The data has been turned into a visualisation and interactive website by @C4ADS & @Jack_Mrgln. We wanted to make sure that this data is accessible to all levels of researchers, so please do click around and use it to further your investigations & research ocelli.c4ads.org/datainteractive
First, WHO are we?
We're a group of volunteers (yes we do this in our spare time) specialised in mapping and databases. You can see more of what we do at @ocelliproject.
We focus on making publicly available geodatabases to help journalists, investigators and researchers.
WHY did we do this? One look at Rakhine on @googleearth shows scores of villages wiped off the map.
We felt a need to build a freely available dataset documenting every single building with a transparent methodology that could be replicated by anyone.
There has been numerous independent sources of research done in the past, but there's still so much work to do in documenting the horrific story of what was referred to as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing" ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/…
This work is important given the current activity in Myanmar's North where numerous villages and buildings have been burned to the ground.
HOW did we do this project? We followed the six steps seen in the graphic below and we've made this workflow replicable for other subjects that require this approach to large-scale documentation.
Our workflow is based on dividing imagery analysis over a team. How?
We conducted an initial sweep of the area, layered a grid and divided the area up amongst volunteers to go through each square kilometre. We were able to cover 3,283 square kilometres in that manner.
The data interactive shows satellite imagery of before and after the destruction occurred.
As a result of doing this documentation we identified more 38,000 destroyed buildings, more than 24,000 of which had clear burn marks as seen in @googleearth satellite imagery.
We cross-referenced all of our findings with @sentinel_hub imagery. We used freely available satellite imagery in this project for transparency & replicability of findings.
Where possible, we've added timelapses of the destruction such as this one from Myo Thu Gyi
For example, here is one interesting location where villages were destroyed and land was completely cleared. This location is here: goo.gl/maps/n9hbRegRY… around the Anauk Myinhlut and Al Le Than Kyaw area.
Observing areas like this is important, as we have also identified changes along the coastline and small encampments where villages were destroyed and cleared.
We've documented a lot more of new constructions that you can find in the second tab of the spreadsheet here: bit.ly/ocellirakhine
If anyone is doing further work on investigating Rakhine State - we hope this will be helpful.
In there you will also find before and after imagery of every site - we hope that this type of database might assist anyone looking for large datasets for potential development fields
This project would not have been possible without the countless days/weeks/months of dedication from @KayleighRuiter - give her a follow as she is an incredible analyst and makes an epic spreadsheet (here's the proof: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…)
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