LOCATION

Verifying the location of a video depends on a careful assessment of unique identifiers: geographic, cultural, clothing, language used, and so on.

Each of these can provide contextual clues to the location or corroborating information. Search for useful information (street signs, car license plates, buildings, street furniture, etc) that can help you pinpoint an exact location, through search or mapping.

Make use of freely available mapping tools, Wikimapia, Yandex, Baidu, Google Maps, and Bing Maps.

If there are landmarks (such as a mosque, a water tower), filter by building type on Wikimapia:

This will allow you to narrow your search on mapping services that provide satellite imagery or street-level images.

Use advanced techniques to corroborate information in the video – what can you tell from accents, from military uniforms, from weapons used, from vehicles or munitions?

The two case studies appended to this report give numerous examples of geographic verification.