Thread by @AllForOsint

Hey #OSINT, did you know the importance of Google Photos in OSINT investigation?

A thread 🧵

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It analyzes photos, identifying various visual features and subjects.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #Google

1/n

Users can search for anything in photos, with the service returning results from 3 major categories: People, Places, and Things.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos

2/n

The computer vision of Google Photos recognizes faces (not only those of humans, but pets as well), grouping similar ones together, geographic landmarks and subject matter, including birthdays, buildings, animals, food, and more.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos

3/n

For example, there's this picture from a tweet (

https://twitter.com/LvivJournal/status/1572660004146012161

)

It's a picture of a protester detained by Russian police officers. From the description, it happened in Moscow.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos

4/n

You can find the location using street view, but this it's very specific and Moscow is a very large area.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos #Tips

5/n

Therefore, using Google photos before you explore with street view will make it easier to narrow down your searching perimeter, or even it wouldn't be necessary at all to use street view if you find the exact location with Google Photos.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #Tips

6/n

These are some steps on how to find that location using Google photo:

1. There are some clues from the picture, but the clearest one is the sign “Shokoladnitsa”

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos #Tips

7/n

2. Now lets type “Shokoladnitsa” in the search bar and carefully examine the images.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos #Tips

8/n

3. There are many “Shokoladnitsa” cafes in moscow, and this picture seems to be similar to our image.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos #Tips

9/n

4. You could copy the link & open in another tab, now select the satellite view in the bottom left and as you could notice, there would be location pointers on the map as you hover over the images in the bottom.

#OSINTForAll #Geolocation #GooglePhotos #Tips

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