areas identified are the tarmac, and one building in the middle of the island — likely to be warm.\nOpen-Source Remote Sensing Tool Available for Public Use\nThe ability to view a satellite imagery time-lapse and identify changes taking place on the Earth’s surface is free to use by anyone with a computer and an internet connection.\nUsing the methods identified in this guide allows anyone to monitor unreachable areas with an analytical approach and identify infrastructure destruction/destructive activities, changes and developments in infrastructure, or anything else, for that matter, on the planet.\nBellingcat’s research\nfor\nthis publication was supported by\nPAX\nfor\nPeace.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2018-11-21_geolocation-infrastructure-destruction-cameroon-case-study-kumbo-kumfutu.json

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocation-infrastructure-destruction-cameroon-case-study-kumbo-kumfutu",
+  "title": "Geolocation of Infrastructure Destruction in Cameroon: A Case Study of Kumbo and Kumfutu",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2018/11/21/geolocation-infrastructure-destruction-cameroon-case-study-kumbo-kumfutu/",
+  "date": "2018-11-21T23:41:12+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-09-02T13:19:11+00:00",
+  "author": "Benjamin Strick",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)Geolocation is crucial in open source investigations. In countries in conflict and/or countries under dictatorship, verifying evidence on the ground can be difficult. Video and photographic materials make it possible to have a working knowledge of events occurring out of reach — and it is always important to geolocate such materials. Cameroon, for […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/11/21/geolocation-infrastructure-destruction-cameroon-case-study-kumbo-kumfutu/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/casestudies/2018/12/27/cameroon-geolocation/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Geolocation is crucial in open source investigations. In countries in conflict and/or countries under dictatorship, verifying evidence on the ground can be difficult. Video and photographic materials make it possible to have a working knowledge of events occurring out of reach — and it is always important to geolocate such materials.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cameroon, for example, has a history of government-led attacks on villages. Fighting between military and separatists has seen many Cameroonians displaced or killed. The </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_SLnAGDuM\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BBC</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showed in an open source investigation evidence of villages being burned to the ground by government forces earlier this year.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Footage from various Cameroonian hotspots, namely Cameroon’s anglophone region, show killings, further destruction of villages, and acts of violence towards civilians caught in the middle of fighting.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While we can’t right the wrongs committed against people on the ground, open source investigators are able to analyse the video content to assist reporting and verification of such violent, destructive events. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In November of this year, two videos of attacks on Cameroonian villages surfaced on the internet. They showed clear signs of deliberate arson, as there was no indication of surrounding vegetation burning — just individual buildings ablaze. One of the videos, according to its narrator, showed compounds where people were trapped and burned inside. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both videos were narrated by the people doing the actual filming, as a means of explaining what the video authors were seeing. The case study below explains how we geolocated this grim footage.</span></p>\n<p><b>Video of Burning Buildings in Kumbo, Cameroon</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first video was filmed in Kumbo, Cameroon, at </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/EUzXLDdrP3T2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this location</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The video, as seen below, was provided by investigative journalist </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/EmmanuelFreuden\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emmanuel Freudenthal</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who was been documenting ongoing violence in Cameroon.</span></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Great example of how geolocation and crowdsourcing works to assist investigations. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EmmanuelFreuden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EmmanuelFreuden</a> needed a video geolocated of buildings that had been burnt – hints were it was Kumbo in Cameroon. The following is how it was found. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Geolocation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Geolocation</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/OSINT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#OSINT</a> Thread 1/? <a href=\"https://t.co/uAHamh4fNe\">pic.twitter.com/uAHamh4fNe</a></p>\n<p>— Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1063491316812779521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freudenthal approached both Bellingcat and independent open source analysts for assistance in verifying the video. The one clue he immediately had as to the location was that it was filmed recently in the city of Kumbo, Cameroon. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many, knowing that the video was filmed in this specific area would be enough. But for a thorough verification, and to help with investigating what occurred, a geolocation of the video is a priority task. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key markers that stood out in the video, those that would reflect on satellite imagery, are as follows. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This long red roof next to a road:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20991\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"659\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1296px) 100vw, 1296px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png 1296w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-300x153.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-768x391.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-1200x610.png 1200w\" width=\"1296\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These shops and an unfinished building on the other side of the road from the red roof:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20992\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"644\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1292px) 100vw, 1292px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON.png 1292w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON-300x150.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON-768x383.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON-1200x598.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/2-CAMEROON-935x466.png 935w\" width=\"1292\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After an initial scan through Google Earth, it was clear that with a long red building on one side of the road and shops on the other side, this could be </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/EUzXLDdrP3T2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the exact location</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as found by open source analyst </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Sector035\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sector035</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20993\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-CAMEROON.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-CAMEROON-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-CAMEROON-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/3-CAMEROON-1200x688.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To further verify the location as an exact match, we checked out other clues in the video. For instance, the name of one of the stores seen in the video is “GPS Bookshop.”</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20994\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"671\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1298px) 100vw, 1298px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-CAMEROON.png 1298w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-CAMEROON-300x155.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-CAMEROON-768x397.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/4-CAMEROON-1200x620.png 1200w\" width=\"1298\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Performing a simple </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=gps+bookshop%2C+%22kumbo%22&amp;pws=0&amp;gl=us&amp;gws_rd=cr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Search</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for “GPS Bookshop” in Kumbo does not yield definitive results, but it does appear that the business is listed on a </span><a href=\"https://www.camerlex.com/kumbo-gps-book-shop-30647/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">business registry site</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The registry does not provide much detail, and the only other attached information is “Squars.” In viewing other listings, we conclude that Squars must refer to a geographic location.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20995\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"695\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1423px) 100vw, 1423px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5-CAMEROON.png 1423w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5-CAMEROON-300x147.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5-CAMEROON-768x375.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/5-CAMEROON-1200x586.png 1200w\" width=\"1423\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With open source analysis, an important rule of thumb is to “test” information just to see what can come up. In the case of “Squars” in Kumbo, punching it into Google provides the </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=kumbo+squars&amp;pws=0&amp;gl=us&amp;gws_rd=cr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">autocorrected search version</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for Kumbo Squares — a specific area in Kumbo. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From those results, some YouTube videos are listed at the top. The thumbnail of one of those yields an interesting result — the long red building from the original video. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20996\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"732\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 826px) 100vw, 826px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-CAMEROON.png 826w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-CAMEROON-300x266.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/6-CAMEROON-768x681.png 768w\" width=\"826\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn9BlwYCnlo\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">video</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we can see a type of dance being performed in front of the long red building. Here is a comparison between the building we saw in the video of the torched ruins, and the one we have found via a Google search. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20997\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"532\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1034px) 100vw, 1034px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/8-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/8-CAMEROON.png 1034w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/8-CAMEROON-300x154.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/8-CAMEROON-768x395.png 768w\" width=\"1034\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is apparent that the two buildings are very similar in design, with oval archways, a unique entrance facade, red roof, and black and white stones.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20991\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"659\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1296px) 100vw, 1296px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png 1296w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-300x153.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-768x391.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-1200x610.png 1200w\" width=\"1296\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the second </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4Nx5CMv9kA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">YouTube video </span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from a simple Google search, we can see the same costumed dancer in the same area, but this time from an alternative view — where we can see the other side of the street. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The businesses in the backdrop were filmed with this view of the long red building: </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20998\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"515\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1025px) 100vw, 1025px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-CAMEROON.png 1025w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-CAMEROON-300x151.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/9-CAMEROON-768x386.png 768w\" width=\"1025\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that in the YouTube video, the view from the businesses was parallel to the long red building here:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20999\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1439px) 100vw, 1439px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-CAMEROON.png 1439w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-CAMEROON-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-CAMEROON-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/10-CAMEROON-1200x689.png 1200w\" width=\"1439\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the video of the burned down businesses, we were shown the long red building from this viewpoint:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20991\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"659\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1296px) 100vw, 1296px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON.png 1296w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-300x153.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-768x391.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/1-7-CAMEROON-1200x610.png 1200w\" width=\"1296\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which means the businesses that were destroyed were under this roof:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21000\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"825\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11-CAMEROON.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11-CAMEROON-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11-CAMEROON-768x440.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/11-CAMEROON-1200x688.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To further establish this location, we have these features from that exact viewpoint:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21001\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"673\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12-CAMEROON.png 1290w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12-CAMEROON-300x157.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12-CAMEROON-768x401.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/12-CAMEROON-1200x626.png 1200w\" width=\"1290\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can verify their presence on </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/GPMRu8yE2Fr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Earth</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from here: </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21002\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"823\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13-CAMEROON.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13-CAMEROON-300x171.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13-CAMEROON-768x439.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/13-CAMEROON-1200x686.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since I posted these findings on </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1063491316812779521\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a number of Cameroonians have come forward with video and photo evidence of damage to nearby buildings. It is clear that the torching of these stores was not an isolated instance.</span></p>\n<p><b>Geolocating a Video from Kumfutu, a Village Burned Down in Cameroon</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another video that surfaced recently was that of the village of Kumfutu, also in Cameroon. Kumfutu is 61km from Kumbo, where the previous video was filmed. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the previous video did not include evidence of human casualties, the video from Kumfutu came with disturbing photos of charred bodies and injured villagers. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The long version of the second video was a documentation of many buildings that had been destroyed. The narrator talks about what was done to each building. The narrator also says that one of the compounds had human remains in it. At the end of the second video, we see a family whose members had been left homeless.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the video, which was uploaded to a public Cameroonian social group on </span><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/1467441636849735/permalink/2139781256282433/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (click on embedded tweet to view):</span></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">11/ Thanks to open source investigator <a href=\"https://twitter.com/y_vdw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@y_vdw</a> (who worked on the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BBCAfricaEye?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BBCAfricaEye</a> Cameroon investigation) we have found out about another devastating event of a village burning in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cameroon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Cameroon</a> – this time in Kumfutu (<a href=\"https://t.co/HUSuvra4M5\">https://t.co/HUSuvra4M5</a>) Evidence is in the video ? <a href=\"https://t.co/M1LeeAXwAa\">pic.twitter.com/M1LeeAXwAa</a></p>\n<p>— Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1064480216674959360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 19, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Along with the post came two images of unique building designs:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21003\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"720\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/14-CAMEROON.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/14-CAMEROON.jpg 960w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/14-CAMEROON-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/14-CAMEROON-768x576.jpg 768w\" width=\"960\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21004\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"720\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/15-CAMEROON.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/15-CAMEROON.jpg 960w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/15-CAMEROON-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/15-CAMEROON-768x576.jpg 768w\" width=\"960\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both have noticeable archway entrances, distinct roofing, and were allegedly located near each other.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the video, these buildings can be matched to the following scenes: </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21005\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"434\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 891px) 100vw, 891px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/16-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/16-CAMEROON.png 891w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/16-CAMEROON-300x146.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/16-CAMEROON-768x374.png 768w\" width=\"891\"/></div> <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21006\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"457\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/17-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/17-CAMEROON.png 1300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/17-CAMEROON-300x105.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/17-CAMEROON-768x270.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/17-CAMEROON-1200x422.png 1200w\" width=\"1300\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can confirm that they are next to each other from the video, as the video author walks up a small hill to film the second house, and proceeds to again show the roof of the first here, in this scene:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21007\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"685\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1292px) 100vw, 1292px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/18-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/18-CAMEROON.png 1292w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/18-CAMEROON-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/18-CAMEROON-768x407.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/18-CAMEROON-1200x636.png 1200w\" width=\"1292\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of the unique design of the first house, and the fact that it has a shed on the left and a long shelter at the rear, it was easy to find a match on </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/DJKBPvLPE5z\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> satellite imagery. The red-roofed house next door is also visible on the map. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21008\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/19-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/19-CAMEROON.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/19-CAMEROON-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/19-CAMEROON-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/19-CAMEROON-1200x688.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open source analyst </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/y_vdw\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jura Luga</span></a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/y_vdw/status/1064505008102797314\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">verified</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the other buildings that were destroyed in the video. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These destroyed buildings were shown here:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21009\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"678\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/20-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/20-CAMEROON.png 1230w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/20-CAMEROON-300x165.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/20-CAMEROON-768x423.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/20-CAMEROON-1200x661.png 1200w\" width=\"1230\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21010\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1227px) 100vw, 1227px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/21-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/21-CAMEROON.png 1227w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/21-CAMEROON-300x167.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/21-CAMEROON-768x428.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/21-CAMEROON-1200x668.png 1200w\" width=\"1227\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They can be geolocated to here on </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/wK2zVqevhnL2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Maps</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21011\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"420\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 762px) 100vw, 762px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/22-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/22-CAMEROON.png 762w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/22-CAMEROON-300x165.png 300w\" width=\"762\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jura also verified buildings that were destroyed in Kumfutu </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/y_vdw/status/1064506859577663488\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/y_vdw/status/1064508669868437504\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the video, the narrator said people were trapped in the burned buildings shown here:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21012\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"691\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1275px) 100vw, 1275px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/23-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/23-CAMEROON.png 1275w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/23-CAMEROON-300x163.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/23-CAMEROON-768x416.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/23-CAMEROON-1200x650.png 1200w\" width=\"1275\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These buildings are located here on </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/fCjE2Encado\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Maps</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21013\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"827\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/24-CAMEROON.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/24-CAMEROON.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/24-CAMEROON-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/24-CAMEROON-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/11/24-CAMEROON-1200x689.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having taken into consideration the locations of the buildings, and with the differences between the buildings (pre and post-destruction) on available satellite imagery from Digital Globe, open source analyst </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Nrg8000\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nathan Ruser</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> demonstrated that these </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1064844701755367424\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">villages had been destroyed in Kumfutu</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between October 26 and November 11, 2018 (as seen below):</span></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">In Kumfutu, the houses highlighted in red were destroyed or damaged in fire between Oct 26th and Nov 11th. <a href=\"https://t.co/DHXZCPznfj\">pic.twitter.com/DHXZCPznfj</a></p>\n<p>— Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1064844701755367424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 20, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The red indicates buildings which were either completely, or partially, destroyed in the near-complete destruction of Kumfutu. </span></p>\n<p><b>Context to Cameroonian Village Burnings</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Previous open source investigations have shown that the Cameroon military has systematically burned villages to the ground in Cameroon’s anglophone region, as you can see in the video </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_SLnAGDuM\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cameroon Burning</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further proof of atrocities committed by the military can be seen in another </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbnLkc6r3yc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">open source investigation</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Cameroonian extra-judicial killings, which also involved many of the analysts and investigators in this case study.</span></p>\n<p><em>Bellingcat’s research <span class=\"il\">for</span> this publication was supported by <span class=\"il\">PAX</span> <span class=\"il\">for</span> <span class=\"il\">Peace.</span></em></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17211\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"141\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-300x141.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-300x141.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900-768x360.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2018/01/pax-logo-web-fc-900.jpg 900w\" width=\"300\"/></div></a></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nGeolocation is crucial in open source investigations. In countries in conflict and/or countries under dictatorship, verifying evidence on the ground can be difficult. Video and photographic materials make it possible to have a working knowledge of events occurring out of reach — and it is always important to geolocate such materials.\nCameroon, for example, has a history of government-led attacks on villages. Fighting between military and separatists has seen many Cameroonians displaced or killed. The\nBBC\nshowed in an open source investigation evidence of villages being burned to the ground by government forces earlier this year.\nFootage from various Cameroonian hotspots, namely Cameroon’s anglophone region, show killings, further destruction of villages, and acts of violence towards civilians caught in the middle of fighting.\nWhile we can’t right the wrongs committed against people on the ground, open source investigators are able to analyse the video content to assist reporting and verification of such violent, destructive events.\nIn November of this year, two videos of attacks on Cameroonian villages surfaced on the internet. They showed clear signs of deliberate arson, as there was no indication of surrounding vegetation burning — just individual buildings ablaze. One of the videos, according to its narrator, showed compounds where people were trapped and burned inside.\nBoth videos were narrated by the people doing the actual filming, as a means of explaining what the video authors were seeing. The case study below explains how we geolocated this grim footage.\nVideo of Burning Buildings in Kumbo, Cameroon\nThe first video was filmed in Kumbo, Cameroon, at\nthis location\n.\nThe video, as seen below, was provided by investigative journalist\nEmmanuel Freudenthal\n, who was been documenting ongoing violence in Cameroon.\nGreat example of how geolocation and crowdsourcing works to assist investigations.\n@EmmanuelFreuden\nneeded a video geolocated of buildings that had been burnt – hints were it was Kumbo in Cameroon. The following is how it was found.\n#Geolocation\n#OSINT\nThread 1/?\npic.twitter.com/uAHamh4fNe\n— Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown)\nNovember 16, 2018\nFreudenthal approached both Bellingcat and independent open source analysts for assistance in verifying the video. The one clue he immediately had as to the location was that it was filmed recently in the city of Kumbo, Cameroon.\nFor many, knowing that the video was filmed in this specific area would be enough. But for a thorough verification, and to help with investigating what occurred, a geolocation of the video is a priority task.\nThe key markers that stood out in the video, those that would reflect on satellite imagery, are as follows.\nThis long red roof next to a road:\nThese shops and an unfinished building on the other side of the road from the red roof:\nAfter an initial scan through Google Earth, it was clear that with a long red building on one side of the road and shops on the other side, this could be\nthe exact location\n, as found by open source analyst\nSector035\n.\nTo further verify the location as an exact match, we checked out other clues in the video. For instance, the name of one of the stores seen in the video is “GPS Bookshop.”\nPerforming a simple\nGoogle Search\nfor “GPS Bookshop” in Kumbo does not yield definitive results, but it does appear that the business is listed on a\nbusiness registry site\n.\nThe registry does not provide much detail, and the only other attached information is “Squars.” In viewing other listings, we conclude that Squars must refer to a geographic location.\nWith open source analysis, an important rule of thumb is to “test” information just to see what can come up. In the case of “Squars” in Kumbo, punching it into Google provides the\nautocorrected search version\nfor Kumbo Squares — a specific area in Kumbo.\nFrom those results, some YouTube videos are listed at the top. The thumbnail of one of those yields an interesting result — the long red building from the original video.\nIn this\nvideo\n, we can see a type of dance being performed in front of the long red building. Here is a comparison between the building we saw in the video of the torched ruins, and the one we have found via a Google search.\nIt is apparent that the two buildings are very similar in design, with oval archways, a unique entrance facade, red roof, and black and white stones.\nIn the second\nYouTube video\nfrom a simple Google search, we can see the same costumed dancer in the same area, but this time from an alternative view — where we can see the other side of the street.\nThe businesses in the backdrop were filmed with this view of the long red building:\nThis means that in the YouTube video, the view from the businesses was parallel to the long red building here:\nIn the video of the burned down businesses, we were shown the long red building from this viewpoint:\nWhich means the businesses that were destroyed were under this roof:\nTo further establish this location, we have these features from that exact viewpoint:\nWe can verify their presence on\nGoogle Earth\nfrom here:\nSince I posted these findings on\nTwitter\n, a number of Cameroonians have come forward with video and photo evidence of damage to nearby buildings. It is clear that the torching of these stores was not an isolated instance.\nGeolocating a Video from Kumfutu, a Village Burned Down in Cameroon\nAnother video that surfaced recently was that of the village of Kumfutu, also in Cameroon. Kumfutu is 61km from Kumbo, where the previous video was filmed.\nWhile the previous video did not include evidence of human casualties, the video from Kumfutu came with disturbing photos of charred bodies and injured villagers.\nThe long version of the second video was a documentation of many buildings that had been destroyed. The narrator talks about what was done to each building. The narrator also says that one of the compounds had human remains in it. At the end of the second video, we see a family whose members had been left homeless.\nHere is the video, which was uploaded to a public Cameroonian social group on\nFacebook\n(click on embedded tweet to view):\n11/ Thanks to open source investigator\n@y_vdw\n(who worked on the\n#BBCAfricaEye\nCameroon investigation) we have found out about another devastating event of a village burning in\n#Cameroon\n– this time in Kumfutu (\nhttps://t.co/HUSuvra4M5\n) Evidence is in the video ?\npic.twitter.com/M1LeeAXwAa\n— Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown)\nNovember 19, 2018\nAlong with the post came two images of unique building designs:\nBoth have noticeable archway entrances, distinct roofing, and were allegedly located near each other.\nIn the video, these buildings can be matched to the following scenes:\nWe can confirm that they are next to each other from the video, as the video author walks up a small hill to film the second house, and proceeds to again show the roof of the first here, in this scene:\nBecause of the unique design of the first house, and the fact that it has a shed on the left and a long shelter at the rear, it was easy to find a match on\nGoogle\nsatellite imagery. The red-roofed house next door is also visible on the map.\nOpen source analyst\nJura Luga\nverified\nthe other buildings that were destroyed in the video.\nThese destroyed buildings were shown here:\nThey can be geolocated to here on\nGoogle Maps\n:\nJura also verified buildings that were destroyed in Kumfutu\nhere\nand\nhere\n.\nIn the video, the narrator said people were trapped in the burned buildings shown here:\nThese buildings are located here on\nGoogle Maps\n:\nHaving taken into consideration the locations of the buildings, and with the differences between the buildings (pre and post-destruction) on available satellite imagery from Digital Globe, open source analyst\nNathan Ruser\ndemonstrated that these\nvillages had been destroyed in Kumfutu\nbetween October 26 and November 11, 2018 (as seen below):\nIn Kumfutu, the houses highlighted in red were destroyed or damaged in fire between Oct 26th and Nov 11th.\npic.twitter.com/DHXZCPznfj\n— Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000)\nNovember 20, 2018\nThe red indicates buildings which were either completely, or partially, destroyed in the near-complete destruction of Kumfutu.\nContext to Cameroonian Village Burnings\nPrevious open source investigations have shown that the Cameroon military has systematically burned villages to the ground in Cameroon’s anglophone region, as you can see in the video\nCameroon Burning\n.\nFurther proof of atrocities committed by the military can be seen in another\nopen source investigation\non Cameroonian extra-judicial killings, which also involved many of the analysts and investigators in this case study.\nBellingcat’s research\nfor\nthis publication was supported by\nPAX\nfor\nPeace.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-03-04_geolocation-and-a-philosophers-stone-in-kashmir.json

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocation-and-a-philosophers-stone-in-kashmir",
+  "title": "Geolocation and a Philosopher's Stone in Kashmir",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2019/03/04/geolocation-and-a-philosophers-stone-in-kashmir/",
+  "date": "2019-03-04T08:32:09+00:00",
+  "modified": "",
+  "author": "Timmi Allen",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On February 27 of this year, a MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force was shot down over the contested Kashmir region of Pakistan. Soon afterward, pictures and videos showing the wreck of an Indian MiG-21 Bison at various locations were published across both traditional and social media. Bellingcat initially reported on […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/03/04/geolocation-and-a-philosophers-stone-in-kashmir/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/drugie-strany/2019/04/29/kashmir-geolocation/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>On February 27 of this year, a MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force was shot down over the contested Kashmir region of Pakistan. Soon afterward, pictures and videos showing the wreck of an Indian MiG-21 Bison at various locations were published across both traditional and social media. Bellingcat <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2019/03/02/falcon-vs-bison-verifying-a-mig-21-wreck/\">initially reported on this incident on March 2</a> — and took into account the associated war of words between involved parties.</p>\n<p>The exact crash location of the MiG-21 was, however, not widely known until now. Most comments about the crash location pointed to the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Samahni/@33.0870878,74.1022309,12.29z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x391fb5ce12c0507f:0xeb5dd7ce1396a3c!8m2!3d33.090319!4d74.1372087\">Samahni district in the Kashmir region</a>; however, this is a relatively inexact location. We can assume that the MiG-21 debris is distributed in a larger area.</p>\n<p>Two photographs have been widely distributed that show an area in which a large part of the debris (front) of the MiG crashed.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22254\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"720\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o.jpg 960w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o-768x576.jpg 768w\" width=\"960\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22255\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"720\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X.jpg 960w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X-768x576.jpg 768w\" width=\"960\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>From these two photographs, we can create a panorama to make studying the area easier for conducting geolocation. This can be done by just patching together the two images in image editing software at the intersection points between the two photographs.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22262\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"953\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2180px) 100vw, 2180px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama.jpg 2180w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama-300x131.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama-768x336.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama-1200x525.jpg 1200w\" width=\"2180\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Additional images from social networks showed the same place from different perspectives.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0ZzusUWkAA9uvE.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22261\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"680\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0ZzusUWkAA9uvE.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0ZzusUWkAA9uvE.jpg 510w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0ZzusUWkAA9uvE-225x300.jpg 225w\" width=\"510\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22260\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1280\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19.jpg 960w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19-900x1200.jpg 900w\" width=\"960\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Although several videos of the scene can be found across social networks, the exact location was still difficult to determine as there are no visible unique buildings or man-made structures — except for just one house in the distance — that allow for an easy geolocation.</p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/iCNKt3k8TUQ?feature=oembed\" title=\"Exclusive Indian Air Force aircraft footage\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>One of the best details visible in the published images are the trees on the mountainside. While it would eventually yield a result, spending hours looking at every patch of vegetation on the hills of Kashmir across several hundred square kilometers is not a very good method.</p>\n<p>For this reason, further information was sought that would allow for a better spatial determination and a clue of where to focus our search. In finding and watching a video in which an eyewitness was questioned, the golden clue was provided. In this video, a reporter asks the eyewitness, a man named Mohammad Yasin, where they are, to which he answers “Horran Kotla.”</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22259\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"685\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1213px) 100vw, 1213px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla.jpg 1213w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla-768x434.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla-1200x678.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1213\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Toponyms, especially in relatively remote locations, can be very difficult to find in online mapping services due to transliteration errors and local usage differences. For example, searching “Horran Kotla” in Google refers you to the Indian village of <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kotla+Heran,+Punjab+144701,+India/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x391a3f626ccaf4e5:0x55faea573cd29558?ved=2ahUKEwiG4fXMrubgAhVRbK0KHd5MDIwQ8gEwHHoECAYQBA\">Kotla Heran</a>, as Google attempted to “correct” any transliteration differences to no success. However, a further search for “Horran Kotla” <a href=\"https://mapcarta.com/15118368\">returned a hit in Mapcarta</a> with a location near the reported crash site in the Kashmir region.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22258\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"935\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1.jpg 1920w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1-768x374.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1-1200x584.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1920\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>With this delimitation of the area, the search could be intensified. A key feature that can also be cross-referenced in satellite imagery is visible in the panorama: two larger boulders amongst the vegetation.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22257\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"353\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks-300x88.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks-768x226.jpg 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>After trial-and-error searches on Google Earth in this area, we find these two boulders, as well as the arrangement of the trees in the scene, leading to the location of this crash site: <a href=\"https://www.google.de/maps/place/33%C2%B013'28.9%22N+73%C2%B057'53.3%22E/@33.2244803,73.9616131,376a,35y,90h,39.18t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d33.224701!4d73.96481\">33°13’28.9 “N 73°57’53.3 “E.</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22256\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1849\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2.jpg 1920w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2-300x289.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2-768x740.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/chrash-site-place-2-1200x1156.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1920\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Important tip: When using Google Earth, you should turn on the “Terrain” feature (bottom-left part of the interface) to cross-reference the hills, valleys, and mountains as they appear in your source material.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22267\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2034\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3141px) 100vw, 3141px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain.jpg 3141w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain-300x194.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain-768x497.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ge-terrain-1200x777.jpg 1200w\" width=\"3141\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>Thus, even a remote area with few identifying markers can eventually be geolocated.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn February 27 of this year, a MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force was shot down over the contested Kashmir region of Pakistan. Soon afterward, pictures and videos showing the wreck of an Indian MiG-21 Bison at various locations were published across both traditional and social media. Bellingcat\ninitially reported on this incident on March 2\n— and took into account the associated war of words between involved parties.\nThe exact crash location of the MiG-21 was, however, not widely known until now. Most comments about the crash location pointed to the\nSamahni district in the Kashmir region\n; however, this is a relatively inexact location. We can assume that the MiG-21 debris is distributed in a larger area.\nTwo photographs have been widely distributed that show an area in which a large part of the debris (front) of the MiG crashed.\nFrom these two photographs, we can create a panorama to make studying the area easier for conducting geolocation. This can be done by just patching together the two images in image editing software at the intersection points between the two photographs.\nAdditional images from social networks showed the same place from different perspectives.\nAlthough several videos of the scene can be found across social networks, the exact location was still difficult to determine as there are no visible unique buildings or man-made structures — except for just one house in the distance — that allow for an easy geolocation.\nOne of the best details visible in the published images are the trees on the mountainside. While it would eventually yield a result, spending hours looking at every patch of vegetation on the hills of Kashmir across several hundred square kilometers is not a very good method.\nFor this reason, further information was sought that would allow for a better spatial determination and a clue of where to focus our search. In finding and watching a video in which an eyewitness was questioned, the golden clue was provided. In this video, a reporter asks the eyewitness, a man named Mohammad Yasin, where they are, to which he answers “Horran Kotla.”\nToponyms, especially in relatively remote locations, can be very difficult to find in online mapping services due to transliteration errors and local usage differences. For example, searching “Horran Kotla” in Google refers you to the Indian village of\nKotla Heran\n, as Google attempted to “correct” any transliteration differences to no success. However, a further search for “Horran Kotla”\nreturned a hit in Mapcarta\nwith a location near the reported crash site in the Kashmir region.\nWith this delimitation of the area, the search could be intensified. A key feature that can also be cross-referenced in satellite imagery is visible in the panorama: two larger boulders amongst the vegetation.\nAfter trial-and-error searches on Google Earth in this area, we find these two boulders, as well as the arrangement of the trees in the scene, leading to the location of this crash site:\n33°13’28.9 “N 73°57’53.3 “E.\nImportant tip: When using Google Earth, you should turn on the “Terrain” feature (bottom-left part of the interface) to cross-reference the hills, valleys, and mountains as they appear in your source material.\nThus, even a remote area with few identifying markers can eventually be geolocated.",
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+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LnXgAAtE2o.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0Zi8LjX4AAX47X.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Chrash-Site-2-Panorama.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0ZzusUWkAA9uvE.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/D0bojyjX0AE6c19.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Place-Horran-Kotla.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Kotla-Mapcarta-1.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/rocks.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
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+      "alt": "",
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+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-03-05_how-to-use-google-earths-three-dimensional-view-feat-syria-yemen-sudan.json

@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+{
+  "slug": "how-to-use-google-earths-three-dimensional-view-feat-syria-yemen-sudan",
+  "title": "How To Use Google Earth's Three Dimensional View: Feat. Syria, Yemen, Sudan",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2019/03/05/how-to-use-google-earths-three-dimensional-view-feat-syria-yemen-sudan/",
+  "date": "2019-03-05T16:31:01+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-03-05T16:39:47+00:00",
+  "author": "Benjamin Strick",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)It has become abundantly clear that geolocation and remote sensing is fundamental to knowing what happens in conflict areas where it is often too dangerous for journalists, observers and analysts to be present on the ground. This is a satellite-based case study on vetting a three-dimensional view of an area via Google Earth, […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2019/03/05/how-to-use-google-earths-three-dimensional-view-feat-syria-yemen-sudan/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/putevoditeli/2019/03/25/google-earth-terrain-view/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It has become abundantly clear that geolocation and remote sensing is fundamental to knowing what happens in conflict areas where it is often too dangerous for journalists, observers and analysts to be present on the ground.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a satellite-based case study on vetting a three-dimensional view of an area via Google Earth, featuring examples from Syria, Yemen and Sudan.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The satellite imagery we use for conflict analysis, geolocation, or any other form of investigation is a flat image. Aside from city-based areas, there is limited three-dimensional views of buildings or features — all of which are crucial to monitoring and geolocating events. Google Earth does have three-dimensional mountains, but even they sometimes fail to represent what is on the ground.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, it is possible to use varying angles of satellite imagery to get a three-dimensional understanding of an area.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A key feature of satellite imagery is </span><b>the nadir</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This is the view from above the Earth directly to its center. Having an angle “off nadir” provides a variation to the standard map view. Each time a satellite captures imagery the nadir varies in its angle of shot.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The images of my plant below illustrate this. The middle image is a replication of nadir angle 0 degrees. It’s a direct downward shot. The other two are varied angles, but given their presence, you have a working knowledge of the sides of the plant, as well as its top.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22272\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"825\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2891px) 100vw, 2891px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/plantangles.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/plantangles.png 2891w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/plantangles-300x86.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/plantangles-768x219.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/plantangles-1200x342.png 1200w\" width=\"2891\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now let’s use this information for a practical approach to geolocating serious incidents that occur during conflict.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are three important ways you can use a varied nadir to your advantage, they are:</span></p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Identifying the sides of a building</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Identifying the true features of landforms</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Identifying the shadows of objects</span></li>\n</ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How can you access varying angles of the nadir? As explained above, each time satellite imagery is taken, the nadir will vary. If you have the </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/earth/versions/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Google Earth application</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you are able to access past imagery.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, in this view of Sudan’s central area, each prior image we select using the “historical imagery” option shows an alternative angle of the buildings, exposing different sides, shadows, and small side streets.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22273\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1-768x468.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1-1200x731.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22274\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1439px) 100vw, 1439px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2.png 1439w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2-768x468.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2-1200x731.png 1200w\" width=\"1439\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22275\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/3.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/3-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/3-768x468.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/3-1200x731.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following will include examples of what you can use to assist when viewing alternative angles of past imagery for geolocation and analysis purposes.</span></p>\n<h2><b> Identifying The Sides of A Building</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alternative nadir angles may expose the sides of buildings allowing analysts to get a more three-dimensional view of their design.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the first example, we look at a <a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/1cXayMmE4PH2\">prison</a> of the National Intelligence and Security Service of Sudan in Khartoum. I previously spoke with detainees of the prison, who claimed they had been </span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuNDd_pteRQ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tortured at the facility</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When they described what it looked like, they were only able to give details as to the sides of the building, and how many levels it had.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">By viewing alternative angles of the building, we can match up those statements with varying views available through satellite imagery.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22276\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"323\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1383px) 100vw, 1383px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/4.png 1383w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/4-300x70.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/4-768x179.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/4-1200x280.png 1200w\" width=\"1383\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While that form of geolocation may be used to become familiar with how a building looks, this is also an effective practice for geolocating video footage. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1078758561621127169\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">video</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from Sudan, we are able to see a number of building sides. The specific scene below shows one view that can be used: </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22278 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"494\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/12.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/12.png 507w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/12-300x292.png 300w\" width=\"507\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are three buildings in the image that are at varying positions. The green center building and the glass building on the right have unique features. These features can be seen on angled views to see the north facing and side panels of the buildings. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simply scrolling back in Google Earth’s satellite imagery will provide you with a clear angled view of the front of those buildings. On </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/JhSjqnK2Fvu\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Google Maps</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, we would not be able to see this. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We can’t see the face of the green building because of the shadows it casts, but we can definitely see its color on the side, which is present in the video. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22277\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"828\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1439px) 100vw, 1439px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.32.22-pm.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.32.22-pm.png 1439w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.32.22-pm-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.32.22-pm-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.32.22-pm-1200x690.png 1200w\" width=\"1439\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">IMPORTANT NOTE: When geolocating footage from buildings, be sure to carry out an assessment on whether or not the footage is filmed from a private dwelling. Publishing the geolocation of this may endanger the filmer should the content be sensitive. </span></p>\n<h2><b> Identifying The True Features Of Landforms</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Using alternative nadir angles is also crucial for true identification of natural formations.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Google Earth and Google Maps, we are able to access 3D views of mountains and land formations. However, some of those formations may not reflect exactly what is present on the ground.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For instance, some mountain ranges may have rocky outcrops. These formations will not be present on a 3D view, but viewing varying angles and shadows can show the true ridge or outline of a mountain by the shadows it casts.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this video, two Houthi rebels inspect a crash site in </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/TZRo2traAk32\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yemen</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> geolocated for the purposes of a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1100523092621832192\">GermanArms</a> workshop.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22279\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"780\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-300x163.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-768x416.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-1200x650.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The rise in the background has a unique “layering” effect to the rocks as well as a large flat-faced shelf and a number of rectangular-shaped rocks below (as seen in the red box). Geolocating this can be quite difficult as the layering is not reflected on satellite imagery (below) either in its 3D view or flat view. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the 3D view, notice the outline of the mountain. It does not represent the image of the mountain in the video.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22287\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"824\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/13.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/13.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/13-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/13-768x439.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/13-1200x687.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22280\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/6.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/6.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/6-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/6-768x468.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/6-1200x731.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, when looking at an alternate angle from past imagery, further depth is shown in the rock face (as seen below). With this view, it gives us a more “on-the-ground” feel of what that mountain would look like, to see if it makes a match for what we can glimpse in the video.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22281\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"877\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1438px) 100vw, 1438px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/7.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/7.png 1438w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/7-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/7-768x468.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/7-1200x732.png 1200w\" width=\"1438\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The corner pieces of the mountain show unique depth and shadows to confirm its position. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar example to show why angled imagery is important for mountain geolocation comes from </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/1FYw2et3YHs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Afrin, Syria</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqIIT_RcdxM&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=21\">footage from Afrin</a>, shot through the cockpit of a T-129 helicopter, a cluster of buildings can be seen being attacked. The mountain ridge shows a unique rise of its rocky outcrop:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22282\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"766\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1184px) 100vw, 1184px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/8.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/8.png 1184w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/8-300x194.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/8-768x497.png 768w\" width=\"1184\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The geolocation of the mountain, confirmed with the coordinates in the bottom right of the helicopters military grid reference view, appears on Google Earth with this ridgeline.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22283\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"876\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/9.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/9.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/9-300x183.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/9-768x467.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/9-1200x730.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The cluster of buildings destroyed are seen at a more direct nadir here.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22284\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1439px) 100vw, 1439px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/10.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/10.png 1439w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/10-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/10-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/10-1200x689.png 1200w\" width=\"1439\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, one must notice that both the outline of the three-dimensional view, and the “top-down” view does not replicate that sharp ridge we saw in the video. What we can see in the image above is a large rock-laden outcrop. Finding that on an image where the shadows are larger illustrates its height, as seen below.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22285\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"829\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/11.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/11.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/11-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/11-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/11-1200x691.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div><br/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Note: this specific geolocation was a crowdsourced for the <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2018/12/16/tracking-italys-arms-trade-italianarms/\">ItalianArms</a> workshop conducted by </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/trbrtc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christiaan Triebert</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/leone_hadavi\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leone Hadavi</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Timmi_Allen\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Timmi Allen </span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Thms_Pointer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thomas</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.</span></p>\n<h2><b>Identifying The Shadows Of Objects</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Geolocation work can be made easy by identifying large man made objects in the rear of the scene under analysis. This might be, for example, a minaret, communications tower, or even power lines. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finding those objects can often be a challenge, but can be made easier via using angled imagery or object shadows.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Something as distinct as a power line pole can be helpful in geolocation, though they are often hard to pick out. Using imagery where there is a high angled view in addition with an early or late in the day image can highlight these objects as their shadows will be longer. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For instance, in the satellite image below, it is very difficult to pick out the power lines. </span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22288\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"828\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.59.40-pm.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.59.40-pm.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.59.40-pm-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.59.40-pm-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-3.59.40-pm-1200x690.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shifting to a more alternative view on a different date yields much better results with the accentuated shadows of objects.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22289\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"826\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-4.03.39-pm.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-4.03.39-pm.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-4.03.39-pm-300x172.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-4.03.39-pm-768x441.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-02-22-at-4.03.39-pm-1200x688.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a practical example, geolocating a video of Sudan’s security forces firing into the air during a buildup of protests on December 28, 2018, was achieved by using the power lines as reference.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the video below, a unique power line appears.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1078719876909416448\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1078719876909416448</span></a></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Notice the double pole (as seen in the image), while many of the surrounding power line poles were single poles.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22290 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"613\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/15.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/15.png 492w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/15-241x300.png 241w\" width=\"492\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having geolocated a number of other videos of security forces firing sporadically in the area, the concrentation point for geolocating this video was based around the Royal Care International Hospital (مُستشفى رويال كير العالمية) in Khartoum’s east.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The vehicles were driven along a road separated by black and yellow striped dividers:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22291 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"177\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/16.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/16.png 496w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/16-300x107.png 300w\" width=\"496\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Given that the main roads in the area used this style of road divider, the position of the double-legged powerline pole was crucial to the geolocation of this video. This was also matched with the other surrounding power line poles and trees to find a true position. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Changing imagery can reveal a very clear representation of the object we are looking for. In the image below, the three screenshots of the same poles are from Google Earth and different dates. The one in the middle shows the ideal representation of the powerlines. The image on the far right is also what is shown on </span><a href=\"https://goo.gl/maps/jzDa2QmxnX62\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Google Maps.</span></a></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22292 aligncenter\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"177\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/17.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/17.png 496w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/17-300x107.png 300w\" width=\"496\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This method can also be useful as far as much larger objects are concerned. For instance, you may be looking for a communications tower or a minaret from a mosque in a specific area. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the Google Earth image below we have both:</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22293\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"828\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/18.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/18.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/18-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/18-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/18-1200x690.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Using a past image, we can view the shadows which will reveal these tall objects.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22294\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"829\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/19.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/19.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/19-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/19-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/19-1200x691.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div><br/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Viewing exactly what the minaret looks like from top to bottom, as well as the communications tower, can be done with Google Earth imagery taken on a large angle.</span></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22295\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"828\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/20.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/20.png 1440w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/20-300x173.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/20-768x442.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/20-1200x690.png 1200w\" width=\"1440\"/></div></p>\n<h2><b>Using Angles For A Practical Approach</b></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In any open source investigation, it is much easier to find your goal with a lot of information than barely any at all. Google Earth’s past imagery is part of that information. It shows development, changes, seasons, new objects and, as discussed in this post, varying angles. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Viewing those varying angles of nadir is a practical skill that can help you in all kinds of ways — from the most simple of geolocation tasks to more complicated endeavors featuring remote monitoring and sensing. </span></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nIt has become abundantly clear that geolocation and remote sensing is fundamental to knowing what happens in conflict areas where it is often too dangerous for journalists, observers and analysts to be present on the ground.\nThis is a satellite-based case study on vetting a three-dimensional view of an area via Google Earth, featuring examples from Syria, Yemen and Sudan.\nThe satellite imagery we use for conflict analysis, geolocation, or any other form of investigation is a flat image. Aside from city-based areas, there is limited three-dimensional views of buildings or features — all of which are crucial to monitoring and geolocating events. Google Earth does have three-dimensional mountains, but even they sometimes fail to represent what is on the ground.\nHowever, it is possible to use varying angles of satellite imagery to get a three-dimensional understanding of an area.\nA key feature of satellite imagery is\nthe nadir\n. This is the view from above the Earth directly to its center. Having an angle “off nadir” provides a variation to the standard map view. Each time a satellite captures imagery the nadir varies in its angle of shot.\nThe images of my plant below illustrate this. The middle image is a replication of nadir angle 0 degrees. It’s a direct downward shot. The other two are varied angles, but given their presence, you have a working knowledge of the sides of the plant, as well as its top.\nNow let’s use this information for a practical approach to geolocating serious incidents that occur during conflict.\nThere are three important ways you can use a varied nadir to your advantage, they are:\nIdentifying the sides of a building\nIdentifying the true features of landforms\nIdentifying the shadows of objects\nHow can you access varying angles of the nadir? As explained above, each time satellite imagery is taken, the nadir will vary. If you have the\nGoogle Earth application\n, you are able to access past imagery.\nFor example, in this view of Sudan’s central area, each prior image we select using the “historical imagery” option shows an alternative angle of the buildings, exposing different sides, shadows, and small side streets.\nThe following will include examples of what you can use to assist when viewing alternative angles of past imagery for geolocation and analysis purposes.\nIdentifying The Sides of A Building\nAlternative nadir angles may expose the sides of buildings allowing analysts to get a more three-dimensional view of their design.\nIn the first example, we look at a\nprison\nof the National Intelligence and Security Service of Sudan in Khartoum. I previously spoke with detainees of the prison, who claimed they had been\ntortured at the facility\n. When they described what it looked like, they were only able to give details as to the sides of the building, and how many levels it had.\nBy viewing alternative angles of the building, we can match up those statements with varying views available through satellite imagery.\nWhile that form of geolocation may be used to become familiar with how a building looks, this is also an effective practice for geolocating video footage.\nIn this\nvideo\nfrom Sudan, we are able to see a number of building sides. The specific scene below shows one view that can be used:\nThere are three buildings in the image that are at varying positions. The green center building and the glass building on the right have unique features. These features can be seen on angled views to see the north facing and side panels of the buildings.\nSimply scrolling back in Google Earth’s satellite imagery will provide you with a clear angled view of the front of those buildings. On\nGoogle Maps\n, we would not be able to see this.\nWe can’t see the face of the green building because of the shadows it casts, but we can definitely see its color on the side, which is present in the video.\nIMPORTANT NOTE: When geolocating footage from buildings, be sure to carry out an assessment on whether or not the footage is filmed from a private dwelling. Publishing the geolocation of this may endanger the filmer should the content be sensitive.\nIdentifying The True Features Of Landforms\nUsing alternative nadir angles is also crucial for true identification of natural formations.\nIn Google Earth and Google Maps, we are able to access 3D views of mountains and land formations. However, some of those formations may not reflect exactly what is present on the ground.\nFor instance, some mountain ranges may have rocky outcrops. These formations will not be present on a 3D view, but viewing varying angles and shadows can show the true ridge or outline of a mountain by the shadows it casts.\nIn this video, two Houthi rebels inspect a crash site in\nYemen\ngeolocated for the purposes of a\nGermanArms\nworkshop.\nThe rise in the background has a unique “layering” effect to the rocks as well as a large flat-faced shelf and a number of rectangular-shaped rocks below (as seen in the red box). Geolocating this can be quite difficult as the layering is not reflected on satellite imagery (below) either in its 3D view or flat view.\nIn the 3D view, notice the outline of the mountain. It does not represent the image of the mountain in the video.\nHowever, when looking at an alternate angle from past imagery, further depth is shown in the rock face (as seen below). With this view, it gives us a more “on-the-ground” feel of what that mountain would look like, to see if it makes a match for what we can glimpse in the video.\nThe corner pieces of the mountain show unique depth and shadows to confirm its position.\nA similar example to show why angled imagery is important for mountain geolocation comes from\nAfrin, Syria\n.\nIn this\nfootage from Afrin\n, shot through the cockpit of a T-129 helicopter, a cluster of buildings can be seen being attacked. The mountain ridge shows a unique rise of its rocky outcrop:\nThe geolocation of the mountain, confirmed with the coordinates in the bottom right of the helicopters military grid reference view, appears on Google Earth with this ridgeline.\nThe cluster of buildings destroyed are seen at a more direct nadir here.\nHowever, one must notice that both the outline of the three-dimensional view, and the “top-down” view does not replicate that sharp ridge we saw in the video. What we can see in the image above is a large rock-laden outcrop. Finding that on an image where the shadows are larger illustrates its height, as seen below.\nNote: this specific geolocation was a crowdsourced for the\nItalianArms\nworkshop conducted by\nChristiaan Triebert\n,\nLeone Hadavi\n,\nTimmi Allen\nand\nThomas\n.\nIdentifying The Shadows Of Objects\nGeolocation work can be made easy by identifying large man made objects in the rear of the scene under analysis. This might be, for example, a minaret, communications tower, or even power lines.\nFinding those objects can often be a challenge, but can be made easier via using angled imagery or object shadows.\nSomething as distinct as a power line pole can be helpful in geolocation, though they are often hard to pick out. Using imagery where there is a high angled view in addition with an early or late in the day image can highlight these objects as their shadows will be longer.\nFor instance, in the satellite image below, it is very difficult to pick out the power lines.\nShifting to a more alternative view on a different date yields much better results with the accentuated shadows of objects.\nIn a practical example, geolocating a video of Sudan’s security forces firing into the air during a buildup of protests on December 28, 2018, was achieved by using the power lines as reference.\nIn the video below, a unique power line appears.\nhttps://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1078719876909416448\nNotice the double pole (as seen in the image), while many of the surrounding power line poles were single poles.\nHaving geolocated a number of other videos of security forces firing sporadically in the area, the concrentation point for geolocating this video was based around the Royal Care International Hospital (مُستشفى رويال كير العالمية) in Khartoum’s east.\nThe vehicles were driven along a road separated by black and yellow striped dividers:\nGiven that the main roads in the area used this style of road divider, the position of the double-legged powerline pole was crucial to the geolocation of this video. This was also matched with the other surrounding power line poles and trees to find a true position.\nChanging imagery can reveal a very clear representation of the object we are looking for. In the image below, the three screenshots of the same poles are from Google Earth and different dates. The one in the middle shows the ideal representation of the powerlines. The image on the far right is also what is shown on\nGoogle Maps.\nThis method can also be useful as far as much larger objects are concerned. For instance, you may be looking for a communications tower or a minaret from a mosque in a specific area.\nIn the Google Earth image below we have both:\nUsing a past image, we can view the shadows which will reveal these tall objects.\nViewing exactly what the minaret looks like from top to bottom, as well as the communications tower, can be done with Google Earth imagery taken on a large angle.\nUsing Angles For A Practical Approach\nIn any open source investigation, it is much easier to find your goal with a lot of information than barely any at all. Google Earth’s past imagery is part of that information. It shows development, changes, seasons, new objects and, as discussed in this post, varying angles.\nViewing those varying angles of nadir is a practical skill that can help you in all kinds of ways — from the most simple of geolocation tasks to more complicated endeavors featuring remote monitoring and sensing.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-03-19_locating-the-netherlands-most-wanted-criminal-by-scrutinising-instagram.json

@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+{
+  "slug": "locating-the-netherlands-most-wanted-criminal-by-scrutinising-instagram",
+  "title": "Locating The Netherlands' Most Wanted Criminal By Scrutinising Instagram",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2019/03/19/locating-the-netherlands-most-wanted-criminal-by-scrutinising-instagram/",
+  "date": "2019-03-19T23:22:31+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-10-23T09:56:46+00:00",
+  "author": "Henk Van Ess",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)A fugitive convict from the Netherlands is taunting Dutch police with provocative pictures and videos from Iran, playing a game of “catch me if you can” on Instagram. “I love my freedom. And the weather,” he has stated. Bellingcat was able to reveal the last known location of the criminal with the help […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2019/03/19/locating-the-netherlands-most-wanted-criminal-by-scrutinising-instagram/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/materialy/casestudies/2019/04/05/holland-most-wanted/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>A fugitive convict from the Netherlands is <a href=\"https://nltimes.nl/2019/03/13/wanted-convict-taunting-police-fancy-holiday-pics\">taunting</a> Dutch police with provocative pictures and videos from Iran, playing a game of “catch me if you can” on Instagram. “I love my freedom. And the weather,” he has stated.</p>\n<p>Bellingcat was able to <a href=\"https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/3312497/bellingcat-vindt-huis-provocerende-crimineel-in-iran\">reveal</a> the last known location of the criminal with the help of over 60 Twitter users. Here’s how we did that.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_22506\" style=\"width: 2444px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22506\" class=\"wp-image-22506 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1426\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2434px) 100vw, 2434px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_13-01-50.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_13-01-50.png 2434w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_13-01-50-300x176.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_13-01-50-768x450.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_13-01-50-1200x703.png 1200w\" width=\"2434\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-22506\">Shahin Gheiybe is a convicted criminal hiding in Iran</p></div>\n<h2><strong>The escape</strong></h2>\n<p>The fugitive, 35-year-old Shahin Gheiybe, is on the Dutch “<a href=\"https://www.politie.nl/en/wanted-and-missing/most-wanted\">Most Wanted</a>” list. On July 5, 2011, Gheiybe was sentenced for two attempted murders. In the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, on July 6, 2009, he tried to kill two individuals by shooting at them. He also robbed them of 175,000 euros. Gheiybe, born in Iran, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of thirteen years.</p>\n<p>He managed to escape from prison on October 6, 2011, and has been on the run ever since. The police in the Netherlands have searched for this individual since <a href=\"https://geenstijlblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/gezocht-shahin-gheiybe.html\">then</a>.</p>\n<p>The convict posts on Instagram (there are over 170 photos and videos) about his whereabouts (here is the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shahin.mzr/\">original</a> link to his private account, and a <a href=\"https://content.screencast.com/users/Voelspriet/folders/Snagit/media/ffcbc673-a40c-4e82-b717-38860617b2e2/2019-03-19_12-27-23.png\">backup</a> link), mostly in Iran. He has almost never tagged himself with a specific geolocation, just towns and places. Only once, for a street in Teheran, the coordinates were very precise.  Gheiybe’s Instagram account was created in July 2015. It became <em>private </em>this month, after he landed on the list of most wanted criminals.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.screencast.com/t/75KkhoBPVfb\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22508 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"456\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture1.png 416w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture1-274x300.png 274w\" width=\"416\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>His last Instagram post is a clip from Scarface (<a href=\"https://www.screencast.com/t/75KkhoBPVfb\">archived </a>post). Gheiybe’s Instagram account contains provocative material, like personal videos accusing the ruling judge in the Netherlands, claiming “the truth is very different.” He tries to explain to his followers he is a nice guy who made a mistake.</p>\n<p>A Dutch police spokesperson <a href=\"https://cookies.rtlnieuws.nl/?html5=true&amp;referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rtlnieuws.nl%2Fnieuws%2Fnederland%2Fartikel%2F4640296%2Fontsnapte-gevangene-plaatst-filmpje-op-instagram-ik-geniet-van\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">called this “shocking”</a> and added, “It is unbelievable how he distorts the facts and that he cares so little about his victims and our society. Apparently he considers himself untouchable in Iran.”</p>\n<h2><strong>Problems To Solve</strong></h2>\n<p>A problem with scrutinising any of the Instagram posts is that the convict can deceive the police by using bogus location tags in Instagram, backdating the information, or otherwise hiding his real whereabouts. We looked mostly at clues where the convict is clearly visible and, at the same time, is near a traceable object (Gheiybe near a car, in a club, holding a branded knife).</p>\n<p>Using that method, we tried to reduce the risk of being deceived ourselves.</p>\n<p>Another problem centered on the ethics of impacting the investigation. If we can find a last known location — as we ultimately did — any convict undoubtedly becomes aware that they are being zeroed in on.</p>\n<p>Without crowdsourcing, any fugitive’s last address will be much harder to find. Bellingcat got the help of over 60 people who researched with us via <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107645010789523456\">Twitter</a>. That research was conducted mostly on March 18, 2019.</p>\n<p>The police told the public they didn’t know the location. But the public (via crowdsourcing) ultimately did.</p>\n<p>This is an example of how transparency works both ways: It can be used by both good and bad people. We decided that we would send the police even the tiniest leads during our investigation. And that we would alert them the moment we would find something actionable, so they had at least a head start.</p>\n<h2><strong>Technical Preparations</strong></h2>\n<p>To get our hands on all the Instagram posts, we needed to prepare first. We followed these three steps:</p>\n<p><strong>Browse Instagram On Desktop</strong></p>\n<p>We didn’t want to fiddle with a mobile or tablet, but work on a desktop computer. To do that, we downloaded <a href=\"https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/desktop-for-instagram/nlhjgcligpbnjphflfdbmabbmjidnmek?hl=en\">Desktop for Instagram,</a> a Chrome plug-in.</p>\n<p><strong>Download Videos</strong></p>\n<p>Downloading over 170 Instagram videos and photos manually is time consuming. We used a plug-in for Chrome called <a href=\"https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/downloader-for-instagram/olkpikmlhoaojbbmmpejnimiglejmboe?hl=en\">Downloader for Instagram</a>. It’s fast, downloads all material in full resolution, and also supports Instagram stories downloads.</p>\n<p><strong>Find Hidden Connections</strong></p>\n<p>To find the hidden connection between Instagram users, to find what our target liked, and much more, we used <a href=\"https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/helper-tools-for-instagra/hcdbfckhdcpepllecbkaaojfgipnpbpb/related\">Helper Tools for Instagram</a>, again a plug-in for Chrome.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22519 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"541\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture3.png 554w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture3-300x293.png 300w\" width=\"554\"/></div></p>\n<p>In the picture above, for example, the convict is next to a liquor display — focusing in on specific objects can sometimes lead to finding connections. Or, at the very least, you find something about the target’s likes and lifestyle.</p>\n<h2><strong>Question 1:</strong><strong> Whom Did He Meet?</strong></h2>\n<p>Last week, Dutch police asked the Dutch public for help with this case on TV.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For English followers: translation of \"Opsporing Verzocht\" (17/17) so you understand my last tweets a little better. Full explainer coming up tonight. <a href=\"https://t.co/3aplJ1Yz6F\">pic.twitter.com/3aplJ1Yz6F</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1108115566139707392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 19, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>One question was: Who did the convict interact with? Maybe his interlocutors know his possible bogus identity, like a false passport or a false name. We concentrated on that question first.</p>\n<p><strong>A Man And A Statue:</strong></p>\n<p><strong><br/>\n<div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22521 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"552\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/22-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/22-1.png 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/22-1-300x176.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/22-1-768x451.png 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><br/>\n</strong></p>\n<p>This picture, uploaded on November 27, 2018, shows our target play-fighting a statue, which perfectly suits our need to have an identifiable object and our target in the same photo. We did <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2015/05/08/manual-reverse-image-search-with-google-and-tineye/\">reverse image search</a> in Google and Yandex — and, as it is often the case, Yandex was the better choice.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22522 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"562\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_19-38-31.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_19-38-31.png 816w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_19-38-31-300x207.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-19_19-38-31-768x529.png 768w\" width=\"816\"/></div></p>\n<p>This is how we found <a href=\"https://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/middle-east/visit-iran-for-its-white-sandy-beaches-2091323\">Kish Island</a>, some 200 kilometers away from Dubai.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22525 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"275\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture4.png 491w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/Picture4-300x168.png 300w\" width=\"491\"/></div></p>\n<p>A slightly <a href=\"https://www.iol.co.za/travel/world/middle-east/visit-iran-for-its-white-sandy-beaches-2091323\">bizarre</a> promotional story about this island tells you what you can do there:</p>\n<p>“Women sit with cigarette in hand, wearing colorful headscarves pushed right back to reveal plenty of make-up and expensive hair-dos” and “The wide, palm tree-lined boulevards that circle the island of 100 square kilometers are full of top-end cars, including luxury American models.”</p>\n<p>On the same day, November 27, 2018, we found a video where our target was near a car with a recognizable license plate. The video shows our target getting into a red car and driving away in it.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22524 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"608\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-3.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-3.png 404w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/5-3-199x300.png 199w\" width=\"404\"/></div></p>\n<p>The next step was for people with a great amount of patience. We tried to find hotels in Kish via Google Streetview that matched the building in the video background. In the end, we found the exact <a href=\"https://www.google.nl/maps/@26.5327736,54.0234954,3a,75y,101.18h,105.3t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPSLsJjvYR8puL80ipWnwuok9TO0uieZWAHvN-d!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPSLsJjvYR8puL80ipWnwuok9TO0uieZWAHvN-d%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya231.69429-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352\">spot</a> (pictured here in daylight):</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22532 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"984\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1722px) 100vw, 1722px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/locati.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/locati.jpg 1722w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/locati-300x171.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/locati-768x439.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/locati-1200x686.jpg 1200w\" width=\"1722\"/></div></p>\n<p>Reverse imaging the license plate didn’t work at first. Sometimes, Google simply doesn’t recognize a blown up detail of a photo.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22529 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"320\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/as.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/as.png 602w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/as-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/as-600x320.png 600w\" width=\"602\"/></div></p>\n<p>You can, however, approach this problem by just typing in words you can see into Google Images, without reverse searching the photo itself:</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22528 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"133\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/at.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/at.png 520w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/at-300x77.png 300w\" width=\"520\"/></div></p>\n<p>This leads to images of tourists driving the same red Chevrolet Camaro with the same license plate.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22527 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"366\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/al.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/al.png 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/al-300x117.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/al-768x299.png 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div></p>\n<p>Eventually, we found the Camaro supplier by clicking on some Instagram posts featuring happy clients.</p>\n<p>Our convict didn’t steal the car. After he drove the Camaro, people were still renting it, as we found out after checking another series of posts by satisfied renters. So, we assume he had rented the vehicle as well.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22533 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"479\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee.png 404w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee-253x300.png 253w\" width=\"404\"/></div></p>\n<p>Kish Rent Car, a local car rental place, can shine a light on the current identity of our target. We have a first possible answer to our initial question: Whom did our target meet?</p>\n<p><strong>Finding Replies Sent To Other Instagram Accounts</strong></p>\n<p>Did our target reply to other instagrammers? To find out, we used this formula in Google.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22534 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"108\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/or.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/or.png 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/or-300x35.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/or-768x88.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/or-935x108.png 935w\" width=\"939\"/></div><br/>\nWe don’t want to see postings from the target’s own account (hence we exclude site:<strong>instagram.com/shahin</strong>) but are still interested if he (hence <strong>shahin.mzr</strong>) posted comments on the Instagram posts of others (hence <strong>site:instagram.com</strong>). This is what we found:</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22535 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 583px) 100vw, 583px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ob.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ob.png 583w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ob-300x231.png 300w\" width=\"583\"/></div></p>\n<p>Around August 3, 2018, our target asks <strong>knife._.store</strong>, the Instagram account of an Iranian knife seller, if he can buy a knife and if it can be sent to him. He was prepared to pay 65,000 Thoman, which is around around $15, for the knife.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22536\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"535\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ol.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ol.png 802w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ol-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ol-768x512.png 768w\" width=\"802\"/></div></p>\n<p>Later that year, on October 22, 2018, Gheyibe posted a photo of two knives on his own Instagram account. The one to the left (see photo above) is the Phrobis III Buck Gen 4 Fighting Knife M9 Scabbard USGI Military Wire Cutter. This model had gone on sale for a short moment in the autumn of 2018, at the previously mentioned knife store<strong> </strong>in Iran.</p>\n<p>We were able to find the Farsi Telegram account and exact address of the dealer, another answer to the question as to whom our target was contacting.</p>\n<p>A summary of our findings up until finding the specific knife reference on the target’s account was given to the police and later published in a <a href=\"https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/op-zoek-naar-ontsnapte-treitercrimineel-gheiybe-online-makkelijk-te-vinden-maar-moeilijk-te-pakken~a4c70322/\">Dutch newspaper,</a> which had asked Bellingcat for assistance. I also presented the preliminary findings at a conference of the <a href=\"https://gijn.org/member/dutch-flemish-association-for-investigation-vvoj/\">VVOJ</a>.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"nl\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/LROJ19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LROJ19</a>: scoop van Bellingcat <a href=\"https://t.co/IQkmPrieUE\">https://t.co/IQkmPrieUE</a></p>\n<p>— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1107958888735879168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 19, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p> </p>\n<h2><strong>Question 2: Where Is He Now?</strong></h2>\n<p>Because things were going smoothly, we tackled the hardest question: Where is the target now? We concentrated on a video from March 9, 2019.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Here is the original footage. And no – I am not sure. Why does it look like further north? <a href=\"https://t.co/syEgIRW87K\">pic.twitter.com/syEgIRW87K</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107591900842868736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>In this video, Shahin Gheiybe mocks the police while standing in front of a house.</p>\n<h2><strong>More Technical Preparations</strong></h2>\n<p>We dissected the 35 seconds of video from March 9, 2019 and exported it into over 1200 separate images, each covering a different part of the area, resulting in just one photo of all of the frames the video. For that, we used a sophisticated program called Agisoft Metashape, and this <a href=\"http://parametric-van-conversion.de/arbeitsschritte-in-agisoft-photoscan/\">method</a> (the description is currently only available in German). You see our target more than once because he was moving in the frame.</p>\n<p>The reason behind doing this conversion is that we get a better view of all the details of the video, a method that was also used in “<a href=\"https://medium.com/@henkvaness/how-to-date-a-mysterious-missile-launcher-78352ca8c3c3\">Inside the trenches of an information war</a>”</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22540 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1116\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2173px) 100vw, 2173px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/panorama2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/panorama2.png 2173w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/panorama2-300x154.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/panorama2-768x394.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/panorama2-1200x616.png 1200w\" width=\"2173\"/></div></p>\n<h2><strong>Problems To Solve</strong></h2>\n<p>Our target posted the video on March 9, 2019, but he may have filmed it months ago.</p>\n<p>We needed to find something in the video that helped with chronolocation, i.e., finding out exactly when it was shot.</p>\n<p>Besides the when, we needed more proof of the where: There is no hint of a location and no geotag in the Instagram post itself.</p>\n<p><b>Staring At The Magnolias</b></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22543 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"635\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qq.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qq.png 643w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qq-300x296.png 300w\" width=\"643\"/></div></p>\n<p>We stared long and hard at the white flowers, but only thanks to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BluntSpeaking/status/1107590401274335232\">botanical</a> experts was our next lead found.</p>\n<p>The plant is called the <i>Magnolia stellata</i>. It bears large, showy white or pink flowers, most of them in early spring, before its leaves open. These flowers don’t last long. The magnolia from the video probably blossomed at the end of February or in early March, very near to the publication date of the video. It was probably shot in the northern part of Iran, because <em>Magnolia stellata</em> wouldn’t be comfortable with the climate in the south of the country. We believed it to be a wealthy neighbourhood, because of the well-maintained garden and the size of the house.</p>\n<p><strong>The Garbage Can</strong></p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22544 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"789\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 916px) 100vw, 916px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qw.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qw.png 916w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qw-300x258.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qw-768x662.png 768w\" width=\"916\"/></div></p>\n<p>The garbage bin in front of the house is of a color and model that is sold in Iran.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We were able to sharpen the Iranian (?) bin. Now compare this bin to some bins we are sure that they are from Iran. Can they be the same? What do you think?  (7/7) <a href=\"https://t.co/NlOo9iEOUR\">pic.twitter.com/NlOo9iEOUR</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107619013557997568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><strong>A Reflection Offers More Clues</strong></p>\n<p>If you look closely at the house in the background, you see a window:</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22546 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"481\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 631px) 100vw, 631px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qa.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qa.png 631w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qa-300x229.png 300w\" width=\"631\"/></div></p>\n<p>And there is a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CapteursO/status/1107618739934187520\">reflection in the window as shown here.</a> There is another house in that reflection.</p>\n<p>We had to focus on a wealthy area in the north of Iran with at least three houses in the middle of what looks like the woods.</p>\n<p><strong>The Architectural Style</strong></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">And our public <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> quest continues! Look at the architecture of the building in video compared with something <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Tohn_Jitor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Tohn_Jitor</a> found in this area <a href=\"https://t.co/IUcE9xo2x7\">https://t.co/IUcE9xo2x7</a> Can you help to find the building in first photo? (7/7) <a href=\"https://t.co/aNog8jEq9Y\">pic.twitter.com/aNog8jEq9Y</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107620829154758656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>The details from the balcony are typical of some buildings in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, local people told us via Twitter</p>\n<p><strong>Going Through Reference Material</strong></p>\n<p>We went back to the Instagram videos of Shahin Gheiybe looking for material that could be from Mazandaran. In one video, published on October 5, 2018, he is driving through the rain.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22547\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"718\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 677px) 100vw, 677px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qeeq.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qeeq.png 677w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/qeeq-283x300.png 283w\" width=\"677\"/></div></p>\n<p>In front of him is a car, to the left of him you can see a sign of some sort of shop (1). The  shop is a real estate firm in Abbasabad, Mazandaran. The license plate (2) is also local. It starts with the number 82, which is specific to the area, as Iranian journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ErshadAlijani\">Ershad Alijani</a> from <a href=\"https://observers.france24.com/en/\">France 24 Observers</a> found out.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We have a new clue. In one of his videos, this still can be found.  The real estate firm to the left is from Abbasabad . And the license plate is also from Abbasabad/ Tonekabon Can all <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/osint?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#osint</a> lovers research for a house near Abbasabad that matches the house on the right? (8/8) <a href=\"https://t.co/eFiY61orSk\">pic.twitter.com/eFiY61orSk</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107624851534213122?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>The architectural style we previously honed in on is present in Abbasabad. At this point, Twitter was going wild. Some Iranians started spontaneously hunting for magnolias and orange garbage cans in the area, by car.</p>\n<p>The mystery, however, was solved in London. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NathanLeeTV\">Nathan Lee</a>, a reporter of ITV, recently followed a workshop from Bellingcat with Eliot Higgins and the author of this piece. “The Bellingcat course helped a lot. I did various Google image searches of Abbasabad, Tonekabon, Amirdasht and went on the premise of it being a rich/well to do area of Iran,” he wrote. Just 15 kilometres from Abbasabad, in Amirdasht Town, Nathan spotted the house of the convicted fugitive.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22551 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"458\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee33.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee33.png 937w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee33-300x147.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee33-768x375.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/ee33-935x458.png 935w\" width=\"937\"/></div></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hi <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@henkvaness</a> , <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EliotHiggins</a> – I think I've found it. Amirdasht in Iran. 36.691453, 51.258657 </p>\n<p>Matching pillars, lamp outside directly above doorway and to the side, shrubbery, plinths outside which can be seen at the end of the video. <a href=\"https://t.co/Wf5mlGAyEC\">pic.twitter.com/Wf5mlGAyEC</a></p>\n<p>— Nathan Lee (@NathanLeeTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NathanLeeTV/status/1107636366815449089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>If you turn the 360 view around, to the house across the street, there is a clear view of the same orange bin we found earlier.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22552 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"512\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1313.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1313.png 668w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/1313-300x230.png 300w\" width=\"668\"/></div></p>\n<p>With the help of crowd sourcing, the second question was finally answered. I couldn’t find the right words, as evidenced by my typo:</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I am tremendous proud of all the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/OSINT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#OSINT</a> people who helped <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> this morning in finding a fugitive criminal person. The exact location is <a href=\"https://t.co/FVlIweW1wF\">https://t.co/FVlIweW1wF</a> and the police has been notified. Thanks all! Unsung heroes are <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ErshadAlijani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ErshadAlijani</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NathanLeeTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NathanLeeTV</a> ! (10/10) <a href=\"https://t.co/bxmqtKNHkT\">pic.twitter.com/bxmqtKNHkT</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107645010789523456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>We asked a local Iranian to find out more about the house. It is guarded.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The dessert; here is the entrance of the place were the criminal fugitive is hiding  (12/12) <a href=\"https://t.co/CfpZgS5W7W\">pic.twitter.com/CfpZgS5W7W</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1107661352628379648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>The houses in the area are not vacation homes, and the neighbourhood consists of people who own their own places.</p>\n<p>Once more we went back to older Instagram posting. We wanted to find out if some of the videos were shot inside the house we saw in his Instagram-feed. We found three videos that were probably made in that house because they matched the placement of windows and other details we saw on the exterior.</p>\n<p>We found similar footage on another <a href=\"https://t.co/eSReTJDtad\">Instagram</a> account. That account belongs to a friend of the fugitive. She is a lawyer. The fugitive attended this friend’s wedding, according both to his and her postings. The groom is Shahin Gheiybe’s best friend. The bride claims it’s her house. Therefore, our target most likely lived at a friend’s house.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@henkvaness</a>    Short movie placed on Shahin Gheiybe instagram this morning was filmed in a female's friend house (same as the wedding pictures). See attachment for proof. <a href=\"https://t.co/BLMbmcV5eQ\">pic.twitter.com/BLMbmcV5eQ</a></p>\n<p>— Erik Wassenaar (@ErikLambooy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ErikLambooy/status/1108705007011065856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>Now that we knew how the inside of the house looked, we could chronolocate this Instagram post, from Christmas 2018, in the same house. Therefore, our target has probably lived for months in that house. <div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22601\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1012\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1144px) 100vw, 1144px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/christmas.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/christmas.jpg 1144w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/christmas-300x265.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/03/christmas-768x679.jpg 768w\" width=\"1144\"/></div></p>\n<p> </p>\n<p>The wanted fugitive has since confirmed that the location is right:</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For what it's worth!  Dutch most wanted fugitive just said about <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bellingcat</a> article \"Yes, they found the exact location\" in a chat with one of the editors. Check also <a href=\"https://t.co/qwtglUn1HE\">https://t.co/qwtglUn1HE</a> (17/17) <a href=\"https://t.co/tCet2hEbiJ\">pic.twitter.com/tCet2hEbiJ</a></p>\n<p>— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/henkvaness/status/1108679041274560512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2019</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p>Can you trust the statement of a wanted convict? We don’t need to answer that question ourselves. We found the exact spot thanks to open source investigation. But what now?</p>\n<h2><strong style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Epilogue</strong></h2>\n<p>Gathering all of our findings, we went to the Dutch police. They were very happy with the information and used it in their daily briefing, when they decided what to do next. But their hands are tied.</p>\n<p>The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s office then announced that they would not be able to <a href=\"https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/om-kan-niet-bij-ontsnapte-treitercrimineel-gheiybe-in-iran~a328bd1d/\">arrest </a>our wanted convict: “We have no extradition treaty. We studied our options, but we don’t have any legal basis to arrest him or ask the Iranian government to do that.”</p>\n<p>While this answer may be underwhelming, our quest demonstrates how social media and crowdsourcing can help pinpoint a criminal’s location. Even if said criminal thought he was playing a clever cat-and-mouse game.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nA fugitive convict from the Netherlands is\ntaunting\nDutch police with provocative pictures and videos from Iran, playing a game of “catch me if you can” on Instagram. “I love my freedom. And the weather,” he has stated.\nBellingcat was able to\nreveal\nthe last known location of the criminal with the help of over 60 Twitter users. Here’s how we did that.\nShahin Gheiybe is a convicted criminal hiding in Iran\nThe escape\nThe fugitive, 35-year-old Shahin Gheiybe, is on the Dutch “\nMost Wanted\n” list. On July 5, 2011, Gheiybe was sentenced for two attempted murders. In the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, on July 6, 2009, he tried to kill two individuals by shooting at them. He also robbed them of 175,000 euros. Gheiybe, born in Iran, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of thirteen years.\nHe managed to escape from prison on October 6, 2011, and has been on the run ever since. The police in the Netherlands have searched for this individual since\nthen\n.\nThe convict posts on Instagram (there are over 170 photos and videos) about his whereabouts (here is the\noriginal\nlink to his private account, and a\nbackup\nlink), mostly in Iran. He has almost never tagged himself with a specific geolocation, just towns and places. Only once, for a street in Teheran, the coordinates were very precise. Gheiybe’s Instagram account was created in July 2015. It became\nprivate\nthis month, after he landed on the list of most wanted criminals.\nHis last Instagram post is a clip from Scarface (\narchived\npost). Gheiybe’s Instagram account contains provocative material, like personal videos accusing the ruling judge in the Netherlands, claiming “the truth is very different.” He tries to explain to his followers he is a nice guy who made a mistake.\nA Dutch police spokesperson\ncalled this “shocking”\nand added, “It is unbelievable how he distorts the facts and that he cares so little about his victims and our society. Apparently he considers himself untouchable in Iran.”\nProblems To Solve\nA problem with scrutinising any of the Instagram posts is that the convict can deceive the police by using bogus location tags in Instagram, backdating the information, or otherwise hiding his real whereabouts. We looked mostly at clues where the convict is clearly visible and, at the same time, is near a traceable object (Gheiybe near a car, in a club, holding a branded knife).\nUsing that method, we tried to reduce the risk of being deceived ourselves.\nAnother problem centered on the ethics of impacting the investigation. If we can find a last known location — as we ultimately did — any convict undoubtedly becomes aware that they are being zeroed in on.\nWithout crowdsourcing, any fugitive’s last address will be much harder to find. Bellingcat got the help of over 60 people who researched with us via\nTwitter\n. That research was conducted mostly on March 18, 2019.\nThe police told the public they didn’t know the location. But the public (via crowdsourcing) ultimately did.\nThis is an example of how transparency works both ways: It can be used by both good and bad people. We decided that we would send the police even the tiniest leads during our investigation. And that we would alert them the moment we would find something actionable, so they had at least a head start.\nTechnical Preparations\nTo get our hands on all the Instagram posts, we needed to prepare first. We followed these three steps:\nBrowse Instagram On Desktop\nWe didn’t want to fiddle with a mobile or tablet, but work on a desktop computer. To do that, we downloaded\nDesktop for Instagram,\na Chrome plug-in.\nDownload Videos\nDownloading over 170 Instagram videos and photos manually is time consuming. We used a plug-in for Chrome called\nDownloader for Instagram\n. It’s fast, downloads all material in full resolution, and also supports Instagram stories downloads.\nFind Hidden Connections\nTo find the hidden connection between Instagram users, to find what our target liked, and much more, we used\nHelper Tools for Instagram\n, again a plug-in for Chrome.\nIn the picture above, for example, the convict is next to a liquor display — focusing in on specific objects can sometimes lead to finding connections. Or, at the very least, you find something about the target’s likes and lifestyle.\nQuestion 1:\nWhom Did He Meet?\nLast week, Dutch police asked the Dutch public for help with this case on TV.\nFor English followers: translation of \"Opsporing Verzocht\" (17/17) so you understand my last tweets a little better. Full explainer coming up tonight.\npic.twitter.com/3aplJ1Yz6F\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 19, 2019\nOne question was: Who did the convict interact with? Maybe his interlocutors know his possible bogus identity, like a false passport or a false name. We concentrated on that question first.\nA Man And A Statue:\nThis picture, uploaded on November 27, 2018, shows our target play-fighting a statue, which perfectly suits our need to have an identifiable object and our target in the same photo. We did\nreverse image search\nin Google and Yandex — and, as it is often the case, Yandex was the better choice.\nThis is how we found\nKish Island\n, some 200 kilometers away from Dubai.\nA slightly\nbizarre\npromotional story about this island tells you what you can do there:\n“Women sit with cigarette in hand, wearing colorful headscarves pushed right back to reveal plenty of make-up and expensive hair-dos” and “The wide, palm tree-lined boulevards that circle the island of 100 square kilometers are full of top-end cars, including luxury American models.”\nOn the same day, November 27, 2018, we found a video where our target was near a car with a recognizable license plate. The video shows our target getting into a red car and driving away in it.\nThe next step was for people with a great amount of patience. We tried to find hotels in Kish via Google Streetview that matched the building in the video background. In the end, we found the exact\nspot\n(pictured here in daylight):\nReverse imaging the license plate didn’t work at first. Sometimes, Google simply doesn’t recognize a blown up detail of a photo.\nYou can, however, approach this problem by just typing in words you can see into Google Images, without reverse searching the photo itself:\nThis leads to images of tourists driving the same red Chevrolet Camaro with the same license plate.\nEventually, we found the Camaro supplier by clicking on some Instagram posts featuring happy clients.\nOur convict didn’t steal the car. After he drove the Camaro, people were still renting it, as we found out after checking another series of posts by satisfied renters. So, we assume he had rented the vehicle as well.\nKish Rent Car, a local car rental place, can shine a light on the current identity of our target. We have a first possible answer to our initial question: Whom did our target meet?\nFinding Replies Sent To Other Instagram Accounts\nDid our target reply to other instagrammers? To find out, we used this formula in Google.\nWe don’t want to see postings from the target’s own account (hence we exclude site:\ninstagram.com/shahin\n) but are still interested if he (hence\nshahin.mzr\n) posted comments on the Instagram posts of others (hence\nsite:instagram.com\n). This is what we found:\nAround August 3, 2018, our target asks\nknife._.store\n, the Instagram account of an Iranian knife seller, if he can buy a knife and if it can be sent to him. He was prepared to pay 65,000 Thoman, which is around around $15, for the knife.\nLater that year, on October 22, 2018, Gheyibe posted a photo of two knives on his own Instagram account. The one to the left (see photo above) is the Phrobis III Buck Gen 4 Fighting Knife M9 Scabbard USGI Military Wire Cutter. This model had gone on sale for a short moment in the autumn of 2018, at the previously mentioned knife store\nin Iran.\nWe were able to find the Farsi Telegram account and exact address of the dealer, another answer to the question as to whom our target was contacting.\nA summary of our findings up until finding the specific knife reference on the target’s account was given to the police and later published in a\nDutch newspaper,\nwhich had asked Bellingcat for assistance. I also presented the preliminary findings at a conference of the\nVVOJ\n.\n#LROJ19\n: scoop van Bellingcat\nhttps://t.co/IQkmPrieUE\n— Bellingcat (@bellingcat)\nMarch 19, 2019\nQuestion 2: Where Is He Now?\nBecause things were going smoothly, we tackled the hardest question: Where is the target now? We concentrated on a video from March 9, 2019.\nHere is the original footage. And no – I am not sure. Why does it look like further north?\npic.twitter.com/syEgIRW87K\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nIn this video, Shahin Gheiybe mocks the police while standing in front of a house.\nMore Technical Preparations\nWe dissected the 35 seconds of video from March 9, 2019 and exported it into over 1200 separate images, each covering a different part of the area, resulting in just one photo of all of the frames the video. For that, we used a sophisticated program called Agisoft Metashape, and this\nmethod\n(the description is currently only available in German). You see our target more than once because he was moving in the frame.\nThe reason behind doing this conversion is that we get a better view of all the details of the video, a method that was also used in “\nInside the trenches of an information war\n”\nProblems To Solve\nOur target posted the video on March 9, 2019, but he may have filmed it months ago.\nWe needed to find something in the video that helped with chronolocation, i.e., finding out exactly when it was shot.\nBesides the when, we needed more proof of the where: There is no hint of a location and no geotag in the Instagram post itself.\nStaring At The Magnolias\nWe stared long and hard at the white flowers, but only thanks to\nbotanical\nexperts was our next lead found.\nThe plant is called the\nMagnolia stellata\n. It bears large, showy white or pink flowers, most of them in early spring, before its leaves open. These flowers don’t last long. The magnolia from the video probably blossomed at the end of February or in early March, very near to the publication date of the video. It was probably shot in the northern part of Iran, because\nMagnolia stellata\nwouldn’t be comfortable with the climate in the south of the country. We believed it to be a wealthy neighbourhood, because of the well-maintained garden and the size of the house.\nThe Garbage Can\nThe garbage bin in front of the house is of a color and model that is sold in Iran.\nWe were able to sharpen the Iranian (?) bin. Now compare this bin to some bins we are sure that they are from Iran. Can they be the same? What do you think? (7/7)\npic.twitter.com/NlOo9iEOUR\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nA Reflection Offers More Clues\nIf you look closely at the house in the background, you see a window:\nAnd there is a\nreflection in the window as shown here.\nThere is another house in that reflection.\nWe had to focus on a wealthy area in the north of Iran with at least three houses in the middle of what looks like the woods.\nThe Architectural Style\nAnd our public\n@bellingcat\nquest continues! Look at the architecture of the building in video compared with something\n@Tohn_Jitor\nfound in this area\nhttps://t.co/IUcE9xo2x7\nCan you help to find the building in first photo? (7/7)\npic.twitter.com/aNog8jEq9Y\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nThe details from the balcony are typical of some buildings in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, local people told us via Twitter\nGoing Through Reference Material\nWe went back to the Instagram videos of Shahin Gheiybe looking for material that could be from Mazandaran. In one video, published on October 5, 2018, he is driving through the rain.\nIn front of him is a car, to the left of him you can see a sign of some sort of shop (1). The shop is a real estate firm in Abbasabad, Mazandaran. The license plate (2) is also local. It starts with the number 82, which is specific to the area, as Iranian journalist\nErshad Alijani\nfrom\nFrance 24 Observers\nfound out.\nWe have a new clue. In one of his videos, this still can be found. The real estate firm to the left is from Abbasabad . And the license plate is also from Abbasabad/ Tonekabon Can all\n#osint\nlovers research for a house near Abbasabad that matches the house on the right? (8/8)\npic.twitter.com/eFiY61orSk\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nThe architectural style we previously honed in on is present in Abbasabad. At this point, Twitter was going wild. Some Iranians started spontaneously hunting for magnolias and orange garbage cans in the area, by car.\nThe mystery, however, was solved in London.\nNathan Lee\n, a reporter of ITV, recently followed a workshop from Bellingcat with Eliot Higgins and the author of this piece. “The Bellingcat course helped a lot. I did various Google image searches of Abbasabad, Tonekabon, Amirdasht and went on the premise of it being a rich/well to do area of Iran,” he wrote. Just 15 kilometres from Abbasabad, in Amirdasht Town, Nathan spotted the house of the convicted fugitive.\nHi\n@henkvaness\n,\n@bellingcat\n@EliotHiggins\n– I think I've found it. Amirdasht in Iran. 36.691453, 51.258657\nMatching pillars, lamp outside directly above doorway and to the side, shrubbery, plinths outside which can be seen at the end of the video.\npic.twitter.com/Wf5mlGAyEC\n— Nathan Lee (@NathanLeeTV)\nMarch 18, 2019\nIf you turn the 360 view around, to the house across the street, there is a clear view of the same orange bin we found earlier.\nWith the help of crowd sourcing, the second question was finally answered. I couldn’t find the right words, as evidenced by my typo:\nI am tremendous proud of all the\n#OSINT\npeople who helped\n@bellingcat\nthis morning in finding a fugitive criminal person. The exact location is\nhttps://t.co/FVlIweW1wF\nand the police has been notified. Thanks all! Unsung heroes are\n@ErshadAlijani\nand\n@NathanLeeTV\n! (10/10)\npic.twitter.com/bxmqtKNHkT\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nWe asked a local Iranian to find out more about the house. It is guarded.\nThe dessert; here is the entrance of the place were the criminal fugitive is hiding (12/12)\npic.twitter.com/CfpZgS5W7W\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 18, 2019\nThe houses in the area are not vacation homes, and the neighbourhood consists of people who own their own places.\nOnce more we went back to older Instagram posting. We wanted to find out if some of the videos were shot inside the house we saw in his Instagram-feed. We found three videos that were probably made in that house because they matched the placement of windows and other details we saw on the exterior.\nWe found similar footage on another\nInstagram\naccount. That account belongs to a friend of the fugitive. She is a lawyer. The fugitive attended this friend’s wedding, according both to his and her postings. The groom is Shahin Gheiybe’s best friend. The bride claims it’s her house. Therefore, our target most likely lived at a friend’s house.\n@bellingcat\n@henkvaness\nShort movie placed on Shahin Gheiybe instagram this morning was filmed in a female's friend house (same as the wedding pictures). See attachment for proof.\npic.twitter.com/BLMbmcV5eQ\n— Erik Wassenaar (@ErikLambooy)\nMarch 21, 2019\nNow that we knew how the inside of the house looked, we could chronolocate this Instagram post, from Christmas 2018, in the same house. Therefore, our target has probably lived for months in that house.\nThe wanted fugitive has since confirmed that the location is right:\nFor what it's worth! Dutch most wanted fugitive just said about\n@bellingcat\narticle \"Yes, they found the exact location\" in a chat with one of the editors. Check also\nhttps://t.co/qwtglUn1HE\n(17/17)\npic.twitter.com/tCet2hEbiJ\n— ʜᴇɴᴋ ᴠᴀɴ ᴇss (@henkvaness)\nMarch 21, 2019\nCan you trust the statement of a wanted convict? We don’t need to answer that question ourselves. We found the exact spot thanks to open source investigation. But what now?\nEpilogue\nGathering all of our findings, we went to the Dutch police. They were very happy with the information and used it in their daily briefing, when they decided what to do next. But their hands are tied.\nThe Dutch Public Prosecutor’s office then announced that they would not be able to\narrest\nour wanted convict: “We have no extradition treaty. We studied our options, but we don’t have any legal basis to arrest him or ask the Iranian government to do that.”\nWhile this answer may be underwhelming, our quest demonstrates how social media and crowdsourcing can help pinpoint a criminal’s location. Even if said criminal thought he was playing a clever cat-and-mouse game.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-07-02_more-europols-stop-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated.json

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+{
+  "slug": "more-europols-stop-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated",
+  "title": "More Europol’s “Stop Child Abuse” Photographs Geolocated",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/europe/2019/07/02/more-europols-stop-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated/",
+  "date": "2019-07-02T14:39:16+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-12-06T21:41:22+00:00",
+  "author": "Daniel Romein",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "In November 2018, Bellingcat wrote about two photographs related to child abuse crimes – photographs which were geolocated to Shenzhen in China. This investigation was crowdsourced by Europol as part of their Stop Child Abuse campaign that has been running since 2017. Images are shared on their website with the goal to identify the objects […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p>In <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2018/11/08/europols-asian-city-child-abuse-photographs-geolocated/\">November 2018</a>, Bellingcat wrote about two photographs related to child abuse crimes – photographs which were geolocated to Shenzhen in China.</p>\n<p>This investigation was crowdsourced by Europol as part of their <a href=\"http://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\">Stop Child Abuse</a> campaign that has been running since 2017. Images are shared on their website with the goal to identify the objects in them, their country of origin, and/or the location where they were taken. Europol also shares these images on their <a href=\"https://twitter.com/europol/status/1091275139361185792\">Twitter</a> and <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/europol/photos/a.425035587566103/2027159770687002/\">Facebook</a> accounts. Sites like <a href=\"http://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/at91nv/europol_stop_child_abuse_trace_an_object_feb_2019/\">Reddit</a> and <a href=\"http://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/europol-stop-child-abuse-%C2%96-trace-an-object-help-id-victims.344129/\">Websleuths</a> will also share these images with the purpose of discovering their origin.</p>\n<p>Both the campaign and the crowdsourcing efforts around it have not gone unnoticed by the media. <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/04/picture-clue-cops-turn-to-amateur-web-sleuths-to-help-crack-cases\">The Guardian</a>, for example, has written about Bellingcat’s involvement in this campaign. <a href=\"http://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-47660347/tracing-child-abusers-where-was-this-picture-taken\">BBC News</a> broadcast an interview with Finnish architect Olli Enne, who geolocated the two photographs from a city in East Asia, originally shared by Europol in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/1051812094214066177\">October 2018</a>.</p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https://twitter.com/europol/status/1091275139361185792\">1 February 2019</a>, Europol shared <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20190203090113/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\">new photos</a>. Two of these photos were shared in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/1091319182640275462\">separate tweet</a>. Just 23 minutes later, a Dutch citizen named <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Maarten_Kaskens\">Maarten Kaskens</a> posted a reply with a photograph of the same place and mentioned <a href=\"https://www.google.nl/maps/@56.2326329,37.3648327,251m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=nl&amp;authuser=0\">the exact location</a>, a cluster of summer homes between Moscow and Dmitrov, in a later tweet.</p>\n<p>Soon, these photographs were removed from Europol’s website, likely because the right location was found, but also because the photographs directly led to the person who uploaded them. An account with geotagged photographs uploaded by this individual, taken in the same area, was deleted soon after Europol’s publication. The Bellingcat team investigated the photographs and the individual who uploaded them. We submitted details about the individual in question to Europol, but because of the ongoing criminal investigation into this suspect, we cannot reveal these details and can only discuss the photographs themselves.</p>\n<p>Europol shared another photograph from their 1 February 2019 publication in a separate tweet on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/1098885242700615680\">22 February 2019</a>, asking if anyone was able to recognize the city visible in the background. Shortly thereafter, an Italian citizen named <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lorenzoromani/status/1098907369432641537\">Lorenzo Romani</a> wrote that he recognized the city as St. Petersburg in Russia and uploaded a skyline photograph with a bridge that roughly matches the skyline visible in Europol’s photograph. Bellingcat found the exact location of the photograph, taken from a beach area near St. Petersburg.</p>\n<p>Europol’s photographs from 1 February 2019 were also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1091285216054988801\">shared by Bellingcat</a>. On the same day, several people responded to a <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20190401012843/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/styles/europol_large/public/images/2018-6-c16.png?itok=Sm9Mcy7E\">photograph</a> taken presumably in an East Asian city and recognized the writing on the building as Chinese and mentioned South China as a possible location because of palm trees visible in the photograph. Only the text on two billboards was clear enough for native Chinese speakers to read because of the photograph’s resolution. These billboards mentioned used car information and a brand of motorcycles from China. Further reactions to the tweet mentioned the island Hainan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen as possible locations.  After searching in several cities in Southern China for streets with the same road lay out, street lanterns and palm trees, Bellingcat managed to find the exact location where the photograph was taken – in Jiangmen, China.</p>\n<p>What follows below is a recap of how these aforementioned photographs were geolocated.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<h4><strong>Location One: “Sunny Glade”, Yazikovo, Dmitrovsky district, Russia</strong></h4>\n<p>The photograph presumably taken between Moscow and Dmitrov shows small houses and a pond in a rural area. Photographs uploaded to a website in 2003, show several similar houses and a pond – it obviously is the same area. One of these photographs, as tweeted by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Maarten_Kaskens\">Maarten Kaskens</a>, shows rocks with exactly the same paint marks as visible in one of Europol’s photos. During our research it became clear the photographs very likely were uploaded by the suspect in Europol’s case.</p>\n<p>After comparing the photographs in the album to Europol’s website and first tweet from 1 February, it became clear that another photograph shared by Europol is from the same area. The small houses visible in the photographs are Russian summer houses (commonly referred to as “dachas”). Bellingcat discovered that the person who uploaded the 2003 photo album was registered to an address in Moscow in 2012, but also noticed an address of this person in Dmitrov mentioned in a discussion forum.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23669\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23669\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23669\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"525\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-collection-1200x525.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-collection-1200x525.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-collection-300x131.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-collection-768x336.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-collection.jpg 1233w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23669\">Left: Houses and a pond in a rural area, from Europol’s website and separate 1 February tweet.<br/>Right: Another photograph from Europol’s website and a first 1 February tweet.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23671\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23671\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23671\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-album-1200x449.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-album-1200x449.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-album-300x112.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-album-768x287.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/summer-house-album.jpg 1224w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23671\">Left: Photograph from the 2003 photo album, showing stones with the same paint marks as one of Europol’s photographs.<br/>Right: Another photograph from the 2003 photo album, showing the same houses as another Europol photograph.</p></div>\n<p>Bellingcat also found a 2014 video, showing the same houses near the pond, as visible in the second photograph of Europol’s separate tweet from 1 February. Two individuals, who do not have anything to do with Europol’s case, and visible in this video have been cut out from the following screenshot.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23676\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23676\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23676\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"602\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Lake-1200x602.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Lake-1200x602.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Lake-300x151.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Lake-768x386.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Lake.jpg 1279w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23676\">Screenshot of the 2014 video (we left out the two people pictured), matching the second photograph of Europol’s separate tweet.</p></div>\n<p>To confirm the exact location of these summer houses, we searched for additional evidence that supports the location of the deleted geotagged photographs. That evidence was found in a YouTube video, filmed from a car that drove from Moscow in the direction of Dmitrov, showing the route to the summer house area.</p>\n<p>At one point in the video, when the car leaves the main road, a store named “minimarket Olgovo” is visible – its location is visible on <a href=\"http://yandex.com/maps/?l=stv%2Csta&amp;ll=37.343269%2C56.267997&amp;panorama%5Bdirection%5D=184.995599%2C3.967396&amp;panorama%5Bpoint%5D=37.344345%2C56.267687&amp;panorama%5Bspan%5D=115.857344%2C80.000000&amp;z=17\">Yandex street view</a>. Apparently, a part of the video was cut out from that moment on, as a few seconds later a <a href=\"http://foto-planeta.com/photo/316402.html\">small old church</a> is visible. This church was be geolocated to a village named <a href=\"http://yandex.com/maps/?l=stv%2Csta&amp;ll=37.362956%2C56.241382&amp;z=16\">Yazykovo</a>, a short distance from Olgovo.</p>\n<p>Following the road further south, the same road as is visible in the video eventually brings us to a cluster of summer houses named <a href=\"http://yandex.com/maps/?l=stv%2Csta&amp;ll=37.368629%2C56.234170&amp;z=17\">Solnechnaya Polyana</a> (literally: “Sunny Glade”), owned by an organisation named <a href=\"http://sntsolpol.ru\">SNT Solnechnaya Polyana</a>, which runs many similar summer house communities mainly near Moscow.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23679\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23679\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23679\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"334\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/video-location-1200x334.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/video-location-1200x334.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/video-location-300x83.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/video-location-768x214.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/video-location.jpg 1222w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23679\">Two screenshots from a video that shows the route from Moscow to the summer house community from Europol’s photographs.<br/>Left: The church and houses in Yazykovo, near Olgovo in Dmitrovsky district.<br/>Right: The entrance of the Solnechnaya Polyana summer house community near Yazykovo.</p></div>\n<p>Eventually, the video also shows the exact location of the summer house of the suspect. This house matches with the 2003 photographs of the summer house. Bellingcat found the exact location of the summer house on satellite imagery and sent these details to Europol, but has chosen to refrain from publishing the exact location, due to the sensitivity of this criminal investigation.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<h4><strong>Location Two: Olgino, Primorsky District, St. Petersburg Region, Russia</strong></h4>\n<p>We first added more contrast to the photograph, which presumably was taken in St. Petersburg, so the skyline would be more visible. This enhanced version shows four pylons on the left side of the photograph, by which <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lorenzoromani/status/1098907369432641537\">Lorenzo Romani</a> recognized the skyline of St. Petersburg. Although we found many photographs with matching skylines, we noticed something was not completely right.</p>\n<p>The most similar view we first found on <a href=\"http://yandex.ru/maps/?l=stv%2Csta&amp;ll=30.170485%2C59.960026&amp;panorama%5Bdirection%5D=136.674168%2C-0.105974&amp;panorama%5Bpoint%5D=30.149167%2C59.985755&amp;panorama%5Bspan%5D=54.021490%2C30.007906&amp;z=13\">Yandex streetview</a> shows a different bridge on the left side of buildings similar to the buildings in Europol’s photograph, but that bridge has only two pylons, while in Europol’s photograph there are or there <em>seem</em> to be four pylons visible. The bridge with four pylons, as visible in Lorenzo’s tweet, is to the right side of these buildings. Also, the distance from the four pylons to the matching buildings in Europol’s photograph is bigger than in Yandex street view. Some of the buildings on Yandex street view are not visible on Europol’s photograph.</p>\n<p>Then, we realized two things: Europol’s photograph was likely taken from a different direction; also, the photograph was a few years old and the skyline has changed during these years. Searching through older photographs and satellite imagery to check if the bridge might have been renovated, we found out that the bridge was built from 2014 to 2016 and the two pylons were constructed in 2015.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23684\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23684\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23684\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"263\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/enhanced-1200x263.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/enhanced-1200x263.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/enhanced-300x66.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/enhanced-768x168.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/enhanced.jpg 1246w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23684\">Enhanced version with more contrast of Europol’s photograph.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23686\" style=\"width: 978px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23686\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23686\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"297\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 968px) 100vw, 968px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/comparison.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/comparison.jpg 968w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/comparison-300x92.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/comparison-768x236.jpg 768w\" width=\"968\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23686\">Comparing the skyline in Europol’s photograph to Yandex streetview shows similarities, but also a few differences. The four pylons in Europol’s photograph are further away from the buildings than the bridge and some buildings seem to be missing in Europol’s photograph.</p></div>\n<p>Older photographs of the area show the same skyline without the bridge and several other photographs. Also, Yandex street view shows a soccer stadium to the left side of the bridge with several light poles.</p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9731946,30.2206109,559m/data=!3m1!1e3\">satellite imagery</a> shows the stadium has eight light poles instead of four and the light poles stand skew instead of straight as in Europol’s photograph. Older satellite imagery makes clear that construction of the current stadium, named Gazprom Arena or <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krestovsky_Stadium\">Krestovsky Stadium</a>, started in 2009 at the location of the former <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirov_Stadium\">Kirov Stadium</a>, which was demolished in September 2006. The Kirov Stadium had four straight light poles, matching the four poles visible in Europol’s photograph.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23688\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23688\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23688\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"424\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/skylines-1200x424.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/skylines-1200x424.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/skylines-300x106.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/skylines-768x271.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/skylines.jpg 1248w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23688\">Top: Skyline from 2010 without bridge and construction work to the left.<br/>Middle: Skyline from 2007 that closely matches Europol’s photograph skyline.<br/>Bottom: Skyline from 2018 with bridge and soccer stadium.</p></div>\n<p>Photographs taken from the beach area around the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/thunder+Stone/@59.9881494,30.1248074,2237m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xa4f4809a734350f0!8m2!3d59.9884618!4d30.1280308\">Thunder Stone</a> (“<a href=\"http://xn----8sbhkxkdjct4l.xn--p1ai/\">Гром Камень</a>” in Russian), a large megalith used in the 18<sup>th</sup> century as pedestal for the Bronze Horseman in St.Petersburg, seem to have the best matching skyline. In a <a href=\"http://geocaching.su/showmemphotos.php?cid=590\">photo album</a> connected to a <a href=\"http://geocaching.su/?pn=101&amp;cid=590\">2004 article</a> about the Thunder Stone, a photograph that was uploaded in <a href=\"http://geocaching.su/photos/albums/4789.jpg\">October 2004</a> shows almost the same skyline as visible in Europol’s photograph, including the four light poles of the old soccer stadium. An overlay of Europol’s photograph over the 2004 photograph shows the striking similarity of the skyline.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23690\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23690\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23690\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"768\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/thunder_stone_2004_skyline_and_Europol_overlay-1200x768.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/thunder_stone_2004_skyline_and_Europol_overlay-1200x768.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/thunder_stone_2004_skyline_and_Europol_overlay-300x192.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/thunder_stone_2004_skyline_and_Europol_overlay-768x492.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/thunder_stone_2004_skyline_and_Europol_overlay.jpg 1248w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23690\">Top: 2004 photograph of the “Thunder Stone” beach area showing a very similar skyline as Europol’s photograph.<br/>Bottom: Overlay of Europol’s photograph over the 2004 Thunder Stone beach area photograph.</p></div>\n<p>In Europol’s photograph it seems a few <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9541158,30.2060671,3a,30y,133.47h,100.84t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOsXl115bIZV1K3BC5hhvMJGWu_DxghyrMKPPuW!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOsXl115bIZV1K3BC5hhvMJGWu_DxghyrMKPPuW%3Dw203-h100-k-no\">taller buildings</a> are visible that are not visible in the 2004 Thunder Stone beach area photograph. This can be explained because construction of a residential complex named <a href=\"http://www.citywalls.ru/house17555.html\">Morskoy Kaskad</a> (literally: “Sea Cascade” in Russian) started in 2003 and was finished in 2005. Therefore, Europol’s photograph very likely was taken between spring and autumn 2005, or in the spring or summer of 2006.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<h4><strong>Location Three: Jiangmen, Xinhui district, Guangdong province, China</strong></h4>\n<p>One of the locations <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20190203090113/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\">published by Europol</a> on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/europol/status/1091275139361185792\">1 February</a>, which was not tweeted about separately, is accompanied by the question, “Do you recognize this building in Asia?”</p>\n<p>In response to this tweet, as well as to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1091285216054988801\">Bellingcat’s tweet</a>, several people responded by saying that they recognize the text displayed on several billboards on the building as Chinese and that the location was very likely to be in South China, because of the palm trees visible in the photograph. Only the text on two billboards is clear enough for Chinese speakers to read because of the photograph’s low resolution. The billboards mention used cars and a brand of motorcycles from China. As previously mentioned, further reactions to the tweets specifically mention the island Hainan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen as possible locations in South China.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23694\" style=\"width: 629px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23694\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23694\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"560\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Building_and_text.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Building_and_text.jpg 619w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Building_and_text-300x271.jpg 300w\" width=\"619\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23694\">Building in South China with two readable billboards, displaying the name of a brand of motorcycles from China (bottom left) and “used car information” (bottom right). The image obviously has been edited/censored by Europol, because very likely a child was visible in the original image.</p></div>\n<p>Twitter user <a href=\"https://twitter.com/benloks/status/1091326830643200000\">Ben Lokshin</a>, among others, deciphered the motorcycle brand billboard as “中裕摩托“, written in simplified Chinese characters and translated as Zhongyu Motorcycles. Another Twitter user named <a href=\"https://twitter.com/konrad_it/status/1091336441987244032\">Konrad Iturbe</a> pointed out this brand is sold all over China, but also mentioned that only Jiangmen would have this kind of architecture, road layout, and palm trees.</p>\n<p>A Twitter user named <a href=\"https://twitter.com/James94952341/status/1091376752553836545\">James</a> noticed a <a href=\"http://www.sohu.com/a/272271156_687386\">photograph</a> of a different building with the same first four Chinese characters displayed on a billboard – a logo for a motorcycle repair service department. That <a href=\"http://www.dianping.com/shop/43994495\">repair service deparment</a>, however, is on <a href=\"https://maps.baidu.com/search/%E9%A9%AC%E5%9D%9D%E9%95%87%E6%A1%83%E5%9B%AD%E8%A5%BF%E8%B7%AF35%E5%8F%B7%E9%97%A8%E5%BA%97/@12646217.413568027,2819270.9881313727,21z\">Taoyuan west road 35 in Mabazhen</a> in the Qujiang district, Shaoguan, Guangdong province, more than 100 kilometers north of the other aforementioned cities in Southern China. Both <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98/@22.5689529,113.1400076,1006m/data=!3m1!1e3\">Google</a> as <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/poi/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98%E8%BD%A6%E9%85%8D%E4%BB%B6/@12588625.865000002,2568132.1444223085,11.93z?uid=5b3595746688d1180c0e6b4c&amp;primaryUid=18097576911630382941&amp;ugc_type=3&amp;ugc_ver=1&amp;device_ratio=1&amp;compat=1&amp;querytype=det\">Baidu</a>, showing yet another building with the same four Chinese characters on a billboard, give <a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/place/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98%E8%BD%A6%E9%85%8D%E4%BB%B6/@22.5682745,113.0776817,194m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x340223418d705b07:0x8323bf313420474d!8m2!3d22.5684073!4d113.0778424\">Hiuanshi 3</a><a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/place/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98%E8%BD%A6%E9%85%8D%E4%BB%B6/@22.5682745,113.0776817,194m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x340223418d705b07:0x8323bf313420474d!8m2!3d22.5684073!4d113.0778424\"><sup>rd</sup></a><a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/place/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98%E8%BD%A6%E9%85%8D%E4%BB%B6/@22.5682745,113.0776817,194m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x340223418d705b07:0x8323bf313420474d!8m2!3d22.5684073!4d113.0778424\"> road</a>, Penjiang district in Jiangmen city, Guangdong province in Southern China as the first search result first “中裕摩托” (Zhongyu motorcycles).</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1091336598447247360\">Nathan Ruser</a> from the <a href=\"http://www.aspi.org.au/bio/nathan-ruser\">Australian Strategic Policy Institute</a>, among others, recognized the text on the second billboard as simplified Chinese characters  “二手车信息”, translated as “used car information.”</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23696\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23696\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23696\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Zhongyu_compare-1200x400.jpeg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Zhongyu_compare-1200x400.jpeg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Zhongyu_compare-300x100.jpeg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Zhongyu_compare-768x256.jpeg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Zhongyu_compare.jpeg 1211w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23696\">Zhongyu motorcycle repair service department in Mabazhen, Qujiang district, Shaoguan, Guangdong province, China (left),<br/>Zhongyu motorcycle accessories in Penjiang district, Jiangmen, China (right).</p></div>\n<p>Further research into the brand name “Zhongyu motorcycles” made clear the company that produced these motorcycles went <a href=\"http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/15045921.html\">bankrupt</a> in <a href=\"http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/23040966.html\">2006</a> and the owner <a href=\"http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/10560992.html\">fled</a> China, despite being ranked <a href=\"http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/22709740.html\">first in 2005</a> as  motorcycle production in China and that everyone in Jiangmen knew the factory closed down.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/place/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A3%95%E6%91%A9%E6%89%98/@22.5698642,113.1398463,711m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x997fe72bba8e80f2!2z5Lit6KOV5pGp5omY!8m2!3d22.568948!4d113.142196!3m4!1s0x0:0x997fe72bba8e80f2!8m2!3d22.568948!4d113.142196\">location of the factory</a>, which is only correctly displayed on the Chinese version of Google maps, was on Jinlu Road in the Jianghai District of Jiangmen City. The <a href=\"http://zhongyu.ddc.net.cn\">Zhongyu motorcycle group</a> was established in 1994 and produced 600,000 motorcycles a year on the 420-acre industrial park in Jiangmen. A <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20020628120145/http:/www.zhongyu.com.cn/new/note.htm\">2002 archived version</a> of Zhongyu motorcycles’ website mentions the engines were produced in the <a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/@22.5236368,112.9539079,2693m/data=!3m1!1e3\">Wuhe indsutrial zone</a> in Daze town in the Xinhui district of Jiangmen.</p>\n<p>Because Zhongyu went bankrupt in 2006, we suspected the Europol photograph to be at least ten years old, as after 2006 very likely no new advertisements of this motorcycle brand would appear anymore on billboards. Since these motorcycles were produced in Jiangmen, we knew there was a chance that Europol’s photograph was taken in Jiangmen, despite that these motorcycles likely were sold everywhere in China – or at least everywhere in South China. Our research started in various cities in South China and we especially focused to the layout of the road visible in the photograph: a two-way road with three lanes each, separated by a centre median strip with palm trees and lamp posts with four lights.</p>\n<p>After an intensive research, we finally found <a href=\"https://maps.baidu.com/@12583748.74,2551504.12,21z,87t,-7.11h#panoid=09004600001407151715232735X&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=247.24&amp;pitch=6.13&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09004600001407151715232735X\">such a road and a similar building</a> in the Xinhui district of Jiangmen, named <a href=\"http://maps.baidu.com/@12583696.655855747,2553912.36900383,15.9z\">Sanhe Avenue</a>. However, the building from Europol’s photograph was not found along this road. As satellite imagery in Jiangmen doesn’t go back further in history than 2008 and Europol’s photograph was likely taken in or before 2006, we realized there was a chance the building was demolished before 2008. As we expected to find the building along this north-south road, on the west side of the road based on the direction of the sunlight, Timmi Allen of our Bellingcat team created a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FUOkOXiGi4\">3D model of the building</a> to understand how the building would look like on satellite imagery.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23698\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23698\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23698\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"436\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/3D-model-compare-1200x436.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/3D-model-compare-1200x436.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/3D-model-compare-300x109.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/3D-model-compare-768x279.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/3D-model-compare.jpg 1234w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23698\">3D reconstruction model of Europol’s Asian city photograph, showing recognizable features of the building.</p></div>\n<p>Via this reconstruction model we eventually found the <a href=\"https://maps.baidu.com/@12585656.800116813,2559653.6155896606,20.57z/maptype%3DB_EARTH_MAP\">building</a> on <a href=\"https://www.google.cn/maps/@22.5313389,113.0512148,178m/data=!3m1!1e3\">Ganzhou Avenue East 88</a> in the Xinhui district of Jiangmen, China. According to geotags on Baidu and Google, the building houses, among other businesses, a used car information center and a <a href=\"http://hotel.elong.com/02021106/\">business hotel</a>, showing the same entrance on the hotel website as Europol’s photograph.</p>\n<p>Baidu’s street view from 2015 even shows the exact same lam post and blue one-way traffic sign on the centre median strip with palm trees. Examination of satellite imagery clearly shows Europol’s photograph was taken before 2014, as a building to the right of Europol’s building has been demolished before 2014 and a new building to the left was built before 2014. Also the height of the trees visible in Europol’s photograph fit the 2008 satellite imagery.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23699\" style=\"width: 784px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23699\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23699\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"781\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare.jpg 774w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare-297x300.jpg 297w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare-768x775.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Jiangmen_building_compare-125x125.jpg 125w\" width=\"774\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23699\">The building from Europol’s Asian city photograph on Google Earth satellite imagery of 2018 (top left) and satellite imagery from 2008 (top right). Baidu’s street view from 2015 of the same building and road visible in Europol’s photograph.</p></div>\n<p>The photograph that Europol published was taken from behind a window of the building on the opposite side of the street. Europol’s photograph shows a black fence, big windows and two white pillars on the other side of the window. Also a white roof is visible on the bottom side of the photograph. The photograph clearly shows this part of the building has a round shape. A white cross and a car on the left side are visible outside in the area which seems a parking place. Baidu’s <a href=\"https://maps.baidu.com/@12585631.63,2559562.03,21z,87t,-93.07h#panoid=09004600011603071332072322N&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=185.91&amp;pitch=11.15&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09004600011603071332072322N\">streetview</a> shows a part of the building with a round shape and a roof above the entrance. On the second floor of this part of the building, a fence is visible behind the only window that is not covered by a curtain.</p>\n<p>The street view to the third floor of the other side of this building shows <a href=\"https://maps.baidu.com/@12585631.63,2559562.03,21z,87t,-93.07h#panoid=09004600011603071332035672N&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=187.81&amp;pitch=30.32&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=09004600011603071332035672N\">a black fence</a> with exactly the same shape as in Europol’s photograph. However, since a large part of the roof above the entrance is visible, it’s more likely the photograph has been taken from the second floor, from one of the rooms that, on street view, has its windows covered by curtains. Photographs taken <a href=\"http://archive.fo/VJnGx\">in meeting rooms</a> of the building, which in the meantime have been deleted, also show the exact same type of fence.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23701\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23701\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23701\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"385\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Times_hotel-1200x385.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Times_hotel-1200x385.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Times_hotel-300x96.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Times_hotel-768x246.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/Times_hotel.jpg 1234w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23701\">The building where Europol’s photograph was taken. A similar fence is visible on the second floor (left)<br/>and the exact type of fence on the third floor (right). Large windows, white pillars and a white roof above the entrance are similar to Europol’s photograph.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23702\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23702\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23702\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"424\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/meeting_rooms-1200x424.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/meeting_rooms-1200x424.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/meeting_rooms-300x106.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/meeting_rooms-768x272.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/meeting_rooms.jpg 1233w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23702\">Photographs taken from meeting rooms in the building where Europol’s photograph was taken<br/>show the exact same type of black fence as in Europol’s photograph.</p></div>\n<p>Further investigation into the building where Europol’s photograph was taken, led to the surprising conclusion that another photograph, published by Europol on <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20190203090113/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\">1 February 2019</a>, was taken inside that same building. This photograph, showing a hall of what looks like a shopping center and several red tables and benches with “Coca Cola” written on them, is accompanied by the question “Do you know where this food court is located?”</p>\n<p>An article about the <a href=\"http://epaper.southcn.com/nfdaily/html/2013-07/11/content_7205789.htm\">Jianghui Times City</a> (archived <a href=\"http://archive.fo/dPfC9\">here</a>), published in July 2013, shows a photograph of a central hall of this shopping mall, which shows many similarities to Europol’s food court photograph. Another article about <a href=\"https://longchengbanshan.fang.com/bbs/2822110700~-1/526783357_526783357.htm\">the same shopping center</a> published in 2014 (archived <a href=\"http://archive.fo/ZHNBl\">here</a>), confirms the location.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23704\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23704\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23704\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"437\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/mallchina_coke-1200x437.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/mallchina_coke-1200x437.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/mallchina_coke-300x109.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/mallchina_coke-768x280.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/mallchina_coke.jpg 1228w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23704\">Another photograph published by Europol on February 1, 2019 shows a hall inside what looks like a shopping mall, with several red tables and benches visible in the photograph with the Coca Cola logo displayed on them (left). Photograph of the hall of the Jianghui Times City shopping mall, the building from where Europol’s Asian city photograph had been taken from (right).</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_23705\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23705\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23705\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"451\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/2018-6-c17-compare-1200x451.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/2018-6-c17-compare-1200x451.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/2018-6-c17-compare-300x113.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/2018-6-c17-compare-768x288.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/07/2018-6-c17-compare.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-23705\">Comparison between another photograph of the main hall of the Jianghui Times City shopping mall<br/>to Europol’s food court photograph of 1 February 2019.</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<h4><strong>Conclusion And Recommendations To Europol<br/>\n</strong></h4>\n<p>This analysis demonstrates that Europol’s “Stop Child Abuse” online crowdsourcing campaign is quite succesful. It’s not only that objects in photographs get <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2017/08/28/stop-child-abuse-2nd-update/\">recognized</a> <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/01/04/stop-child-abuse-campaign-3rd-update/\">often</a>, so that they can be linked to an origin country making it possible for Europol to inform law enforcement of said country in order to further investigate the case. Sometimes, often after intensive research, locations of photographs eventually get geolocated precisely, possibly increasing the likelihood that such a case can be solved.</p>\n<p>However, we have a few recommendations to Europol in their crowdsourcing campaign. The first recommendation is to be careful with sharing photographs that can be easily found with reverse image search, as this could immediately lead to a victim or even a potential suspect. The risk for vigilante justice can be high, particularly if a social media profile belonging to a potential suspect or person of interest is uncovered. When it came to Location One, it was relatively easy to find one of the photographs with reverse image search, which happened just less than half an hour after one of the photographs was tweeted by Europol.</p>\n<p>The second recommendation is this: If several photographs from the same case are displayed on Europol’s website and Europol is aware of these photographs as being linked, it can help to make the connection between the photographs clear. Both in the case of Location One and Location Three it became clear Europol uploaded two different photographs that are part of the same case, without specifying it. It’s possible that this information could help solve the case possibly even quicker.</p>\n<p>Our final recommendation: Before a photograph is shared, it would be good to be realistic about the chances for recognition. Sometimes the quality of the photographs of objects seems too low to be able to be recognized and sometimes the location seems as if it could really be anywhere and could not be geolocated without any background information. This is why we recommend sharing as much information about a certain location as possible, in case that information is available. Our next article in the series of Europol’s “Stop Child Abuse” will show an example of a photograph that like would never have been geolocated if no additional information was found about the image.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<p><em>Research by Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen, Klement Anders, Noor Nahas and “Bo”, </em><em>review/editing by Natalia Antonova.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "In\nNovember 2018\n, Bellingcat wrote about two photographs related to child abuse crimes – photographs which were geolocated to Shenzhen in China.\nThis investigation was crowdsourced by Europol as part of their\nStop Child Abuse\ncampaign that has been running since 2017. Images are shared on their website with the goal to identify the objects in them, their country of origin, and/or the location where they were taken. Europol also shares these images on their\nTwitter\nand\nFacebook\naccounts. Sites like\nReddit\nand\nWebsleuths\nwill also share these images with the purpose of discovering their origin.\nBoth the campaign and the crowdsourcing efforts around it have not gone unnoticed by the media.\nThe Guardian\n, for example, has written about Bellingcat’s involvement in this campaign.\nBBC News\nbroadcast an interview with Finnish architect Olli Enne, who geolocated the two photographs from a city in East Asia, originally shared by Europol in\nOctober 2018\n.\nOn\n1 February 2019\n, Europol shared\nnew photos\n. Two of these photos were shared in a\nseparate tweet\n. Just 23 minutes later, a Dutch citizen named\nMaarten Kaskens\nposted a reply with a photograph of the same place and mentioned\nthe exact location\n, a cluster of summer homes between Moscow and Dmitrov, in a later tweet.\nSoon, these photographs were removed from Europol’s website, likely because the right location was found, but also because the photographs directly led to the person who uploaded them. An account with geotagged photographs uploaded by this individual, taken in the same area, was deleted soon after Europol’s publication. The Bellingcat team investigated the photographs and the individual who uploaded them. We submitted details about the individual in question to Europol, but because of the ongoing criminal investigation into this suspect, we cannot reveal these details and can only discuss the photographs themselves.\nEuropol shared another photograph from their 1 February 2019 publication in a separate tweet on\n22 February 2019\n, asking if anyone was able to recognize the city visible in the background. Shortly thereafter, an Italian citizen named\nLorenzo Romani\nwrote that he recognized the city as St. Petersburg in Russia and uploaded a skyline photograph with a bridge that roughly matches the skyline visible in Europol’s photograph. Bellingcat found the exact location of the photograph, taken from a beach area near St. Petersburg.\nEuropol’s photographs from 1 February 2019 were also\nshared by Bellingcat\n. On the same day, several people responded to a\nphotograph\ntaken presumably in an East Asian city and recognized the writing on the building as Chinese and mentioned South China as a possible location because of palm trees visible in the photograph. Only the text on two billboards was clear enough for native Chinese speakers to read because of the photograph’s resolution. These billboards mentioned used car information and a brand of motorcycles from China. Further reactions to the tweet mentioned the island Hainan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen as possible locations. After searching in several cities in Southern China for streets with the same road lay out, street lanterns and palm trees, Bellingcat managed to find the exact location where the photograph was taken – in Jiangmen, China.\nWhat follows below is a recap of how these aforementioned photographs were geolocated.\nLocation One: “Sunny Glade”, Yazikovo, Dmitrovsky district, Russia\nThe photograph presumably taken between Moscow and Dmitrov shows small houses and a pond in a rural area. Photographs uploaded to a website in 2003, show several similar houses and a pond – it obviously is the same area. One of these photographs, as tweeted by\nMaarten Kaskens\n, shows rocks with exactly the same paint marks as visible in one of Europol’s photos. During our research it became clear the photographs very likely were uploaded by the suspect in Europol’s case.\nAfter comparing the photographs in the album to Europol’s website and first tweet from 1 February, it became clear that another photograph shared by Europol is from the same area. The small houses visible in the photographs are Russian summer houses (commonly referred to as “dachas”). Bellingcat discovered that the person who uploaded the 2003 photo album was registered to an address in Moscow in 2012, but also noticed an address of this person in Dmitrov mentioned in a discussion forum.\nLeft: Houses and a pond in a rural area, from Europol’s website and separate 1 February tweet.\nRight: Another photograph from Europol’s website and a first 1 February tweet.\nLeft: Photograph from the 2003 photo album, showing stones with the same paint marks as one of Europol’s photographs.\nRight: Another photograph from the 2003 photo album, showing the same houses as another Europol photograph.\nBellingcat also found a 2014 video, showing the same houses near the pond, as visible in the second photograph of Europol’s separate tweet from 1 February. Two individuals, who do not have anything to do with Europol’s case, and visible in this video have been cut out from the following screenshot.\nScreenshot of the 2014 video (we left out the two people pictured), matching the second photograph of Europol’s separate tweet.\nTo confirm the exact location of these summer houses, we searched for additional evidence that supports the location of the deleted geotagged photographs. That evidence was found in a YouTube video, filmed from a car that drove from Moscow in the direction of Dmitrov, showing the route to the summer house area.\nAt one point in the video, when the car leaves the main road, a store named “minimarket Olgovo” is visible – its location is visible on\nYandex street view\n. Apparently, a part of the video was cut out from that moment on, as a few seconds later a\nsmall old church\nis visible. This church was be geolocated to a village named\nYazykovo\n, a short distance from Olgovo.\nFollowing the road further south, the same road as is visible in the video eventually brings us to a cluster of summer houses named\nSolnechnaya Polyana\n(literally: “Sunny Glade”), owned by an organisation named\nSNT Solnechnaya Polyana\n, which runs many similar summer house communities mainly near Moscow.\nTwo screenshots from a video that shows the route from Moscow to the summer house community from Europol’s photographs.\nLeft: The church and houses in Yazykovo, near Olgovo in Dmitrovsky district.\nRight: The entrance of the Solnechnaya Polyana summer house community near Yazykovo.\nEventually, the video also shows the exact location of the summer house of the suspect. This house matches with the 2003 photographs of the summer house. Bellingcat found the exact location of the summer house on satellite imagery and sent these details to Europol, but has chosen to refrain from publishing the exact location, due to the sensitivity of this criminal investigation.\nLocation Two: Olgino, Primorsky District, St. Petersburg Region, Russia\nWe first added more contrast to the photograph, which presumably was taken in St. Petersburg, so the skyline would be more visible. This enhanced version shows four pylons on the left side of the photograph, by which\nLorenzo Romani\nrecognized the skyline of St. Petersburg. Although we found many photographs with matching skylines, we noticed something was not completely right.\nThe most similar view we first found on\nYandex streetview\nshows a different bridge on the left side of buildings similar to the buildings in Europol’s photograph, but that bridge has only two pylons, while in Europol’s photograph there are or there\nseem\nto be four pylons visible. The bridge with four pylons, as visible in Lorenzo’s tweet, is to the right side of these buildings. Also, the distance from the four pylons to the matching buildings in Europol’s photograph is bigger than in Yandex street view. Some of the buildings on Yandex street view are not visible on Europol’s photograph.\nThen, we realized two things: Europol’s photograph was likely taken from a different direction; also, the photograph was a few years old and the skyline has changed during these years. Searching through older photographs and satellite imagery to check if the bridge might have been renovated, we found out that the bridge was built from 2014 to 2016 and the two pylons were constructed in 2015.\nEnhanced version with more contrast of Europol’s photograph.\nComparing the skyline in Europol’s photograph to Yandex streetview shows similarities, but also a few differences. The four pylons in Europol’s photograph are further away from the buildings than the bridge and some buildings seem to be missing in Europol’s photograph.\nOlder photographs of the area show the same skyline without the bridge and several other photographs. Also, Yandex street view shows a soccer stadium to the left side of the bridge with several light poles.\nHowever,\nsatellite imagery\nshows the stadium has eight light poles instead of four and the light poles stand skew instead of straight as in Europol’s photograph. Older satellite imagery makes clear that construction of the current stadium, named Gazprom Arena or\nKrestovsky Stadium\n, started in 2009 at the location of the former\nKirov Stadium\n, which was demolished in September 2006. The Kirov Stadium had four straight light poles, matching the four poles visible in Europol’s photograph.\nTop: Skyline from 2010 without bridge and construction work to the left.\nMiddle: Skyline from 2007 that closely matches Europol’s photograph skyline.\nBottom: Skyline from 2018 with bridge and soccer stadium.\nPhotographs taken from the beach area around the\nThunder Stone\n(“\nГром Камень\n” in Russian), a large megalith used in the 18\nth\ncentury as pedestal for the Bronze Horseman in St.Petersburg, seem to have the best matching skyline. In a\nphoto album\nconnected to a\n2004 article\nabout the Thunder Stone, a photograph that was uploaded in\nOctober 2004\nshows almost the same skyline as visible in Europol’s photograph, including the four light poles of the old soccer stadium. An overlay of Europol’s photograph over the 2004 photograph shows the striking similarity of the skyline.\nTop: 2004 photograph of the “Thunder Stone” beach area showing a very similar skyline as Europol’s photograph.\nBottom: Overlay of Europol’s photograph over the 2004 Thunder Stone beach area photograph.\nIn Europol’s photograph it seems a few\ntaller buildings\nare visible that are not visible in the 2004 Thunder Stone beach area photograph. This can be explained because construction of a residential complex named\nMorskoy Kaskad\n(literally: “Sea Cascade” in Russian) started in 2003 and was finished in 2005. Therefore, Europol’s photograph very likely was taken between spring and autumn 2005, or in the spring or summer of 2006.\nLocation Three: Jiangmen, Xinhui district, Guangdong province, China\nOne of the locations\npublished by Europol\non\n1 February\n, which was not tweeted about separately, is accompanied by the question, “Do you recognize this building in Asia?”\nIn response to this tweet, as well as to\nBellingcat’s tweet\n, several people responded by saying that they recognize the text displayed on several billboards on the building as Chinese and that the location was very likely to be in South China, because of the palm trees visible in the photograph. Only the text on two billboards is clear enough for Chinese speakers to read because of the photograph’s low resolution. The billboards mention used cars and a brand of motorcycles from China. As previously mentioned, further reactions to the tweets specifically mention the island Hainan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen as possible locations in South China.\nBuilding in South China with two readable billboards, displaying the name of a brand of motorcycles from China (bottom left) and “used car information” (bottom right). The image obviously has been edited/censored by Europol, because very likely a child was visible in the original image.\nTwitter user\nBen Lokshin\n, among others, deciphered the motorcycle brand billboard as “中裕摩托“, written in simplified Chinese characters and translated as Zhongyu Motorcycles. Another Twitter user named\nKonrad Iturbe\npointed out this brand is sold all over China, but also mentioned that only Jiangmen would have this kind of architecture, road layout, and palm trees.\nA Twitter user named\nJames\nnoticed a\nphotograph\nof a different building with the same first four Chinese characters displayed on a billboard – a logo for a motorcycle repair service department. That\nrepair service deparment\n, however, is on\nTaoyuan west road 35 in Mabazhen\nin the Qujiang district, Shaoguan, Guangdong province, more than 100 kilometers north of the other aforementioned cities in Southern China. Both\nGoogle\nas\nBaidu\n, showing yet another building with the same four Chinese characters on a billboard, give\nHiuanshi 3\nrd\nroad\n, Penjiang district in Jiangmen city, Guangdong province in Southern China as the first search result first “中裕摩托” (Zhongyu motorcycles).\nNathan Ruser\nfrom the\nAustralian Strategic Policy Institute\n, among others, recognized the text on the second billboard as simplified Chinese characters “二手车信息”, translated as “used car information.”\nZhongyu motorcycle repair service department in Mabazhen, Qujiang district, Shaoguan, Guangdong province, China (left),\nZhongyu motorcycle accessories in Penjiang district, Jiangmen, China (right).\nFurther research into the brand name “Zhongyu motorcycles” made clear the company that produced these motorcycles went\nbankrupt\nin\n2006\nand the owner\nfled\nChina, despite being ranked\nfirst in 2005\nas motorcycle production in China and that everyone in Jiangmen knew the factory closed down.\nThe\nlocation of the factory\n, which is only correctly displayed on the Chinese version of Google maps, was on Jinlu Road in the Jianghai District of Jiangmen City. The\nZhongyu motorcycle group\nwas established in 1994 and produced 600,000 motorcycles a year on the 420-acre industrial park in Jiangmen. A\n2002 archived version\nof Zhongyu motorcycles’ website mentions the engines were produced in the\nWuhe indsutrial zone\nin Daze town in the Xinhui district of Jiangmen.\nBecause Zhongyu went bankrupt in 2006, we suspected the Europol photograph to be at least ten years old, as after 2006 very likely no new advertisements of this motorcycle brand would appear anymore on billboards. Since these motorcycles were produced in Jiangmen, we knew there was a chance that Europol’s photograph was taken in Jiangmen, despite that these motorcycles likely were sold everywhere in China – or at least everywhere in South China. Our research started in various cities in South China and we especially focused to the layout of the road visible in the photograph: a two-way road with three lanes each, separated by a centre median strip with palm trees and lamp posts with four lights.\nAfter an intensive research, we finally found\nsuch a road and a similar building\nin the Xinhui district of Jiangmen, named\nSanhe Avenue\n. However, the building from Europol’s photograph was not found along this road. As satellite imagery in Jiangmen doesn’t go back further in history than 2008 and Europol’s photograph was likely taken in or before 2006, we realized there was a chance the building was demolished before 2008. As we expected to find the building along this north-south road, on the west side of the road based on the direction of the sunlight, Timmi Allen of our Bellingcat team created a\n3D model of the building\nto understand how the building would look like on satellite imagery.\n3D reconstruction model of Europol’s Asian city photograph, showing recognizable features of the building.\nVia this reconstruction model we eventually found the\nbuilding\non\nGanzhou Avenue East 88\nin the Xinhui district of Jiangmen, China. According to geotags on Baidu and Google, the building houses, among other businesses, a used car information center and a\nbusiness hotel\n, showing the same entrance on the hotel website as Europol’s photograph.\nBaidu’s street view from 2015 even shows the exact same lam post and blue one-way traffic sign on the centre median strip with palm trees. Examination of satellite imagery clearly shows Europol’s photograph was taken before 2014, as a building to the right of Europol’s building has been demolished before 2014 and a new building to the left was built before 2014. Also the height of the trees visible in Europol’s photograph fit the 2008 satellite imagery.\nThe building from Europol’s Asian city photograph on Google Earth satellite imagery of 2018 (top left) and satellite imagery from 2008 (top right). Baidu’s street view from 2015 of the same building and road visible in Europol’s photograph.\nThe photograph that Europol published was taken from behind a window of the building on the opposite side of the street. Europol’s photograph shows a black fence, big windows and two white pillars on the other side of the window. Also a white roof is visible on the bottom side of the photograph. The photograph clearly shows this part of the building has a round shape. A white cross and a car on the left side are visible outside in the area which seems a parking place. Baidu’s\nstreetview\nshows a part of the building with a round shape and a roof above the entrance. On the second floor of this part of the building, a fence is visible behind the only window that is not covered by a curtain.\nThe street view to the third floor of the other side of this building shows\na black fence\nwith exactly the same shape as in Europol’s photograph. However, since a large part of the roof above the entrance is visible, it’s more likely the photograph has been taken from the second floor, from one of the rooms that, on street view, has its windows covered by curtains. Photographs taken\nin meeting rooms\nof the building, which in the meantime have been deleted, also show the exact same type of fence.\nThe building where Europol’s photograph was taken. A similar fence is visible on the second floor (left)\nand the exact type of fence on the third floor (right). Large windows, white pillars and a white roof above the entrance are similar to Europol’s photograph.\nPhotographs taken from meeting rooms in the building where Europol’s photograph was taken\nshow the exact same type of black fence as in Europol’s photograph.\nFurther investigation into the building where Europol’s photograph was taken, led to the surprising conclusion that another photograph, published by Europol on\n1 February 2019\n, was taken inside that same building. This photograph, showing a hall of what looks like a shopping center and several red tables and benches with “Coca Cola” written on them, is accompanied by the question “Do you know where this food court is located?”\nAn article about the\nJianghui Times City\n(archived\nhere\n), published in July 2013, shows a photograph of a central hall of this shopping mall, which shows many similarities to Europol’s food court photograph. Another article about\nthe same shopping center\npublished in 2014 (archived\nhere\n), confirms the location.\nAnother photograph published by Europol on February 1, 2019 shows a hall inside what looks like a shopping mall, with several red tables and benches visible in the photograph with the Coca Cola logo displayed on them (left). Photograph of the hall of the Jianghui Times City shopping mall, the building from where Europol’s Asian city photograph had been taken from (right).\nComparison between another photograph of the main hall of the Jianghui Times City shopping mall\nto Europol’s food court photograph of 1 February 2019.\nConclusion And Recommendations To Europol\nThis analysis demonstrates that Europol’s “Stop Child Abuse” online crowdsourcing campaign is quite succesful. It’s not only that objects in photographs get\nrecognized\noften\n, so that they can be linked to an origin country making it possible for Europol to inform law enforcement of said country in order to further investigate the case. Sometimes, often after intensive research, locations of photographs eventually get geolocated precisely, possibly increasing the likelihood that such a case can be solved.\nHowever, we have a few recommendations to Europol in their crowdsourcing campaign. The first recommendation is to be careful with sharing photographs that can be easily found with reverse image search, as this could immediately lead to a victim or even a potential suspect. The risk for vigilante justice can be high, particularly if a social media profile belonging to a potential suspect or person of interest is uncovered. When it came to Location One, it was relatively easy to find one of the photographs with reverse image search, which happened just less than half an hour after one of the photographs was tweeted by Europol.\nThe second recommendation is this: If several photographs from the same case are displayed on Europol’s website and Europol is aware of these photographs as being linked, it can help to make the connection between the photographs clear. Both in the case of Location One and Location Three it became clear Europol uploaded two different photographs that are part of the same case, without specifying it. It’s possible that this information could help solve the case possibly even quicker.\nOur final recommendation: Before a photograph is shared, it would be good to be realistic about the chances for recognition. Sometimes the quality of the photographs of objects seems too low to be able to be recognized and sometimes the location seems as if it could really be anywhere and could not be geolocated without any background information. This is why we recommend sharing as much information about a certain location as possible, in case that information is available. Our next article in the series of Europol’s “Stop Child Abuse” will show an example of a photograph that like would never have been geolocated if no additional information was found about the image.\nResearch by Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen, Klement Anders, Noor Nahas and “Bo”,\nreview/editing by Natalia Antonova.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-09-11_europols-child-abuse-image-geolocated-in-ukraine-a-forgotten-story-hidden-behind-a-landscape.json

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+{
+  "slug": "europols-child-abuse-image-geolocated-in-ukraine-a-forgotten-story-hidden-behind-a-landscape",
+  "title": "Europol’s Child Abuse Image Geolocated In Ukraine: A Forgotten Story Hidden Behind A Landscape",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/09/11/europols-child-abuse-image-geolocated-in-ukraine-a-forgotten-story-hidden-behind-a-landscape/",
+  "date": "2019-09-11T08:27:15+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-09-17T11:55:22+00:00",
+  "author": "Carlos Gonzales",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Research by Carlos Gonzales, Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen and “Bo” The following report contains reference to a child modelling studio producing child sexual abuse material in 2001. All names related to the studio are fictitious. The original source did not contain any explicit material. All the images accessed and used during the investigation were already […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p><em>Research by Carlos Gonzales, Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen and “Bo”<br/>\n</em></p>\n<p><strong>The following report contains reference to a child modelling studio producing child sexual abuse material in 2001. All names related to the studio are fictitious. The original source did not contain any explicit material. All the images accessed and used during the investigation were already censored, but for the avoidance of doubt, it must be noted that the researchers did not obtain, look or download any explicit content. The original source was shared with Europol before the publication of this report and cannot be revealed for protection of the victims and as to not impede the investigations. Although the main objective of the article is to show the method by which an image listed by Europol was geolocated, Bellingcat have decided to publish some details found in the investigation to create awareness of the subject and to support Europol’s #StopChildAbuse campaign. </strong></p>\n<p>Europol currently holds more than <a href=\"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-47660347/tracing-child-abusers-where-was-this-picture-taken\">40 million images</a> of child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, Europol launched a crowdsourcing campaign called <a href=\"https://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\"><em>Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object</em></a>. Censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are asked to help tracing their location or country of origin. These tips are then used to inform the competent law enforcement authority to further investigate the lead and to assist in the identification of the offender and the victim.</p>\n<p>As of 23 March 2019, Europol has received more than 23,000 tips, which led to the identification of eight victims and the prosecution of one offender. In <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/europol/\">recent reports</a>, Bellingcat wrote about their contribution to geolocating images in China and Russia.</p>\n<p>For several months, the image shown in Figure 1 was live on <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20190203090113/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\">Europol’s website.</a> From now on we will refer to this image as “ImageC5” in the text. Bellingcat team members and other Twitter users previously pointed out the difficulty of geolocating this image. The main reason: There are no mountains, landmarks, roads, posters, signs, brand names, or any remarkable object featured on it. Instead, there is a rather desolate landscape flooded with weeds and few rural buildings in very low resolution. What we did not know then was the dark story ImageC5 hid, the number of victims affected by it and how the story itself would allow us to geolocate this image to <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kalahliya,+Odessa+Oblast,+Ukraine,+67815/@46.2844204,30.3574316,3984m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x40c7da51e598d3a9:0x26a2c55758d61546!8m2!3d46.2829811!4d30.367489\">Kalahliya</a>, a Ukrainian village 47 km southwest of Odessa.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25001\" style=\"width: 878px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25001\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25001\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"556\" sizes=\"(max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F1.jpg 868w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F1-300x192.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F1-768x492.jpg 768w\" width=\"868\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25001\">Figure 1: ImageC5 as listed by Europol on their website #StopChildAbuse #TraceAnObject (left). The image was geolocated to a village called Kalahliya, which is southwest of Odessa in Ukraine. The red mark indicates the approximate location from which the original photo was taken from; just on the northeast corner of a group of building ruins (right).</p></div>\n<h3><strong><br/>\nThe Initial Research</strong></h3>\n<p>Our first observations about the image were as follows:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>A small gradient in the terrain with a few sudden drops across the land</li>\n<li>Rural houses and buildings with metal roofs (single and multiple pitch)</li>\n<li>Tall dried weeds and broken branches as well as reeds and grasslands</li>\n<li>An orange/brick construction with a dark roof far on the right side of the image</li>\n<li>The image was edited by Europol to protect the victim. The censoring process was done in such a way that almost 10% of the landscape was reconstructed. Small fractions from other points on the image were merged into the cropped area. This caused the repetition of items in several points of the landscape.</li>\n</ul>\n<h4><strong><br/>\nImportant Definitions And Key Facts</strong></h4>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\">Child Sexual Abuse Material</a> (<em>CSAM</em>), also called child pornography, refers to any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes. In 2014, Russia was reported to host the second highest amount <em>of </em><a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> in the world, accounting for <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/2018/07/Child-Rights-Committee-report-on-the-Optional-Protocol-on-the-Sexual-Exploitation-of-Children-Russia.pdf\">24%</a>. In 2016, Ukraine was the <a href=\"http://88.208.218.79/Libraries/Annual_reports/Annual_report_2016.sflb.ashx\">first in Eastern Europe</a>. The traffic of children for sexual exploitation to Moscow and St. Petersburg from Moldova and Ukraine has also been <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/Factsheet_Russia.pdf\">documented</a>.</p>\n<p>The type of houses observed on ImageC5 suggested a very small village which seems to be a rural Soviet construction style, as opposed to western European.</p>\n<p>ImageC5 did not feature either any type of tropical, coniferous, or desert vegetation. Therefore Asia, the Middle East and dense forested areas in Europe and North America were not considered. <a href=\"http://geography.name/russia-and-the-republics-climate-and-vegetation/\">Grasslands</a> are located across Moldova, Ukraine and a thin belt along the border between Russia and Kazakhstan (See Figure 2). Intersecting all these geographical and architectural observations with the information about Children Sexual Abuse in the region, the initial search was chosen to be within the area marked in red on the map in Figure 3, particularly those villages with links to major cities such as Moscow and Kyiv.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25005\" style=\"width: 934px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25005\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25005\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"510\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F2.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F2.jpg 924w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F2-300x166.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F2-768x424.jpg 768w\" width=\"924\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25005\">Figure 2: Vegetation map of the former Soviet Republics. Grasslands are found across Ukraine and a thin Belt into Russia.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25006\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25006\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25006\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"485\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F3.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F3.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F3-300x155.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F3-768x397.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25006\">Figure 3: Initial region selected to start the search for ImageC5. The area included West Moldova, South and East Ukraine, and the area around the Ukraine-Russia Border, Moscow, and the River Volga.</p></div>\n<p>It was initially believed the brick construction on the far right side of the picture could have been a Soviet-era railway water tower or a small train station. Railway routes, travellers’ videos, and hundreds of photos were checked to understand the landscape, as well as the typical layout and architecture of small villages.</p>\n<p>The first slight landscape similarities with ImageC5 were found in eastern Ukraine within the Sumy oblast. Unfortunately, with no defined landmarks to look for and the limited availability of imagery and street views outside main cities, further visual checks were unproductive. No evidence found was significantly relevant as to draw any conclusion. The place could have been anywhere in the marked region if it existed there at all.</p>\n<h3><strong><br/>\n</strong><strong>A Breakthrough In The Search</strong></h3>\n<p>The next step was to find more details about <em>Child Sexual Abuse</em> cases in the suspected region that could then be associated with ImageC5. In early June, after following a lead from a <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/2016/04/regional_overview.pdf\">regional children exploitation report</a>, a comprehensive investigative file was found containing details of a child modelling studio trafficking children from Moldova to Ukraine for the production of <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a>. <strong> </strong></p>\n<p><strong>Important Note:</strong></p>\n<p><strong>The source of such files cannot be revealed for protection of the victims and as to not impede the investigations. The original source was shared with Europol before the publication of this report. All the images accessed and used by the Bellingcat Team during the investigation were already heavily censored by the original source of the files, but for the avoidance of doubt, we will once again note that the researchers did not obtain, look or download any explicit content. All names related to the studio used in this report are fictitious.</strong></p>\n<p>What information did we find in the files and how did we use it to geolocate ImageC5?</p>\n<p>The investigative file described the operation of the studio and their associated websites. Most of the <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> created by the studio was reported as having been produced in the Odessa region in Ukraine. The file also included a list of unknown locations where at least 60 models were photographed in 2001 for Website2.</p>\n<p>All unknown locations appeared classified as Coast, Inland or Ruins, followed by a sequential number, their respective group of censored thumbnails, and a brief description of the surrounding landscape or visible buildings. No specific geolocation was given.</p>\n<p>To our surprise, in the group called “Location Ruins (1 &amp; 8)”, a thumbnail containing the same ImageC5, as published by Europol, was found. A direct link between ImageC5 with an official <em>Child Sexual Abuse</em> case was established.</p>\n<p>Other censored thumbnails found next to ImageC5 showed several building ruins and a red building in the background, which, according to the file description, could have been a church in a nearby village. The search for a desolate landscape had evolved into a search for more identifiable landmarks – the building ruin and “the red church.”</p>\n<p>Having new information about other potential unknown locations related to the case, our strategy was to “encircle” ImageC5’s location in the Odessa region by a simultaneous hunt for the red church, Location Ruins (1 &amp; 8), Ruins (2,3 &amp; 7), Inland (3,6 &amp; 7), Inland (8) and Coast (1 &amp; 6). This selection of censored thumbnails included the most recognisable items for each one of the locations and constituted the key to finding ImageC5. A diagram with all the material used is presented in Figure 4.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25008\" style=\"width: 839px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25008\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25008\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"839\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 829px) 100vw, 829px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F4.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F4.jpg 829w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F4-296x300.jpg 296w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F4-768x777.jpg 768w\" width=\"829\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25008\">Figure 4: Selection of unknown locations listed in the investigative files and related to ImageC5. All images accessed and used by Bellingcat during the investigation were originally censored by the source of the files.</p></div>\n<h3><strong><br/>\n“The Red Church” And Landscape Features</strong></h3>\n<p>Initial efforts were made to find the red church by exploring the area using Google Earth and Yandex. The amount of churches in Odessa oblast (approx. 33.000 km<sup>2</sup>) was too large to scrutinise them one by one and many did not have photos easily available for checks.</p>\n<p>We also noticed that in some cases the colours and features of churches were changed, due to upgrades and repairs. This made the initial search for the church extremely difficult. Although we were initially unsuccessful, valuable landscape and architecture information was gathered. Different points across the region were analysed with similarities found in several areas; for example, Anan’iv Pershyi and Vyzyrka. Based on this and other examples, it was likely the location to be found along the coastal area of Odessa.</p>\n<p>Using Google imagery, a dimensional analysis was done on several churches to establish a reference geometric pattern (see Figure 5):</p>\n<ul>\n<li>The height of the bell tower was the same as the altar tower, excluding the domes.</li>\n<li>The width of the altar tower was approximately double of the bell tower.</li>\n<li>Exterior made of red bricks. But we noted that it could have been repainted.</li>\n<li>Both towers could feature either round, semi-round, pitched or onion type domes.</li>\n<li>In <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientation_of_churches\">church architecture</a>, altar towers are normally oriented to the East. In almost all cases in Odessa there was no exception. This meant Ruins (1 &amp; 8) were very likely to be located southeast of the church. A very important check to do when finding potential geolocations.</li>\n</ul>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25009\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25009\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25009\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"460\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F5.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F5.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F5-300x147.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F5-768x376.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25009\">Figure 5: Dimensional characteristics of similar church in Odessa oblast.</p></div>\n<h3><strong><br/>\nThe Ruins</strong></h3>\n<p>Group Ruins (1 &amp; 8) featured what it seemed to be the ruins of a small industrial facility. Scattered precast pillars could be seen on the ground. There were walls with faded pink tones, large holes, and bullet marks on many of them. The holes seemed similar to those left by a projectile impact. Presumably, these ruins were the result of previous conflicts in the area.</p>\n<p>But where to find this type of ruin in an area of 40,000 km<sup>2</sup> including Odessa oblast and west Moldova? Furthermore, do the ruins still exist or have the sites been cleared up to give way for new developments? Also, which conflict could have inflicted such damage on a rural structure before 2001?</p>\n<p>Using Google imagery, examples of ruins were gathered to establish a visual reference as shown in Figure 6.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25011\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25011\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25011\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"635\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F6.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F6.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F6-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F6-768x519.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25011\">Figure 6: Example of ruins found in the Odessa region. Establishing a reference to locate Ruins (1&amp; 8).</p></div>\n<p>Two main events were considered: WWII and the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War\">Transnistria conflict</a> in 1992.  WWII front lines were studied according to literature as per the maps in Figure 7. In 1941, a system of <a href=\"http://armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/maps/1941S/Odessa_1_41.jpg\">3 defence rings</a> was established by the Soviets to <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Odessa_(1941)\">protect Odessa</a>; with the outermost ring located at a 50km mark from the city. From March to April 1944, the Red Army launched offensives to liberate Odessa. In August 1944, as part of the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jassy%E2%80%93Kishinev_Offensive\">Jassy–Kishinev</a> operation to reclaim the Moldavian SSR, the Red Army engaged a large German-Romanian contingent with heavy battles starting with the <a href=\"blank\">Akkerman landing</a>.</p>\n<p>In both conflicts, WWII and Transnistria, there were fronts localised on several points along the Dniester River and <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dniester+Estuary/@46.2310725,30.0259485,145456m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827\">Dniester Estuary</a>. This line would become a focus of attention later in our search.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25013\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25013\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25013\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"656\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F7.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F7.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F7-300x210.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F7-768x537.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25013\">Figure 7: Battle fronts in 1941 and 1944 during WWII were used as a reference to find potential matching ruin sites. The Dniester Estuary would become important in our search.</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>Geolocating ImageC5 By Finding Other Locations Related To The Case</strong></h3>\n<h4><strong><em>1. Location Ruins (2,3 &amp; 7) – The </em></strong><strong><em>G</em></strong><strong><em>reenhouse</em></strong></h4>\n<p>Ruins (2,3 &amp;7) appeared to be part of a period property or castle featuring a glass roof structure typical of those found in old greenhouses. The studio was reported to operate from several apartments in the city of Odessa. Their approximate location was investigated and pinned as shown on the map in Figure 8. It was believed that one or several of the locations could have been nearby their studios. Hence, we started to explore the area with Google Maps along Road F. From north to south, we looked for abandoned buildings, castles and ruins where any of the studio’s sets could have been located.</p>\n<p>A landmark symbol led us to the ruins of <a href=\"https://youtu.be/vyBuMvXj1Ek\">greenhouse Marazli</a>, originally built in <a href=\"https://www.behance.net/gallery/74908283/Marazli-Greenhouse-hh-M-G-H-hh\">1889</a>. Pictures found in Yandex dated back to 2016 were gathered and analysed. Many features in its interior matched those found in the censored thumbnails of ruins (2, 3 &amp; 7), especially the angle of the glass roof structure, supporting beams, door features, windows and stone masonry (See Figure 9 ). The location served its purpose until 1990s, but various events  ultimately contributed to its abandoned state. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> between July and August 2001. No signs of location Ruins (1 &amp; 8) or the red church were noticed in the surrounding areas.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25014\" style=\"width: 410px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25014\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25014\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"645\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F8.jpg 400w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F8-186x300.jpg 186w\" width=\"400\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25014\">Figure 8: Approximate location of the apartments owned by the studio in the city of Odessa. The F location allowed our investigation to get closer to a child abuse site: the greenhouse.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25015\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25015\" class=\"wp-image-25015 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"545\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F9.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F9.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F9-300x174.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F9-768x446.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25015\">Figure 9: A 1889 greenhouse in Odessa City. Pictures found in Yandex and dated 2016 were gathered and analysed. Many features in its interior matched those found in the censored thumbnails of ruins (2, 3 &amp; 7). The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between July and August 2001.</p></div>\n<h4><strong><em><br/>\n2. Location Inland (3,6 &amp; 7) – Oleksandrivske Reservoir</em></strong></h4>\n<p>A thumbnail within the Inland (3 &amp; 6) group featured a river or lake. A transmission tower in the background could be seen just opposite the bank from where the shot was taken. Another shot, believed to have been taken in the opposite direction to the first, featured another transmission tower, dried grasslands, and small trees in the background.</p>\n<p>Using Google Earth, narrow bodies of water with these characteristics along the coast were investigated. On the south end of Oleksandrivske Reservoir, a peninsula with transmission lines on its west side was identified. Across the reservoir, another transmission tower and cables crossing above the water were noticed. By setting the time bar to 05/06/2008, the grass on the peninsula showed up as dried and small trees could be seen clearer now on the east side of the peninsula, just behind the transmission tower. A match was found (see Figure 10). The source reported this location was used by the studio to produce several <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> between July and August 2001.</p>\n<p>Checking the rest of the reservoir for more clues, a white building with a slim tree in the front was noticed east of the previous location. These elements matched those displayed on location Inland (7). After analysing the image, it was determined the shot was taken from the south shore of the Oleksandrivske Reservoir (see Figure 10). The source reported this location was used by the studio to produce <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> in October 2001. No signs of Ruins (1 &amp; 8) or the red church were identified in the surrounding areas.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25017\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25017\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25017\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"620\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F10.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F10-300x198.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F10-768x507.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25017\">Figure 10: Oleksandrivske Reservoir. Power transmission lines and landscape matched those featuring in thumbnail images for location Inland (3,6,7). The source reported these locations were used by the studio to produce several CSAM between July and October 2001.</p></div>\n<h4><strong><em><br/>\n3. Location Inland (8) – Kuyalnik Estuary</em></strong></h4>\n<p>The unknown location Inland (8), featured a water body and sand around the shores. Despite the low quality of the censored thumbnails, a pink/red tone to the sand was noticed. On the left side of the image, a long cliff which ended in the horizon line was visible. Looking at the background, no buildings or mountains were seen. The body of water seemed to be quite elongated.</p>\n<p>In our initial searches around Odessa, we had noticed Kuyalnik Reservoir, which had pink sands. We re-visited the images of Kuyalnik for a reinspection. The result: a Google maps image featuring the same cliff on the west shore of the reservoir.</p>\n<p>The cliff exhibited the same angular lines converging downwards and touching the horizon. Dark pink sand was also noticed as well as curved water marks. Another location verified. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> in September 2001. No signs of Ruins (1 &amp; 8) or the red church were identified in the surrounding areas.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25018\" style=\"width: 1039px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25018\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25018\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"345\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1029px) 100vw, 1029px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F11.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F11.jpg 1029w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F11-300x100.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F11-768x257.jpg 768w\" width=\"1029\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25018\">Figure 11: Kuyalnik Estuary. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce CSAM in September 2001.</p></div>\n<h4><strong><br/>\n<em>4. Location Coast (1 &amp; 6) – Mykolaivka Village (Dniester Estuary)</em></strong></h4>\n<p>Many of the censored images within group Coast (1 &amp; 6) featured a peninsula with a slim tree on it. The images seemed to have been taken on a shore very close to a grassy cliff.</p>\n<p>Rocks bigger than 1.5 meters in diameter, which had become detached from the cliff, appeared in almost every shot from different angles. All main elements were numbered (1 to 10) and organised by scene (A to D). The tree and the peninsula were selected as landmarks with more potential to be identified in satellite images.</p>\n<p>Having checked other bodies of water on the northeast side of the coastal region of Odessa, the southwest area around the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dniester+Estuary/@46.2310725,30.0259485,145456m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827\">Dniester Estuary</a> was to be explored using Google Earth. On the east coast of the estuary at the level of the village <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mykolaivka,+Odessa+Oblast,+Ukraine,+67813/@46.3064583,30.3209465,9079m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!2sDniester+Estuary!3b1!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827!3m4!1s0x40c7da21cf74fd29:0x47ac98304a40aa3e!8m2!3d46.3078099!4d30.332222\">Mykolaivka</a>, a small peninsula was found. This peninsula had several trees on it but only one produced a long shadow relative to the size of the peninsula and matching the relative position to the one shown in the censored thumbnails.</p>\n<p>From the 2014 satellite image, large rocks could be seen all along the shore. After careful analysis, all rocks and trees were identified. Another image geolocated. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> between the end of July and beginning of August 2001.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25019\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25019\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25019\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"627\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F12.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F12.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F12-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F12-768x513.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25019\">Figure 12: Location Coast (1&amp; 6). All main rock elements on thumbnail images identified along the east coast of the Dniester Estuary at the level of the village Mykolaivka. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between the end of July and beginning of August 2001.</p></div>\n<h4><strong><br/>\n<em>5. The </em></strong><em><strong>Final Search And Verification</strong></em></h4>\n<p>After geolocating four different sites related to the case, a 50 km radial perimeter was established around the city of Odessa. This perimeter coincided with one of the battle fronts that took place during WWII on the east shore of the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dniester+Estuary/@46.2310725,30.0259485,145456m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827\">Dniester Estuary</a>. Hence, it was believed that some type of ruins, if linked to the war at all, were likely to be found around this area.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25021\" style=\"width: 816px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25021\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25021\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"693\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F13.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F13.jpg 806w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F13-300x258.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F13-768x660.jpg 768w\" width=\"806\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25021\">Figure 13: Geolocation of the selected group of images marked in red.</p></div>\n<p>The main road connecting the village of <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mykolaivka,+Odessa+Oblast,+Ukraine,+67813/@46.3064583,30.3209465,9079m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!2sDniester+Estuary!3b1!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827!3m4!1s0x40c7da21cf74fd29:0x47ac98304a40aa3e!8m2!3d46.3078099!4d30.332222\">Mykolaivka</a> and <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ovidiopol',+Odessa+Oblast,+Ukraine,+67800/@46.2475068,30.4102375,9088m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x40c7dc5ee5dcf8cb:0x1f31e0951ae584a6!2sDniester+Estuary!3b1!8m2!3d46.2998941!4d30.2193827!3m4!1s0x40c7c4e7e27e0a85:0xf0078e69cdd761e0!8m2!3d46.2520003!4d30.4372895\">Ovidiopol</a> (T1625) was checked for any signs of the red church or ruins. When doing a visual inspection with Google Earth around the village of <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kalahliya,+Odessa+Oblast,+Ukraine,+67815/@46.2844204,30.3574316,3984m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x40c7da51e598d3a9:0x26a2c55758d61546!8m2!3d46.2829811!4d30.367489\">Kalahliya</a> (<a href=\"https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%8F\">Калаглія</a> / Калаглия ), a church was noticed at coordinates 46.281507, 30.358500 on June 2. Its name: <a href=\"https://1ua.com.ua/enf3402462\">Церква Миколая Чудотворця</a>, i.e. the Church of St Nicholas. All the features matched our references. A Twitter user, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lorenzoromani/status/1142546089716924418\">Lorenzo Romani,</a> also confirmed finding the same church on June 22 through someone in his network.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25022\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25022\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25022\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"702\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F14.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F14.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F14-300x224.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F14-768x574.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25022\">Figure 14: St. Nicholas Church, located in the village Kalahliya. The church matched all features recognised on the image related to ImageC5.</p></div>\n<p>But was this truly the right place? Were there any ruins around? Checks were done in the immediate surroundings southeast of the church but there were no signs of any recognisable ruin structure. Then, the historical view of Google Earth was changed. A compound in ruins was visible in other years, with 2007 being the earliest image available.</p>\n<p>Despite the lack of street views in Google Earth and Yandex for this location, Images and YouTube videos of the village were scrutinised in order to identify all the buildings visible on ImageC5. A <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJHETdZhw6g\">drone video</a> found offered the best view of the site and it helped us not only to identify each of the elements but also to estimate the position of the camera (See Figure 15 and Figure 16).</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25023\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25023\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25023\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"658\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F15.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F15.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F15-300x210.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F15-768x538.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25023\">Figure 15: ImageC5 buildings identified on a YouTube drone view of the village Kalahliya</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25024\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25024\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25024\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"327\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F16.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F16.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F16-300x104.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F16-768x267.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F16-935x327.jpg 935w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25024\">Figure 16: Northeast corner of the ruins as the approximate camera position from where the ImageC5 landscape photograph was taken.</p></div>\n<p>Further checks were done on two of the buildings featuring on ImageC5: the single pitch roof building (marked in yellow) and the brick construction on the far right (marked in red). We found videos recorded from Road T1625 which connects Kalahliya with Ovidiopol and passes just behind these buildings. The type of windows, roof, masonry colours as well as relative position matched those shown on satellite views as well as ImageC5 (see Figure 17).</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25026\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25026\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25026\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"597\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F17.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F17.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F17-300x191.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F17-768x488.jpg 768w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25026\">Figure 17: Videos and satellite images used to analyse main building construction features such as masonry colour, roof, and windows type for selected buildings. All elements matched those on ImageC5.</p></div>\n<p>Satellite images and all thumbnails in group Ruins (1 &amp; 8) were carefully analysed to extract information such as the positions of trees, shadows sizes, sunlight direction, vegetation, exterior paint colours, and the relative position of debris. A solar calculation was done for early September 2001 as representative data for the month when the <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> was generated.</p>\n<p>Putting all of the puzzle pieces together, a basic sketch of the ruins was done to understand more about the site and to indicate the relative points where the thumbnail photos were taken from (See Figure 18).</p>\n<p>The size of the construction and the presence of gates to the southeast and northwest ends of the main structure reconfirm the possibility that the building was an old, small-sized industrial/army facility. The reconstruction should be taken only as an intuitive guide only. With all elements identified, the site has been verified and ImageC5 has been now officially geolocated. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> between August and September 2001. A summary of the geolocation process followed is offered in Figure 19.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25027\" style=\"width: 857px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25027\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25027\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F18-847x1200.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F18-847x1200.jpg 847w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F18-212x300.jpg 212w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F18-768x1089.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F18.jpg 939w\" width=\"847\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25027\">Figure 18: Basic reconstruction of ruins based on solar data for September 2001, satellite images as well as the image thumbnails found in the investigative files. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between August and September 2001.</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_25028\" style=\"width: 949px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25028\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25028\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"931\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19.jpg 939w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19-300x297.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19-768x761.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/09/F19-125x125.jpg 125w\" width=\"939\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25028\">Figure 19: A summary of the strategy followed to geolocate ImageC5 after the finding of the investigative files. Geolocating other images within the set allowed the team for a relative quick converge into the final findings.</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>“Studio A” And Their Associated Websites</strong></h3>\n<p>Although our main goal was to share information on how ImageC5 was geolocated, we also want to offer a brief summary of the operation of the studio and their websites as reported by the source. Though almost 20 years have passed and there is little reference to it on the internet, this studio impacted the world of <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> production and contributed to its development. It is a clear example of how purveyors of <em><a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\">CSAM</a></em> adopt the guise of benefactors. First – they pay off the victims’ typically impoverished families. Second  – they develop a child educational and entertainment programme designed to quell the parents’ and the public’s distrust in the studio. Finally, they take advantage of then-underdeveloped <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> legislation in Ukraine and an emerging worldwide internet. This is a business model that is still being followed by many modern criminal organizations.</p>\n<p><strong>This following section was extracted from the files and by no means expresses the views of the authors – it is rather meant to raise awareness of how such criminal enterprises operate. For legal reasons and for protection of the victims and offenders, we cannot disclose the source. All names used here are fictitious</strong><strong>.</strong></p>\n<p><em>Studio A </em>was a company founded by Denis M. &amp; Sergey P. in early 2000s with funds coming from several European financiers. Denis was an IT expert and Sergey was a photographer known for nude “artistic” work with teens. Both individuals met in the summer 2000 and made several arrangements with other webmasters and studios to set up <em>Website1</em>. Sergey would generate the photographic content and be the main model finder; whereas Denis would be in charge of the technical side. By September of the same year, <em>Website1 </em>was fully operational, with material being produced by Sergey in Ukraine. All websites associated operated on a subscription basis. The studio operation included transportation, admin, and security crews. The latter were mainly previous law enforcement officers.</p>\n<p>Most of the underage children featuring in their productions were scouted around schools in eastern Europe – mainly Moldova. They usually came from impoverished backgrounds and were offered “modelling work” to help their families with money equivalent to a month’s salary of their parents. Knowing the conditions required by the studio, many parents reportedly agreed to send their children from Moldova to Ukraine with Studio A. The victims lived in different apartments owned by the studio across the city and received computer, arts and English lessons when they were not “modelling.” In efforts to further legitimize the criminal enterprise, the studio organized outings with the parents. Also, according to interviews reported in the files, Denis had falsely claimed on several occasions that the business was “socially responsible” and part of a charitable project in partnership with a worldwide human rights organization.</p>\n<p>According to the files, Sergey, who managed the business independently, had a serious addiction to heavy drugs. According to victims’ testimonies, as per the files, Sergey not only photographed victims naked but would then physically sexually assault them and offer them addictive substances. What ultimately happened to Denis and Sergey’s partnership remains unclear, but it is reported that tensions between Denis and Sergey increased and they parted ways in early 2001. Denis renamed the company <em>Studio A</em>* and Sergey kept the original enterprise. <em>Studio A</em>. Sergey convinced a number of parents and children to stay him, while another of other children exploited by <em>Website1</em> moved on to <em>Studio A*</em>.</p>\n<p>Denis then created another website, <em>Website2</em>. The initial material used for this website came from Russia-based projects that featured nude underage girls. Later, Denis started to create new material for which he recruited new victims in Moldova. Sergey kept most of the material created for <em>Website1 </em>and sold it to other parties on the web. Sergey kept working for other studios and also created a new brand, <em>Studio C</em>. Both <em>Website1 </em>and <em>Website2 </em>went down starting in 2002. According to Denis, <em>Website2 </em>was hijacked and redirected to another page that apparently contained more explicit abuse material. According to the files, Denis placed responsibility for that on organizations based in Russia.</p>\n<p>After the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., federal authorities and international agencies started to investigate all sort of irregularities on the web more closely. It is likely that Ukrainian authorities at this point came under more pressure, while the police had information about the frequent trafficking of minors from Moldova to Ukraine. In 2002, two women travelling with four children were detained in a train station close to the Ukraine/Moldova border for interrogation. They were carrying false documentation to take these minors abroad. During questioning, all underage girls mentioned they were paid an average of $50 per session in exchange for taking part in explicit photography produced by two individuals: Denis &amp; Sergey. The police proceeded to raid all studios and seized all computer equipment, drugs, and <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a>. Both Denis and Sergey had fled by then, presumably alerted by their corrupt contacts on the police force.</p>\n<p>Denis moved to Switzerland and then to Moldova, whereas Sergey was reported to have lived in Moldova, Germany and the U.S. The Ukrainian government initiated a case against both individuals in 2002 for production, sale, and distribution of <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a>. Surprisingly, charges against Denis were dropped in 2003. Ukrainian legislation at that time did not have any provisions for <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> production.</p>\n<p>According to the source, Denis relaunched <em>Website1</em>, but without any nude material. He also created a new studio called <em>Studio B</em> and closed <em>Studio A*. </em>By 2004, both websites <em>Website1 </em>and<em> Website2</em> were down. In 2007, Denis married one of the girls that worked for the studios – it is unclear how old she was at the time and when she was first recruited – and the ceremony reportedly took place in Moldova. A documentary film was also produced to portray Denis and girls who worked for the studio in more recent years. This production was never commercialised.</p>\n<p>Most of the <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> Sergey produced remains undocumented due to missing data. Sergey was put on a wanted list by police  in Germany in relation to abuse of minors as well as for <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> dissemination. There is no information available as to determine whether Sergey was prosecuted or not.</p>\n<p>Some key facts after analysing the information presented in the investigative files:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>ImageC5 was produced for Website2</li>\n<li>At least 60 victims between the ages of 8 and 17 were hired to work for Website2</li>\n<li>More than 7300 images were produced in less than a year</li>\n<li>The website published approximately 270 sets of images</li>\n<li>60% of the <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> was produced in studio facilities, while 40% was produced in outdoor locations</li>\n<li>On average, 3% of the production was done in each one of the Ukrainian outdoor locations with an 8% maximum produced in Russia.</li>\n<li>There were seven “photographers” working for the page including Denis and other unidentified individuals associated with the studio.</li>\n<li>The source reported the studio employed assistants, drivers, teachers and security staff. The latter have had previously worked in law enforcement.</li>\n<li>$250,000 were received on the personal accounts of Denis and Sergey for the operation carried in Ukraine.</li>\n</ul>\n<h3><strong><br/>\nConclusion &amp; Recommendations</strong></h3>\n<p>ImageC5 on its own contained no relevant information. The initial geolocation process for this image proved to be unproductive via employing traditional methods. More details were needed to be able to take the research further.</p>\n<p>This time, an in-depth literature review on child sexual abuse cases supplied the information required to narrow down the search. Without knowing the details of the case, ImageC5 would have been never geolocated. By finding other locations related to the case, valuable landscape, architectural, war zone, and terrain data was collected. The iteration process of the search converged quicker towards the location where ImageC5 photograph was taken from.</p>\n<p>After an intensive research, Images are normally geolocated accurately. A great deal of information related to the cases is usually gathered through the process. Not all details found in our investigations are shared – due to the need to protect victims. On this case, the investigative files found came from an anonymous source which Europol has been informed about.</p>\n<p>Eighteen years have passed since the discovery of the dark operation of <em>Studio A</em>. The case was known to both Ukrainian and international authorities. If data and privacy laws permit, It could be helpful to see that for any child abuse case already processed by law enforcement bodies in Europe, all <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> images seized should be entered into a centralised database. Law enforcement agencies could then run algorithms for an internal image reverse search to assist future geolocations and investigations. In this way, images for which there is already a background case would be left out of any crowdsourcing campaign. Moreover, if the amount of data collected is large, maybe the algorithm could be capable of comparing landscapes and other information between old and new images, thus drawing a preliminary geographical search area or creating leads for new cases.</p>\n<p>The <em>Studio A</em> case is a clear example of child sexual abuse and human trafficking. The operation persuaded stakeholders of their “socially responsible” approach to leverage their business. The production of <a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/legacy/SECO%20Manifestations_CSAM.pdf\"><em>CSAM</em></a> was allowed by an archaic legal framework and corruption, but also by the families of the victims, who exploited their children for financial gain. This business model has been copied by many crime organizations disguised as “modelling studios.” After many years, the situation in Ukraine has changed – but it has changed for the worse. The problem has been aggravated by the development of technology and faster communications. There are new forms of criminality and an intensified production and dissemination of child abuse material in the Ukraine-Moldova-Belarus-Russia region.</p>\n<p>In sharing our investigations and search methods we believe we can contribute with  authorities to bring offenders to justice, and that we can make the #StopChildAbuse network stronger while raising awareness about the problem. Our intention is to encourage members of the public and OSINT professionals to be vigilant and pass any known information to the competent authorities. Although some images published by Europol might seem old, new cases might be related to those pictures and any lead or input into their database could mean the difference between continuous abuse or rescuing the victims. At Bellingcat, we are strongly committed to these efforts.</p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Research by Carlos Gonzales, Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen and “Bo”\nThe following report contains reference to a child modelling studio producing child sexual abuse material in 2001. All names related to the studio are fictitious. The original source did not contain any explicit material. All the images accessed and used during the investigation were already censored, but for the avoidance of doubt, it must be noted that the researchers did not obtain, look or download any explicit content. The original source was shared with Europol before the publication of this report and cannot be revealed for protection of the victims and as to not impede the investigations. Although the main objective of the article is to show the method by which an image listed by Europol was geolocated, Bellingcat have decided to publish some details found in the investigation to create awareness of the subject and to support Europol’s #StopChildAbuse campaign.\nEuropol currently holds more than\n40 million images\nof child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, Europol launched a crowdsourcing campaign called\nStop Child Abuse – Trace an Object\n. Censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are asked to help tracing their location or country of origin. These tips are then used to inform the competent law enforcement authority to further investigate the lead and to assist in the identification of the offender and the victim.\nAs of 23 March 2019, Europol has received more than 23,000 tips, which led to the identification of eight victims and the prosecution of one offender. In\nrecent reports\n, Bellingcat wrote about their contribution to geolocating images in China and Russia.\nFor several months, the image shown in Figure 1 was live on\nEuropol’s website.\nFrom now on we will refer to this image as “ImageC5” in the text. Bellingcat team members and other Twitter users previously pointed out the difficulty of geolocating this image. The main reason: There are no mountains, landmarks, roads, posters, signs, brand names, or any remarkable object featured on it. Instead, there is a rather desolate landscape flooded with weeds and few rural buildings in very low resolution. What we did not know then was the dark story ImageC5 hid, the number of victims affected by it and how the story itself would allow us to geolocate this image to\nKalahliya\n, a Ukrainian village 47 km southwest of Odessa.\nFigure 1: ImageC5 as listed by Europol on their website #StopChildAbuse #TraceAnObject (left). The image was geolocated to a village called Kalahliya, which is southwest of Odessa in Ukraine. The red mark indicates the approximate location from which the original photo was taken from; just on the northeast corner of a group of building ruins (right).\nThe Initial Research\nOur first observations about the image were as follows:\nA small gradient in the terrain with a few sudden drops across the land\nRural houses and buildings with metal roofs (single and multiple pitch)\nTall dried weeds and broken branches as well as reeds and grasslands\nAn orange/brick construction with a dark roof far on the right side of the image\nThe image was edited by Europol to protect the victim. The censoring process was done in such a way that almost 10% of the landscape was reconstructed. Small fractions from other points on the image were merged into the cropped area. This caused the repetition of items in several points of the landscape.\nImportant Definitions And Key Facts\nChild Sexual Abuse Material\n(\nCSAM\n), also called child pornography, refers to any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes. In 2014, Russia was reported to host the second highest amount\nof\nCSAM\nin the world, accounting for\n24%\n. In 2016, Ukraine was the\nfirst in Eastern Europe\n. The traffic of children for sexual exploitation to Moscow and St. Petersburg from Moldova and Ukraine has also been\ndocumented\n.\nThe type of houses observed on ImageC5 suggested a very small village which seems to be a rural Soviet construction style, as opposed to western European.\nImageC5 did not feature either any type of tropical, coniferous, or desert vegetation. Therefore Asia, the Middle East and dense forested areas in Europe and North America were not considered.\nGrasslands\nare located across Moldova, Ukraine and a thin belt along the border between Russia and Kazakhstan (See Figure 2). Intersecting all these geographical and architectural observations with the information about Children Sexual Abuse in the region, the initial search was chosen to be within the area marked in red on the map in Figure 3, particularly those villages with links to major cities such as Moscow and Kyiv.\nFigure 2: Vegetation map of the former Soviet Republics. Grasslands are found across Ukraine and a thin Belt into Russia.\nFigure 3: Initial region selected to start the search for ImageC5. The area included West Moldova, South and East Ukraine, and the area around the Ukraine-Russia Border, Moscow, and the River Volga.\nIt was initially believed the brick construction on the far right side of the picture could have been a Soviet-era railway water tower or a small train station. Railway routes, travellers’ videos, and hundreds of photos were checked to understand the landscape, as well as the typical layout and architecture of small villages.\nThe first slight landscape similarities with ImageC5 were found in eastern Ukraine within the Sumy oblast. Unfortunately, with no defined landmarks to look for and the limited availability of imagery and street views outside main cities, further visual checks were unproductive. No evidence found was significantly relevant as to draw any conclusion. The place could have been anywhere in the marked region if it existed there at all.\nA Breakthrough In The Search\nThe next step was to find more details about\nChild Sexual Abuse\ncases in the suspected region that could then be associated with ImageC5. In early June, after following a lead from a\nregional children exploitation report\n, a comprehensive investigative file was found containing details of a child modelling studio trafficking children from Moldova to Ukraine for the production of\nCSAM\n.\nImportant Note:\nThe source of such files cannot be revealed for protection of the victims and as to not impede the investigations. The original source was shared with Europol before the publication of this report. All the images accessed and used by the Bellingcat Team during the investigation were already heavily censored by the original source of the files, but for the avoidance of doubt, we will once again note that the researchers did not obtain, look or download any explicit content. All names related to the studio used in this report are fictitious.\nWhat information did we find in the files and how did we use it to geolocate ImageC5?\nThe investigative file described the operation of the studio and their associated websites. Most of the\nCSAM\ncreated by the studio was reported as having been produced in the Odessa region in Ukraine. The file also included a list of unknown locations where at least 60 models were photographed in 2001 for Website2.\nAll unknown locations appeared classified as Coast, Inland or Ruins, followed by a sequential number, their respective group of censored thumbnails, and a brief description of the surrounding landscape or visible buildings. No specific geolocation was given.\nTo our surprise, in the group called “Location Ruins (1 & 8)”, a thumbnail containing the same ImageC5, as published by Europol, was found. A direct link between ImageC5 with an official\nChild Sexual Abuse\ncase was established.\nOther censored thumbnails found next to ImageC5 showed several building ruins and a red building in the background, which, according to the file description, could have been a church in a nearby village. The search for a desolate landscape had evolved into a search for more identifiable landmarks – the building ruin and “the red church.”\nHaving new information about other potential unknown locations related to the case, our strategy was to “encircle” ImageC5’s location in the Odessa region by a simultaneous hunt for the red church, Location Ruins (1 & 8), Ruins (2,3 & 7), Inland (3,6 & 7), Inland (8) and Coast (1 & 6). This selection of censored thumbnails included the most recognisable items for each one of the locations and constituted the key to finding ImageC5. A diagram with all the material used is presented in Figure 4.\nFigure 4: Selection of unknown locations listed in the investigative files and related to ImageC5. All images accessed and used by Bellingcat during the investigation were originally censored by the source of the files.\n“The Red Church” And Landscape Features\nInitial efforts were made to find the red church by exploring the area using Google Earth and Yandex. The amount of churches in Odessa oblast (approx. 33.000 km\n2\n) was too large to scrutinise them one by one and many did not have photos easily available for checks.\nWe also noticed that in some cases the colours and features of churches were changed, due to upgrades and repairs. This made the initial search for the church extremely difficult. Although we were initially unsuccessful, valuable landscape and architecture information was gathered. Different points across the region were analysed with similarities found in several areas; for example, Anan’iv Pershyi and Vyzyrka. Based on this and other examples, it was likely the location to be found along the coastal area of Odessa.\nUsing Google imagery, a dimensional analysis was done on several churches to establish a reference geometric pattern (see Figure 5):\nThe height of the bell tower was the same as the altar tower, excluding the domes.\nThe width of the altar tower was approximately double of the bell tower.\nExterior made of red bricks. But we noted that it could have been repainted.\nBoth towers could feature either round, semi-round, pitched or onion type domes.\nIn\nchurch architecture\n, altar towers are normally oriented to the East. In almost all cases in Odessa there was no exception. This meant Ruins (1 & 8) were very likely to be located southeast of the church. A very important check to do when finding potential geolocations.\nFigure 5: Dimensional characteristics of similar church in Odessa oblast.\nThe Ruins\nGroup Ruins (1 & 8) featured what it seemed to be the ruins of a small industrial facility. Scattered precast pillars could be seen on the ground. There were walls with faded pink tones, large holes, and bullet marks on many of them. The holes seemed similar to those left by a projectile impact. Presumably, these ruins were the result of previous conflicts in the area.\nBut where to find this type of ruin in an area of 40,000 km\n2\nincluding Odessa oblast and west Moldova? Furthermore, do the ruins still exist or have the sites been cleared up to give way for new developments? Also, which conflict could have inflicted such damage on a rural structure before 2001?\nUsing Google imagery, examples of ruins were gathered to establish a visual reference as shown in Figure 6.\nFigure 6: Example of ruins found in the Odessa region. Establishing a reference to locate Ruins (1& 8).\nTwo main events were considered: WWII and the\nTransnistria conflict\nin 1992. WWII front lines were studied according to literature as per the maps in Figure 7. In 1941, a system of\n3 defence rings\nwas established by the Soviets to\nprotect Odessa\n; with the outermost ring located at a 50km mark from the city. From March to April 1944, the Red Army launched offensives to liberate Odessa. In August 1944, as part of the\nJassy–Kishinev\noperation to reclaim the Moldavian SSR, the Red Army engaged a large German-Romanian contingent with heavy battles starting with the\nAkkerman landing\n.\nIn both conflicts, WWII and Transnistria, there were fronts localised on several points along the Dniester River and\nDniester Estuary\n. This line would become a focus of attention later in our search.\nFigure 7: Battle fronts in 1941 and 1944 during WWII were used as a reference to find potential matching ruin sites. The Dniester Estuary would become important in our search.\nGeolocating ImageC5 By Finding Other Locations Related To The Case\n1. Location Ruins (2,3 & 7) – The\nG\nreenhouse\nRuins (2,3 &7) appeared to be part of a period property or castle featuring a glass roof structure typical of those found in old greenhouses. The studio was reported to operate from several apartments in the city of Odessa. Their approximate location was investigated and pinned as shown on the map in Figure 8. It was believed that one or several of the locations could have been nearby their studios. Hence, we started to explore the area with Google Maps along Road F. From north to south, we looked for abandoned buildings, castles and ruins where any of the studio’s sets could have been located.\nA landmark symbol led us to the ruins of\ngreenhouse Marazli\n, originally built in\n1889\n. Pictures found in Yandex dated back to 2016 were gathered and analysed. Many features in its interior matched those found in the censored thumbnails of ruins (2, 3 & 7), especially the angle of the glass roof structure, supporting beams, door features, windows and stone masonry (See Figure 9 ). The location served its purpose until 1990s, but various events ultimately contributed to its abandoned state. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several\nCSAM\nbetween July and August 2001. No signs of location Ruins (1 & 8) or the red church were noticed in the surrounding areas.\nFigure 8: Approximate location of the apartments owned by the studio in the city of Odessa. The F location allowed our investigation to get closer to a child abuse site: the greenhouse.\nFigure 9: A 1889 greenhouse in Odessa City. Pictures found in Yandex and dated 2016 were gathered and analysed. Many features in its interior matched those found in the censored thumbnails of ruins (2, 3 & 7). The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between July and August 2001.\n2. Location Inland (3,6 & 7) – Oleksandrivske Reservoir\nA thumbnail within the Inland (3 & 6) group featured a river or lake. A transmission tower in the background could be seen just opposite the bank from where the shot was taken. Another shot, believed to have been taken in the opposite direction to the first, featured another transmission tower, dried grasslands, and small trees in the background.\nUsing Google Earth, narrow bodies of water with these characteristics along the coast were investigated. On the south end of Oleksandrivske Reservoir, a peninsula with transmission lines on its west side was identified. Across the reservoir, another transmission tower and cables crossing above the water were noticed. By setting the time bar to 05/06/2008, the grass on the peninsula showed up as dried and small trees could be seen clearer now on the east side of the peninsula, just behind the transmission tower. A match was found (see Figure 10). The source reported this location was used by the studio to produce several\nCSAM\nbetween July and August 2001.\nChecking the rest of the reservoir for more clues, a white building with a slim tree in the front was noticed east of the previous location. These elements matched those displayed on location Inland (7). After analysing the image, it was determined the shot was taken from the south shore of the Oleksandrivske Reservoir (see Figure 10). The source reported this location was used by the studio to produce\nCSAM\nin October 2001. No signs of Ruins (1 & 8) or the red church were identified in the surrounding areas.\nFigure 10: Oleksandrivske Reservoir. Power transmission lines and landscape matched those featuring in thumbnail images for location Inland (3,6,7). The source reported these locations were used by the studio to produce several CSAM between July and October 2001.\n3. Location Inland (8) – Kuyalnik Estuary\nThe unknown location Inland (8), featured a water body and sand around the shores. Despite the low quality of the censored thumbnails, a pink/red tone to the sand was noticed. On the left side of the image, a long cliff which ended in the horizon line was visible. Looking at the background, no buildings or mountains were seen. The body of water seemed to be quite elongated.\nIn our initial searches around Odessa, we had noticed Kuyalnik Reservoir, which had pink sands. We re-visited the images of Kuyalnik for a reinspection. The result: a Google maps image featuring the same cliff on the west shore of the reservoir.\nThe cliff exhibited the same angular lines converging downwards and touching the horizon. Dark pink sand was also noticed as well as curved water marks. Another location verified. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce\nCSAM\nin September 2001. No signs of Ruins (1 & 8) or the red church were identified in the surrounding areas.\nFigure 11: Kuyalnik Estuary. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce CSAM in September 2001.\n4. Location Coast (1 & 6) – Mykolaivka Village (Dniester Estuary)\nMany of the censored images within group Coast (1 & 6) featured a peninsula with a slim tree on it. The images seemed to have been taken on a shore very close to a grassy cliff.\nRocks bigger than 1.5 meters in diameter, which had become detached from the cliff, appeared in almost every shot from different angles. All main elements were numbered (1 to 10) and organised by scene (A to D). The tree and the peninsula were selected as landmarks with more potential to be identified in satellite images.\nHaving checked other bodies of water on the northeast side of the coastal region of Odessa, the southwest area around the\nDniester Estuary\nwas to be explored using Google Earth. On the east coast of the estuary at the level of the village\nMykolaivka\n, a small peninsula was found. This peninsula had several trees on it but only one produced a long shadow relative to the size of the peninsula and matching the relative position to the one shown in the censored thumbnails.\nFrom the 2014 satellite image, large rocks could be seen all along the shore. After careful analysis, all rocks and trees were identified. Another image geolocated. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several\nCSAM\nbetween the end of July and beginning of August 2001.\nFigure 12: Location Coast (1& 6). All main rock elements on thumbnail images identified along the east coast of the Dniester Estuary at the level of the village Mykolaivka. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between the end of July and beginning of August 2001.\n5. The\nFinal Search And Verification\nAfter geolocating four different sites related to the case, a 50 km radial perimeter was established around the city of Odessa. This perimeter coincided with one of the battle fronts that took place during WWII on the east shore of the\nDniester Estuary\n. Hence, it was believed that some type of ruins, if linked to the war at all, were likely to be found around this area.\nFigure 13: Geolocation of the selected group of images marked in red.\nThe main road connecting the village of\nMykolaivka\nand\nOvidiopol\n(T1625) was checked for any signs of the red church or ruins. When doing a visual inspection with Google Earth around the village of\nKalahliya\n(\nКалаглія\n/ Калаглия ), a church was noticed at coordinates 46.281507, 30.358500 on June 2. Its name:\nЦерква Миколая Чудотворця\n, i.e. the Church of St Nicholas. All the features matched our references. A Twitter user,\nLorenzo Romani,\nalso confirmed finding the same church on June 22 through someone in his network.\nFigure 14: St. Nicholas Church, located in the village Kalahliya. The church matched all features recognised on the image related to ImageC5.\nBut was this truly the right place? Were there any ruins around? Checks were done in the immediate surroundings southeast of the church but there were no signs of any recognisable ruin structure. Then, the historical view of Google Earth was changed. A compound in ruins was visible in other years, with 2007 being the earliest image available.\nDespite the lack of street views in Google Earth and Yandex for this location, Images and YouTube videos of the village were scrutinised in order to identify all the buildings visible on ImageC5. A\ndrone video\nfound offered the best view of the site and it helped us not only to identify each of the elements but also to estimate the position of the camera (See Figure 15 and Figure 16).\nFigure 15: ImageC5 buildings identified on a YouTube drone view of the village Kalahliya\nFigure 16: Northeast corner of the ruins as the approximate camera position from where the ImageC5 landscape photograph was taken.\nFurther checks were done on two of the buildings featuring on ImageC5: the single pitch roof building (marked in yellow) and the brick construction on the far right (marked in red). We found videos recorded from Road T1625 which connects Kalahliya with Ovidiopol and passes just behind these buildings. The type of windows, roof, masonry colours as well as relative position matched those shown on satellite views as well as ImageC5 (see Figure 17).\nFigure 17: Videos and satellite images used to analyse main building construction features such as masonry colour, roof, and windows type for selected buildings. All elements matched those on ImageC5.\nSatellite images and all thumbnails in group Ruins (1 & 8) were carefully analysed to extract information such as the positions of trees, shadows sizes, sunlight direction, vegetation, exterior paint colours, and the relative position of debris. A solar calculation was done for early September 2001 as representative data for the month when the\nCSAM\nwas generated.\nPutting all of the puzzle pieces together, a basic sketch of the ruins was done to understand more about the site and to indicate the relative points where the thumbnail photos were taken from (See Figure 18).\nThe size of the construction and the presence of gates to the southeast and northwest ends of the main structure reconfirm the possibility that the building was an old, small-sized industrial/army facility. The reconstruction should be taken only as an intuitive guide only. With all elements identified, the site has been verified and ImageC5 has been now officially geolocated. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several\nCSAM\nbetween August and September 2001. A summary of the geolocation process followed is offered in Figure 19.\nFigure 18: Basic reconstruction of ruins based on solar data for September 2001, satellite images as well as the image thumbnails found in the investigative files. The source reported the location was used by the studio to produce several CSAM between August and September 2001.\nFigure 19: A summary of the strategy followed to geolocate ImageC5 after the finding of the investigative files. Geolocating other images within the set allowed the team for a relative quick converge into the final findings.\n“Studio A” And Their Associated Websites\nAlthough our main goal was to share information on how ImageC5 was geolocated, we also want to offer a brief summary of the operation of the studio and their websites as reported by the source. Though almost 20 years have passed and there is little reference to it on the internet, this studio impacted the world of\nCSAM\nproduction and contributed to its development. It is a clear example of how purveyors of\nCSAM\nadopt the guise of benefactors. First – they pay off the victims’ typically impoverished families. Second – they develop a child educational and entertainment programme designed to quell the parents’ and the public’s distrust in the studio. Finally, they take advantage of then-underdeveloped\nCSAM\nlegislation in Ukraine and an emerging worldwide internet. This is a business model that is still being followed by many modern criminal organizations.\nThis following section was extracted from the files and by no means expresses the views of the authors – it is rather meant to raise awareness of how such criminal enterprises operate. For legal reasons and for protection of the victims and offenders, we cannot disclose the source. All names used here are fictitious\n.\nStudio A\nwas a company founded by Denis M. & Sergey P. in early 2000s with funds coming from several European financiers. Denis was an IT expert and Sergey was a photographer known for nude “artistic” work with teens. Both individuals met in the summer 2000 and made several arrangements with other webmasters and studios to set up\nWebsite1\n. Sergey would generate the photographic content and be the main model finder; whereas Denis would be in charge of the technical side. By September of the same year,\nWebsite1\nwas fully operational, with material being produced by Sergey in Ukraine. All websites associated operated on a subscription basis. The studio operation included transportation, admin, and security crews. The latter were mainly previous law enforcement officers.\nMost of the underage children featuring in their productions were scouted around schools in eastern Europe – mainly Moldova. They usually came from impoverished backgrounds and were offered “modelling work” to help their families with money equivalent to a month’s salary of their parents. Knowing the conditions required by the studio, many parents reportedly agreed to send their children from Moldova to Ukraine with Studio A. The victims lived in different apartments owned by the studio across the city and received computer, arts and English lessons when they were not “modelling.” In efforts to further legitimize the criminal enterprise, the studio organized outings with the parents. Also, according to interviews reported in the files, Denis had falsely claimed on several occasions that the business was “socially responsible” and part of a charitable project in partnership with a worldwide human rights organization.\nAccording to the files, Sergey, who managed the business independently, had a serious addiction to heavy drugs. According to victims’ testimonies, as per the files, Sergey not only photographed victims naked but would then physically sexually assault them and offer them addictive substances. What ultimately happened to Denis and Sergey’s partnership remains unclear, but it is reported that tensions between Denis and Sergey increased and they parted ways in early 2001. Denis renamed the company\nStudio A\n* and Sergey kept the original enterprise.\nStudio A\n. Sergey convinced a number of parents and children to stay him, while another of other children exploited by\nWebsite1\nmoved on to\nStudio A*\n.\nDenis then created another website,\nWebsite2\n. The initial material used for this website came from Russia-based projects that featured nude underage girls. Later, Denis started to create new material for which he recruited new victims in Moldova. Sergey kept most of the material created for\nWebsite1\nand sold it to other parties on the web. Sergey kept working for other studios and also created a new brand,\nStudio C\n. Both\nWebsite1\nand\nWebsite2\nwent down starting in 2002. According to Denis,\nWebsite2\nwas hijacked and redirected to another page that apparently contained more explicit abuse material. According to the files, Denis placed responsibility for that on organizations based in Russia.\nAfter the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., federal authorities and international agencies started to investigate all sort of irregularities on the web more closely. It is likely that Ukrainian authorities at this point came under more pressure, while the police had information about the frequent trafficking of minors from Moldova to Ukraine. In 2002, two women travelling with four children were detained in a train station close to the Ukraine/Moldova border for interrogation. They were carrying false documentation to take these minors abroad. During questioning, all underage girls mentioned they were paid an average of $50 per session in exchange for taking part in explicit photography produced by two individuals: Denis & Sergey. The police proceeded to raid all studios and seized all computer equipment, drugs, and\nCSAM\n. Both Denis and Sergey had fled by then, presumably alerted by their corrupt contacts on the police force.\nDenis moved to Switzerland and then to Moldova, whereas Sergey was reported to have lived in Moldova, Germany and the U.S. The Ukrainian government initiated a case against both individuals in 2002 for production, sale, and distribution of\nCSAM\n. Surprisingly, charges against Denis were dropped in 2003. Ukrainian legislation at that time did not have any provisions for\nCSAM\nproduction.\nAccording to the source, Denis relaunched\nWebsite1\n, but without any nude material. He also created a new studio called\nStudio B\nand closed\nStudio A*.\nBy 2004, both websites\nWebsite1\nand\nWebsite2\nwere down. In 2007, Denis married one of the girls that worked for the studios – it is unclear how old she was at the time and when she was first recruited – and the ceremony reportedly took place in Moldova. A documentary film was also produced to portray Denis and girls who worked for the studio in more recent years. This production was never commercialised.\nMost of the\nCSAM\nSergey produced remains undocumented due to missing data. Sergey was put on a wanted list by police in Germany in relation to abuse of minors as well as for\nCSAM\ndissemination. There is no information available as to determine whether Sergey was prosecuted or not.\nSome key facts after analysing the information presented in the investigative files:\nImageC5 was produced for Website2\nAt least 60 victims between the ages of 8 and 17 were hired to work for Website2\nMore than 7300 images were produced in less than a year\nThe website published approximately 270 sets of images\n60% of the\nCSAM\nwas produced in studio facilities, while 40% was produced in outdoor locations\nOn average, 3% of the production was done in each one of the Ukrainian outdoor locations with an 8% maximum produced in Russia.\nThere were seven “photographers” working for the page including Denis and other unidentified individuals associated with the studio.\nThe source reported the studio employed assistants, drivers, teachers and security staff. The latter have had previously worked in law enforcement.\n$250,000 were received on the personal accounts of Denis and Sergey for the operation carried in Ukraine.\nConclusion & Recommendations\nImageC5 on its own contained no relevant information. The initial geolocation process for this image proved to be unproductive via employing traditional methods. More details were needed to be able to take the research further.\nThis time, an in-depth literature review on child sexual abuse cases supplied the information required to narrow down the search. Without knowing the details of the case, ImageC5 would have been never geolocated. By finding other locations related to the case, valuable landscape, architectural, war zone, and terrain data was collected. The iteration process of the search converged quicker towards the location where ImageC5 photograph was taken from.\nAfter an intensive research, Images are normally geolocated accurately. A great deal of information related to the cases is usually gathered through the process. Not all details found in our investigations are shared – due to the need to protect victims. On this case, the investigative files found came from an anonymous source which Europol has been informed about.\nEighteen years have passed since the discovery of the dark operation of\nStudio A\n. The case was known to both Ukrainian and international authorities. If data and privacy laws permit, It could be helpful to see that for any child abuse case already processed by law enforcement bodies in Europe, all\nCSAM\nimages seized should be entered into a centralised database. Law enforcement agencies could then run algorithms for an internal image reverse search to assist future geolocations and investigations. In this way, images for which there is already a background case would be left out of any crowdsourcing campaign. Moreover, if the amount of data collected is large, maybe the algorithm could be capable of comparing landscapes and other information between old and new images, thus drawing a preliminary geographical search area or creating leads for new cases.\nThe\nStudio A\ncase is a clear example of child sexual abuse and human trafficking. The operation persuaded stakeholders of their “socially responsible” approach to leverage their business. The production of\nCSAM\nwas allowed by an archaic legal framework and corruption, but also by the families of the victims, who exploited their children for financial gain. This business model has been copied by many crime organizations disguised as “modelling studios.” After many years, the situation in Ukraine has changed – but it has changed for the worse. The problem has been aggravated by the development of technology and faster communications. There are new forms of criminality and an intensified production and dissemination of child abuse material in the Ukraine-Moldova-Belarus-Russia region.\nIn sharing our investigations and search methods we believe we can contribute with authorities to bring offenders to justice, and that we can make the #StopChildAbuse network stronger while raising awareness about the problem. Our intention is to encourage members of the public and OSINT professionals to be vigilant and pass any known information to the competent authorities. Although some images published by Europol might seem old, new cases might be related to those pictures and any lead or input into their database could mean the difference between continuous abuse or rescuing the victims. At Bellingcat, we are strongly committed to these efforts.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2019-12-05_two-europol-stopchildabuse-images-geolocated-part-i-madagascar.json

@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+{
+  "slug": "two-europol-stopchildabuse-images-geolocated-part-i-madagascar",
+  "title": "Two Europol StopChildAbuse Images Geolocated: Part I — Madagascar",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/12/05/two-europol-stopchildabuse-images-geolocated-part-i-madagascar/",
+  "date": "2019-12-05T20:23:59+00:00",
+  "modified": "2019-12-17T20:27:00+00:00",
+  "author": "Carlos Gonzales",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Europol is currently in possession of more than 40 million images of child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, it launched a crowdsourcing campaign called Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object. Through this campaign, censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Europol is currently in possession of more than </span><a href=\"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-47660347/tracing-child-abusers-where-was-this-picture-taken\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">40 million images</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> of child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, it launched a crowdsourcing campaign called </span><a href=\"https://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. Through this campaign, censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are asked to help tracing their location or country of origin.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">These tips are then used to inform a competent law enforcement authority to further investigate the lead and to assist in the identification of the offender and the victim. </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/1187657036168912897?s=20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">As of October 25, 2019</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, Europol has received more than 24,000 tips, which have led to the identification of nine victims and the prosecution of two offenders. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In a previous</span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> article</span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, Bellingcat wrote about the discovery of a link between one of these images and the story of a “child modelling studio” trafficking children for the production of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in Odesa, Ukraine. On </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Europol/status/1172125870963724288\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Twitter</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, Europol acknowledged our investigative methods which, according to them, significantly contribute to tackling online abuse.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In this new article, we will show how two new batches of images </span><a href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20190702150216/https:/www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">published by Europol</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, Group ImageG13 and Group ImageC20, have been respectively geolocated to Madagascar and Cambodia. Both locations were found to be in tourist destinations, close to hotel facilities and very likely related to sex tourism. We will present a summary of the process we followed to confirm these locations and the likely time when the pictures were taken. This is Part I of the investigation and it will deal with the case in Madagascar. The upcoming Part II will address the case in Cambodia.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25924\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25924\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25924\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"833\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-300x98.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-1200x390.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-768x250.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-1536x500.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/1-2048x666.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25924\">Figure 1: Group ImageG13 (left) and Group ImageC20 (right) as published by Europol on their website</p></div>\n<h2></h2>\n<p> </p>\n<h2><strong>Nosy Kely, Madagascar</strong></h2>\n<h3><strong>1: The Location</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Group ImageG13 was geolocated to coordinates </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/20%C2%B018'06.6%22S+44%C2%B015'59.6%22E/@-20.301825,44.264349,1421m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x1f5ed04dc1075db1:0x93687cf04b296d45!2sMorondava,+Madagascar!3b1!8m2!3d-20.2904186!4d44.2999955!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d-20.3018253!4d44.2665428\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">(-20.301825, 44.266543</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">) in Nosy Kely, a small village south of the town centre of Morondava, a city in Madagascar.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25925\" style=\"width: 1372px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25925\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25925\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2134\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1362px) 100vw, 1362px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2.png 1362w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2-191x300.png 191w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2-766x1200.png 766w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2-768x1203.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2-980x1536.png 980w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/2-1307x2048.png 1307w\" width=\"1362\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25925\">Figure 2: Group ImageG13 A &amp; B as published by Europol on their website #StopChildAbuse #TraceAnObject. The group of images was geolocated to the village of Nosy Kely, Madagascar; just south of the town of Morondava. The red pointer indicates the approximate spot where the images were taken from. Google satellite image, 2004</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>2: Initial Observations</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– After analysing ImageG13-A &amp; B from </span><b>Figure 2</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, it was determined the two could be joined to form a panoramic view of the landscape. The images were edited to obtain </span><b>Figure 3</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. We will call this edited version ImageG13 in the text for the purpose of clarity.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25926\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25926\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25926\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-300x59.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-1200x234.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-768x150.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-1536x300.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/3-2048x400.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25926\">Figure 3: Group ImageG13 edited and joined to obtain a wider view of the beach</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– The landscape shown on ImageG13 was believed to be a beachfront.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– A row of pine trees and a group of palms were observed to the left and the right of ImageG13 respectively. The landscape showed no sign of high elevations or mountains on the horizon.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– The area covered by grey sand was large and split by a line of water along the beach. Three options were initially considered: water remaining during a low tide, flowing water coming from a river mouth or a combination of both. A few tree branches were also observed in the water body. These were likely to be mangroves as seen in </span><b>Figure 4</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. This increased the possibility of a river mouth in the vicinity.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– A group of houses were visible along the beachfront, believed to be of rural construction. In front of one of these groups, a dark  brown object was observed on the sand. This was likely to be a boat which suggested the possibility of fishing activity in the area. If this was a touristic place, there were likely to be hotels in the area.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25927\" style=\"width: 2510px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25927\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25927\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4.png 2500w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4-300x130.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4-1200x518.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4-768x332.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4-1536x664.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/4-2048x885.png 2048w\" width=\"2500\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25927\">Figure 4: Branches in the water body were observed. These were believed to be mangroves. A dark object on the sand in front of the houses was thought to be a boat which indicated possible fishing activity in the area</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">– Footprints across the sand area were visible. Close to one of the footprints, a small solid body believed to be a stone was observed as seen in </span><b>Figure 5</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. For such a small body to cast a shadow approximately twice its height, the sun was likely to be at low altitude.  ImageG13 was likely taken either in the early hours of the morning or late afternoon; with the beach likely oriented east or west respectively. The sun’s direction was also confirmed by the shadows cast by a group of houses. These observations would constitute an important element to consider when screening the coasts to explore in the following section.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25928\" style=\"width: 1366px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25928\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25928\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1546\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1356px) 100vw, 1356px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5.png 1356w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5-263x300.png 263w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5-1053x1200.png 1053w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5-768x876.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/5-1347x1536.png 1347w\" width=\"1356\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25928\">Figure 5: Footprint marks across the sand area were visible. The relatively large shadow cast by a small stone on the sand suggested the image was taken in the early morning or late afternoon; with the beach likely oriented east or west respectively</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>3: The Screening Process</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The presence of palm trees strongly suggested the location to be tropical or subtropical. Via doing some research on the pine trees, we arrived at the conclusion that they likely belong to a genus called “</span><a href=\"https://www.botanywebsite.com/flora_of_madagascar/index.php?page=Casuarina_equisetifolia_large_pic1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Casuarina</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">” which is </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuarina\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">native</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. This type of tree was also introduced to other regions — mainly in West Africa, as shown on the </span><a href=\"http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:924821-1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">map</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> in</span> <b>Figure 7</b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">.</span></i></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25929\" style=\"width: 1666px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25929\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25929\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2110\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1656px) 100vw, 1656px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6.png 1656w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6-235x300.png 235w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6-942x1200.png 942w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6-768x979.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6-1206x1536.png 1206w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/6-1607x2048.png 1607w\" width=\"1656\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25929\">Figure 6: Comparison between the pine trees [technically, she-oaks] featured on ImageG14 and an example found during the search. The tree is classified under the genus Casuarina</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25930\" style=\"width: 2526px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25930\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25930\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1378\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2516px) 100vw, 2516px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7.png 2516w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7-300x164.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7-1200x657.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7-768x421.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7-1536x841.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/7-2048x1122.png 2048w\" width=\"2516\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25930\">Figure 7: Genus Casuarina is native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. The genus was also introduced in other regions such as West Africa</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Based on this map and the initial observations in the previous section; three preliminary areas for exploration were selected in </span><b>Figure 7</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> as a seed to start our iteration process:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The south coast of Australia</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The Mozambique channel</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The west coast of India</span></li>\n</ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The main features sought in beaches within these regions were:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">North-west or south-east orientation</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Casuarina trees along shores with very flat terrain and no mountains nearby</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Likely presence of river mouths close to the beach</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Low tides cycle</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Presence of mangroves to the front of the beach </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Rural architecture of houses or hotels</span></li>\n</ul>\n<h3></h3>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>4: Geolocating ImageG13</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Visually similar landscapes were found in the three regions. However, after two weeks of checking hundreds of Google Maps photos and satellite imagery on Google Earth as well as hotels on booking.com and images of beaches in Google, we found that the west coast of Madagascar shared the largest number of strong similarities with ImageG13. In specific, the coast of the </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toliara_Province\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Toliara Province</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> seemed like a possible match.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A collage with a selection of these images was built in the process to assist visual recognition (See </span><b>Figure 8</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">). The type of double pitch houses, casuarina trees, river mouths, colour of sands, mangroves and boats largely matched those observed in ImageG13. Given the level of confidence the visual evidence offered, It was decided Madagascar’s coast was a potential match and warranted further investigation. </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25931\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25931\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25931\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1354\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-300x159.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-1200x635.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-768x406.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-1536x812.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/8-2048x1083.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25931\">Figure 8: Image collage with landscape and architecture similarities found on the west coast of Madagascar. Zones with similar houses, palms, casuarina trees, mangroves and boats were found within the Toliara province</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<p><em><strong>A Note On Child Sexual Abuse in Madagascar</strong> </em></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In trying to narrow down the search further, geographic and demographic data on child sexual abuse in Madagascar was consulted in </span><a href=\"https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session25/Documents/A-HRC-25-48-Add2_en.doc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">UN</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and </span><a href=\"https://www.unicef.org/protection/files/Evidence_Review_SEA_(Radford_et_al).pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">U</span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">NICEF</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> reports, as well a case stories and assessments from </span><a href=\"https://www.ecpat.org/app/uploads/2016/04/Overall%20report%20-%20Assessment%205%20African%20countries.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">ECPAT</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. A brief summary of the situation is offered here:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">According to the </span><a href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/madagascar/overview\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">World Bank</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world with 75% of the population living on less than US$1.90 per day.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The Toliara province is one of the poorest in the country.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The number of children exploited and prostituted continues to increase.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Child exploitation and sexual abuse imagery affect all provinces but some specific areas can be highlighted: </span></li>\n</ul>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Urban: Antananarivo, Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliara, Antsiranana</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Mining: Ilakaka, Moramanga and Tamatave.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Tourist: Nosy Be, Diégo-Suarez, Mangily, Foulpointe, Sainte Marie and Fort Dauphin. Nosy Be is a particularly noticeable centre for prostitution/exploitation according to many sources.</span></li>\n</ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Domestic sex tourists outnumber international sex tourists.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Sex tourism targeting children has increased in coastal cities.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">58% of the total number of tourists are French. </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Two recent cases of child sexual abuse and CSAM production have been reported: </span></li>\n</ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Case 1:</span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> A 60-year-old Frenchman abused a 13-year-old girl in Toamasina. The main perpetrator was arrested in France in June 2013. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Case 2</span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">: In 2016, two girls were sexually exploited in Nosy Be by a 59-year-old Frenchman, who police believe is part of a larger network of criminals involved in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. He is now in prison, awaiting extradition to France.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">All the towns named above were plotted on </span><a href=\"http://www.geographicguide.com/africa-maps/madagascar.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">a map of Madagascar</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> to see if some fell in the Toliara Region (See </span><b>Figure 9</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">). Effectively three of them were but could not be matched to ImageG13. Given the level of poverty and the increasing trend in sex tourism on the island, it was highly possible for the photograph to have been taken in a touristic town.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25932\" style=\"width: 1402px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25932\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25932\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2242\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1392px) 100vw, 1392px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9.png 1392w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9-186x300.png 186w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9-745x1200.png 745w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9-768x1237.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9-954x1536.png 954w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/9-1272x2048.png 1272w\" width=\"1392\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25932\">Figure 9: A map of Madagascar. Towns highlighted in red are reported to be affected by high number of cases of child exploitation and the production of CSAM</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">More images and videos were analysed for each one of the </span><a href=\"https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g3657331-Activities-Toliara_Province.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">most touristic coastal places</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> in the Toliara province: Anakao, Ifaty, Andavadoaka, Morombe, Belo Sur Mer and Morondava. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A </span><a href=\"https://youtu.be/_80LVSBmskI?t=82\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">drone video</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> filmed in Morondava showed a first close match for some of the elements featured on ImageG13. In particular; a group of houses, pine trees and a </span><a href=\"https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g298273-d3370397-r189201313-Morondava_Beach_Bungalows-Morondava_Toliara_Province.html#photos;aggregationId=101&amp;albumid=101&amp;filter=2&amp;ff=378741856\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">white poster</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> located in the village of </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nosy+Kely,+Morondava,+Madagascar/@-20.2977597,44.2651471,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x1f5ed04ba9ff2a43:0x7e855774a95bade3!8m2!3d-20.2993869!4d44.2680355\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Nosy Kely</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25933\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25933\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25933\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1525\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-300x179.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-1200x715.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-768x458.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-1536x915.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/10-2048x1220.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25933\">Figure 10: A YouTube drone video offered a view of Morondava Beach in the Village of Nosy Kely. A group of houses and a white poster at the front of one of the hotels in the area were preliminary identified</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A satellite image from 2004 clearly revealed a matching distribution of buildings and pine trees along the beach. Further verification of the area was carried out. A </span><a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/janetteg/1345360560/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Flickr Photo</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> from 2007 and a </span><a href=\"https://youtu.be/-qSO7uraY_E?t=114\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">YouTube video</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> revealed an exact match for all of the buildings featured in ImageG13 with the exception of the unit marked in blue as shown in </span><b>Figure 11</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and </span><b>Figure 12</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. The shadows generated by a group of houses largely matched too. The approximate location of the camera was also determined. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Having identified all these elements, </span><strong><em>the location was considered verified</em></strong><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25934\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25934\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25934\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1460\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-300x171.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-1200x684.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-768x438.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-1536x876.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/11-2048x1168.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25934\">Figure 11: A satellite view from 2004 compared to ImageG13. All of the buildings matched with the exception of the one marked in blue which seemed missing</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25935\" style=\"width: 2570px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-scaled.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25935\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25935\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1891\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-scaled.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-scaled.png 2560w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-300x222.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-1200x886.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-768x567.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-1536x1135.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/12-2048x1513.png 2048w\" width=\"2560\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25935\">Figure 12: Images of Morondava from 2007 and 2013 revealed an exact match for all the buildings featured on ImageG13. The building unit marked in blue could not be identified. Below: The shadows generated by the group of houses largely match those observed in ImageG13. The palm trees relative location with respect to the houses is also a match</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25936\" style=\"width: 2260px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25936\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25936\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1524\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13.png 2250w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13-300x203.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13-1200x813.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13-768x520.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13-1536x1040.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/13-2048x1387.png 2048w\" width=\"2250\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25936\">Figure 13: The approximate position of the camera was determined to verify the location. Image credit: Timmi Allen</p></div>\n<h3></h3>\n<h3></h3>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>5: When Was ImageG13 Likely Taken?</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The earliest satellite image available for Nosy Kely dates back to 2004. On that image, the group of houses projecting shadows on each other on ImageG13, are presented lined up in a staggered organised pattern (See </span><b>Figure 14</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">). From Google Maps, the small beach location has currently more than ten hotels and restaurants in service. Given the design of the houses and the proximity to other hotels in the area; it was believed the group of houses in question could have belonged to a hotel facility.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25937\" style=\"width: 1500px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25937\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25937\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1436\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1490px) 100vw, 1490px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14.png 1490w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14-300x289.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14-1200x1157.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/14-768x740.png 768w\" width=\"1490\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25937\">Figure 14: Houses featured on ImageG13 are seen lined up in a staggered pattern on satellite image from 2004. The group was believed to be part of a former hotel facility</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Based on the physical condition of the houses in 2013, a preliminary estimate of 20 years was established for ImageG13. A report from the</span> <a href=\"http://www.mpae.gov.mg/communication/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/12/MenabeDocAnnexes.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> provided a comprehensive list of accommodation and catering establishments in Morondava for the year 2000. Among this list, there was a hotel called </span><a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20030701020001/http:/www.cobra-verde.de/madagaskar/badeurlaub/Royal%20Toera%20-%20Morondava.htm\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Le Royal Toera</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. Imagery gathered from different websites revealed the group of houses indeed belonged to this hotel (See </span><b>Figure 15</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">).</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">According to the </span><a href=\"http://bepa-architecture.com/?mies_portfolio=hotel-royal-toera\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">architects</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, the hotel project was completed in 1997. In January 2000, </span><a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20020105141205if_/http:/www.apavou-hotels.com/madagascar/toera/Toera-bref.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Apavou Hotels Group</span></i></a> <a href=\"https://elfisciency.wordpress.com/2000/01/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">started managing</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> the Royal Toera. </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Different sources including the operator and a </span><a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20030701020001/http:/www.cobra-verde.de/madagaskar/badeurlaub/Royal%20Toera%20-%20Morondava.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">travel agency website</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">; described the facilities as having:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">One restaurant </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">One pool </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Sixteen bungalows</span></li>\n</ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Analysing the images found on the architects and travel agents’ websites, all 16 bungalows in the grounds of the hotel were identified. They were numbered from 1-16 and grouped according to their orientation, location and style as shown in </span><b>Figure 15</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and </span><b>Figure 16</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. The restaurant and the pool were also identified. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">On the west side, the hotel originally featured a pool with a bridge. Around this area, there were lamp posts which helped to determine the relative position of each of the bungalows in the analysis. Although many of the buildings found in the pictures were missing on the satellite imagery for unknown reasons; all the information was merged to produce a sketch in order to understand how the original hotel layout could have looked like (See </span><b>Figure 17</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">).</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25938\" style=\"width: 1252px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25938\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25938\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2246\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1242px) 100vw, 1242px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15.png 1242w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15-166x300.png 166w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15-664x1200.png 664w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15-768x1389.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15-849x1536.png 849w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/15-1133x2048.png 1133w\" width=\"1242\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25938\">Figure 15: Buildings in the grounds of the hotel were identified using images of the hotel between 1997-2000. Only eight bungalows out of the original 10 in the north group are visible on the satellite view from 2004. Here, the restaurant and other 6 bungalows from the south group are all missing. Bungalows 1 &amp; 2 feature no roof in ImageG13</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25939\" style=\"width: 1594px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25939\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25939\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1340\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1584px) 100vw, 1584px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16.png 1584w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16-300x254.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16-1200x1015.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16-768x650.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/16-1536x1299.png 1536w\" width=\"1584\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25939\">Figure 16: Buildings in the grounds of the hotel were identified using images of the hotel between 1997-2000. The original pool and its bridge were also identified on satellite image. On the latter, the restaurant and the south group of bungalows are clearly missing</p></div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25940\" style=\"width: 1170px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25940\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25940\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1498\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1160px) 100vw, 1160px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17.png 1160w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17-232x300.png 232w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17-929x1200.png 929w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/17-768x992.png 768w\" width=\"1160\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25940\">Figure 17: Sketch with an approximation of how the original layout of the hotel could have looked like. The diagram is based on imagery found of the facilities and satellite images from 2004</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">From </span><b>Figure 15</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, it can be noticed that ImageG13 features bungalows 1-10. However, bungalows 1 &amp; 2 seem to have no roof. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Also, according to the field of view and position of the camera calculated in the previous section, the restaurant unit should have been visible on ImageG13 as well, but instead, the whole building is missing. Bungalows 1-2, the restaurant and bungalows 11-16 are missing on the satellite view from March 2004. </span><b>In order to know when ImageG13 was taken</b><b>, </b><b>it was necessary to understand what sequence of events changed the layout of the hotel so drastically</b><b>.</b></p>\n<h2></h2>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>Establishing A Timeline</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Between the 11th and the 16th of March 2000, a German tourist wrote in </span><a href=\"http://www.meinereisen.com/madagaskar/11032000.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">his travel journal</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> about his arrival to the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera Hotel</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and made the following observations:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Confirmed the hotel had 16 bungalows. </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The swimming pool and restaurant were fully operational.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">There were palm trees all around the facility but they were not higher than 1.5 m.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">There was no beach immediately in front of the hotel, but a rough sea instead.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Workers had been repairing a breakwater/promenade structure at the waterfront that was affected by cyclones in the previous weeks.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In discussion with the owners of one of the local restaurants, he described how sex tourism was affecting the town. Some tourists looked for girls as young as 14 years old.</span></li>\n</ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We discussed earlier that bungalows 1-2 are shown with no roof in ImageG13. Given the fact that the German tourist described the relatively good conditions of the hotel facilities including the restaurant, pool and the 16 bungalows after recent cyclones; </span><b><i>ImageG13 was most likely taken after March 2000 but before the bungalows 1-2 disappeared completely as shown in satellite images from the 25th of March 2004</i></b><b>.</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Although not conclusive but rather informative, it was considered important to highlight a couple of findings and key facts which will be discussed later in the report:</span></p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A Curriculum Vitae from a former employee of the hotel indicates he stopped working for the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> in May 2002. </span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In 2008, </span><a href=\"https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293808-i9291-k2142577-Morondava_hotel_Palissandre_Cote_Ouest-Madagascar.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">a TripAdvisor user</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> received information about the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> having burned down several years ago. A local source who cannot be named affirmed that the fire in question only destroyed the restaurant of the hotel. The same source indicated that sometime after this event the south group of bungalows and the pool were destroyed by a cyclone. Unfortunately, no specific dates were recalled.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Between April and June 2002, </span><a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20020105141205if_/http:/www.apavou-hotels.com/madagascar/toera/Toera-bref.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Apavou Hotels Group</span></a> <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20020407151723/http:/www.apavou-hotels.com/index2.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">stopped advertising</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> their operations in Madagascar and Mayotte (including the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">). According to the </span><a href=\"https://elfisciency.wordpress.com/2000/01/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">news</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, the management contract of the hotel should have run until 2005.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Malagasy_presidential_election\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Presidential elections</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> were held in Madagascar on 16th of December 2001, leading to violence between supporters of two candidates. The conflict lasted until July 2002.</span></li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Prostitution represents a serious problem in the village. In 2008, Morondava was </span><a href=\"https://www.madagascar-tribune.com/Pres-de-50-sont-des-mineures,5712.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">reported</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> to be the home to at least 200 sex workers, from which at least 50% were in  fact minor victims of exploitation. Night clubs and bars in Nosy Kely were frequented by sex workers to meet tourists or Malagasy visitors.</span></li>\n</ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Morondava is an area at high risk of flooding and severe coastal erosion. Different environmental factors including cyclones, strong tides, heavy rains, drought and human activities have created an imbalance in the flow of the nearby rivers, generating a severe effect of marine erosion of the coastal sector. The mouth of the river where the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera Hotel</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> was located is particularly sensitive to maritime submersion and flooding. More information can be found in </span><a href=\"http://madarevues.recherches.gov.mg/IMG/pdf/Madamines5_1_.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">this paper</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and a project for protection and mitigation of the littoral in Morondava called </span><a href=\"http://www.morondava-autrement.com/blog/palm/le-projet-palm-problematiques-de-submersion-marine-a-morondava.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">PALM</span></i></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In an </span><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jul/07/madagascar-climate-change-plagues-poor-the-water-rose-so-fast\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">article from The Guardian</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> from 2016, the situation above is discussed. An image in the article depicts the ruins of what they called “The remains of a hotel and swimming pool that was flooded several years ago by rising sea tides in Morondava”. It was determined the structures described belonged to the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera Hotel</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> (See </span><b>Figure 18</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">).</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25941\" style=\"width: 1360px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25941\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25941\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18.png 1350w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18-300x178.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18-1200x711.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/18-768x455.png 768w\" width=\"1350\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25941\">Figure 18: The Royal Toera photographed by The Guardian in 2016. The hotel was reported to have been flooded but no specific dates are given in the article</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Despite the fact that no specific dates were obtained via the sources consulted, the destruction of the hotel was most probably linked to flooding and cyclone events in the area. Southwest Indian Ocean cyclone seasons </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2000-01</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2001-02</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9303_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2002-03</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> and </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003%E2%80%9304_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2003-04</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> were investigated and a summary of the activity around Madagascar is shown in </span><b>Figure 19</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. From all the cyclones and storms investigated, only Cyprien in </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2002</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, as well as Elita and Gafilo in </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003%E2%80%9304_South-West_Indian_Ocean_cyclone_season\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">2004</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, are reported to have caused major damage in Morondava.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25942\" style=\"width: 1424px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25942\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25942\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1546\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1414px) 100vw, 1414px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19.png 1414w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19-274x300.png 274w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19-1098x1200.png 1098w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19-768x840.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/19-1405x1536.png 1405w\" width=\"1414\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25942\">Figure 19: Season summary maps for cyclones in the Southwest Indian Ocean around Madagascar</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In </span><b>Table 1</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">, a timeline has been created with a summary of the information gathered about the country and the hotel operation, as well as </span><a href=\"https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.3932\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">cyclones and storms</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> which are reported to have caused severe flooding in Morondava between 2000-2004. </span><b>The chronological order of the observations strongly suggests that ImageG13 might have been taken between January 2002 and March 2004.</b></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25943\" style=\"width: 1378px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25943\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25943\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"880\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1368px) 100vw, 1368px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1.png 1368w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1-300x193.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1-1200x772.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/Table-1-768x494.png 768w\" width=\"1368\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25943\">Table 1: Construction of a timeline for cyclones, storms, events and observations related to the Royal Toera Hotel between 2000-2004</p></div>\n<h2></h2>\n<h2></h2>\n<p> </p>\n<h3><strong>Verification Of The Proposed Timeline</strong></h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">On ImageG13, bungalows 3 to 8 show palm trees on their north side. One of these trees was clearly identified in other images produced between 2005 and 2017. For simplification, this palm has been labelled “B8”.  </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Given that all images were taken from the distance at a similar angle and although the growth rate of a tree is probably not linear as it depends on many factors; a simplified calculation was proposed to determine an approximate year when ImageG13 was produced. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The height of B8 was measured for each one of the shots as a linear proportion of the bungalows’ height (H) (See </span><b>Figure 20</b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">). The results were plotted for each year and a linear equation obtained to calculate the year when B8’s height was 1.2 H, as observed in ImageG13. </span><b>The resulting year, 2002, fits into the timeline presented in Table 1</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_25944\" style=\"width: 1468px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25944\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25944\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"2234\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1458px) 100vw, 1458px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20.png 1458w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20-196x300.png 196w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20-783x1200.png 783w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20-768x1177.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20-1002x1536.png 1002w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2019/12/20-1337x2048.png 1337w\" width=\"1458\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-25944\">Figure 20: Bungalows 3-8 pictured in different years. A simplified linear equation (based on the observed growth rate of Palm tree B8) was used to estimate the year when Palm B8 had the height observed on ImageG13. The resulting year, 2002, fits into the timeline of events</p></div>\n<h2></h2>\n<h2></h2>\n<p> </p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion: Part I  ImageG13/Nosy Kely, Madagascar</strong></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The geolocation process for ImageG13 took approximately 3 weeks in total. Further investigations were carried out to determine the year when the image was taken, which then extended the investigation for a further 2 months.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The location was identified to be in Nosy Kely, Madagascar; near a now partially destroyed hotel, formerly known as </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">. Despite no specific reports or images about damages caused to the</span> <span style=\"font-weight: 300\">hotel were found during this investigation, a timeline was created with relevant events to determine how the hotel could have been destroyed. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">All buildings, which used to belong to the hotel, were identified and drawn on a sketch using images available on the internet. Ten of these buildings are featured on ImageG13 with two of them presenting no roof. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">It is very likely that the hotel was impacted by the severe tropical storm Cyprien in January 2002. As a result, the roof of bungalows 1 &amp; 2 might have been damaged. In 2004, after the landing of much stronger cyclones like Elita and Gafilo, a dam collapsed upstream a nearby river and caused severe flooding in the area. This most probably damaged the rest of the south and west wings of the hotel, including the pool as seen on Satellite images taken 2 weeks after the cyclone Gafilo.</span></p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Apavou Hotels Group</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> stopped advertising the </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Royal Toera Hotel </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">in 2002. While in the middle of a serious political crisis in the country and hit badly by two cyclones in the same year, the management of the hotel might have decided to implement changes in the business that either justified the end of contracts and employment of staff; or, in a worst case scenario, the final closure of the hotel. This subject deserves further investigation.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A dimensional analysis applied to a palm tree, observed on ImageG13 and other images of the same location for different years, helped to support the timeline proposed.</span></p>\n<p><b>Based on the evidence discussed, it has been determined that ImageG13 was most likely produced between January 2002 and March 2004</b><b>.</b><b> Given the number of hotels and bars in the area during this period and the reported levels of exploitation of minors, it is also very likely the image was related to sex tourism.</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">This report will continue with the second part of the investigation, which is due shortly:</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/12/17/two-europol-stopchildabuse-images-geolocated-part-ii-cambodia/\"><b>Part II – ImageC20 Siem Reap, Cambodia</b></a></p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Research by Carlos Gonzales, Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen and “Bo”</span></em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Europol is currently in possession of more than\n40 million images\nof child sexual abuse from across the world. In June 2017, it launched a crowdsourcing campaign called\nStop Child Abuse – Trace an Object\n. Through this campaign, censored extracts from explicit images are regularly published on their website and members of the public are asked to help tracing their location or country of origin.\nThese tips are then used to inform a competent law enforcement authority to further investigate the lead and to assist in the identification of the offender and the victim.\nAs of October 25, 2019\n, Europol has received more than 24,000 tips, which have led to the identification of nine victims and the prosecution of two offenders.\nIn a previous\narticle\n, Bellingcat wrote about the discovery of a link between one of these images and the story of a “child modelling studio” trafficking children for the production of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in Odesa, Ukraine. On\nTwitter\n, Europol acknowledged our investigative methods which, according to them, significantly contribute to tackling online abuse.\nIn this new article, we will show how two new batches of images\npublished by Europol\n, Group ImageG13 and Group ImageC20, have been respectively geolocated to Madagascar and Cambodia. Both locations were found to be in tourist destinations, close to hotel facilities and very likely related to sex tourism. We will present a summary of the process we followed to confirm these locations and the likely time when the pictures were taken. This is Part I of the investigation and it will deal with the case in Madagascar. The upcoming Part II will address the case in Cambodia.\nFigure 1: Group ImageG13 (left) and Group ImageC20 (right) as published by Europol on their website\nNosy Kely, Madagascar\n1: The Location\nGroup ImageG13 was geolocated to coordinates\n(-20.301825, 44.266543\n) in Nosy Kely, a small village south of the town centre of Morondava, a city in Madagascar.\nFigure 2: Group ImageG13 A & B as published by Europol on their website #StopChildAbuse #TraceAnObject. The group of images was geolocated to the village of Nosy Kely, Madagascar; just south of the town of Morondava. The red pointer indicates the approximate spot where the images were taken from. Google satellite image, 2004\n2: Initial Observations\n– After analysing ImageG13-A & B from\nFigure 2\n, it was determined the two could be joined to form a panoramic view of the landscape. The images were edited to obtain\nFigure 3\n. We will call this edited version ImageG13 in the text for the purpose of clarity.\nFigure 3: Group ImageG13 edited and joined to obtain a wider view of the beach\n– The landscape shown on ImageG13 was believed to be a beachfront.\n– A row of pine trees and a group of palms were observed to the left and the right of ImageG13 respectively. The landscape showed no sign of high elevations or mountains on the horizon.\n– The area covered by grey sand was large and split by a line of water along the beach. Three options were initially considered: water remaining during a low tide, flowing water coming from a river mouth or a combination of both. A few tree branches were also observed in the water body. These were likely to be mangroves as seen in\nFigure 4\n. This increased the possibility of a river mouth in the vicinity.\n– A group of houses were visible along the beachfront, believed to be of rural construction. In front of one of these groups, a dark brown object was observed on the sand. This was likely to be a boat which suggested the possibility of fishing activity in the area. If this was a touristic place, there were likely to be hotels in the area.\nFigure 4: Branches in the water body were observed. These were believed to be mangroves. A dark object on the sand in front of the houses was thought to be a boat which indicated possible fishing activity in the area\n– Footprints across the sand area were visible. Close to one of the footprints, a small solid body believed to be a stone was observed as seen in\nFigure 5\n. For such a small body to cast a shadow approximately twice its height, the sun was likely to be at low altitude. ImageG13 was likely taken either in the early hours of the morning or late afternoon; with the beach likely oriented east or west respectively. The sun’s direction was also confirmed by the shadows cast by a group of houses. These observations would constitute an important element to consider when screening the coasts to explore in the following section.\nFigure 5: Footprint marks across the sand area were visible. The relatively large shadow cast by a small stone on the sand suggested the image was taken in the early morning or late afternoon; with the beach likely oriented east or west respectively\n3: The Screening Process\nThe presence of palm trees strongly suggested the location to be tropical or subtropical. Via doing some research on the pine trees, we arrived at the conclusion that they likely belong to a genus called “\nCasuarina\n” which is\nnative\nto Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. This type of tree was also introduced to other regions — mainly in West Africa, as shown on the\nmap\nin\nFigure 7\n.\nFigure 6: Comparison between the pine trees [technically, she-oaks] featured on ImageG14 and an example found during the search. The tree is classified under the genus Casuarina\nFigure 7: Genus Casuarina is native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. The genus was also introduced in other regions such as West Africa\nBased on this map and the initial observations in the previous section; three preliminary areas for exploration were selected in\nFigure 7\nas a seed to start our iteration process:\nThe south coast of Australia\nThe Mozambique channel\nThe west coast of India\nThe main features sought in beaches within these regions were:\nNorth-west or south-east orientation\nCasuarina trees along shores with very flat terrain and no mountains nearby\nLikely presence of river mouths close to the beach\nLow tides cycle\nPresence of mangroves to the front of the beach\nRural architecture of houses or hotels\n4: Geolocating ImageG13\nVisually similar landscapes were found in the three regions. However, after two weeks of checking hundreds of Google Maps photos and satellite imagery on Google Earth as well as hotels on booking.com and images of beaches in Google, we found that the west coast of Madagascar shared the largest number of strong similarities with ImageG13. In specific, the coast of the\nToliara Province\nseemed like a possible match.\nA collage with a selection of these images was built in the process to assist visual recognition (See\nFigure 8\n). The type of double pitch houses, casuarina trees, river mouths, colour of sands, mangroves and boats largely matched those observed in ImageG13. Given the level of confidence the visual evidence offered, It was decided Madagascar’s coast was a potential match and warranted further investigation.\nFigure 8: Image collage with landscape and architecture similarities found on the west coast of Madagascar. Zones with similar houses, palms, casuarina trees, mangroves and boats were found within the Toliara province\nA Note On Child Sexual Abuse in Madagascar\nIn trying to narrow down the search further, geographic and demographic data on child sexual abuse in Madagascar was consulted in\nUN\nand\nU\nNICEF\nreports, as well a case stories and assessments from\nECPAT\n. A brief summary of the situation is offered here:\nAccording to the\nWorld Bank\n, Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world with 75% of the population living on less than US$1.90 per day.\nThe Toliara province is one of the poorest in the country.\nThe number of children exploited and prostituted continues to increase.\nChild exploitation and sexual abuse imagery affect all provinces but some specific areas can be highlighted:\nUrban: Antananarivo, Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliara, Antsiranana\nMining: Ilakaka, Moramanga and Tamatave.\nTourist: Nosy Be, Diégo-Suarez, Mangily, Foulpointe, Sainte Marie and Fort Dauphin. Nosy Be is a particularly noticeable centre for prostitution/exploitation according to many sources.\nDomestic sex tourists outnumber international sex tourists.\nSex tourism targeting children has increased in coastal cities.\n58% of the total number of tourists are French.\nTwo recent cases of child sexual abuse and CSAM production have been reported:\nCase 1:\nA 60-year-old Frenchman abused a 13-year-old girl in Toamasina. The main perpetrator was arrested in France in June 2013.\nCase 2\n: In 2016, two girls were sexually exploited in Nosy Be by a 59-year-old Frenchman, who police believe is part of a larger network of criminals involved in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. He is now in prison, awaiting extradition to France.\nAll the towns named above were plotted on\na map of Madagascar\nto see if some fell in the Toliara Region (See\nFigure 9\n). Effectively three of them were but could not be matched to ImageG13. Given the level of poverty and the increasing trend in sex tourism on the island, it was highly possible for the photograph to have been taken in a touristic town.\nFigure 9: A map of Madagascar. Towns highlighted in red are reported to be affected by high number of cases of child exploitation and the production of CSAM\nMore images and videos were analysed for each one of the\nmost touristic coastal places\nin the Toliara province: Anakao, Ifaty, Andavadoaka, Morombe, Belo Sur Mer and Morondava.\nA\ndrone video\nfilmed in Morondava showed a first close match for some of the elements featured on ImageG13. In particular; a group of houses, pine trees and a\nwhite poster\nlocated in the village of\nNosy Kely\n.\nFigure 10: A YouTube drone video offered a view of Morondava Beach in the Village of Nosy Kely. A group of houses and a white poster at the front of one of the hotels in the area were preliminary identified\nA satellite image from 2004 clearly revealed a matching distribution of buildings and pine trees along the beach. Further verification of the area was carried out. A\nFlickr Photo\nfrom 2007 and a\nYouTube video\nrevealed an exact match for all of the buildings featured in ImageG13 with the exception of the unit marked in blue as shown in\nFigure 11\nand\nFigure 12\n. The shadows generated by a group of houses largely matched too. The approximate location of the camera was also determined.\nHaving identified all these elements,\nthe location was considered verified\n.\nFigure 11: A satellite view from 2004 compared to ImageG13. All of the buildings matched with the exception of the one marked in blue which seemed missing\nFigure 12: Images of Morondava from 2007 and 2013 revealed an exact match for all the buildings featured on ImageG13. The building unit marked in blue could not be identified. Below: The shadows generated by the group of houses largely match those observed in ImageG13. The palm trees relative location with respect to the houses is also a match\nFigure 13: The approximate position of the camera was determined to verify the location. Image credit: Timmi Allen\n5: When Was ImageG13 Likely Taken?\nThe earliest satellite image available for Nosy Kely dates back to 2004. On that image, the group of houses projecting shadows on each other on ImageG13, are presented lined up in a staggered organised pattern (See\nFigure 14\n). From Google Maps, the small beach location has currently more than ten hotels and restaurants in service. Given the design of the houses and the proximity to other hotels in the area; it was believed the group of houses in question could have belonged to a hotel facility.\nFigure 14: Houses featured on ImageG13 are seen lined up in a staggered pattern on satellite image from 2004. The group was believed to be part of a former hotel facility\nBased on the physical condition of the houses in 2013, a preliminary estimate of 20 years was established for ImageG13. A report from the\nMinistère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche\nprovided a comprehensive list of accommodation and catering establishments in Morondava for the year 2000. Among this list, there was a hotel called\nLe Royal Toera\n. Imagery gathered from different websites revealed the group of houses indeed belonged to this hotel (See\nFigure 15\n).\nAccording to the\narchitects\n, the hotel project was completed in 1997. In January 2000,\nApavou Hotels Group\nstarted managing\nthe Royal Toera.\nDifferent sources including the operator and a\ntravel agency website\n; described the facilities as having:\nOne restaurant\nOne pool\nSixteen bungalows\nAnalysing the images found on the architects and travel agents’ websites, all 16 bungalows in the grounds of the hotel were identified. They were numbered from 1-16 and grouped according to their orientation, location and style as shown in\nFigure 15\nand\nFigure 16\n. The restaurant and the pool were also identified.\nOn the west side, the hotel originally featured a pool with a bridge. Around this area, there were lamp posts which helped to determine the relative position of each of the bungalows in the analysis. Although many of the buildings found in the pictures were missing on the satellite imagery for unknown reasons; all the information was merged to produce a sketch in order to understand how the original hotel layout could have looked like (See\nFigure 17\n).\nFigure 15: Buildings in the grounds of the hotel were identified using images of the hotel between 1997-2000. Only eight bungalows out of the original 10 in the north group are visible on the satellite view from 2004. Here, the restaurant and other 6 bungalows from the south group are all missing. Bungalows 1 & 2 feature no roof in ImageG13\nFigure 16: Buildings in the grounds of the hotel were identified using images of the hotel between 1997-2000. The original pool and its bridge were also identified on satellite image. On the latter, the restaurant and the south group of bungalows are clearly missing\nFigure 17: Sketch with an approximation of how the original layout of the hotel could have looked like. The diagram is based on imagery found of the facilities and satellite images from 2004\nFrom\nFigure 15\n, it can be noticed that ImageG13 features bungalows 1-10. However, bungalows 1 & 2 seem to have no roof.\nAlso, according to the field of view and position of the camera calculated in the previous section, the restaurant unit should have been visible on ImageG13 as well, but instead, the whole building is missing. Bungalows 1-2, the restaurant and bungalows 11-16 are missing on the satellite view from March 2004.\nIn order to know when ImageG13 was taken\n,\nit was necessary to understand what sequence of events changed the layout of the hotel so drastically\n.\nEstablishing A Timeline\nBetween the 11th and the 16th of March 2000, a German tourist wrote in\nhis travel journal\nabout his arrival to the\nRoyal Toera Hotel\nand made the following observations:\nConfirmed the hotel had 16 bungalows.\nThe swimming pool and restaurant were fully operational.\nThere were palm trees all around the facility but they were not higher than 1.5 m.\nThere was no beach immediately in front of the hotel, but a rough sea instead.\nWorkers had been repairing a breakwater/promenade structure at the waterfront that was affected by cyclones in the previous weeks.\nIn discussion with the owners of one of the local restaurants, he described how sex tourism was affecting the town. Some tourists looked for girls as young as 14 years old.\nWe discussed earlier that bungalows 1-2 are shown with no roof in ImageG13. Given the fact that the German tourist described the relatively good conditions of the hotel facilities including the restaurant, pool and the 16 bungalows after recent cyclones;\nImageG13 was most likely taken after March 2000 but before the bungalows 1-2 disappeared completely as shown in satellite images from the 25th of March 2004\n.\nAlthough not conclusive but rather informative, it was considered important to highlight a couple of findings and key facts which will be discussed later in the report:\nA Curriculum Vitae from a former employee of the hotel indicates he stopped working for the\nRoyal Toera\nin May 2002.\nIn 2008,\na TripAdvisor user\nreceived information about the\nRoyal Toera\nhaving burned down several years ago. A local source who cannot be named affirmed that the fire in question only destroyed the restaurant of the hotel. The same source indicated that sometime after this event the south group of bungalows and the pool were destroyed by a cyclone. Unfortunately, no specific dates were recalled.\nBetween April and June 2002,\nApavou Hotels Group\nstopped advertising\ntheir operations in Madagascar and Mayotte (including the\nRoyal Toera\n). According to the\nnews\n, the management contract of the hotel should have run until 2005.\nPresidential elections\nwere held in Madagascar on 16th of December 2001, leading to violence between supporters of two candidates. The conflict lasted until July 2002.\nProstitution represents a serious problem in the village. In 2008, Morondava was\nreported\nto be the home to at least 200 sex workers, from which at least 50% were in fact minor victims of exploitation. Night clubs and bars in Nosy Kely were frequented by sex workers to meet tourists or Malagasy visitors.\nMorondava is an area at high risk of flooding and severe coastal erosion. Different environmental factors including cyclones, strong tides, heavy rains, drought and human activities have created an imbalance in the flow of the nearby rivers, generating a severe effect of marine erosion of the coastal sector. The mouth of the river where the\nRoyal Toera Hotel\nwas located is particularly sensitive to maritime submersion and flooding. More information can be found in\nthis paper\nand a project for protection and mitigation of the littoral in Morondava called\nPALM\n.\nIn an\narticle from The Guardian\nfrom 2016, the situation above is discussed. An image in the article depicts the ruins of what they called “The remains of a hotel and swimming pool that was flooded several years ago by rising sea tides in Morondava”. It was determined the structures described belonged to the\nRoyal Toera Hotel\n(See\nFigure 18\n).\nFigure 18: The Royal Toera photographed by The Guardian in 2016. The hotel was reported to have been flooded but no specific dates are given in the article\nDespite the fact that no specific dates were obtained via the sources consulted, the destruction of the hotel was most probably linked to flooding and cyclone events in the area. Southwest Indian Ocean cyclone seasons\n2000-01\n,\n2001-02\n,\n2002-03\nand\n2003-04\nwere investigated and a summary of the activity around Madagascar is shown in\nFigure 19\n. From all the cyclones and storms investigated, only Cyprien in\n2002\n, as well as Elita and Gafilo in\n2004\n, are reported to have caused major damage in Morondava.\nFigure 19: Season summary maps for cyclones in the Southwest Indian Ocean around Madagascar\nIn\nTable 1\n, a timeline has been created with a summary of the information gathered about the country and the hotel operation, as well as\ncyclones and storms\nwhich are reported to have caused severe flooding in Morondava between 2000-2004.\nThe chronological order of the observations strongly suggests that ImageG13 might have been taken between January 2002 and March 2004.\nTable 1: Construction of a timeline for cyclones, storms, events and observations related to the Royal Toera Hotel between 2000-2004\nVerification Of The Proposed Timeline\nOn ImageG13, bungalows 3 to 8 show palm trees on their north side. One of these trees was clearly identified in other images produced between 2005 and 2017. For simplification, this palm has been labelled “B8”.\nGiven that all images were taken from the distance at a similar angle and although the growth rate of a tree is probably not linear as it depends on many factors; a simplified calculation was proposed to determine an approximate year when ImageG13 was produced.\nThe height of B8 was measured for each one of the shots as a linear proportion of the bungalows’ height (H) (See\nFigure 20\n). The results were plotted for each year and a linear equation obtained to calculate the year when B8’s height was 1.2 H, as observed in ImageG13.\nThe resulting year, 2002, fits into the timeline presented in Table 1\n.\nFigure 20: Bungalows 3-8 pictured in different years. A simplified linear equation (based on the observed growth rate of Palm tree B8) was used to estimate the year when Palm B8 had the height observed on ImageG13. The resulting year, 2002, fits into the timeline of events\nConclusion: Part I ImageG13/Nosy Kely, Madagascar\nThe geolocation process for ImageG13 took approximately 3 weeks in total. Further investigations were carried out to determine the year when the image was taken, which then extended the investigation for a further 2 months.\nThe location was identified to be in Nosy Kely, Madagascar; near a now partially destroyed hotel, formerly known as\nRoyal Toera\n. Despite no specific reports or images about damages caused to the\nhotel were found during this investigation, a timeline was created with relevant events to determine how the hotel could have been destroyed.\nAll buildings, which used to belong to the hotel, were identified and drawn on a sketch using images available on the internet. Ten of these buildings are featured on ImageG13 with two of them presenting no roof.\nIt is very likely that the hotel was impacted by the severe tropical storm Cyprien in January 2002. As a result, the roof of bungalows 1 & 2 might have been damaged. In 2004, after the landing of much stronger cyclones like Elita and Gafilo, a dam collapsed upstream a nearby river and caused severe flooding in the area. This most probably damaged the rest of the south and west wings of the hotel, including the pool as seen on Satellite images taken 2 weeks after the cyclone Gafilo.\nApavou Hotels Group\nstopped advertising the\nRoyal Toera Hotel\nin 2002. While in the middle of a serious political crisis in the country and hit badly by two cyclones in the same year, the management of the hotel might have decided to implement changes in the business that either justified the end of contracts and employment of staff; or, in a worst case scenario, the final closure of the hotel. This subject deserves further investigation.\nA dimensional analysis applied to a palm tree, observed on ImageG13 and other images of the same location for different years, helped to support the timeline proposed.\nBased on the evidence discussed, it has been determined that ImageG13 was most likely produced between January 2002 and March 2004\n.\nGiven the number of hotels and bars in the area during this period and the reported levels of exploitation of minors, it is also very likely the image was related to sex tourism.\nThis report will continue with the second part of the investigation, which is due shortly:\nPart II – ImageC20 Siem Reap, Cambodia\nResearch by Carlos Gonzales, Daniel Romein, Timmi Allen and “Bo”",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2020-01-09_video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb.json

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+  "slug": "video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb",
+  "title": "Video Apparently Showing Flight PS752 Missile Strike Geolocated to Iranian Suburb",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2020/01/09/video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb/",
+  "date": "2020-01-09T21:05:51+00:00",
+  "modified": "2020-07-16T16:18:05+00:00",
+  "author": "Bellingcat Investigation Team",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)Русский (Россия)On January 9th, a video spread online after it was posted onto a public Telegram channel showing what was apparently a mid-air explosion. The New York Times has contacted the person who filmed the video, received it in high resolution, and confirmed its authenticity. Below, an annotated version of the video created by […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/middle-east/2020/01/09/video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/mena/2020/01/09/ps752/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>On January 9th, a video spread online after it was posted onto a <a href=\"https://t.me/PS752/42\">public Telegram channel</a> showing what was apparently a mid-air explosion. The New York Times has contacted the person who filmed the video, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1215348488164298752\">received it in high resolution</a>, and confirmed its authenticity. Below, an annotated version of the video created by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JakeGodin\">Jake Godin</a> (Newsy) highlights the events of the brief clip. (Uploaded directly <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Quick-Annotation-of-Video-2-no-watermark.mp4\">here</a>)</p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"375\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/pXy6wBV647s?feature=oembed\" title=\"Newsy + Bellingcat: Annotated Video Showing Apparent Shoot-Down Of Flight PS752\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>We have geolocated this video to a residential area in Parand (coordinates <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B029'21.9%22N+50%C2%B054'24.9%22E/@35.4897842,50.9076444,595m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d35.489414!4d50.906917\">35.489414, 50.906917</a>), a suburb to the west of Imam Khomeini International Airport, from which Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) departed to Kyiv.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26395\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1468\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1809px) 100vw, 1809px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59.jpg 1809w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59-300x243.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59-1200x974.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59-768x623.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09_13-20-59-1536x1246.jpg 1536w\" width=\"1809\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The camera here is facing northeast, towards the flight trajectory of PS752. A number of elements in the source video can be found in satellite imagery, including a series of apartment blocks, a number of light fixtures, and a construction area to the immediate left of the camera position. In new satellite imagery posted on Terraserver dated 15 November 2019 (not included in this article due to copyright issues), the buildings visible in the video are constructed and in the same position.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26412\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"881\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1259px) 100vw, 1259px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38.png 1259w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38-300x210.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38-1200x840.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-38-768x537.png 768w\" width=\"1259\"/></div></a></p>\n<p class=\"js-tweet-text tweet-text txt-size-variable--18 margin-b--10 with-linebreaks\" lang=\"en\">By measuring the time that it took for the camera to hear the explosion (~10.7 seconds), we estimated the straight-line distance of the event from the camera at approximately 3.6 kilometers. By using the Pythagoras theorem, we calculated the land distance from the camera to the event to be approximately 3.3 kilometers. We then cross-referenced this distance with our tentative geolocation of the video, and also plotted the flight trajectory of PS752 (taken from from FlightRadar24, found <a href=\"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1groheR2ueKDuQwvobF8UUKsxWd-tTtd-\">here</a>). The land location of the event aligned with the trajectory of the plane as extended based on FlightRadar24’s data.</p>\n<p lang=\"en\">[<em>Note: We made a slight adjustment to the vertical side of the triangle, resulting in an extension of the radius by 500 meters (2.8 to 3.3 kilometers). The graphic below is adjusted accordingly. Thank you to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PutinIsAVirus/status/1215417608801062912?s=20\">our</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/audiocustoms82/status/1215422753886654465\">readers</a> who helped notice a necessary change in the elevation.]</em></p>\n<div class=\"js-tweet-media tweet-detail-media margin-v--15 margin-h--0\">\n<div class=\"js-media media-preview detail-preview\">\n<div></div>\n<div class=\"js-media-preview-container media-preview-container position-rel width-p--100 margin-vm is-paused\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26420\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1352\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11.png 2160w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11-300x188.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11-1200x751.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11-768x481.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11-1536x961.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/image-11-2048x1282.png 2048w\" width=\"2160\"/></div></a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<p>It is unclear why the person holding the camera was filming at the time, but it is possible that there were <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/world/middleeast/iran-plane-crash-ukraine.html\">two missiles</a>, prompting the decision to start filming for the second strike. The New York Times reported that the person filming started doing so after hearing “<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/video/iran-plane-missile.html\">some sort of shot fired</a>“.</p>\n<h3><strong>Unresolved questions around missile fragment</strong></h3>\n<p>While the footage showing an apparent missile strike has been geolocated, two photographs apparently showing part of a Tor M-1 missile have yet to be verified, despite <a href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/iranians-shot-down-ukraine-flight-mistake-sources-1481313\">claims from a number of sources</a>. The warhead is located <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN1rHcnX0AAwuOA.png\">midway on the missile,</a> meaning that its nose may not be destroyed in an explosion. A number of <a href=\"https://donetsksite.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/zrk-tor-panzir/\">similar photographs</a> of Tor missile fragments have been taken in eastern Ukraine, but none have been discovered to be the same as the ones attributed to the recent incident.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/ENxkCymUUAAPtXB.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26400\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1000\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/ENxkCymUUAAPtXB.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/ENxkCymUUAAPtXB.jpg 750w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/ENxkCymUUAAPtXB-225x300.jpg 225w\" width=\"750\"/></div></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN2FJHnW4AAYrAZ.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26401\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1280\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN2FJHnW4AAYrAZ.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN2FJHnW4AAYrAZ.jpg 720w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN2FJHnW4AAYrAZ-169x300.jpg 169w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/EN2FJHnW4AAYrAZ-675x1200.jpg 675w\" width=\"720\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>The origin of these photographs is still being determined, as the people who snapped the images have not come forward publicly. This object is likely located in a residential area near Parand, not near the crash site. Both of the images show the same location and object, as seen with many of the same rocks and damage patterns on the curb.</p>\n<p>If you make any progress in geolocating these two photographs of the missile fragment, please leave your ideas in the comments, or <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bellingcat\">tweet at us</a>.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<p><strong>Update</strong>: New photographs and videos from this location in Parand confirm the geolocation.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Here is a photograph from the exact location that we geolocated last night. Photo taken today.   Angle is only about 5-6 m to the left. <a href=\"https://t.co/HZbnx9FijD\">pic.twitter.com/HZbnx9FijD</a></p>\n<p>— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1215660228391460864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2020</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">And here's a video that shows pretty much a panoramic view from the perspective of the videographer of the  <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PS572?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PS572</a> missile impact video <a href=\"https://t.co/Koagl31LQg\">pic.twitter.com/Koagl31LQg</a></p>\n<p>— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1215661629842608129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2020</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\"></script></p>\n<p><em>Edit: A previous version of this story had a typo in the title for “PS572” instead of “PS752”. This has been fixed, but the typo persists in the URL.</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nOn January 9th, a video spread online after it was posted onto a\npublic Telegram channel\nshowing what was apparently a mid-air explosion. The New York Times has contacted the person who filmed the video,\nreceived it in high resolution\n, and confirmed its authenticity. Below, an annotated version of the video created by\nJake Godin\n(Newsy) highlights the events of the brief clip. (Uploaded directly\nhere\n)\nWe have geolocated this video to a residential area in Parand (coordinates\n35.489414, 50.906917\n), a suburb to the west of Imam Khomeini International Airport, from which Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) departed to Kyiv.\nThe camera here is facing northeast, towards the flight trajectory of PS752. A number of elements in the source video can be found in satellite imagery, including a series of apartment blocks, a number of light fixtures, and a construction area to the immediate left of the camera position. In new satellite imagery posted on Terraserver dated 15 November 2019 (not included in this article due to copyright issues), the buildings visible in the video are constructed and in the same position.\nBy measuring the time that it took for the camera to hear the explosion (~10.7 seconds), we estimated the straight-line distance of the event from the camera at approximately 3.6 kilometers. By using the Pythagoras theorem, we calculated the land distance from the camera to the event to be approximately 3.3 kilometers. We then cross-referenced this distance with our tentative geolocation of the video, and also plotted the flight trajectory of PS752 (taken from from FlightRadar24, found\nhere\n). The land location of the event aligned with the trajectory of the plane as extended based on FlightRadar24’s data.\n[\nNote: We made a slight adjustment to the vertical side of the triangle, resulting in an extension of the radius by 500 meters (2.8 to 3.3 kilometers). The graphic below is adjusted accordingly. Thank you to\nour\nreaders\nwho helped notice a necessary change in the elevation.]\nIt is unclear why the person holding the camera was filming at the time, but it is possible that there were\ntwo missiles\n, prompting the decision to start filming for the second strike. The New York Times reported that the person filming started doing so after hearing “\nsome sort of shot fired\n“.\nUnresolved questions around missile fragment\nWhile the footage showing an apparent missile strike has been geolocated, two photographs apparently showing part of a Tor M-1 missile have yet to be verified, despite\nclaims from a number of sources\n. The warhead is located\nmidway on the missile,\nmeaning that its nose may not be destroyed in an explosion. A number of\nsimilar photographs\nof Tor missile fragments have been taken in eastern Ukraine, but none have been discovered to be the same as the ones attributed to the recent incident.\nThe origin of these photographs is still being determined, as the people who snapped the images have not come forward publicly. This object is likely located in a residential area near Parand, not near the crash site. Both of the images show the same location and object, as seen with many of the same rocks and damage patterns on the curb.\nIf you make any progress in geolocating these two photographs of the missile fragment, please leave your ideas in the comments, or\ntweet at us\n.\nUpdate\n: New photographs and videos from this location in Parand confirm the geolocation.\nHere is a photograph from the exact location that we geolocated last night. Photo taken today. Angle is only about 5-6 m to the left.\npic.twitter.com/HZbnx9FijD\n— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev)\nJanuary 10, 2020\nAnd here's a video that shows pretty much a panoramic view from the perspective of the videographer of the\n#PS572\nmissile impact video\npic.twitter.com/Koagl31LQg\n— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev)\nJanuary 10, 2020\nEdit: A previous version of this story had a typo in the title for “PS572” instead of “PS752”. This has been fixed, but the typo persists in the URL.",
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+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
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+    },
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+    },
+    {
+      "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/ENxkCymUUAAPtXB.jpg",
+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    },
+    {
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+      "alt": "",
+      "caption": ""
+    }
+  ]
+}

bellingcat_geolocation_json/2020-01-21_geolocating-venezuelan-lawmakers-in-europe.json

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+{
+  "slug": "geolocating-venezuelan-lawmakers-in-europe",
+  "title": "Geolocating Venezuelan Lawmakers In Europe",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/01/21/geolocating-venezuelan-lawmakers-in-europe/",
+  "date": "2020-01-21T19:12:03+00:00",
+  "modified": "2020-01-21T19:13:58+00:00",
+  "author": "Giancarlo Fiorella",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Translations:English (UK)EspañolOne of the newest chapters in the Venezuelan political saga involves a group of National Assembly lawmakers who were named in a report by the investigative news website Armando.Info alongside allegations that said lawmakers were involved in a corruption network. According to an investigation published by the website in December 2019, this group of […]",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/01/21/geolocating-venezuelan-lawmakers-in-europe/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://es.bellingcat.com/noticias/2020/01/21/geolocalizando-a-diputados-venezolanos-en-europa/\">Español</a></li></ul></div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the newest chapters in the Venezuelan political saga involves a group of National Assembly lawmakers who were named in a report by the investigative news website </span><a href=\"https://armando.info/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armando.Info</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> alongside allegations that said lawmakers were involved in a corruption network. According to an investigation published by the website in December 2019, this group of lawmakers lobbied international institutions like the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Colombian Office of the Attorney General in order to seek </span><a href=\"https://armando.info/Reportajes/Details/2614\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“indulgences”</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for individuals connected to the government of President Nicolas Maduro and who were themselves accused of corruption. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On January 19, 2020, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armando.Info</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published its newest findings on this case. The </span><a href=\"https://armando.info/Reportajes/Details/2620\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">latest investigation</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> revealed how these lawmakers traveled through Europe in the spring of 2019 in order to lobby on behalf of a group of individuals headed by Alex Saab, a central figure in a massive corruption case involving the Venezuelan government’s subsidized food distribution network. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the legislators had admitted to traveling to Spain and Italy last year, the investigation by </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armando.Info</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showed that they also secretly traveled to Portugal, Bulgaria and Liechtenstein, allegedly on errands on behalf of Saab and his companies. </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of the evidence of the lawmakers’ trip came from the geolocation of two images to Bulgaria and Switzerland. These images had been </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/PattyPoleo/status/1200516006474592256\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">publicly</span></a> <a href=\"https://elpitazo.net/politica/diputados-mencionados-en-trabajo-de-armando-info-viajaron-a-europa-a-solicitar-investigacion-contra-ramirez/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">available</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for months, but they had not been geolocated. When Armando.Info contacted Bellingcat for assistance with this task, their investigation into the case had already yielded some clues about where the images might have been captured. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first of these images shows deputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga exiting a vehicle in an urban centre somewhere. The image was rumoured to have been taken somewhere in Bulgaria in front of a bank: </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26584\" style=\"width: 1134px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Men.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26584\" class=\"wp-image-26584 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"843\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Men.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Men.jpg 1124w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Men-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Men-768x576.jpg 768w\" width=\"1124\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26584\">Deputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga (Source: Armando.Info)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">second</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> image shows six deputies having their picture taken together alongside a journalist. As with the previous image, there were rumours that the image had been taken somewhere in Switzerland while the deputies were on their way to Liechtenstein: </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26586\" style=\"width: 1157px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Diputados-Lago.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26586\" class=\"wp-image-26586 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"887\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1147px) 100vw, 1147px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Diputados-Lago.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Diputados-Lago.jpg 1147w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Diputados-Lago-300x232.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Diputados-Lago-768x594.jpg 768w\" width=\"1147\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26586\">Journalist Carlos Herrera and deputies Luis Parra, Conrado Pérez, José Brito, Adolfo Superlano, José Luis Pirela, and Chaim Bucarán (Source: El Pitazo)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Geolocating each of these two images would add detail to the investigation being conducted by </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armando.Info</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as they would serve as evidence of the deputies’ movements in Europe. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article shows the process, step-by-step, that resulted in the geolocation of these two images: the first to a street corner in front of a bank in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the second to a highway rest stop on the shores of Lake Walen in Switzerland.</span></p>\n<h2><strong>The Bank In Sofia</strong></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first image shows deputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga exiting a vehicle on a street, allegedly somewhere in Bulgaria in front of a bank. With this information, we can begin to geolocate the image. If the building behind the deputies is really a bank, then we should be able to find its logo — roughly two black sticks on a yellow background — somewhere online. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, we conduct a Google search for “list of banks in Bulgaria”. The search provides many results, including </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_in_Bulgaria\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this list</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that includes the names of several banks that operate in Bulgaria. By searching the names of each bank on Google Image Search to see their respective logos, we eventually reach </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=raiffeisen+bank&amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA816CA816&amp;sxsrf=ACYBGNRnEKZXOhgsBnCAxK0Y6rviB_Iq6g:1579126859237&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj_4P_70YbnAhUBI6wKHfhoBpMQ_AUoA3oECBIQBQ&amp;biw=1920&amp;bih=937\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Raiffeisen Bank”</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which yields the following results:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26587\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26587\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26587\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"345\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search-1200x345.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search-1200x345.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search-300x86.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search-768x221.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search-1536x441.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/1-Bank-Name-Image-Search.jpg 1560w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26587\">The results of the Google Images search for “Raiffeisen Bank” (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Raiffeisen Bank logo appears to be a good candidate for the one that we can see behind the deputies in the picture.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the deputies were in Bulgaria, then it was likely that they would have gone to Sofia, the country’s capital. Starting on this assumption, we can search for “Raiffeisen Bank” on Google Maps in Sofia to determine if 1) there are Raiffeisen Bank branches in Sofia, and 2) if there are, whether the one in the picture of the deputies is among them.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Maps gives us 20 results for “Raiffeisen Bank” in Sofia: </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26588\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26588\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26588\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"586\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results-1200x586.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results-1200x586.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results-768x375.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results-1536x750.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/2-Bank-Sofia-Results.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26588\">The 20 results for the search “Raiffeisen Bank” in Sofia, Bulgaria (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From this point, the next step would be to check each of these locations on the map on Google Street View to see if any one of them is the one that is in the background of the image of the deputies. There is a way to make this task a little easier and faster than it might be ordinarily. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can draw a sketch of what the scene behind the lawmakers might look like from above: that is to say, how might it look like on Google Maps? This sketch would have to include big details, like road layouts and buildings, and should omit small and/or mobile details like the positions of vehicles and people since the exact same ones seen in the picture are unlikely to appear in a satellite image. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below, my sketch of what the scene in the picture of the deputies might look like on Google Maps:</span></p>\n<p> </p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26591\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01.jpeg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26591\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26591\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"900\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01-1200x900.jpeg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01-1200x900.jpeg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Bank01.jpeg 1600w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26591\">The “X” marks the spot where the person who took the picture would have been standing to take the picture of the deputies. The spotted lines include the presence of roads which, while not directly visible in the image, can be inferred</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note that the bank’s facade is the only one between two streets, and that the street that runs next to the bank on the right side of the image appears to curve into the background given the position of the vehicles on it.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With this sketch, we can quickly check each of the bank locations on Google Maps to see if any of them could be a candidate. Below is a compilation of three possibilities. Which one most closely resembles the sketch?</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26592\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-scaled.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26592\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26592\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"305\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-1200x305.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-1200x305.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-300x76.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-768x195.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-1536x390.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/4.-ThreeOptions-2048x520.jpg 2048w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26592\">Three of the 20 results for the bank in Sofia given by Google Maps. By comparing our sketch to these options, the first one on the left should call our attention, given the narrow facade of the branch and the curved street on one of its sides (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without having to check each branch one-by-one on Google Street View, we can eliminate the ones that are obviously different from our sketch. Of the three possibilities above, the first option is a good candidate since it shows a bank between two streets with a street that curves along one side of it. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we go to the Google Street View </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6968138,23.3205631,3a,75y,18.67h,95.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxwKO8Ty8dKMfzKcS3COtIA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">image</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of that </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/42%C2%B041'48.7%22N+23%C2%B019'14.0%22E/@42.6969788,23.3203706,19.25z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d42.6968545!4d23.3205476\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">location</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we can see that it is the same one that is in the image of the deputies:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26593\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26593\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26593\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"586\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank-1200x586.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank-1200x586.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank-768x375.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank-1536x750.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/5-Google-Street-View-Bank.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26593\">Google Street View image of the location as it appeared on April 2012 (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also a Google Street View </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6968195,23.3205618,3a,75y,7.76h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1scSZ3mNlj7fr0f1tXwDt7Fg!2e0!5s20150601T000000!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DcSZ3mNlj7fr0f1tXwDt7Fg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D5.7195625%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">image</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from this location dated June 2015, which was used to do the comparison below:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26594\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26594\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26594\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1125\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1-1200x1125.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1-1200x1125.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1-300x281.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1-768x720.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1-1536x1440.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/6-Geolocation-1.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26594\">Note the bank’s facade (red box), the position of the traffic lights (purple and blue box), and the arcs on the building in the background (green box) (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also some small but notable differences between the two images above. The letters that spell out the bank’s name in the picture of the deputies take up less space than on the Google Street View imagery, and there is what appears to be a yellow awning to the right of the door of the bank. Sometimes, it is necessary to go to other sources for more recent reference images from a given location.</span></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.mapillary.com/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mapillary</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a website that allows us to access dashcam images taken by users around the world. If we go to this same street corner in Sofia on Mapillary, we can see that a user drove by this exact spot on January 26 2019 and </span><a href=\"https://www.mapillary.com/app/?lat=42.6968602929&amp;lng=23.3204332553&amp;z=17&amp;pKey=FrS_nR5D_O_geXEPBL7-0w&amp;focus=photo&amp;x=0.4485203301121457&amp;y=0.6912179193334622&amp;zoom=0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">captured</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the features in the bank’s storefront that we see in the picture of the deputies, </span><a href=\"https://www.mapillary.com/app/?lat=42.6968550123&amp;lng=23.3206078503&amp;z=17&amp;pKey=BCAJbVkwFwVHL65XoS_l9w&amp;focus=photo&amp;x=0.5627892694165805&amp;y=0.4481013815333029&amp;zoom=0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as well as</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the trash can and the tree that are visible in the foreground of the image:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26595\" style=\"width: 849px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-scaled.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26595\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26595\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-839x1200.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-839x1200.jpg 839w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-210x300.jpg 210w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-768x1098.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-1074x1536.jpg 1074w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-1432x2048.jpg 1432w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/7.-Mapillary-Bank-scaled.jpg 1790w\" width=\"839\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26595\">In these two images from Mapillary, we can see that the letters that spell out the name of the bank (red box) take up the same space as on the picture of the deputies, and that the yellow awning is also visible (green box). We can also see the garbage can (yellow box) and the tree (purple box) in the foreground of the picture, as well as the place where the person who took the picture was standing (black circle) (Source: Mapillary)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having completed this geolocation, we can determine that these deputies were standing on this </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/42%C2%B041'48.5%22N+23%C2%B019'14.0%22E/@42.696807,23.3200198,195m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sRaiffeisen+Bank!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d42.6968069!4d23.3205671\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spot</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Sofia, Bulgaria, when they had their picture taken.</span></p>\n<h2><strong>The Rest Stop By Lake Walen</strong></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second picture shows deputies, Parra, Pérez, Brito, Superlano, Pirela, and Bucarán somewhere picturesque alongside a journalist named Carlos Herrera. In the background we can see a body of water, like a river or a lake, along with a mountain. The information that accompanied the image suggested that it had been taken in the spring of 2019 in Switzerland, somewhere along a road that the deputies took to drive to Liechtenstein. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to geolocate this image, we begin with the allegation that it was taken somewhere along a road that connects Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Google Maps shows us that there are in fact several major roads that connect these two countries:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26596\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26596\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26596\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"678\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads-1200x678.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads-1200x678.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads-300x170.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads-768x434.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/8-Roads.jpg 1492w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26596\">A map of the area border between Switzerland (on the left of the image) and Liechtenstein, which is highlighted in red (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Switzerland is home to many lakes, and we can begin to search those that are near main roads and that are flanked on at least one side by a mountain. Using Google Maps, we can navigate to the lakes in this area to see if any of them has these characteristics. Of the three options below, one stands out as a possible location:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26597\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-scaled.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26597\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26597\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"195\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-1200x195.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-1200x195.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-300x49.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-768x125.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-1536x249.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/9-Lake-Comparison-2048x332.jpg 2048w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26597\">There are three lakes in Switzerland that are near Liechtenstein that we can quickly check to see if they have the characteristics that we see in the picture. Above: Lakes Zurich (left), Constance (middle), and Walen (right) (Source: Google/Airbus, Maxar Technologies)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake on the right, Walen, is flanked by mountains. This makes it a good place to conduct a closer search to see if the deputies took their picture on its shores.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the resolution of the deputies’ picture is not very high, it still contains important details that we can use for the geolocation. In particular, there is a rock formation on the face of the mountain that could act as a unique identifier:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26598\" style=\"width: 1158px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/10-Hombres-1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26598\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26598\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"887\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1148px) 100vw, 1148px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/10-Hombres-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/10-Hombres-1.jpg 1148w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/10-Hombres-1-300x232.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/10-Hombres-1-768x593.jpg 768w\" width=\"1148\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26598\">While the resolution of the image is low, this rock stratification (red box) could be visible on satellite imagery, which makes it a possible point of reference. Note the horizontal layering of the rocks</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With this rock formation as reference, we can use Google Earth Pro to navigate to the lake and glide across the top of the road that runs across its southern shore to see if we can spot the formation. This is what that process looks like, resulting in a point of interest that we can check with other sources:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-video\" style=\"width: 1570px;\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');</script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" controls=\"controls\" height=\"998\" id=\"video-26583-1\" preload=\"metadata\" width=\"1570\"><source src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Mountain-Check-1.mp4?_=1\" type=\"video/mp4\"/><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Mountain-Check-1.mp4\">https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Mountain-Check-1.mp4</a></video></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rock formation on the face of the mountain that is visible at the end of the clip above is located </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/47%C2%B007'48.1%22N+9%C2%B016'10.7%22E/@47.1300196,9.2674363,761m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x478c64ef6f596d61:0x5c56b5110fcb7b15!2sSwitzerland!3b1!8m2!3d46.818188!4d8.227512!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d47.1300156!4d9.2696251\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As this rock formation called our attention, the next step is to look for reference images that show that same spot on the mountain. By going to the opposite shore of the lake on Google Maps, we can see that there is a logical spot where the image might have been taken: by a </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/47.113284,+9.267557/@47.1135527,9.2675779,375m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x478c64ef6f596d61:0x5c56b5110fcb7b15!2sSwitzerland!3b1!8m2!3d46.818188!4d8.227512!3m4!7e2!8m2!3d47.1132838!4d9.267557\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rest stop</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the highway. It is not difficult to imagine that, on their journey on this highway, many people have stopped at this rest stop, used the washroom, stretched their legs, and taken a picture of the vista.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of those people have shared their images from this spot on Google Maps. Thanks to them, we can see what this location looks like from their point of view. The </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1135527,9.2675779,3a,85.4y,358.75h,98.38t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOhe2SdpH8BMvegVmXC2p83HhqJoGdQ5nt7_N-F!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOhe2SdpH8BMvegVmXC2p83HhqJoGdQ5nt7_N-F%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya4.617039-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">image</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> below was taken at that <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/47.113430,+9.267427/@47.1132731,9.2677014,190m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!7e2!8m2!3d47.1134304!4d9.2674275\">location</a>, showing the mountain, the lake, and our rock formation of interest in the background:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26600\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26600\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26600\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"586\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1-1200x586.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1-1200x586.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1-300x146.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1-768x375.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1-1536x750.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/MountainView1.jpg 1920w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26600\">This picture shows the view from the rest stop on the highway (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1135527,9.2675779,3a,75y,351.12h,82.93t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOhe2SdpH8BMvegVmXC2p83HhqJoGdQ5nt7_N-F!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOhe2SdpH8BMvegVmXC2p83HhqJoGdQ5nt7_N-F%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya124.44701-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">several</span></a> <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1135254,9.2673468,3a,75y,354.17h,84.67t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNonXX3-Tz8ZlDUjdoarflpT7p1Spy6VtaB9mB6!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNonXX3-Tz8ZlDUjdoarflpT7p1Spy6VtaB9mB6%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya202.60616-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pictures</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the same </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/47%C2%B006'48.5%22N+9%C2%B016'02.5%22E/@47.1134579,9.2668078,190m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x478c64ef6f596d61:0x5c56b5110fcb7b15!2sSwitzerland!3b1!8m2!3d46.818188!4d8.227512!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d47.1134565!4d9.2673551\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">location</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which contain elements that are visible in the picture of the deputies: not only the mountain and the lake behind them, but also the street, the guardrail, the tree to the right of the men, the grass and trees behind them, and the cabins in the distance. There are also more features on the mountain behind them that we can match to reference images:</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_26601\" style=\"width: 840px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-scaled.jpg\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26601\" class=\"size-large wp-image-26601\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1200\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-830x1200.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-830x1200.jpg 830w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-207x300.jpg 207w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-768x1110.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-1062x1536.jpg 1062w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-1416x2048.jpg 1416w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/13-Men-Geolocation-scaled.jpg 1771w\" width=\"830\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-26601\">A comparison of the picture of the deputies and an image. Note in particular what appears to be a sewer/drainage cover (green box), marking the spot where the deputies posed to take their picture (Source: Google)</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tree with flowers behind the men is probably a variety of </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cherry blossom tree</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which are famous for flowering in the spring</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">—t</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he season when </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armando.Info</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> suspected that the deputies had visited Switzerland and Liechtenstein. </span></p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion </strong></h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image geolocation is an important skill for open source investigators, given that it could contribute clues to investigations including confirmation of the movements of individuals. Image geolocation is rarely done “cold”: that is, we often have some clues regarding where an image was taken, even if those clues are rumours at first. In this case, the rumours that swirled around these images</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were enough to allow for a geolocation of where these lawmakers were photographed during their tour of Europe.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you would like to practice your geolocation skills, follow </span><a href=\"https://twitter.com/quiztime?lang=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quiztime</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Twitter, an account which regularly posts geolocation challenges. </span></p>\n<p><em>With special thanks to Klement Anders for his help with this article. </em></p>\n<p> </p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nEspañol\nOne of the newest chapters in the Venezuelan political saga involves a group of National Assembly lawmakers who were named in a report by the investigative news website\nArmando.Info\nalongside allegations that said lawmakers were involved in a corruption network. According to an investigation published by the website in December 2019, this group of lawmakers lobbied international institutions like the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Colombian Office of the Attorney General in order to seek\n“indulgences”\nfor individuals connected to the government of President Nicolas Maduro and who were themselves accused of corruption.\nOn January 19, 2020,\nArmando.Info\npublished its newest findings on this case. The\nlatest investigation\nrevealed how these lawmakers traveled through Europe in the spring of 2019 in order to lobby on behalf of a group of individuals headed by Alex Saab, a central figure in a massive corruption case involving the Venezuelan government’s subsidized food distribution network.\nWhile the legislators had admitted to traveling to Spain and Italy last year, the investigation by\nArmando.Info\nshowed that they also secretly traveled to Portugal, Bulgaria and Liechtenstein, allegedly on errands on behalf of Saab and his companies.\nPart of the evidence of the lawmakers’ trip came from the geolocation of two images to Bulgaria and Switzerland. These images had been\npublicly\navailable\nfor months, but they had not been geolocated. When Armando.Info contacted Bellingcat for assistance with this task, their investigation into the case had already yielded some clues about where the images might have been captured.\nThe first of these images shows deputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga exiting a vehicle in an urban centre somewhere. The image was rumoured to have been taken somewhere in Bulgaria in front of a bank:\nDeputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga (Source: Armando.Info)\nThe\nsecond\nimage shows six deputies having their picture taken together alongside a journalist. As with the previous image, there were rumours that the image had been taken somewhere in Switzerland while the deputies were on their way to Liechtenstein:\nJournalist Carlos Herrera and deputies Luis Parra, Conrado Pérez, José Brito, Adolfo Superlano, José Luis Pirela, and Chaim Bucarán (Source: El Pitazo)\nGeolocating each of these two images would add detail to the investigation being conducted by\nArmando.Info\n, as they would serve as evidence of the deputies’ movements in Europe.\nThis article shows the process, step-by-step, that resulted in the geolocation of these two images: the first to a street corner in front of a bank in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the second to a highway rest stop on the shores of Lake Walen in Switzerland.\nThe Bank In Sofia\nThe first image shows deputies Conrado Pérez and Richard Arteaga exiting a vehicle on a street, allegedly somewhere in Bulgaria in front of a bank. With this information, we can begin to geolocate the image. If the building behind the deputies is really a bank, then we should be able to find its logo — roughly two black sticks on a yellow background — somewhere online.\nFirst, we conduct a Google search for “list of banks in Bulgaria”. The search provides many results, including\nthis list\nthat includes the names of several banks that operate in Bulgaria. By searching the names of each bank on Google Image Search to see their respective logos, we eventually reach\n“Raiffeisen Bank”\n, which yields the following results:\nThe results of the Google Images search for “Raiffeisen Bank” (Source: Google)\nThe Raiffeisen Bank logo appears to be a good candidate for the one that we can see behind the deputies in the picture.\nIf the deputies were in Bulgaria, then it was likely that they would have gone to Sofia, the country’s capital. Starting on this assumption, we can search for “Raiffeisen Bank” on Google Maps in Sofia to determine if 1) there are Raiffeisen Bank branches in Sofia, and 2) if there are, whether the one in the picture of the deputies is among them.\nGoogle Maps gives us 20 results for “Raiffeisen Bank” in Sofia:\nThe 20 results for the search “Raiffeisen Bank” in Sofia, Bulgaria (Source: Google)\nFrom this point, the next step would be to check each of these locations on the map on Google Street View to see if any one of them is the one that is in the background of the image of the deputies. There is a way to make this task a little easier and faster than it might be ordinarily.\nWe can draw a sketch of what the scene behind the lawmakers might look like from above: that is to say, how might it look like on Google Maps? This sketch would have to include big details, like road layouts and buildings, and should omit small and/or mobile details like the positions of vehicles and people since the exact same ones seen in the picture are unlikely to appear in a satellite image.\nBelow, my sketch of what the scene in the picture of the deputies might look like on Google Maps:\nThe “X” marks the spot where the person who took the picture would have been standing to take the picture of the deputies. The spotted lines include the presence of roads which, while not directly visible in the image, can be inferred\nNote that the bank’s facade is the only one between two streets, and that the street that runs next to the bank on the right side of the image appears to curve into the background given the position of the vehicles on it.\nWith this sketch, we can quickly check each of the bank locations on Google Maps to see if any of them could be a candidate. Below is a compilation of three possibilities. Which one most closely resembles the sketch?\nThree of the 20 results for the bank in Sofia given by Google Maps. By comparing our sketch to these options, the first one on the left should call our attention, given the narrow facade of the branch and the curved street on one of its sides (Source: Google)\nWithout having to check each branch one-by-one on Google Street View, we can eliminate the ones that are obviously different from our sketch. Of the three possibilities above, the first option is a good candidate since it shows a bank between two streets with a street that curves along one side of it.\nIf we go to the Google Street View\nimage\nof that\nlocation\n, we can see that it is the same one that is in the image of the deputies:\nGoogle Street View image of the location as it appeared on April 2012 (Source: Google)\nThere is also a Google Street View\nimage\nfrom this location dated June 2015, which was used to do the comparison below:\nNote the bank’s facade (red box), the position of the traffic lights (purple and blue box), and the arcs on the building in the background (green box) (Source: Google)\nThere are also some small but notable differences between the two images above. The letters that spell out the bank’s name in the picture of the deputies take up less space than on the Google Street View imagery, and there is what appears to be a yellow awning to the right of the door of the bank. Sometimes, it is necessary to go to other sources for more recent reference images from a given location.\nMapillary\nis a website that allows us to access dashcam images taken by users around the world. If we go to this same street corner in Sofia on Mapillary, we can see that a user drove by this exact spot on January 26 2019 and\ncaptured\nthe features in the bank’s storefront that we see in the picture of the deputies,\nas well as\nthe trash can and the tree that are visible in the foreground of the image:\nIn these two images from Mapillary, we can see that the letters that spell out the name of the bank (red box) take up the same space as on the picture of the deputies, and that the yellow awning is also visible (green box). We can also see the garbage can (yellow box) and the tree (purple box) in the foreground of the picture, as well as the place where the person who took the picture was standing (black circle) (Source: Mapillary)\nHaving completed this geolocation, we can determine that these deputies were standing on this\nspot\nin Sofia, Bulgaria, when they had their picture taken.\nThe Rest Stop By Lake Walen\nThe second picture shows deputies, Parra, Pérez, Brito, Superlano, Pirela, and Bucarán somewhere picturesque alongside a journalist named Carlos Herrera. In the background we can see a body of water, like a river or a lake, along with a mountain. The information that accompanied the image suggested that it had been taken in the spring of 2019 in Switzerland, somewhere along a road that the deputies took to drive to Liechtenstein.\nIn order to geolocate this image, we begin with the allegation that it was taken somewhere along a road that connects Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Google Maps shows us that there are in fact several major roads that connect these two countries:\nA map of the area border between Switzerland (on the left of the image) and Liechtenstein, which is highlighted in red (Source: Google)\nSwitzerland is home to many lakes, and we can begin to search those that are near main roads and that are flanked on at least one side by a mountain. Using Google Maps, we can navigate to the lakes in this area to see if any of them has these characteristics. Of the three options below, one stands out as a possible location:\nThere are three lakes in Switzerland that are near Liechtenstein that we can quickly check to see if they have the characteristics that we see in the picture. Above: Lakes Zurich (left), Constance (middle), and Walen (right) (Source: Google/Airbus, Maxar Technologies)\nThe lake on the right, Walen, is flanked by mountains. This makes it a good place to conduct a closer search to see if the deputies took their picture on its shores.\nAlthough the resolution of the deputies’ picture is not very high, it still contains important details that we can use for the geolocation. In particular, there is a rock formation on the face of the mountain that could act as a unique identifier:\nWhile the resolution of the image is low, this rock stratification (red box) could be visible on satellite imagery, which makes it a possible point of reference. Note the horizontal layering of the rocks\nWith this rock formation as reference, we can use Google Earth Pro to navigate to the lake and glide across the top of the road that runs across its southern shore to see if we can spot the formation. This is what that process looks like, resulting in a point of interest that we can check with other sources:\nhttps://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/01/Mountain-Check-1.mp4\nThe rock formation on the face of the mountain that is visible at the end of the clip above is located\nhere\n. As this rock formation called our attention, the next step is to look for reference images that show that same spot on the mountain. By going to the opposite shore of the lake on Google Maps, we can see that there is a logical spot where the image might have been taken: by a\nrest stop\non the highway. It is not difficult to imagine that, on their journey on this highway, many people have stopped at this rest stop, used the washroom, stretched their legs, and taken a picture of the vista.\nSome of those people have shared their images from this spot on Google Maps. Thanks to them, we can see what this location looks like from their point of view. The\nimage\nbelow was taken at that\nlocation\n, showing the mountain, the lake, and our rock formation of interest in the background:\nThis picture shows the view from the rest stop on the highway (Source: Google)\nThere are\nseveral\npictures\nof the same\nlocation\nwhich contain elements that are visible in the picture of the deputies: not only the mountain and the lake behind them, but also the street, the guardrail, the tree to the right of the men, the grass and trees behind them, and the cabins in the distance. There are also more features on the mountain behind them that we can match to reference images:\nA comparison of the picture of the deputies and an image. Note in particular what appears to be a sewer/drainage cover (green box), marking the spot where the deputies posed to take their picture (Source: Google)\nThe tree with flowers behind the men is probably a variety of\ncherry blossom tree\n, which are famous for flowering in the spring\n—t\nhe season when\nArmando.Info\nsuspected that the deputies had visited Switzerland and Liechtenstein.\nConclusion\nImage geolocation is an important skill for open source investigators, given that it could contribute clues to investigations including confirmation of the movements of individuals. Image geolocation is rarely done “cold”: that is, we often have some clues regarding where an image was taken, even if those clues are rumours at first. In this case, the rumours that swirled around these images\nwere enough to allow for a geolocation of where these lawmakers were photographed during their tour of Europe.\nIf you would like to practice your geolocation skills, follow\nQuiztime\non Twitter, an account which regularly posts geolocation challenges.\nWith special thanks to Klement Anders for his help with this article.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2020-12-03_using-the-sun-and-the-shadows-for-geolocation.json

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{
+  "slug": "using-the-sun-and-the-shadows-for-geolocation",
+  "title": "Using the Sun and the Shadows for Geolocation",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2020/12/03/using-the-sun-and-the-shadows-for-geolocation/",
+  "date": "2020-12-03T15:02:44+00:00",
+  "modified": "2021-07-21T17:53:29+00:00",
+  "author": "Youri van der Weide",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "OSINT researchers are familiar with the SunCalc tool for chronolocation. But did you know it can also be used for geolocation? Here's how.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p>Most people who have been verifying photos and videos for some time will already be aware of a tool called SunCalc, which<em> chronolocates</em> a video or image. What is less well known is that the position of shadows and the sun can also be useful for <em>geolocation</em>.</p>\n<p>For those not in the know, <a href=\"https://www.suncalc.org/#/40.4106,-3.4997,3/2020.11.23/11:23/1/2\">SunCalc</a> lets users analyse the position of shadows and the sun at any given time and date, at any given location. By choosing a date and zooming in on a location such as, say, Puerta del Sol in Madrid, users can click the drag-the-sun icon at the top of the page to see the position of the sun at a certain time. The screenshot below from SunCalc shows the position of the sun over Puerta del Sol at noon on November 22, 2020. Furthermore, when users select the height of any object, the algorithm indicates the corresponding length of its shadow.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_30831\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30831\" class=\"wp-image-30831 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"729\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1-1200x729.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1-1200x729.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1-300x182.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1-768x466.jpg 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1-1536x933.jpg 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/12/suncalc1.jpg 1548w\" width=\"1200\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-30831\">Screenshot from the SunCalc tool, showing the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.</p></div>\n<p>Chronolocation is an art in itself. This <a href=\"https://medium.com/quiztime/lining-up-shadows-2351ae106cec\">tutorial</a> by Twitter user and OSINT expert <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Sector035\">@Sector035</a> offers some useful tips. In another example, Bellingcat’s Nick Waters recently used the technique in this <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2020/10/15/an-execution-in-hadrut-karabakh/\">investigation</a> into the execution of two Armenian men in Nagorno-Karabakh by the Azerbaijani armed forces.</p>\n<h3>Chronolocation as geolocation</h3>\n<p>But there is another, often overlooked, way to use SunCalc. The technique can be highly effective in narrowing down a search area, by excluding false positives and establishing in which direction the camera is pointed in a certain frame.</p>\n<p>Let’s take a look at how to use it.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://youtu.be/3A2QRbX44AE\">following video</a> was uploaded by an Instagram user on November 22, 2020.</p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"youtube-player\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"281\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/3A2QRbX44AE?feature=oembed\" title=\"Using the sun and shadows for geolocation (case study from Lisbon)\" width=\"500\"></iframe></p>\n<p>It was uploaded as a story, meaning that it disappeared from this person’s profile after 24 hours (its author has given permission for Bellingcat to publish the footage for educational purposes).</p>\n<p>The video is timestamped and clearly displays the sun and shadows. This is the first hint. The second is that the user is a Portuguese speaker.</p>\n<p>In other words, it was likely filmed in a Lusophone country — perhaps Brazil, perhaps Portugal, or perhaps a Portuguese-speaking country in Africa. Although the accompanying song (<i>Surra</i> <i>de cama </i>by Xand Avião) is by a Brazilian singer, this video was actually filmed in Portugal.</p>\n<p>How was this established?</p>\n<p>The video’s timestamp indicates that the video was taken at 4:31 pm (UTC). Moreover, when opening a story on Instagram, the reader can discover when the story was uploaded (e.g. “25 min ago”). Both these timestamps corresponded with the actual time in Portugal, meaning that the video was also uploaded at around 4:31 pm (UTC). However, even without the timestamp the casual observer could see that the footage was shot in the late afternoon.</p>\n<p>It is plausible to assume that the video was shot in Lisbon, as it is the biggest metropolitan area of Portugal. The sea is visible; this looks like it was either filmed in a medium-size city or bigger.</p>\n<p>All this can be checked with SunCalc. In this case, by opening the page and selecting November 22, 2020 at 4:31 pm. This <a href=\"https://www.suncalc.org/#/38.7068,-9.166,12/2020.11.22/16:31/50/1\">link</a> opens SunCalc with the exact same variables.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30799 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"865\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image7-1-1200x865.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image7-1-1200x865.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image7-1-300x216.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image7-1-768x553.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image7-1.png 1346w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></p>\n<p>As the image above shows, the sun was about to set at that time and to the South-West of the city. In the video, the sun is above the sea to the right of the person filming. It is also clear that the footage was filmed from an apartment next to a four-lane avenue with a line of palm trees down the middle, a parking lot, and an elongated roundabout that appears to have been recently built:</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_30795\" style=\"width: 1388px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30795\" class=\"wp-image-30795 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"539\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image10.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image10.jpg 1378w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image10-300x117.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image10-1200x469.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image10-768x300.jpg 768w\" width=\"1378\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-30795\"><em>Panorama image based on screenshots from Instagram video. Fair use</em></p></div>\n<p>So far, we know that the video was taken at 4:31 pm and that the sun was in a southwest direction at that time. For this reason, we can conclude that the person filming was facing South and that the avenue’s direction runs roughly East to West. We also know that the sea or the bay lies due South of the location. This allowed me to put together this rough sketch:</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30796 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"627\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 773px) 100vw, 773px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image6-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image6-1.png 773w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image6-1-300x243.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image6-1-768x623.png 768w\" width=\"773\"/></div></p>\n<p>If the sea or other body of water must be to the South, that excludes several locations — not only further inland, but also any areas of Greater Lisbon which are South of the Tagus River. Furthermore, given that the avenue runs not only East to West but also parallel to the coastline, we can also exclude most places on the Tagus estuary which are North-East of Lisbon.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30800 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"815\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1139px) 100vw, 1139px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image8.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image8.jpg 1139w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image8-300x215.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image8-768x550.jpg 768w\" width=\"1139\"/></div></p>\n<p>This narrows down the possible locations to places due West of central Lisbon, along the coast all the way towards Cascais. Importantly, the other side of the Tagus estuary cannot be seen in the footage. This suggests that the video was shot further to the West where the Tagus meets the ocean or along the Atlantic coast.</p>\n<p>A search from East to West along the shoreline, looking for wide avenues divided by a line of palm trees near an elongated roundabout, yields only a handful of potential matches. If you are using Google Maps or Google Earth’s pre-selected satellite imagery you might miss the elongated roundabout altogether, but even then it is hard to miss the distinctive Avenida da República in Oeiras — with four lanes and a row of palm trees. There are no other streets like it in the immediate area.</p>\n<p><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-30798 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"851\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1374px) 100vw, 1374px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image1.jpg\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image1.jpg 1374w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image1-300x186.jpg 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image1-1200x743.jpg 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2020/11/image1-768x476.jpg 768w\" width=\"1374\"/></div></p>\n<h3>A useful shortcut</h3>\n<p>As mentioned earlier, this technique is often overlooked. Nevertheless, it is a fairly simple one that can save plenty of time once learnt. It took me just five to ten minutes in total to find the location, starting only with a hunch that this footage might have been taken in Portugal – and more specifically, in Lisbon. Without a general orientation, i.e. where the cardinal directions are in relation to some landmarks (in this case the ocean), researchers can waste a lot of time checking false positives they could otherwise have excluded immediately – in this case, coastal areas South or northeast of Lisbon.<strong><br/>\n</strong></p>\n<p>I hope this is a useful tip in your research. If anything, maybe this will make you think twice before posting a video or picture of that amazing view from your apartment window.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<p> </p>\n<p><em>(Вы можете читать эту статью на русском языке <a href=\"https://gijn.org/2021/05/31/ispolzovanie-solntsa-i-teney-dlya-geolokatsii-foto-i-video/\">на сайте GIJN</a>)</em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Most people who have been verifying photos and videos for some time will already be aware of a tool called SunCalc, which\nchronolocates\na video or image. What is less well known is that the position of shadows and the sun can also be useful for\ngeolocation\n.\nFor those not in the know,\nSunCalc\nlets users analyse the position of shadows and the sun at any given time and date, at any given location. By choosing a date and zooming in on a location such as, say, Puerta del Sol in Madrid, users can click the drag-the-sun icon at the top of the page to see the position of the sun at a certain time. The screenshot below from SunCalc shows the position of the sun over Puerta del Sol at noon on November 22, 2020. Furthermore, when users select the height of any object, the algorithm indicates the corresponding length of its shadow.\nScreenshot from the SunCalc tool, showing the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.\nChronolocation is an art in itself. This\ntutorial\nby Twitter user and OSINT expert\n@Sector035\noffers some useful tips. In another example, Bellingcat’s Nick Waters recently used the technique in this\ninvestigation\ninto the execution of two Armenian men in Nagorno-Karabakh by the Azerbaijani armed forces.\nChronolocation as geolocation\nBut there is another, often overlooked, way to use SunCalc. The technique can be highly effective in narrowing down a search area, by excluding false positives and establishing in which direction the camera is pointed in a certain frame.\nLet’s take a look at how to use it.\nThe\nfollowing video\nwas uploaded by an Instagram user on November 22, 2020.\nIt was uploaded as a story, meaning that it disappeared from this person’s profile after 24 hours (its author has given permission for Bellingcat to publish the footage for educational purposes).\nThe video is timestamped and clearly displays the sun and shadows. This is the first hint. The second is that the user is a Portuguese speaker.\nIn other words, it was likely filmed in a Lusophone country — perhaps Brazil, perhaps Portugal, or perhaps a Portuguese-speaking country in Africa. Although the accompanying song (\nSurra\nde cama\nby Xand Avião) is by a Brazilian singer, this video was actually filmed in Portugal.\nHow was this established?\nThe video’s timestamp indicates that the video was taken at 4:31 pm (UTC). Moreover, when opening a story on Instagram, the reader can discover when the story was uploaded (e.g. “25 min ago”). Both these timestamps corresponded with the actual time in Portugal, meaning that the video was also uploaded at around 4:31 pm (UTC). However, even without the timestamp the casual observer could see that the footage was shot in the late afternoon.\nIt is plausible to assume that the video was shot in Lisbon, as it is the biggest metropolitan area of Portugal. The sea is visible; this looks like it was either filmed in a medium-size city or bigger.\nAll this can be checked with SunCalc. In this case, by opening the page and selecting November 22, 2020 at 4:31 pm. This\nlink\nopens SunCalc with the exact same variables.\nAs the image above shows, the sun was about to set at that time and to the South-West of the city. In the video, the sun is above the sea to the right of the person filming. It is also clear that the footage was filmed from an apartment next to a four-lane avenue with a line of palm trees down the middle, a parking lot, and an elongated roundabout that appears to have been recently built:\nPanorama image based on screenshots from Instagram video. Fair use\nSo far, we know that the video was taken at 4:31 pm and that the sun was in a southwest direction at that time. For this reason, we can conclude that the person filming was facing South and that the avenue’s direction runs roughly East to West. We also know that the sea or the bay lies due South of the location. This allowed me to put together this rough sketch:\nIf the sea or other body of water must be to the South, that excludes several locations — not only further inland, but also any areas of Greater Lisbon which are South of the Tagus River. Furthermore, given that the avenue runs not only East to West but also parallel to the coastline, we can also exclude most places on the Tagus estuary which are North-East of Lisbon.\nThis narrows down the possible locations to places due West of central Lisbon, along the coast all the way towards Cascais. Importantly, the other side of the Tagus estuary cannot be seen in the footage. This suggests that the video was shot further to the West where the Tagus meets the ocean or along the Atlantic coast.\nA search from East to West along the shoreline, looking for wide avenues divided by a line of palm trees near an elongated roundabout, yields only a handful of potential matches. If you are using Google Maps or Google Earth’s pre-selected satellite imagery you might miss the elongated roundabout altogether, but even then it is hard to miss the distinctive Avenida da República in Oeiras — with four lanes and a row of palm trees. There are no other streets like it in the immediate area.\nA useful shortcut\nAs mentioned earlier, this technique is often overlooked. Nevertheless, it is a fairly simple one that can save plenty of time once learnt. It took me just five to ten minutes in total to find the location, starting only with a hunch that this footage might have been taken in Portugal – and more specifically, in Lisbon. Without a general orientation, i.e. where the cardinal directions are in relation to some landmarks (in this case the ocean), researchers can waste a lot of time checking false positives they could otherwise have excluded immediately – in this case, coastal areas South or northeast of Lisbon.\nI hope this is a useful tip in your research. If anything, maybe this will make you think twice before posting a video or picture of that amazing view from your apartment window.\n(Вы можете читать эту статью на русском языке\nна сайте GIJN\n)",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2021-04-30_john-doe-29-image-from-fbi-child-exploitation-case-geolocated-in-turkey.json

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+{
+  "slug": "john-doe-29-image-from-fbi-child-exploitation-case-geolocated-in-turkey",
+  "title": "John Doe 29: Image From FBI Child Exploitation Case Geolocated to Turkey",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/30/john-doe-29-image-from-fbi-child-exploitation-case-geolocated-in-turkey/",
+  "date": "2021-04-30T11:40:46+00:00",
+  "modified": "2022-02-16T18:09:03+00:00",
+  "author": "Carlos Gonzales",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Two images posted by law enforcement officials looking for leads in a child exploitation case have been geolocated to a tourist town in Turkey.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<p><b>The following report contains reference to an active child sexual exploitation case. None of the people or commercial establishments, directly or indirectly referenced in this article, are suspected of being involved in the abuse of children. For the avoidance of doubt, it must be noted that all the information used for this investigation was publicly available. Bellingcat has decided to publish some of the findings to create awareness of the case and to show how open source techniques can help in instances such as these.</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the FBI’s Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP), law enforcement officials are seeking information which will lead to the identification of an unknown individual known as</span><a href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap/unknown-individual-3\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John Doe 29</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Images containing John Doe 29 first came to the attention of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (</span><a href=\"https://www.missingkids.org/HOME\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NCMEC</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) in January 2008.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a YouTube</span><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmkklnR3TwQ\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">video</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> released by the FBI in 2015, they stated clearly that </span><b>John Doe 29 is </b><b>NOT </b><b>accused of committing any abuse</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in an ongoing sexual exploitation investigation.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32419\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/1.-John-Doe-29-Warning.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32419\" class=\"wp-image-32419 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/1.-John-Doe-29-Warning.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/1.-John-Doe-29-Warning.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/1.-John-Doe-29-Warning-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/1.-John-Doe-29-Warning-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32419\">Source: FBI ECAP</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The FBI also released the following images where John Doe 29 was seen photographed next to the victim. To reiterate, John Doe 29 is not a suspect but is sought to help identify the victim.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32437\" style=\"width: 811px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.19.34.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32437\" class=\"wp-image-32437 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"267\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.19.34.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.19.34.png 801w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.19.34-300x100.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.19.34-768x256.png 768w\" width=\"801\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32437\">Source: <a href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap/unknown-individual-3/@@download.pdf\">FBI ECAP</a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2020, a new set of photos linked to the case were published in an FBI</span><a href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap/seeking-information\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> poster</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Images from this set labelled BB001 and BB002 are shown below.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32421\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/3.-FBI-BB001-and-BB002.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32421\" class=\"wp-image-32421 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/3.-FBI-BB001-and-BB002.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/3.-FBI-BB001-and-BB002.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/3.-FBI-BB001-and-BB002-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/3.-FBI-BB001-and-BB002-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32421\">Source: FBI ECAP</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After careful analysis, we were able to  geolocate the poolside seating area in one of the images to a hotel</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> near to the town of </span><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side,_Turkey\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Side in Turkey</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (c</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">oordinates: </span><a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B048'36.1%22N+31%C2%B020'46.3%22E/@36.810019,31.3456588,172m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d36.8100194!4d31.3462056\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">36.810011, 31.346188</span></a>)<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Again, and to be clear, </span><b>no person or</b> <b>commercial establishments, directly or indirectly referenced in this article, is suspected of being involved in the abuse of children.</b></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32422\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/4.-google-maps_2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32422\" class=\"wp-image-32422 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"628\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/4.-google-maps_2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/4.-google-maps_2.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/4.-google-maps_2-300x157.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/4.-google-maps_2-768x402.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32422\">Source Left: <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B048'36.1%22N+31%C2%B020'46.3%22E/@36.810019,31.3456588,172m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d36.8100194!4d31.3462056\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Maps</span></a>. Source Right: FBI ECAP</p></div>\n<p> </p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32423\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/5.-Verification-1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32423\" class=\"wp-image-32423 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/5.-Verification-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/5.-Verification-1.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/5.-Verification-1-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/5.-Verification-1-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32423\">Source of top images: <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/6d7aa077-d19b-3938-9100-2e6bd0a20999\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Holidaycheck.de</span></a> Source of bottom image: FBI ECAP</p></div>\n<p><b>Forensics</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We started breaking down images BB001 and BB002 in smaller sections to analyse relevant details featured on them.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We observed a particular shape and transition of green tones in a green leaf behind John Doe 29. Selecting some examples we determined the folded leaf in question was most likely a </span><a href=\"https://www.alamy.com/green-banana-plants-with-lush-leaves-lit-by-bright-sun-image396469923.html?pv=1&amp;stamp=2&amp;imageid=FE398883-E9D0-4923-8A02-EE0B9F1A73BF&amp;p=794042&amp;n=0&amp;orientation=0&amp;pn=1&amp;searchtype=0&amp;IsFromSearch=1&amp;srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3d2E10NC3%2520%26qt_raw%3d2E10NC3%2520%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d1%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d0%26ispremium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">banana leaf against bright light</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.  Although possible to grow in colder climates,</span><a href=\"https://www.bananalink.org.uk/all-about-bananas/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">banana plants</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> thrive in tropical-subtropical regions.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32424\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/6.-Banana-Leaf.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32424\" class=\"wp-image-32424 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"628\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/6.-Banana-Leaf.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/6.-Banana-Leaf.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/6.-Banana-Leaf-300x157.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/6.-Banana-Leaf-768x402.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32424\">Image left: FBI ECAP. Image Right: <a href=\"https://pxhere.com/en/photo/990932\">Creative Commons</a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We took this information and compared it against a global banana production map as a way to explore in which countries would it be more likely to find this type of tree. Apart from the expected tropical areas, the map includes countries along the Mediterranean coastline.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although initially too general to carry out specific searches, we kept this information as a reference to help validate what we were to discover next.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32425\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32425\" class=\"wp-image-32425 size-large\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"830\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map-1200x830.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map-1200x830.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map-300x208.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map-768x532.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/7.-Banana-map.png 1299w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32425\">Image: Screengrab from <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/banana-production\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OurWorldInData</span></a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A street with double “T” paver blocks is featured in image BB002. In the background, there is also a shop window. We enhanced the image to reveal a small red object seen through the glazing. It was an element that seemed to contain a key piece of information: a Turkish flag.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to test the probability for this kind of display to happen, we googled the term “shops in turkey” to find that, very frequently, shops of different types display the national Turkish flag in their windows, walls, products, etc; as shown in the image below.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32426\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/8.-The-turkish-flag_2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32426\" class=\"wp-image-32426 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/8.-The-turkish-flag_2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/8.-The-turkish-flag_2.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/8.-The-turkish-flag_2-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/8.-The-turkish-flag_2-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32426\">Source of images left and top: FBI ECAP. Image Bottom centre: REUTERS/Umit Bektas. Image Bottom left: REUTERS/Osman Orsal</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at image BB001 in detail, we spotted what seemed to be a metal litter bin reflected in the pool water. This particular</span><a href=\"https://www.uzmankirala.com/uzman/siana\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\"> design</a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with a hoop at the top and in different colour variants, was found to be very popular in parks and hotels across different towns in Turkey. Some examples of local manufacturers/distributors were found</span><a href=\"https://www.emkapark.info/cop-kovalari\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\"> here</a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32427\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/9.-Metal-trash-can.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32427\" class=\"wp-image-32427 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/9.-Metal-trash-can.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/9.-Metal-trash-can.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/9.-Metal-trash-can-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/9.-Metal-trash-can-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32427\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Source of image left: FBI ECAP. Image centre: </span><a href=\"https://www.booking.com/hotel/tr/primasol-hane-garden.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-1DCAso5AFCFHByaW1hc29sLWhhbmUtZ2FyZGVuSDNYA2hQiAEBmAEJuAEXyAEP2AED6AEBiAIBqAIDuAL5spuEBsACAdICJGNjNWQyNjczLTgwZWItNDA2Mi1iZjM3LTg0Mzc2YjcxMDdkYtgCBOACAQ;sid=1163e4fa76e4d5fb3459094409bfef38;dist=0&amp;keep_landing=1&amp;sb_price_type=total&amp;type=total&amp;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">booking.com</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Image right: </span><a href=\"https://www.uzmankirala.com/uzman/siana\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UzmanKirala</span></a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sun lounger was also verified to belong to the </span><a href=\"https://tabularasa-furniture.com/products/trg10002-grosfillex-miami-sunlounger?variant=43040854670\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grosfillex</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> brand. The model series is called “Miami”. The curved feet and arm support as well as the seven stripes on the backrest match the loungers featured in the poolside seating image BB001.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32438\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/10.-The-sun-lounger-1.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32438\" class=\"wp-image-32438 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/10.-The-sun-lounger-1.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/10.-The-sun-lounger-1.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/10.-The-sun-lounger-1-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/10.-The-sun-lounger-1-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32438\">Source top left and right images: FBI ECAP. Image centre and bottom right: <a href=\"http://tabularasa-furniture.com\">Tabularasa</a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We found a distributor for this brand of loungers in Turkey. After checking around 280 references listed in their</span><a href=\"http://www.grosfillexturkiye.com/en/references.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">website</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we couldn’t find a matching pool setting. However this search did help us to understand the type of facility we were looking for.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an attempt to determine the layout and size of the pool area, we roughly recreated the scene observed in BB001 by constructing a 3D model with </span><a href=\"https://www.sketchup.com/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SketchUp</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a computer program that is more generally used by interior designers, engineers, architects and in video game design. In this case, however, it helped us further visualise and gather more detail about the area around where the image was taken</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32429\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/11.-3D-model_2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32429\" class=\"wp-image-32429 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/11.-3D-model_2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/11.-3D-model_2.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/11.-3D-model_2-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/11.-3D-model_2-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32429\">Source image on right: FBI ECAP. Image on left: A screengrab of a 3D model created in SketchUp</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to achieve a similar configuration and perspective; we positioned scaled models of typical sun loungers and parasols at different distributions. We set the point of view height at approximately 1.5 meters and at a short distance from a representative small child figure sitting on a raised surface.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results suggest the victim was most likely seated at a height of approximately one meter. Considering that on average a typical seat or bench is raised just 50 centimetres from the floor and given the proximity to the pool; we concluded the surface in question was most likely a round pool bar.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The length of the pool in the direction of the shot was roughly estimated to be above 25m and the distance between the camera and the first row of loungers at least 9m.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32430\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/12.-3D-model.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32430\" class=\"wp-image-32430 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/12.-3D-model.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/12.-3D-model.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/12.-3D-model-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/12.-3D-model-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32430\">Source: A screengrab of a 3D model created in SketchUp</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We explored the </span><a href=\"http://budgetvoyager.com/top-10/top-10-places-to-visit-in-turkey/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top 10 tourist destinations and surrounding villages</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Turkey. Starting from Istanbul, we moved north to south along the west coast.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the small village of Side, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the country’s Mediterranean coast, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">we found several examples of buildings, shops and streets sharing similarities with features observed in image BB002. In particular: the stone façade, brown window frames, marble curbs and double “T” street paver blocks.  </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32431\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/13.-Side-Turkey.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32431\" class=\"wp-image-32431 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/13.-Side-Turkey.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/13.-Side-Turkey.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/13.-Side-Turkey-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/13.-Side-Turkey-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32431\">Source of image on right: Google Street View. Images in centre and on right: FBI ECAP</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relatively close to the town of Side, we discovered a </span><a href=\"https://www.booking.com/hotel/tr/primasol-hane-garden.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-1DCAso5AFCFHByaW1hc29sLWhhbmUtZ2FyZGVuSDNYA2hQiAEBmAEJuAEXyAEP2AED6AEBiAIBqAIDuAL5spuEBsACAdICJGNjNWQyNjczLTgwZWItNDA2Mi1iZjM3LTg0Mzc2YjcxMDdkYtgCBOACAQ;sid=1163e4fa76e4d5fb3459094409bfef38;dist=0&amp;keep_landing=1&amp;sb_price_type=total&amp;type=total&amp;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hotel facility</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using the same type of stainless steel litter bins next to a pool and creating the same type of reflection in the water. The hotel in question belongs to a group called </span><a href=\"https://www.its.de/hotelmarken/primasol.html?ttid=PF&amp;bdid=i&amp;na=2&amp;nc=0&amp;pttid=PF&amp;dft=apx&amp;psdf=2021-04-29&amp;pedf=2021-10-29&amp;psdsf=2021-04-29&amp;pedsf=2021-05-20&amp;pnnfl=5&amp;pnnfh=8&amp;pna=2&amp;pnc=0&amp;ps=4\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Primasol</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32432\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/14.-Pool-reflection.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32432\" class=\"wp-image-32432 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/14.-Pool-reflection.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/14.-Pool-reflection.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/14.-Pool-reflection-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/14.-Pool-reflection-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32432\">Source image left: <a href=\"https://www.booking.com/hotel/tr/primasol-hane-garden.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-1DCAso5AFCFHByaW1hc29sLWhhbmUtZ2FyZGVuSDNYA2hQiAEBmAEJuAEXyAEP2AED6AEBiAIBqAIDuAL5spuEBsACAdICJGNjNWQyNjczLTgwZWItNDA2Mi1iZjM3LTg0Mzc2YjcxMDdkYtgCBOACAQ;sid=1163e4fa76e4d5fb3459094409bfef38;dist=0&amp;keep_landing=1&amp;sb_price_type=total&amp;type=total&amp;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">booking.com</span></a>. Image right: FBI</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the location was not a match, this piece of information allowed us to determine the hotel was related to another facility: </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hi/primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Primasol Hane Family Hotel</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysing imagery for the early 2000’s, the pool area we found in this new hotel matched all of the elements seen in BB001: a round pool bar, trees, metal bins with top hoop, cream parasols and green Grosfillex chairs. </span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32433\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/15.-Verification-2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32433\" class=\"wp-image-32433 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/15.-Verification-2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/15.-Verification-2.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/15.-Verification-2-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/15.-Verification-2-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32433\">Source image on left FBI. Image on right: <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/8ccc52fc-b0af-31e6-848e-10dc3db00e18\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">holidaycheck.de</span></a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pool area distribution was also very close to what we predicted with our 3D model. The victim was indeed seated inside a pool bar when image BB001 was taken. The location was verified.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32434\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/16.-Verification-3_2.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32434\" class=\"wp-image-32434 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/16.-Verification-3_2.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/16.-Verification-3_2.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/16.-Verification-3_2-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/16.-Verification-3_2-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32434\">Source for image on left: <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/6d7aa077-d19b-3938-9100-2e6bd0a20999\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Holidaycheck.de</span></a> Source for image on right: FBI: Graphic taken as screen grab from SketchUp</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having geolocated the pool, other details  allowed us to determine when approximately image BB001 was taken via imagery compilation and comparison.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The round bar, the green loungers and the cream parasols were already on site in </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/8ccc52fc-b0af-31e6-848e-10dc3db00e18\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">October 2005</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/a33baf7a-5cf6-3699-8f14-9141f6d5e678\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May 2006</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the litter bin at the end of the pool was brown (most likely wood) and was not changed to stainless steel until </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/6d7aa077-d19b-3938-9100-2e6bd0a20999\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">June 2006</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/304ff887-e0c2-3c14-83aa-40581f0abac4\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May 2007</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the round pool bar was not on site anymore and the cream parasols were changed to a </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/ef84c079-aa9f-32e6-8c25-7f35ed49c71e\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">green-white stripes pattern</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This means BB001 must have been taken before this date.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32435\" style=\"width: 1210px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/17.-Verification-4.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32435\" class=\"wp-image-32435 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/17.-Verification-4.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/17.-Verification-4.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/17.-Verification-4-300x169.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/17.-Verification-4-768x432.png 768w\" width=\"1200\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32435\">Source of images dated <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/8ccc52fc-b0af-31e6-848e-10dc3db00e18\">2005</a>, <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/a33baf7a-5cf6-3699-8f14-9141f6d5e678\">2006</a> and <a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/304ff887-e0c2-3c14-83aa-40581f0abac4\">2007</a>: holidaycheck.de. Image bottom centre: FBI ECAP. Source of matching chair image: <a href=\"http://holidaycheck.de\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">holidaycheck.de</span></a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysing image BB001, there is a turquoise object on a small side table next to one of the green loungers. Surprisingly, when surveying different hotel pictures, we noticed a turquoise bag on the floor very close to the pool area and matching the object seen in BB001. The date of the picture with the bag was detailed as </span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture/mediaId/7d156546-41c7-337f-a371-1d04eeb4cce6\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">July 2006</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32439\" style=\"width: 933px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.53.29.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32439\" class=\"wp-image-32439 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.53.29.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.53.29.png 923w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.53.29-300x117.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.53.29-768x300.png 768w\" width=\"923\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32439\">Source image left: FBI. Image right and centre: <a href=\"http://holidaycheck.de\">holidaycheck.de</a></p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After surveying thousands of guests’</span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/picture\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">photos</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and</span><a href=\"https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-primasol-hane-family/62dfaca2-2db1-3cef-a6d2-f6ad2cf916d9/-/m/video/mediaId/4500a3ab-6a03-386d-9ac5-031067fc0532\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">videos</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> taken in the hotel, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it appeared </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that German had been the main language spoken </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guests. We found examples of Turkish staff engaging in conversations </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> written messages in German. Entertainment shows were also put on in German.</span></p>\n<p>On Tripadvisor, German appeared to be the main language in which reviews were left prior to 2010. However, there also appeared to be a significant number of reviews left in Turkish too.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" id=\"attachment_32440\" style=\"width: 647px\"><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.55.18.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32440\" class=\"wp-image-32440 size-full\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"433\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.55.18.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.55.18.png 637w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/04/Screenshot-2021-04-30-at-10.55.18-300x204.png 300w\" width=\"637\"/></div></a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32440\">A screengrab detailing the languages in which reviews were left on TripAdvisor prior to 2010.</p></div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While that is noteworthy, it does not confirm that John Doe 29 or the victim from any of these countries.</span></p>\n<p><b>Conclusion</b></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysing  the evidence presented above, we conclude the FBI’s picture BB001 was taken in Turkey during summer 2006 and most likely in July of the same year. </span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the victim now could be anywhere in the world, the hotel appeared to mainly cater for German and local Turkish guests during the early 2000’s. However, this does not offer proof of the potential nationality of John Doe 29 or the victim.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Again, to be clear, the FBI state that the man known as John Doe 29 is <strong>not accused of any exploitation or abuse</strong> but may have useful information pertaining to this case.</span></p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exact location and name of the hotel has been voluntarily passed to the relevant authorities before the publication of this article.</span></p>\n<p><strong>If you have any information concerning this case, please contact your local law enforcement authorities or alternatively a Crimes Against Children FBI Investigator at the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or submit a tip online at <a href=\"https://tips.fbi.gov/\"> https://tips.fbi.gov/</a></strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "The following report contains reference to an active child sexual exploitation case. None of the people or commercial establishments, directly or indirectly referenced in this article, are suspected of being involved in the abuse of children. For the avoidance of doubt, it must be noted that all the information used for this investigation was publicly available. Bellingcat has decided to publish some of the findings to create awareness of the case and to show how open source techniques can help in instances such as these.\nAccording to the FBI’s Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP), law enforcement officials are seeking information which will lead to the identification of an unknown individual known as\nJohn Doe 29\n.\nImages containing John Doe 29 first came to the attention of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (\nNCMEC\n) in January 2008.\nIn a YouTube\nvideo\nreleased by the FBI in 2015, they stated clearly that\nJohn Doe 29 is\nNOT\naccused of committing any abuse\nbut may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in an ongoing sexual exploitation investigation.\nSource: FBI ECAP\nThe FBI also released the following images where John Doe 29 was seen photographed next to the victim. To reiterate, John Doe 29 is not a suspect but is sought to help identify the victim.\nSource:\nFBI ECAP\nIn 2020, a new set of photos linked to the case were published in an FBI\nposter\n. Images from this set labelled BB001 and BB002 are shown below.\nSource: FBI ECAP\nAfter careful analysis, we were able to geolocate the poolside seating area in one of the images to a hotel\nnear to the town of\nSide in Turkey\n(c\noordinates:\n36.810011, 31.346188\n)\n. Again, and to be clear,\nno person or\ncommercial establishments, directly or indirectly referenced in this article, is suspected of being involved in the abuse of children.\nSource Left:\nGoogle Maps\n. Source Right: FBI ECAP\nSource of top images:\nHolidaycheck.de\nSource of bottom image: FBI ECAP\nForensics\nWe started breaking down images BB001 and BB002 in smaller sections to analyse relevant details featured on them.\nWe observed a particular shape and transition of green tones in a green leaf behind John Doe 29. Selecting some examples we determined the folded leaf in question was most likely a\nbanana leaf against bright light\n. Although possible to grow in colder climates,\nbanana plants\nthrive in tropical-subtropical regions.\nImage left: FBI ECAP. Image Right:\nCreative Commons\nWe took this information and compared it against a global banana production map as a way to explore in which countries would it be more likely to find this type of tree. Apart from the expected tropical areas, the map includes countries along the Mediterranean coastline.\nAlthough initially too general to carry out specific searches, we kept this information as a reference to help validate what we were to discover next.\nImage: Screengrab from\nOurWorldInData\nA street with double “T” paver blocks is featured in image BB002. In the background, there is also a shop window. We enhanced the image to reveal a small red object seen through the glazing. It was an element that seemed to contain a key piece of information: a Turkish flag.\nIn order to test the probability for this kind of display to happen, we googled the term “shops in turkey” to find that, very frequently, shops of different types display the national Turkish flag in their windows, walls, products, etc; as shown in the image below.\nSource of images left and top: FBI ECAP. Image Bottom centre: REUTERS/Umit Bektas. Image Bottom left: REUTERS/Osman Orsal\nLooking at image BB001 in detail, we spotted what seemed to be a metal litter bin reflected in the pool water. This particular\ndesign\n, with a hoop at the top and in different colour variants, was found to be very popular in parks and hotels across different towns in Turkey. Some examples of local manufacturers/distributors were found\nhere\n.\nSource of image left: FBI ECAP. Image centre:\nbooking.com\nImage right:\nUzmanKirala\nThe sun lounger was also verified to belong to the\nGrosfillex\nbrand. The model series is called “Miami”. The curved feet and arm support as well as the seven stripes on the backrest match the loungers featured in the poolside seating image BB001.\nSource top left and right images: FBI ECAP. Image centre and bottom right:\nTabularasa\nWe found a distributor for this brand of loungers in Turkey. After checking around 280 references listed in their\nwebsite\n, we couldn’t find a matching pool setting. However this search did help us to understand the type of facility we were looking for.\nIn an attempt to determine the layout and size of the pool area, we roughly recreated the scene observed in BB001 by constructing a 3D model with\nSketchUp\n, a computer program that is more generally used by interior designers, engineers, architects and in video game design. In this case, however, it helped us further visualise and gather more detail about the area around where the image was taken\n.\nSource image on right: FBI ECAP. Image on left: A screengrab of a 3D model created in SketchUp\nIn order to achieve a similar configuration and perspective; we positioned scaled models of typical sun loungers and parasols at different distributions. We set the point of view height at approximately 1.5 meters and at a short distance from a representative small child figure sitting on a raised surface.\nThe results suggest the victim was most likely seated at a height of approximately one meter. Considering that on average a typical seat or bench is raised just 50 centimetres from the floor and given the proximity to the pool; we concluded the surface in question was most likely a round pool bar.\nThe length of the pool in the direction of the shot was roughly estimated to be above 25m and the distance between the camera and the first row of loungers at least 9m.\nSource: A screengrab of a 3D model created in SketchUp\nWe explored the\ntop 10 tourist destinations and surrounding villages\nin Turkey. Starting from Istanbul, we moved north to south along the west coast.\nIn the small village of Side,\non the country’s Mediterranean coast,\nwe found several examples of buildings, shops and streets sharing similarities with features observed in image BB002. In particular: the stone façade, brown window frames, marble curbs and double “T” street paver blocks.\nSource of image on right: Google Street View. Images in centre and on right: FBI ECAP\nRelatively close to the town of Side, we discovered a\nhotel facility\nusing the same type of stainless steel litter bins next to a pool and creating the same type of reflection in the water. The hotel in question belongs to a group called\nPrimasol\n.\nSource image left:\nbooking.com\n. Image right: FBI\nAlthough the location was not a match, this piece of information allowed us to determine the hotel was related to another facility:\nThe Primasol Hane Family Hotel\n.\nAnalysing imagery for the early 2000’s, the pool area we found in this new hotel matched all of the elements seen in BB001: a round pool bar, trees, metal bins with top hoop, cream parasols and green Grosfillex chairs.\nSource image on left FBI. Image on right:\nholidaycheck.de\nThe pool area distribution was also very close to what we predicted with our 3D model. The victim was indeed seated inside a pool bar when image BB001 was taken. The location was verified.\nSource for image on left:\nHolidaycheck.de\nSource for image on right: FBI: Graphic taken as screen grab from SketchUp\nHaving geolocated the pool, other details allowed us to determine when approximately image BB001 was taken via imagery compilation and comparison.\nThe round bar, the green loungers and the cream parasols were already on site in\nOctober 2005\n. In\nMay 2006\n, the litter bin at the end of the pool was brown (most likely wood) and was not changed to stainless steel until\nJune 2006\n.\nBy\nMay 2007\nthe round pool bar was not on site anymore and the cream parasols were changed to a\ngreen-white stripes pattern\n. This means BB001 must have been taken before this date.\nSource of images dated\n2005\n,\n2006\nand\n2007\n: holidaycheck.de. Image bottom centre: FBI ECAP. Source of matching chair image:\nholidaycheck.de\nAnalysing image BB001, there is a turquoise object on a small side table next to one of the green loungers. Surprisingly, when surveying different hotel pictures, we noticed a turquoise bag on the floor very close to the pool area and matching the object seen in BB001. The date of the picture with the bag was detailed as\nJuly 2006\n.\nSource image left: FBI. Image right and centre:\nholidaycheck.de\nAfter surveying thousands of guests’\nphotos\nand\nvideos\ntaken in the hotel,\nit appeared\nthat German had been the main language spoken\nby\nguests. We found examples of Turkish staff engaging in conversations\nand\nwritten messages in German. Entertainment shows were also put on in German.\nOn Tripadvisor, German appeared to be the main language in which reviews were left prior to 2010. However, there also appeared to be a significant number of reviews left in Turkish too.\nA screengrab detailing the languages in which reviews were left on TripAdvisor prior to 2010.\nWhile that is noteworthy, it does not confirm that John Doe 29 or the victim from any of these countries.\nConclusion\nAnalysing the evidence presented above, we conclude the FBI’s picture BB001 was taken in Turkey during summer 2006 and most likely in July of the same year.\nAlthough the victim now could be anywhere in the world, the hotel appeared to mainly cater for German and local Turkish guests during the early 2000’s. However, this does not offer proof of the potential nationality of John Doe 29 or the victim.\nAgain, to be clear, the FBI state that the man known as John Doe 29 is\nnot accused of any exploitation or abuse\nbut may have useful information pertaining to this case.\nThe exact location and name of the hotel has been voluntarily passed to the relevant authorities before the publication of this article.\nIf you have any information concerning this case, please contact your local law enforcement authorities or alternatively a Crimes Against Children FBI Investigator at the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or submit a tip online at\nhttps://tips.fbi.gov/\n.",
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bellingcat_geolocation_json/2021-05-10_where-in-the-world-is-q-clues-from-image-metadata.json

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+{
+  "slug": "where-in-the-world-is-q-clues-from-image-metadata",
+  "title": "Where in the World is Q? Clues from Image Metadata",
+  "url": "https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2021/05/10/where-in-the-world-is-q-clues-from-image-metadata/",
+  "date": "2021-05-10T18:47:26+00:00",
+  "modified": "2022-09-19T18:06:18+00:00",
+  "author": "Abigail W. Xavier, Robert Amour, The Q Origins Project",
+  "source": "Bellingcat",
+  "task_type": "geolocation_reasoning",
+  "categories": [],
+  "tags": [],
+  "excerpt": "Image metadata could help narrow down the search for Q's real identity. Here’s how.",
+  "content_html": "<div class=\"singular__content__text__content\">\n<div class=\"translations\"><span class=\"translations--heading\">Translations:</span><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/10/where-in-the-world-is-q-clues-from-image-metadata/\">English (UK)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ru.bellingcat.com/novosti/drugie-strany/2021/05/17/where-in-the-world-is-q-clues-from-image-metadata-ru/\">Русский (Россия)</a></li></ul></div><p>The hunt to identify the person or group behind the QAnon conspiracy theory continues. Known only as “Q,” this individual or collective is responsible for the many posts, or “drops,” that appeared on internet imageboards between October 2017 and December 2020.</p>\n<p>It has not been an easy search. But a fresh approach has yielded more clues. Image metadata comprises many different kinds of information, some of which can speak to the origin of the image itself and, by extension, who created it. Since many of Q’s posts come with an image attached, examining image metadata can provide clues as to where Q has been — and when.</p>\n<p>We examined metadata found on images associated with 27 Q drops. We infer from the metadata that the images are screenshots taken in two time zones: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC%2B08:00\">UTC+8</a> and the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Time_Zone\">Pacific time zone</a>. UTC+8 is a time zone including the Philippines, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and parts of Indonesia, Russia and Australia. Pacific time includes the West coasts of Canada and the USA, Nevada, part of Idaho, and part of the northwest coast of Mexico.</p>\n<p>The vast majority of these images, ranging in date from November 7, 2017 to September 23, 2020, appear to originate from the Pacific time zone, while a handful of remaining images from February 2018 and 2019 appear to originate from UTC+8.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32505\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32505\" class=\"wp-image-32505\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"455\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14-300x160.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14-300x160.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14-1200x642.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14-768x411.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14-1536x822.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image14.png 1920w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32505\">Timezone map from Wikimedia Commons, with UTC+8 highlighted in yellow by Robert Amour</p></div>\n<p>If accurate, the UTC+8 cluster of images could suggest that Q is a single individual who lives in the Pacific time zone but has traveled extensively in Asia (with stops at least in Hong Kong, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Bangkok, based on the contents of Q’s photos).</p>\n<details open=\"open\" style=\"background-color: #f8f8f8; padding: 5px; border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid #ccc;\">\n<summary style=\"background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 2px; margin-bottom: 10px; cursor: pointer;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What is QAnon?<br/>\n</strong></span></summary>\n<p>QAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory that flourished on the internet during the Trump era. Members of the online movement followed an anonymous poster, Q, who outlined Trump’s supposed plan to take down a global cabal of child-sacrificing elites. Claiming a high-level security clearance in the Trump administration, Q promised a bloody revenge on enemies like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros. QAnon has drawn in new adherents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and radicalized members of the movement participated in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.</p>\n<p>Those outside the movement dismissed Q’s declared identity as fantastical, and over time journalists assembled a list of figures who might be behind the account in reality. Vice News <a href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/qanon-the-search-for-q/5fff1d34f16cb70d5b57dc31\">has argued</a> that early Q drops were authored by a hacker collective and perhaps followed up by a right-wing operative. The new HBO Documentary, “Q: Into the Storm,” <a href=\"https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/what-the-hbo-qanon-documentary-series-revealed-about-the-identity-of-q/\">addresses suspicions</a> about the <a href=\"https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-man-wonders-is-his-childhood-friend-the-leader-of-q-anon/\">previously</a> <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/men-qanon/story?id=73046374\">speculated</a> <a href=\"https://www.insider.com/who-is-q-why-people-think-jim-watkins-qanon-8chan-2020-10\">involvement</a> of Ron Watkins and his father Jim, who were respectively the manager and owner of the website 8chan (and its successor 8kun), which was the exclusive platform of Q for all but the first month of Q’s existence.</p>\n</details>\n<h3><b>The Dataset</b></h3>\n<p>We have made our code and results <a href=\"https://github.com/abigailxyzw/image-metadata\">available</a> in a Github repository, and hope other researchers will build on our findings.</p>\n<p>We downloaded 1,720 image files from<a href=\"https://qalerts.net/media/\"> https://qalerts.net/media/</a>. We also downloaded the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON\">JSON file</a> of the text of the Q drops and their basic non-image metadata from<a href=\"https://qalerts.app/data/json/posts.json\"> https://qalerts.app/data/json/posts.json</a>.</p>\n<p>The collection of image files includes both images Q themselves posted and images in posts that Q replied to. Using the information in posts.json, we removed all images posted by anonymous users (“anons”) who were not Q. This results in a dataset of 1,087 images.</p>\n<p>We then ran the <a href=\"https://exiftool.org/\">“exiftool” program</a> to extract image metadata from every image and collated the information into a spreadsheet. This CSV spreadsheet file contains one row per image and 275 columns. Not all columns are populated for each row, since individual images do not typically include every possible kind of metadata.</p>\n<p>We spot-checked these photos in their original settings, i.e. on 8chan/8kun as well as 4plebs (a popular 4chan archive) to ensure that the image metadata was present in the original and not an artifact of qalerts.net’s collection process. We found that the metadata was indeed present in the original files. We also uploaded a few sample images to the existing 8kun website, and downloaded them again after they were posted. This allowed us to ascertain that the version of the 8kun website now running neither strips nor adds metadata to images stored on it.</p>\n<p>Returning to our 1,087 images, we first checked to see which metadata fields were populated with interesting information, and followed up by reverse image-searching those which contained interesting or identifying information. This could have linked Q’s images to other individuals, broadening the scope of possible candidates.</p>\n<p>It also weeded out images which Q had downloaded from elsewhere which were then uploaded alongside their drops.</p>\n<p>Indeed, some images that looked promising turned out to have been taken from other websites with metadata intact. For instance, the image of a field that appears on drop 3985 was taken from <a href=\"https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/tenth-anniversary-meals-in-the-fields/harvested-corn-field-at-kirchners/\">the website of Brownfield News</a>, a media network which covers agriculture in the US Midwest.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32506\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32506\" class=\"wp-image-32506\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"567\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19-300x200.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19-300x200.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19-1200x800.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19-768x512.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image19.png 1999w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32506\">Image from Brownfield News, taken from a drop posted by Q.</p></div>\n<p>By examining the metadata on the image taken from the Brownfield News website and matching it to the image downloaded from qalerts, we ascertained that all image metadata was inherited from its origin. That is to say, all of the metadata on the image posted to 8kun was also present on the image that was part of the earlier article. It seems like Q downloaded a copy of the image from the Brownfield News website and uploaded that copy to 8kun without altering any of the metadata.</p>\n<p>But what about images from Q drops which appeared nowhere else online?</p>\n<p>These seemingly original images proved to be the most interesting subset of all. Several of these images not only could not be matched easily to an online origin (so may be hypothesized to come directly from Q) but also contained enough metadata to analyze.</p>\n<p>In particular, we soon zeroed in on a group consisting of 29 images whose UserComment fields all contain the word “Screenshot.” Not only are they marked as screenshots, all of these photos appear to be screenshots taken from within a mobile device’s photo gallery. Black bars can be seen above and below most of the photos, as well as elements such as the horizontal, elliptical bar at the bottom of the photo in drop 3642—clearly a user interface element.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32507\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32507\" class=\"wp-image-32507\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"758\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image13-139x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image13-139x300.png 139w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image13-554x1200.png 554w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image13.png 591w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32507\">Q drop 3,642</p></div>\n<p>However, the strongest proof that these are screenshots comes from one of the images themselves: drop 4752 contains a screenshot, not merely of a picture Q has selected from within an iPhone’s image gallery and then photographed, but of the gallery itself. This is immediately recognizable to any iPhone user.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32508\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32508\" class=\"wp-image-32508\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"759\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image4-138x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image4-138x300.png 138w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image4.png 295w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32508\">Q drop 4,752</p></div>\n<p>Of the 29 photos labeled as screenshots, 27 also contain timestamp information in the field <i>DateCreated</i>. These 27 timestamped screenshots appeared in 29 Q drops (two images each appeared twice).</p>\n<p>We calculated the time difference between the timestamp of the image metadata and the timestamp in UTC of the Q drop on the imageboard itself, and used this figure to make inferences about the time zone of Q.</p>\n<h3><b>Inferring Q’s Time Zone</b></h3>\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/abigailxyzw/image-metadata/\">The timestamp metadata associated with these images</a> does not include a time zone. However, the time zone of the poster, expressed as a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC_offset\">UTC offset</a>, may still be inferred. To infer the time zone, we use the equation:</p>\n<p><i>Local time of screenshot + time to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = UTC time of post</i></p>\n<p>or</p>\n<p><i>Time to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = UTC time of post − Local time of screenshot</i></p>\n<p>or</p>\n<p><i>Time to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = calculated time diff</i></p>\n<p>\n<!-- iframe plugin v.4.5 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\n<iframe class=\"mobilehide\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"1050\" scrolling=\"yes\" src=\"https://bellingcat.github.io/q-image-metadata-viz/\" width=\"100%\"></iframe>\n<a class=\"desktophide\" href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/static.png\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32544\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"645\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 949px) 100vw, 949px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/static.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/static.png 949w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/static-300x204.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/static-768x522.png 768w\" width=\"949\"/></div></a></p>\n<p>We know the right side of the equation and need the variables on the left. We assume that Q took a screenshot of a photo and then, minutes rather than hours later, a drop was made containing that image. For instance, the image in drop 125 was created at 15:39 local time (recorded by the device taking the screenshot) on July 7, 2017, and posted on 4chan at 15:43 Pacific time (UTC time 23:43). It’s not certain that only four minutes elapsed between the time the picture was processed and posted (rather than some number of hours plus four minutes), but it seems reasonable to assume.</p>\n<p>Furthermore, we know that UTC offsets are constrained; the vast majority of them occur in hourly increments. For instance there is no such thing as a time zone that is one hour and 27 minutes past UTC. Therefore, the assumption that time to post was under an hour fixes the UTC offset for all 27 images.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32514\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32514\" class=\"wp-image-32514\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"532\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image7-1-300x188.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image7-1-300x188.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image7-1-768x481.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image7-1.png 1003w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32514\">Infographic by Robert Amour and Abigail W. Xavier</p></div>\n<p>Examining the clusters near UTC−7 and UTC−8, we find that they correlate with changes enforced by Daylight Savings in the Pacific time zone. Pacific time changes from UTC−8 to UTC−7 and back over the course of a year. We believe these visually evident clusters provide strong evidence that images in Q drops are sourced from two time zones, UTC+8 and the Pacific time zone.</p>\n<h3><b>Further Evidence for Time to Post</b></h3>\n<p>The data indicates that Q either waited for a handful of minutes after taking each screenshot before posting it, or that Q routinely waited for an unknown number of hours plus only a handful of minutes—which would be much more unusual behavior than simply posting right away.</p>\n<p>In the case of drop 4752, we can verify that <i>DateCreated</i> is the local device time. Drop 4752 is in our Pacific time cluster, and the image in it includes the iPhone’s clock (which shows 12:07 at the time of the screenshot); our metadata also shows a creation time of 12:07. Q posted it at 12:13 Pacific time.</p>\n<p>In general we see the same pattern for all Q drops with an image in the UTC−7 / UTC−8 cluster: for instance, drop 1206 has a screenshot taken at 18:16 local time on April 20, 2018 and posted at what corresponds to 18:18 Pacific time, while drop 1752 includes a screenshot made at 11:09 local time, which Q posted at 11:13 Pacific time.</p>\n<p>A similar pattern holds for the UTC+8 cluster. Drop 682 contains a screenshot whose <i>DateCreated</i> metadata indicates that it was created at 8:38 local time. It was posted at 8:40 UTC+8 time. Similarly, drops 683–686 include screenshots containing a <i>DateCreated</i> value of 9:25 and 9:26 on August 2, 2018. They were posted between 9:35:08 and 9:36:59 UTC+8 time, a difference of 10 minutes. Finally, drop 2708 contains two photos that were taken at 18:27 and 18:28 local time, and posted at 18:31 UTC+8 time.</p>\n<p>To bolster our confidence that time-to-post was within the hour and the remaining hour difference represents the device time zone’s UTC offset, we can observe the distribution of the time differences between the image’s creation date and the drop timestamp by minute within the hour. If the time to post were an hour or more on average, we’d expect to see a somewhat even distribution of minutes within the hour difference.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32515\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32515\" class=\"wp-image-32515\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"441\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image8-300x156.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image8-300x156.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image8.png 767w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32515\">Infographic by Robert Amour and Abigail W. Xavier</p></div>\n<p>However, the overwhelming majority of images appear to have been posted within 10 minutes, and none appear to have waited more than half an hour before being posted. This allows us to reasonably establish a pattern of behavior and to conclude that the time to post was within the hour, and that remaining hours of the difference represent the UTC offset of the device’s timezone.</p>\n<h3><b>Views from a Hotel Window</b></h3>\n<p>We know that Q, or an associate close enough to provide them with these photos, traveled to several locations in Asia — a fact which can be inferred not only from the context of these images, but their content. Several are photos of city skylines, others are close-up views of side streets. They generally do not include obvious tourist sites or any close-up individuals whatsoever — par for the course for Q, whose followers pore over images for arcane clues and metaphors.</p>\n<p>For example, in drop 682, posted on February 8, 2018 (by UTC time), Q provided the following image of a modern skyscraper with a distinctive spire. (The black bars above and below the photo have been cropped in all images in this section.)</p>\n<p>Q later posted one close-up photo of the awning over the building’s main entrance and another of the car park in front of it. These offered some small clues; cars bear blue license plates and a construction site to the right of the building features several bright red placards featuring Chinese characters. The words “Bank of China” can be seen on white backing on the building to the right.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32516\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32516\" class=\"wp-image-32516\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"469\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image20-224x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image20-224x300.png 224w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image20-896x1200.png 896w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image20-768x1029.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image20.png 1117w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32516\">Q drop 682</p></div>\n<p>All of these details suggest that the tower is in the People’s Republic of China — but where? By cropping the distinctive tip of the building and uploading the image into Yandex’s reverse image search, we <a href=\"https://yandex.ru/images/search?rpt=imageview&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Favatars.mds.yandex.net%2Fget-images-cbir%2F4303567%2F7QBrLOdci7J-EMLAmC3p9A1945%2Forig&amp;cbir_id=4303567%2F7QBrLOdci7J-EMLAmC3p9A1945&amp;rdrnd=665199&amp;redircnt=1619540813.1\">soon find a match</a>: the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Tower\">King Tower</a> in Pudong, Shanghai.</p>\n<p>It is fair to assume that the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/31%C2%B014'45.6%22N+121%C2%B035'13.3%22E/@31.2453577,121.5858869,412m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m10!1m3!2m2!1shotel!6e3!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d31.2460076!4d121.5870358\">photo was taken</a> from a tall building across the New Jinqiao Road to the South-West. <a href=\"https://map.baidu.com/poi/%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E9%87%91%E6%A1%A5%E7%BA%A2%E6%9E%AB%E4%B8%87%E8%B1%AA%E9%85%92%E5%BA%97/@13536341.398880377,3642997.9370939555,18.66z/maptype%3DB_EARTH_MAP?uid=ed375f95468cad4d1d5800fa&amp;info_merge=1&amp;isBizPoi=false&amp;ugc_type=3&amp;ugc_ver=1&amp;device_ratio=2&amp;compat=1&amp;querytype=detailConInfo&amp;da_src=shareurl\">According</a> to the popular Chinese mapping website and search engine Baidu, this building is the Shanghai Marriott Hotel Pudong East (上海金桥红枫万豪酒店).</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32517\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32517\" class=\"wp-image-32517\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"585\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3-300x206.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3-300x206.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3-1200x825.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3-768x528.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3-1536x1057.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image3.png 1999w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32517\">Screenshot from Baidu Maps</p></div>\n<p>Two days later, on 10 February 2018, Q posted a close-up image of a large letter “E” hanging from a ceiling with distinctive alternating wooden slats.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32518\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32518\" class=\"wp-image-32518\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"466\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image11-225x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image11-225x300.png 225w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image11-768x1023.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image11.png 800w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32518\">Q drop 707</p></div>\n<p>In the bottom of the image, another item of a similar size and color can be seen hanging from the same ceiling. This leads us to assume that the letter “E” is one of a series in a zoning area — such as those found in airports. A simple Google search of airport arrival hallways in large cities in UTC+8 yields a result. An <a href=\"https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shanghai-china-may-27-pudong-airport-344603549\">image from Shutterstock</a> shows the same “E” hanging from the same ceiling at Shanghai’s Pudong airport:</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32519\" style=\"width: 860px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32519\" class=\"wp-image-32519\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"746\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image2-300x263.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image2-300x263.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image2-768x674.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image2.png 1170w\" width=\"850\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32519\">Screenshot of Shutterstock’s website</p></div>\n<p>Q’s next drop contained a photo from central Bangkok — Q may have meant to suggest that members of the “Q Team” had recently flown between Shanghai Pudong airport and the Thai capital.</p>\n<p>The image below, posted in drop 708 on February 10, 2018, shows a city skyline. A building with the words “Assumption College” can be seen in the foreground.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32520\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32520\" class=\"wp-image-32520\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"468\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image12-225x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image12-225x300.png 225w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image12-898x1200.png 898w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image12-768x1026.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image12.png 1119w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32520\">Q drop 708</p></div>\n<p>The distinctive “pixelated” skyscraper in the background is the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Power_Mahanakhon\">Maha Nakhon</a> tower in the central business district of Bangkok. When completed in 2016, it was the tallest building in the Thai capital.</p>\n<p>This photo appears to have been taken from a floor about midway up in a hotel called The Peninsula Bangkok or from a building on the same block with a similar vantage point, such as the River Condominiums or Light House Plaza.</p>\n<p>The riverside campus of Assumption College is almost perfectly in line with The Peninsula Bangkok and Maha Nakhon. A user-uploaded photo on Google, taken from The Peninsula in March 2021, shows Assumption College and the Maha Nakhon tower from a similar, though higher, perspective to Q’s.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32521\" style=\"width: 510px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32521\" class=\"wp-image-32521\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"436\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image15-300x262.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image15-300x262.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image15-768x669.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image15.png 1021w\" width=\"500\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32521\">Image from <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Peninsula+Bangkok/@13.7231214,100.5105823,31a,31.1y/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMegS_v_VhzS_58wxW4fJXS-YQwp_JIESticijs!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMegS_v_VhzS_58wxW4fJXS-YQwp_JIESticijs%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4032!8i3024!4m17!1m6!2m5!1sholiday+inn!5m3!5m2!4m1!1i2!3m9!1s0x0:0x57b57b2760cdcd37!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d13.7231838!4d100.5102535!14m1!1BCgIYEw\">Google Maps / The Peninsula Bangkok</a></p></div>\n<p>On March 7, 2018 in drop 869, Q posted an image of a bustling market street in an East Asian country with a reference to Edward Snowden in the accompanying text. In the bottom right-hand corner above a meat stall, and on several banners in the center of the image, Chinese characters can be seen but are not completely legible. Bearing in mind that Snowden first fled to Hong Kong, it’s as good a place to start as any.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32522\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32522\" class=\"wp-image-32522\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"466\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image16-225x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image16-225x300.png 225w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image16-768x1022.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image16.png 800w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32522\">Q drop 869</p></div>\n<p>The architecture and commercial profile of the area matches the narrow streets of Mong Kok, a popular shopping district in Hong Kong. A digital trawl through Mong Kok using Baidu’s streetview system shows a <a href=\"https://map.baidu.com/search/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E5%BA%B7%E5%BE%97%E6%80%9D%E9%85%92%E5%BA%97/@12710483.21,2533719.72,21z,87t,-69.16h#panoid=01024200001403201030208255W&amp;panotype=street&amp;heading=259.82&amp;pitch=-5.05&amp;l=21&amp;tn=B_NORMAL_MAP&amp;sc=0&amp;newmap=1&amp;shareurl=1&amp;pid=01024200001403201030208255W\">match at the crossroads</a> of Nelson Street and Canton Street.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32523\" style=\"width: 660px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32523\" class=\"wp-image-32523\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"278\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6-300x128.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6-300x128.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6-1200x513.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6-768x328.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6-1536x656.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image6.png 1999w\" width=\"650\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32523\">Image from Baidu street view</p></div>\n<p>Importantly, Q’s image shows this intersection from high above, though not from a bird’s eye view. This suggests that the photographer was standing in a tall building to the east. The most obvious candidate is the nearby Cordis Hotel.</p>\n<p>Images posted by guests of the hotel and tagged at the location can confirm this match further. In December 2020, one visitor to the Cordis posted a panorama photo of the Mong Kok skyline; the bottom left shows this same intersection in detail.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32524\" style=\"width: 660px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32524\" class=\"wp-image-32524\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"368\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10-300x170.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10-300x170.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10-1200x679.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10-768x434.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10-1536x869.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image10.png 1561w\" width=\"650\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32524\">Image: <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cordis,+Hong+Kong/@22.318175,114.168112,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipM2bp7-A9xOlK0Ujjcpi4g-URsBYgSA5JnYWGeO!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM2bp7-A9xOlK0Ujjcpi4g-URsBYgSA5JnYWGeO%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4608!8i3456!4m8!3m7!1s0x340400c784bc08cf:0xcad7219666b937d7!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d22.31773!4d114.1682023\">Google Maps / Cordis Hotel</a></p></div>\n<p>Nevertheless, it should be noted that the screenshot of Q’s image from the Cordis Hotel was created by a user in the Pacific time zone, from which it can be inferred either that Q did not post all images “live” (and might have selected it from their own old photos), or that Q was posting images they had received from a contact.</p>\n<p>On February 14, 2019, Q posted Drop 2706, which included a photo of a shopping street somewhere in a Chinese-speaking country. Unlike the previous two images, which each contain a famous skyscraper, this image was unremarkable. However, as a close-up image it did show several names of businesses such as 朋泉聚，周师兄 (Old Brother Zhou)，中国民生银行 (China Minsheng Bank), as well as 诗丽堂美容SPA (Shilitang Beauty SPA, also known by its English name Silktone SPA). Two of these are business names concentrated in Chongqing, a city in South-West China.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32527\" style=\"width: 660px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32527\" class=\"wp-image-32527\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"483\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image1-300x223.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image1-300x223.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image1-768x571.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image1.png 1125w\" width=\"650\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32527\">Q drop 2,706</p></div>\n<p>As it offers a highly detailed business registry for China, Baidu Maps is the ideal source to start searching. It also offers an extensive streetview mode which allows users to compare imagery taken in different years. After checking street view imagery for various addresses for Silktone Beauty SPA branches in Chongqing, <a href=\"https://map.baidu.com/@11860279.994319793,3429097.121310881,19.7z\">we have a match</a> on the city’s Beijeng Tiangje Street (北城天街). It shows the same shopfront, the same names of all businesses, the same covered bus shelter, and the same distinctive streetlights:</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32528\" style=\"width: 660px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32528\" class=\"wp-image-32528\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"285\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18-300x131.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18-300x131.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18-1200x525.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18-768x336.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18-1536x672.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image18.png 1999w\" width=\"650\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32528\">Image: Baidu Maps</p></div>\n<p>Q’s photo of the entrance was taken from above, from a building across the road to the North-East. Baidu’s map shows a highly likely candidate: the Chongqing Fuli Hyatt Regency Hotel.</p>\n<p>Further corroborating this is another image Q posted in the same drop, showing the lights of buildings and a distant cityscape at night. Blurring suggests that this was taken at speed, presumably from an aircraft.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32529\" style=\"width: 360px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32529\" class=\"wp-image-32529\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"468\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image17-224x300.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image17-224x300.png 224w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image17-768x1027.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image17.png 800w\" width=\"350\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32529\">Q drop 2,706</p></div>\n<p>The layout of the roads and buildings <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chongqing+Jiangbei+International+Airport/@29.699277,106.6462115,961m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xa264bdfc4843caa7!8m2!3d29.7191667!4d106.6416667\">matches</a> those to the right of Chongqing Airport’s eastern runway, approaching from the South.</p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_32530\" style=\"width: 560px\"><div class=\"media\"><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32530\" class=\"wp-image-32530\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" src=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9-300x199.png\" srcset=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9-300x199.png 300w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9-1200x796.png 1200w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9-768x509.png 768w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9-1536x1018.png 1536w, https://www.bellingcat.com/app/uploads/2021/05/image9.png 1953w\" width=\"550\"/></div><p class=\"wp-caption-text\" id=\"caption-attachment-32530\">Image: Google Maps</p></div>\n<p>Importantly, drop 2503 from November 2018 includes a photo from the hotel, including a Christmas tree. That same month, in drop 2516, Q congratulated “anons” for successfully geolocating the “last pic” to Chongqing, urging them to “watch the news”.</p>\n<p>If these images are, as they appear to be, original, then we know the location of the photographer, and can infer the location of the person who took the screenshot, but not necessarily that of the person who posted the respective drops: it is at least conceivable that whoever took the screenshots might have texted or emailed these photos to a third party, who posted them shortly afterwards.</p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the images do teach us a few new things about Q.</p>\n<p>We know that Q, or a very close associate, flew to Shanghai Pudong Airport prior to February 8, 2018; that they stayed at The Peninsula hotel in Bangkok prior to or on February 10, 2018; that they stayed at the Cordis Hotel in Hong Kong prior to or on March 7, 2018; that they stayed at the Chongqing Fuli Hyatt prior to or on February 14, 2019 and flew into Chongqing prior to that same date.</p>\n<p>We know that Q, or an associate who regularly provides images for Q to post, has a particular taste in hotels and has spent time traveling, but likely not living, in four cities in Thailand and China. The fact that some of the images in China can also be geolocated to the same timezone makes the assumption about Q’s location, or the location of somebody working with Q, more plausible.</p>\n<h3><b>One Step Closer?</b></h3>\n<p>The overwhelming majority of the images in our data set — over 68 percent — appear to have been created by a user, or users who were in the Pacific time zone. Q’s content appears to have been posted from the Pacific time zone at least as early as November 7, 2017 and at least as late as September 23, 2020; this covers almost the entire period that Q was active.</p>\n<p>By contrast, images from UTC+8 exist on only three dates in our data: February 8, 2018, February 10, 2018, and February 14, 2019.</p>\n<p>This has several potential implications for Q’s identity.</p>\n<p>First, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the same person has been posting as Q all along. In that case, Q would live or spend the vast majority of their time in the Pacific time zone, with occasional international travel. The hypothesis of a Pacific Q coheres with <a href=\"https://github.com/KunstDerFuge/Q-notebook\">other quantitative work</a> on the overall hourly patterns of the Q drops, while the hypothesis of a single Q matches the <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20210509183235/https://twitter.com/QOrigins/status/1389708155261685762\">observed</a> <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20210509174635/https://twitter.com/Dragnet_News/status/1389698189066919941\">fact</a> that Q had access to the same set of photos in November 2017 and May 2018.</p>\n<p>Second, the most <a href=\"https://www.hbo.com/q-into-the-storm\">popular hypothesis</a> among Q-watchers — that authorship of the drops changed hands between January 4 and January 6 of 2018 — cannot be excluded on the basis of our findings. Under this hypothesis, our evidence requires new Q and original Q both to post from Pacific Time.</p>\n<p>That’s not impossible, of course. There are well over 50 million people living in the Pacific time zone; one of them could easily have stepped into the original Q’s place.</p>\n<p>We reached out to Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan/8kun who has lived in the Philippines, to comment on the implications of narrowing down Q’s timezone. In an emailed response <a href=\"https://gab.com/JimWatkins/posts/106191300725957057\">crowdsourced</a> via his Gab account, Watkins cast doubt on the methodology of the research and its usefulness, adding that more than a billion people live in the UTC+8 time zone. Watkins has <a href=\"https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/01/07/exposed-email-logs-show-8kun-owner-in-contact-with-qanon-influencers-and-enthusiasts/\">previously denied</a> in comments to Bellingcat that he is Q.</p>\n<p>Bellingcat was unable to reach Ron Watkins, who has lived in Japan, for comment. Ron Watkins has also denied that he is Q in the course of the recent HBO documentary series.</p>\n<p>It is important to stress our evidence is not by itself sufficient to identify any particular individual as Q or an associate of Q.</p>\n<p>However, our evidence should provide a valuable datapoint for other investigators who seek to do so. The hunt for Q goes on — and these findings suggest that it must largely continue in the Pacific time zone.</p>\n<p> </p>\n<p><em><strong>Gavin Fox (pseudonym) contributed to this research. The authors would like to thank Bellingcat’s Giancarlo Forella and Maxim Edwards for their assistance in geolocating the images from East Asia.</strong></em></p>\n</div>",
+  "content_text": "Translations:\nEnglish (UK)\nРусский (Россия)\nThe hunt to identify the person or group behind the QAnon conspiracy theory continues. Known only as “Q,” this individual or collective is responsible for the many posts, or “drops,” that appeared on internet imageboards between October 2017 and December 2020.\nIt has not been an easy search. But a fresh approach has yielded more clues. Image metadata comprises many different kinds of information, some of which can speak to the origin of the image itself and, by extension, who created it. Since many of Q’s posts come with an image attached, examining image metadata can provide clues as to where Q has been — and when.\nWe examined metadata found on images associated with 27 Q drops. We infer from the metadata that the images are screenshots taken in two time zones:\nUTC+8\nand the\nPacific time zone\n. UTC+8 is a time zone including the Philippines, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and parts of Indonesia, Russia and Australia. Pacific time includes the West coasts of Canada and the USA, Nevada, part of Idaho, and part of the northwest coast of Mexico.\nThe vast majority of these images, ranging in date from November 7, 2017 to September 23, 2020, appear to originate from the Pacific time zone, while a handful of remaining images from February 2018 and 2019 appear to originate from UTC+8.\nTimezone map from Wikimedia Commons, with UTC+8 highlighted in yellow by Robert Amour\nIf accurate, the UTC+8 cluster of images could suggest that Q is a single individual who lives in the Pacific time zone but has traveled extensively in Asia (with stops at least in Hong Kong, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Bangkok, based on the contents of Q’s photos).\nWhat is QAnon?\nQAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory that flourished on the internet during the Trump era. Members of the online movement followed an anonymous poster, Q, who outlined Trump’s supposed plan to take down a global cabal of child-sacrificing elites. Claiming a high-level security clearance in the Trump administration, Q promised a bloody revenge on enemies like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros. QAnon has drawn in new adherents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and radicalized members of the movement participated in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.\nThose outside the movement dismissed Q’s declared identity as fantastical, and over time journalists assembled a list of figures who might be behind the account in reality. Vice News\nhas argued\nthat early Q drops were authored by a hacker collective and perhaps followed up by a right-wing operative. The new HBO Documentary, “Q: Into the Storm,”\naddresses suspicions\nabout the\npreviously\nspeculated\ninvolvement\nof Ron Watkins and his father Jim, who were respectively the manager and owner of the website 8chan (and its successor 8kun), which was the exclusive platform of Q for all but the first month of Q’s existence.\nThe Dataset\nWe have made our code and results\navailable\nin a Github repository, and hope other researchers will build on our findings.\nWe downloaded 1,720 image files from\nhttps://qalerts.net/media/\n. We also downloaded the\nJSON file\nof the text of the Q drops and their basic non-image metadata from\nhttps://qalerts.app/data/json/posts.json\n.\nThe collection of image files includes both images Q themselves posted and images in posts that Q replied to. Using the information in posts.json, we removed all images posted by anonymous users (“anons”) who were not Q. This results in a dataset of 1,087 images.\nWe then ran the\n“exiftool” program\nto extract image metadata from every image and collated the information into a spreadsheet. This CSV spreadsheet file contains one row per image and 275 columns. Not all columns are populated for each row, since individual images do not typically include every possible kind of metadata.\nWe spot-checked these photos in their original settings, i.e. on 8chan/8kun as well as 4plebs (a popular 4chan archive) to ensure that the image metadata was present in the original and not an artifact of qalerts.net’s collection process. We found that the metadata was indeed present in the original files. We also uploaded a few sample images to the existing 8kun website, and downloaded them again after they were posted. This allowed us to ascertain that the version of the 8kun website now running neither strips nor adds metadata to images stored on it.\nReturning to our 1,087 images, we first checked to see which metadata fields were populated with interesting information, and followed up by reverse image-searching those which contained interesting or identifying information. This could have linked Q’s images to other individuals, broadening the scope of possible candidates.\nIt also weeded out images which Q had downloaded from elsewhere which were then uploaded alongside their drops.\nIndeed, some images that looked promising turned out to have been taken from other websites with metadata intact. For instance, the image of a field that appears on drop 3985 was taken from\nthe website of Brownfield News\n, a media network which covers agriculture in the US Midwest.\nImage from Brownfield News, taken from a drop posted by Q.\nBy examining the metadata on the image taken from the Brownfield News website and matching it to the image downloaded from qalerts, we ascertained that all image metadata was inherited from its origin. That is to say, all of the metadata on the image posted to 8kun was also present on the image that was part of the earlier article. It seems like Q downloaded a copy of the image from the Brownfield News website and uploaded that copy to 8kun without altering any of the metadata.\nBut what about images from Q drops which appeared nowhere else online?\nThese seemingly original images proved to be the most interesting subset of all. Several of these images not only could not be matched easily to an online origin (so may be hypothesized to come directly from Q) but also contained enough metadata to analyze.\nIn particular, we soon zeroed in on a group consisting of 29 images whose UserComment fields all contain the word “Screenshot.” Not only are they marked as screenshots, all of these photos appear to be screenshots taken from within a mobile device’s photo gallery. Black bars can be seen above and below most of the photos, as well as elements such as the horizontal, elliptical bar at the bottom of the photo in drop 3642—clearly a user interface element.\nQ drop 3,642\nHowever, the strongest proof that these are screenshots comes from one of the images themselves: drop 4752 contains a screenshot, not merely of a picture Q has selected from within an iPhone’s image gallery and then photographed, but of the gallery itself. This is immediately recognizable to any iPhone user.\nQ drop 4,752\nOf the 29 photos labeled as screenshots, 27 also contain timestamp information in the field\nDateCreated\n. These 27 timestamped screenshots appeared in 29 Q drops (two images each appeared twice).\nWe calculated the time difference between the timestamp of the image metadata and the timestamp in UTC of the Q drop on the imageboard itself, and used this figure to make inferences about the time zone of Q.\nInferring Q’s Time Zone\nThe timestamp metadata associated with these images\ndoes not include a time zone. However, the time zone of the poster, expressed as a\nUTC offset\n, may still be inferred. To infer the time zone, we use the equation:\nLocal time of screenshot + time to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = UTC time of post\nor\nTime to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = UTC time of post − Local time of screenshot\nor\nTime to post + UTC offset of screenshot maker = calculated time diff\nWe know the right side of the equation and need the variables on the left. We assume that Q took a screenshot of a photo and then, minutes rather than hours later, a drop was made containing that image. For instance, the image in drop 125 was created at 15:39 local time (recorded by the device taking the screenshot) on July 7, 2017, and posted on 4chan at 15:43 Pacific time (UTC time 23:43). It’s not certain that only four minutes elapsed between the time the picture was processed and posted (rather than some number of hours plus four minutes), but it seems reasonable to assume.\nFurthermore, we know that UTC offsets are constrained; the vast majority of them occur in hourly increments. For instance there is no such thing as a time zone that is one hour and 27 minutes past UTC. Therefore, the assumption that time to post was under an hour fixes the UTC offset for all 27 images.\nInfographic by Robert Amour and Abigail W. Xavier\nExamining the clusters near UTC−7 and UTC−8, we find that they correlate with changes enforced by Daylight Savings in the Pacific time zone. Pacific time changes from UTC−8 to UTC−7 and back over the course of a year. We believe these visually evident clusters provide strong evidence that images in Q drops are sourced from two time zones, UTC+8 and the Pacific time zone.\nFurther Evidence for Time to Post\nThe data indicates that Q either waited for a handful of minutes after taking each screenshot before posting it, or that Q routinely waited for an unknown number of hours plus only a handful of minutes—which would be much more unusual behavior than simply posting right away.\nIn the case of drop 4752, we can verify that\nDateCreated\nis the local device time. Drop 4752 is in our Pacific time cluster, and the image in it includes the iPhone’s clock (which shows 12:07 at the time of the screenshot); our metadata also shows a creation time of 12:07. Q posted it at 12:13 Pacific time.\nIn general we see the same pattern for all Q drops with an image in the UTC−7 / UTC−8 cluster: for instance, drop 1206 has a screenshot taken at 18:16 local time on April 20, 2018 and posted at what corresponds to 18:18 Pacific time, while drop 1752 includes a screenshot made at 11:09 local time, which Q posted at 11:13 Pacific time.\nA similar pattern holds for the UTC+8 cluster. Drop 682 contains a screenshot whose\nDateCreated\nmetadata indicates that it was created at 8:38 local time. It was posted at 8:40 UTC+8 time. Similarly, drops 683–686 include screenshots containing a\nDateCreated\nvalue of 9:25 and 9:26 on August 2, 2018. They were posted between 9:35:08 and 9:36:59 UTC+8 time, a difference of 10 minutes. Finally, drop 2708 contains two photos that were taken at 18:27 and 18:28 local time, and posted at 18:31 UTC+8 time.\nTo bolster our confidence that time-to-post was within the hour and the remaining hour difference represents the device time zone’s UTC offset, we can observe the distribution of the time differences between the image’s creation date and the drop timestamp by minute within the hour. If the time to post were an hour or more on average, we’d expect to see a somewhat even distribution of minutes within the hour difference.\nInfographic by Robert Amour and Abigail W. Xavier\nHowever, the overwhelming majority of images appear to have been posted within 10 minutes, and none appear to have waited more than half an hour before being posted. This allows us to reasonably establish a pattern of behavior and to conclude that the time to post was within the hour, and that remaining hours of the difference represent the UTC offset of the device’s timezone.\nViews from a Hotel Window\nWe know that Q, or an associate close enough to provide them with these photos, traveled to several locations in Asia — a fact which can be inferred not only from the context of these images, but their content. Several are photos of city skylines, others are close-up views of side streets. They generally do not include obvious tourist sites or any close-up individuals whatsoever — par for the course for Q, whose followers pore over images for arcane clues and metaphors.\nFor example, in drop 682, posted on February 8, 2018 (by UTC time), Q provided the following image of a modern skyscraper with a distinctive spire. (The black bars above and below the photo have been cropped in all images in this section.)\nQ later posted one close-up photo of the awning over the building’s main entrance and another of the car park in front of it. These offered some small clues; cars bear blue license plates and a construction site to the right of the building features several bright red placards featuring Chinese characters. The words “Bank of China” can be seen on white backing on the building to the right.\nQ drop 682\nAll of these details suggest that the tower is in the People’s Republic of China — but where? By cropping the distinctive tip of the building and uploading the image into Yandex’s reverse image search, we\nsoon find a match\n: the\nKing Tower\nin Pudong, Shanghai.\nIt is fair to assume that the\nphoto was taken\nfrom a tall building across the New Jinqiao Road to the South-West.\nAccording\nto the popular Chinese mapping website and search engine Baidu, this building is the Shanghai Marriott Hotel Pudong East (上海金桥红枫万豪酒店).\nScreenshot from Baidu Maps\nTwo days later, on 10 February 2018, Q posted a close-up image of a large letter “E” hanging from a ceiling with distinctive alternating wooden slats.\nQ drop 707\nIn the bottom of the image, another item of a similar size and color can be seen hanging from the same ceiling. This leads us to assume that the letter “E” is one of a series in a zoning area — such as those found in airports. A simple Google search of airport arrival hallways in large cities in UTC+8 yields a result. An\nimage from Shutterstock\nshows the same “E” hanging from the same ceiling at Shanghai’s Pudong airport:\nScreenshot of Shutterstock’s website\nQ’s next drop contained a photo from central Bangkok — Q may have meant to suggest that members of the “Q Team” had recently flown between Shanghai Pudong airport and the Thai capital.\nThe image below, posted in drop 708 on February 10, 2018, shows a city skyline. A building with the words “Assumption College” can be seen in the foreground.\nQ drop 708\nThe distinctive “pixelated” skyscraper in the background is the\nMaha Nakhon\ntower in the central business district of Bangkok. When completed in 2016, it was the tallest building in the Thai capital.\nThis photo appears to have been taken from a floor about midway up in a hotel called The Peninsula Bangkok or from a building on the same block with a similar vantage point, such as the River Condominiums or Light House Plaza.\nThe riverside campus of Assumption College is almost perfectly in line with The Peninsula Bangkok and Maha Nakhon. A user-uploaded photo on Google, taken from The Peninsula in March 2021, shows Assumption College and the Maha Nakhon tower from a similar, though higher, perspective to Q’s.\nImage from\nGoogle Maps / The Peninsula Bangkok\nOn March 7, 2018 in drop 869, Q posted an image of a bustling market street in an East Asian country with a reference to Edward Snowden in the accompanying text. In the bottom right-hand corner above a meat stall, and on several banners in the center of the image, Chinese characters can be seen but are not completely legible. Bearing in mind that Snowden first fled to Hong Kong, it’s as good a place to start as any.\nQ drop 869\nThe architecture and commercial profile of the area matches the narrow streets of Mong Kok, a popular shopping district in Hong Kong. A digital trawl through Mong Kok using Baidu’s streetview system shows a\nmatch at the crossroads\nof Nelson Street and Canton Street.\nImage from Baidu street view\nImportantly, Q’s image shows this intersection from high above, though not from a bird’s eye view. This suggests that the photographer was standing in a tall building to the east. The most obvious candidate is the nearby Cordis Hotel.\nImages posted by guests of the hotel and tagged at the location can confirm this match further. In December 2020, one visitor to the Cordis posted a panorama photo of the Mong Kok skyline; the bottom left shows this same intersection in detail.\nImage:\nGoogle Maps / Cordis Hotel\nNevertheless, it should be noted that the screenshot of Q’s image from the Cordis Hotel was created by a user in the Pacific time zone, from which it can be inferred either that Q did not post all images “live” (and might have selected it from their own old photos), or that Q was posting images they had received from a contact.\nOn February 14, 2019, Q posted Drop 2706, which included a photo of a shopping street somewhere in a Chinese-speaking country. Unlike the previous two images, which each contain a famous skyscraper, this image was unremarkable. However, as a close-up image it did show several names of businesses such as 朋泉聚，周师兄 (Old Brother Zhou)，中国民生银行 (China Minsheng Bank), as well as 诗丽堂美容SPA (Shilitang Beauty SPA, also known by its English name Silktone SPA). Two of these are business names concentrated in Chongqing, a city in South-West China.\nQ drop 2,706\nAs it offers a highly detailed business registry for China, Baidu Maps is the ideal source to start searching. It also offers an extensive streetview mode which allows users to compare imagery taken in different years. After checking street view imagery for various addresses for Silktone Beauty SPA branches in Chongqing,\nwe have a match\non the city’s Beijeng Tiangje Street (北城天街). It shows the same shopfront, the same names of all businesses, the same covered bus shelter, and the same distinctive streetlights:\nImage: Baidu Maps\nQ’s photo of the entrance was taken from above, from a building across the road to the North-East. Baidu’s map shows a highly likely candidate: the Chongqing Fuli Hyatt Regency Hotel.\nFurther corroborating this is another image Q posted in the same drop, showing the lights of buildings and a distant cityscape at night. Blurring suggests that this was taken at speed, presumably from an aircraft.\nQ drop 2,706\nThe layout of the roads and buildings\nmatches\nthose to the right of Chongqing Airport’s eastern runway, approaching from the South.\nImage: Google Maps\nImportantly, drop 2503 from November 2018 includes a photo from the hotel, including a Christmas tree. That same month, in drop 2516, Q congratulated “anons” for successfully geolocating the “last pic” to Chongqing, urging them to “watch the news”.\nIf these images are, as they appear to be, original, then we know the location of the photographer, and can infer the location of the person who took the screenshot, but not necessarily that of the person who posted the respective drops: it is at least conceivable that whoever took the screenshots might have texted or emailed these photos to a third party, who posted them shortly afterwards.\nNevertheless, the images do teach us a few new things about Q.\nWe know that Q, or a very close associate, flew to Shanghai Pudong Airport prior to February 8, 2018; that they stayed at The Peninsula hotel in Bangkok prior to or on February 10, 2018; that they stayed at the Cordis Hotel in Hong Kong prior to or on March 7, 2018; that they stayed at the Chongqing Fuli Hyatt prior to or on February 14, 2019 and flew into Chongqing prior to that same date.\nWe know that Q, or an associate who regularly provides images for Q to post, has a particular taste in hotels and has spent time traveling, but likely not living, in four cities in Thailand and China. The fact that some of the images in China can also be geolocated to the same timezone makes the assumption about Q’s location, or the location of somebody working with Q, more plausible.\nOne Step Closer?\nThe overwhelming majority of the images in our data set — over 68 percent — appear to have been created by a user, or users who were in the Pacific time zone. Q’s content appears to have been posted from the Pacific time zone at least as early as November 7, 2017 and at least as late as September 23, 2020; this covers almost the entire period that Q was active.\nBy contrast, images from UTC+8 exist on only three dates in our data: February 8, 2018, February 10, 2018, and February 14, 2019.\nThis has several potential implications for Q’s identity.\nFirst, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the same person has been posting as Q all along. In that case, Q would live or spend the vast majority of their time in the Pacific time zone, with occasional international travel. The hypothesis of a Pacific Q coheres with\nother quantitative work\non the overall hourly patterns of the Q drops, while the hypothesis of a single Q matches the\nobserved\nfact\nthat Q had access to the same set of photos in November 2017 and May 2018.\nSecond, the most\npopular hypothesis\namong Q-watchers — that authorship of the drops changed hands between January 4 and January 6 of 2018 — cannot be excluded on the basis of our findings. Under this hypothesis, our evidence requires new Q and original Q both to post from Pacific Time.\nThat’s not impossible, of course. There are well over 50 million people living in the Pacific time zone; one of them could easily have stepped into the original Q’s place.\nWe reached out to Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan/8kun who has lived in the Philippines, to comment on the implications of narrowing down Q’s timezone. In an emailed response\ncrowdsourced\nvia his Gab account, Watkins cast doubt on the methodology of the research and its usefulness, adding that more than a billion people live in the UTC+8 time zone. Watkins has\npreviously denied\nin comments to Bellingcat that he is Q.\nBellingcat was unable to reach Ron Watkins, who has lived in Japan, for comment. Ron Watkins has also denied that he is Q in the course of the recent HBO documentary series.\nIt is important to stress our evidence is not by itself sufficient to identify any particular individual as Q or an associate of Q.\nHowever, our evidence should provide a valuable datapoint for other investigators who seek to do so. The hunt for Q goes on — and these findings suggest that it must largely continue in the Pacific time zone.\nGavin Fox (pseudonym) contributed to this research. The authors would like to thank Bellingcat’s Giancarlo Forella and Maxim Edwards for their assistance in geolocating the images from East Asia.",
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