If you are using satellite imagery in your coverage of conflict areas, I encourage you to use @sentinel_hub imagery with custom scripts (available on @github - github.com/sentinel-hub/c…). For example, take a look at this village in north Nigeria ( 12.050973, 13.995915). Thread 👇
On @googleearth, the fires in the village @ 12.050973, 13.995915 on February 8, 2018, are barely noticeable - but we can easily identify this by customising the way we look at the earth. goo.gl/maps/72khpC9HN…
One specific script from @Pierre_Markuse provides wildfire visualization (github.com/sentinel-hub/c…) - in using this on the Nigerian village, we can see how easy it is to identify current burning buildings.
Using @github scripts in conjunction with satellite imagery may seem intimidating for some, but it is a simple 'cut and paste' (as you can see in the image). Testing and trialling different values through @sentinel_hub can also yield some amazing results.
An aspect of this work is analyzing the after-effect of fire-damaged structures in conflict areas where the cause may have been intentional. For more on this, you can view a small guide using satellite banding to identify burnt villages on @bellingcatbellingcat.com/resources/how-…
Sentinel-2 imagery from #Nigeria, east of Maiduguri, combined with custom rendering, highlights an array of fires that were burning in October. The custom script identifies the current status of the fire and the path it is taking. @sentinel_hub#geoint#remotesensing
Google Earth has updated its satellite imagery of many parts of Sudan. Looking over West Darfur city of El Geneina, I am shocked at the level of destruction. In some parts, whole areas have been destroyed and cleared. Location: 13.4469, 22.4151 (dates: April 2023 & March 2024)
The burn damage around El Geneina's specialised hospital is incredible.
It's not just the widespread burning of structures that we see in El Geneina, as a result of the ongoing violence in Sudan, but there are also clear indications of structures that have been removed, like these warehouses, located at 13.43324, 22.41364
This video, reportedly showing an Israeli woman kidnapped, beaten and taken into Gaza, was filmed from Al Shuja-iyyah St in Gaza at about 10am this morning.
Verification of the location can be confirmed through the location of the minaret in the background, white dome in the near ground, and then the angle of the orange roof in comparison to the street.
Location: 31.503462, 34.466569.
Shadows seen in the footage, indicate that the sun had to have been at a position to cast those shadows in line, or just off, the same angle as the street at 10am, or just before 10am.
Lots of smoke rising over the skyline of Khartoum today as clashes continue between RSF and SAF forces in different areas of the city.
People in Sudan have shared these flyers in a plea for help over what's happening with a water purification plant that services a lot of Khartoum with clean water.
It has been badly damaged and safe access needs to be granted to allow for repairs to be made to the plant.
The water treatment plant in Bahri appears to have been damaged in the initial wave of bombings in Khartoum. In satellite imagery on Google Earth from April 15 we can see a fire in the area, imagery from @planet on April 19 published by @hrw at least one building damaged.
The findings are based on data collected from Twitter and Telegram, looking at more than 1585 accounts and 480 channels and running follow up searches on numerous platforms.
Data was collected using keywords: Khokhols, Hohols and iterations used as anti-Ukrainian national slurs
The terms were selected given their prominence in Google Search trends. For example, the screenshot below shows the increase in the search of the term Khokhol which surged significantly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Last week I spoke at @journalismfest on how open-source intelligence is used to combat propaganda and uncover new information during Russia's war on Ukraine. Thank you for having me.
I promised to share a list of links to tools and sources. Here it is (I hope it helps) 👇
I often share digital investigation skills, cases and sources at events to help remotely answer core questions such as:
WHERE & WHEN did it happen?
WHAT happened?
WHO is responsible?
And HOW can it be visualised?
So let's start with the case studies.
1: EyesonRussia.org - our community effort to document, verify and map Russia's invasion of Ukraine and share this info with the world.
This is a running thread of satellite imagery showing the destruction seen in Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes. #turkeyearthquake2023