OSINT At Home #4 - Identify a location from a photo or video (geolocation)

This tutorial is part 4 of the OSINT At Home series. It covers how to identify a location from a photo or video using Google Maps - also referred to as geolocation.
The techniques in this video should not be taken alone in their process, as the first three videos in this series cover the image reverse search, looking up metadata, and using advanced search techniques to find out more information in your research. All of this information adds to the context of an image or video you are trying to geolocate.
While I have tried to be as thorough as possible in my geolocation methodology to help you learn or master this technique, this is not a definitive learning resource, and it should be complimented with other resources, such as the ‘more resources’ I have listed below.
Many have asked me about how they can get good at geolocation, like what is seen in this video. I would recommend following some of the accounts I mention in the resources below, especially those that are transparent in their methodology. The other way is to practice, whether that be by geolocating images found on social media, in the news, or through games such as GeoGuessr.
The OSINT At Home series is useful for those looking to find digital breadcrumbs and pick up some methods of open source intelligence (OSINT), digital investigations and good old plain research. No matter who you are, or where you are in the world, you can follow these tutorials from home with publicly available information to answer questions such as who, what, where and when.
TOOLS MENTIONED
GOOGLE MAPS: maps.google.com/
MORE RESOURCES
benjaminstrick...
/ how-to-tell-the-geoloc...
GEOLOCATION ACCOUNTS ON TWITTER
/ obretix
/ il_kanguru
/ bendobrown
/ john_marquee
/ y_vdw
PRACTICE GEOLOCATION:
www.geoguessr....
/ quiztime
ftp.firstdraft...
SUPPORT ME:
Please do consider supporting this content so I can create more and keep it free, independent and accessible to everyone in the world: ko-fi.com/bend...
CREDITS FOR THIS TUTORIAL
MUSIC INTRO: World’s Fair - God Mode
MUSIC END: Dhaka by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
FOOTAGE: Therry_FX/Shutterstock.com/ Alexander Steam/Shutterstock.com
FOOTAGE FROM SYRIA: • Syria, Syrian Army Col...
FOOTAGE FROM MYANMAR: Myanmar Army via AP: apnews.com/art...
FOOTAGE FROM TWITTER: of...

[@PAPAGEORGIOUKONSTANTINOS]

the jealous girlfriend's tool of perfection

[@fucuszullanti7877]

@@LawrenceReitanProbably because you're gay

[@Codebyakshay]

Tool of perv

[@mohsinmanasiya691]

Hello sir. Will you help me if i'll give you video I want location I want to know where that video have been created Please help me out its a request sir

[@munshiyari]

Could you please elaborate the steps you followed after you found thr oil company and the possible roads they might have taken. In the video ite conclusion is slightly abrupt. I understand that you did this to keep the video short. But many people would be keen to know the steps

[@pawpatina]

Not the same technique but I had an ex girlfriend that would go on and on about this magical place she went to one time a few years back on four wheelers. and how she hates that she cant remember how to get there. Well, one day she was ranting about it and she mentioned she even has a pic of her and her cousins sitting on this huge rock the last day of their trip. I ask, "is it on your phone?" She says, "Yea" So I say, "Show me..." She pulls it up, I take her phone, look the pic over for a bit. Then, I open the additional options on the phones photos app with the 3 little dots drop down menu (she had android) and scroll down to the GPS coordinates of the photo, copy, paste into maps, hand her back the phone and ask, "is that the place?" The look on her face was like a God just rode in on a frickin pegasus unincorn... Yes i got head that day....

[@desserted5294]

Frick yeah

[@xl000]

If you don’t have anything in the foreground and need to find the location of the camera, do this: find pairs of features vertically aligned on the picture, ideally one close and one far away. For each pair, locate each feature on a map, and draw a straight line between the two. All of those lines will intersect where the camera was.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

I did this to find the location of a large cave. It was in an area that I'm familiar with but the rock climbers that frequent the area were posting obviously fake GPS coordinates. From screen-grabs of an internet video, I was able to shoot multiple lines from land features that lined up like iron sights on a gun using Google Earth. Viola! Where those lines crossed was the location of the cave.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

This is the cave in question: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJ2Ue31pfNaYfdk I know the area well enough to know that it's overlooking Crater Island to the north. The GPS coordinates being posted were on the south side of this mountain, this view is looking north. Also, the prominent dome-shaped rock on the far left was a very big clue.

[@Just_Another_Hoosier]

​@@Skank_and_Gutterboynice!

[@sn1rrt]

tryna find out who hacked me thanks

[@StanyaG]

I was packing up some of my things and this came on. Five minutes later I had forgotten about packing and was watching right to the end of the video. I looked around and and realised what I was supposed to do. I really liked your video Ben. Thanks for posting.

[@munshiyari]

Ben. Thank you so much for the series. Really useful for anyone who wants to start with OSINT. Look forward to many more videos. Great work

[@Bendobrown]

Glad you like them!

[@MetaView7]

smoking at a petrol station. Brilliant !

[@TheBoschLife]

Hi Ben it would be interesting to know how far the service station was from the Hotel. In context I would guess its about 500 km away from the hotel as it would be around the first time they would wanted to refill on gas. Could be a way to safe a bit of time on the search

[@The_Scarlet_Pimpernel]

Why didn't you just ask Google maps to show Esso garages along my route?

[@dzie_to]

I'm actually running a competition for geolocating some stuff (theme based). It's in Polish, but I guess anyone can get it since location to find is always at the end of the video. Monthly prize is ~100$, small, but my channels is not monetized :D. Lots of locations can be found using Google Lens. Even really uncommon ones. If there are buildings with some features, lens is quite good at finding it, and gives you the name. Then it's just matter of typing the name in the google maps and sometimes even it shows maps location in the results. Fortunately it's quite easy to fool :D.

[@idmmxx1871]

7:44 And who is that, 🤣!

[@mykalimba]

I think to be fair, that Esso station would have been very difficult to locate with only the one image for information. It is the prior post and association to the location in Munich that drastically narrowed down your search.

[@fsq2396]

OSINT is free for all, if you need to get information, you can get it with any resources available, otherwise you are boxing yourself in.

[@richardrodriguez1742]

I thought about this when America was tracking down Osama Bin Laden, only I was going to map the terrain in his photo & match it up with google earth spot elevations.

[@patiaditya]

Great video ! Learned more in 30 mins than one would in 30 days without quality resources, like this one.

[@Bendobrown]

You are very welcome. I am glad you found it helpful!

[@fattycheese]

same

[@Sagittarius-A-Star]

Well - good luck in finding a location in an arbitrary Chinese Megacity without well known landmarks.

[@Alan_Hans__]

It's probably easier to locate him now. He hasn't moved much in the last 12 months.

[@cyb3r_inv3stig4dor]

good morning my friend, thanks for the content, I'm a private investigator here in Brazil, and many of your content helped us to close some cases, without leaving home... Thank you very much, long life..."SEMPER PARATUS"

[@dodoservicesxbox3608]

you just arent though

[@RealBasil143]

​@@dodoservicesxbox3608You dont even have a job. Private investigators arent even that rare.

[@ancap_saki]

boa mano, mais um br aq hehe

[@Yohan421-e5g]

could u share some of how you guys operate? goals? process of investigating? how you guys document the investigation?

[@patriktombelle185]

I just found your yt channel, and I have to admit that I´m astonished for your high quality videos and for your educational style. You´re helping me a lot to learn about OSINT. Thank you!

[@Bendobrown]

Wow, thank you! 🙏

[@BobWebb1066]

some of us urban explorers have used tricks like these for many years :]

[@paulpestille8334]

...or you could look at the parked car registration and deduce it's in Germany and save yourself a lot of time!

[@mewintle]

I was really surprised he didn’t do that. That was my Step 1.

[@Dexter101x]

Easter egg building? Since when was the gherkin building called the Easter egg?

[@co_motion]

Thank you for the tutorial. Watching from Myanmar here. Trying to make video about current situation in Myanmar. Really didn’t expected to see Myanmar in this video.

[@Bendobrown]

You are so very welcome. Please don't hesitate to contact me on my email, or through my Twitter at @bendobrown if you would like any assistance.

[@MarcanthonyTho]

What is the current situation?

[@co_motion]

@@MarcanthonyTho Total chaos. Murder, rape, arbitrary arrests, torture and may unspeakable things committing by the military.

[@MarcanthonyTho]

@@co_motion I will be praying for you, Samuel and for your family. What is the reason for these crimes going on?

[@co_motion]

@@MarcanthonyTho thank you. It all started with the coup on Feb 1st. The military took down the civilian government and brutally crack down on the protesters. Now all the civilians are like cattle to the slaughter.

[@Jerry10939]

I do the same thin to find locations around the world.

[@zabihullahghouri7194]

We have a situation here.. Here in Pakistan , satellite view is not as yours ! i mean we only see the routes not the people..Even if we take a picture , there are just imaginary lines that shows streets.. Might be that view is restricted due to security reasons !

[@anettebianca6855]

from Pakistan: not surprised you can't see detail ;)

[@matsewunderlich]

This is Crazy! I love these investigations for photo locations, take time and a cup of coffe to find out where the place is, - and it is only 5 Kilometres away from my home 😀. Very cool video 👍

[@retiredtom1654]

I have attempted to locate places from photos. It's like a puzzle and enjoyable.

[@pascalyoutubetutorial383]

I jsut love it how he always says on the picture in 3d view streetview to everyperson: oh hello, hi xD

[@PolYGlokk]

Is this the guy who killed himself in prison?

[@TheConflictLibrary]

Hi, what software do you use to zoom in on pictures? I use Paint 3D but it is not very good at zooming in with quality. What platform do you use to zoom?

[@sultanqureshi2766]

In India 15 year old guys do this to get live update about their crush.... and hunt the other boys like osama bin laden just from their room. You lecture was good.

[@jeffbeck6699]

They call him the Pegman.

[@redteam77]

Now the hard stuff. Cross Row in Lemington-upon-Tyne England is a street where my ancestors lived which no longer exists. I used an old photo from a history society. It showed a brick chimney stack still existing and a row of single story bungalows. I used Google maps and street view to get the same view and using a building (now demolished) with a haystack roof, I could triangulate Cross Row. I was awesome to visit England and stand where my ancestors lived. That was 7 years ago. Some times you have to use old geographical survey maps mid to late 1800s. It's fun comparing these maps to Google. you see how accurate they were and some roads have been straightened since. Overall I really enjoyed your work, but had a laugh at the Easter egg building reference as the locals call it the gherkin and I call it a bullet. The other buildings are the shard and the thumb drive. I have a 1951 family photo with penciled on the back "on holidays". I think it may be Blackpool but the railway station from the time has long ago been demolished. All the best from DownUnder.

[@arttaylor5935]

Try posting a copy of your family photo online or searching for other photos of the station you think it is. For a photo taken in 1906 by my grandfather, labeled "CNR depot, Saskatoon, 1906", I googled that caption and within minutes found several photos in the collection of the Saskatoon Public Library's Local History Department. Within 24 hours, I had asked if they had any information about the subject and learned that about 1910, the building shown had been demolished and replaced with a larger one. Decades later, that was also demolished and replaced with a shopping mall. That explained why I couldn't find it on Google Maps, even though there was a legible sign for a local business in the background of my shot, and none of the several current locations for that company on Google lined up with any railway tracks.

[@chadperling2766]

@14:30 Myanmar photo, YOU CAN SEE a river! It's the green s shape at the top of the picture. A green line like that tells you there is water.

[@darkphantom_01]

Wow,u really found macaffee i expected to be hard ❤

[@Bendobrown]

Yeah it could be hard if you were brute forcing it. But a couple of visual clues save so much time!

[@BIGIKE1720]

I’ve used these services on Twitter before! Lol This is actually good info for anyone to simply be AWARE OF. Stay safe.

[@Bendobrown]

Awareness is key. Thank you!

[@VickersDoorter]

4:48 Basingstoke. Yep, that's definitely Basingstoke.

[@rockyBalboa6699]

So this is how Interpol caught John Mcaffee and put him in a cold dungeon!

[@karanvirsingh7427]

So helpful man❤❤nice work dude👍

[@Bendobrown]

Glad it helped

[@ChandravijayAgrawal]

John wants to know your location

[@Bendobrown]

😬

[@xenon244]

27:20 Noooo I hope he does not! Theres Pfand on that can !

[@Joopfyi]

Very cool!

[@elkien3]

One thing that is important is that some phones will flip selfies, which you may need to take into consideration.

[@jfmezei]

At 08:18, I paused your video. Found the place. (and it is clear you knew ahead of doing the view where it was from hoew you descrived he round railing likley on round building - a round railing could be on a round balcony on a perfectly square building BTW :-) Also notable; this photo no longer possible. The cherkin is no longer bisible from that angle due to some other building haveing been built in frront. From aligning between the Gherkin and Sky Garden ( looking at its slant to ensure I was at right side of it), I moved back. Another hint is that on the image below the location, the street points to the Sky Garden building. I found it by progressively step]ping back in the angle that would let me see the gherkion and sky gardern (if that building didn't hiude the gherkin) until I found the building that was a rectangle with rounded corners and with a rectangle on its roof (on right of image) and when I look back, saw the place where person took selfie. VerificatioN; the strange roof of building on left of image, and of course the railing which, for London, has enough resolution in Google Maps to sufficuently see. OK, now I shall unpause and see your path to finding the location :-)

[@yifuwang2269]

This is informative, thank you mate.

[@OmarrKoroma-k7c]

Human Data

[@amazonaaron428]

I don’t know how to die. I am gonna kms if I can’t find specific location I am looking for 25:22

[@blbreptiles4126]

"Behind this... big... gentleman"

[@Quasihamster]

Cool, I do this sort of stuff out of curiosity sometimes when watching dashcam videos :D

[@adammagson5725]

Absolutely fantastic video. Loved it

[@Bendobrown]

Thanks Adam! Much appreciated 🙏

[@mokshpatil3316]

great video mate. and what about the beer ??😂

[@Bendobrown]

No beer, and I don't think that will be coming anytime soon. Sad to see he's not with us anymore.

[@sp4rtavus244]

Within a a second I knew it was St Paul’s

[@Bendobrown]

One of my favourite places to sit and ponder 🤓

[@sylvie040]

if you stay far enough from the picture, you see the man is one with a beard, and is smiling.

[@TBaldwin-ji7gt]

Well, simply because they look nefarious. In fact, he probably lifted the can of red bull. I check the interior store cams.

[@kintamasis]

there is software witch tells all forensic data of immage, things like witch camera it was taken on and default picture no. resolution and even GPS coordinates absolutely all phones and digital cameras has it. Please do not waste time comparing trees and builings in bacground. Have a nice day!

[@Bendobrown]

Yep, covered that in one of my first videos. It’s called metadata (or exif). Almost every social media platform removes this data upon upload, so good luck sticking with that 😬

[@mewintle]

You also mentioned checking EXIF in the video, but didn’t go into detail, assuming everyone knows that obvious step, and also that it’s usually stripped these days (for years, actually). At the beginning of his campaign, Trump actually left the Twitter location tag feature on and everyone could track his location every tweet. Which was quite often at that time. It was one of the things that made you realize it was really him tweeting and that he had no tech people on staff. You could even catch him lying about his location sometimes.

[@muskerp]

I was a bit confused when I looked at the st pauls picture, the "round building" at 09:51 is not visible today as it is obscured by the Bloomberg building which was completed in 2017 so we know the picture was taken before then. We could probably check other buildings in the shot to narrow the date down more.

[@MrBIDNEZZMAN]

Wow you're super good at this! Very impressive to follow along Ben :)

[@Bendobrown]

Thanks so much!

[@arshjamadar25]

the gentleman with a redbull can

[@matthewfeeley6226]

Thankyou that was excellent to watch

[@Bendobrown]

Thanks Matthew - I hope it helps!

[@jfmezei]

How did you find the station at Baden Baden? Brute force by going along the routes at low enough antotude to spot ahy Esso petrol station? Did you ask Mr Google for all Esso stations? Seeing the image, I was concerned that it did not have the Esso logo on the side of the roof sicne it is normall on the left side of the roof over pumps. (aka: it could have been a former Esso station that only removed the logo, so wouldn't be listed as ESSO). Also, when you did find it, I was going "quick, go street vew, go street view, and then "why isn't he going street view? " :-) Street View would be first thing I would do to verify site.

[@YodaWasSith]

Gas companies aren't keen on keeping competing companies colors or logos on their property, they quite quickly and easily change the location to match their style. They're oligarchs, they don't second-hand use anything. The station at Baden Baden is an ideal stopping point. If you just imagine any person trying to drive a long distance, they're going to have to stop at some point either for fuel or for comfort, or both. If you know the gas station they stopped at, it wouldn't even be hard to say "esso station near xyz city" and there are only a limited number of Esso stations between point a and point b. And you can logically deduce a relative distance from point a to the gas station based on the average mpg of cars today. Ideally what you need is the common sense you claim to have but clearly lack in the final paragraph of your comment.

[@petervitale4431]

So how was that beer?

[@LCculater]

Why would anyone share their personal phone with your spouse or anyone else ???? That’s private !!! Mine is turned off

[@angiealtshuller9945]

Hi Ben, I have a picture of a house with a Google Maps stamp on it. I need to trace the exact location (I only know the city and the area it's in). Reversed picture search didn't give any results, which is odd. Is there a way to find it?

[@Gagikcarapetyan_]

Is there any ways to find locations from only hills in shitty quality where Google maps doesn’t work ? For example a war footage in mountains ?

[@-youssefmobarak]

Man I’m a a mass media student …I love your videos❤

[@Bendobrown]

Thank you so much! Hope they help in your studies!

[@neokorteks2009]

location from photo

[@palvini]

after wrote to me on ;

[@WorldWideHyperspace]

The people who do this for fun basically run on: Hey, wouldnt it be funny if we did this.

[@orourkeseant]

Ben, love your series! Haven't finished this video yet but...this first photo looks photoshopped..you may find this location but i am not sure they were there!

[@marioflat]

tx. good information. a new follower here now.

[@Bendobrown]

Welcome 🙏

[@sweetmrpotato5467]

Hey dude. I've been enjoying this series so far and really wanna try it out. But i cant seem to find more images to try osint on. Do you know any source that can get me this ? I don't wanna do this to any of my friends cause it's a privacy invasion 😅. It would help big time of i got some source. Thanks ^_^

[@xTradio98x]

Don´t put the Redbull in the bin! In Germany we have this thing called "Pfand" :)

[@dbrothers30]

Your videos are fantastic! Thank you!!

[@Bendobrown]

You're very welcome!

[@LubaLuba1]

I have an image of a structure it’s a resort I don’t have address but I was wondering if the image could be identified from what’s out there

[@zuhayr1337]

Vedder man, come on...

[@quicktutorials7662]

Still can't find Vedder hahaha

[@DonnyDarko5]

Did he buy you that beer he owed you???

[@Bendobrown]

Nope 😅

[@elektrolyte]

i think you are talking about google EARTH!!! not MAPS

[@trevorzzealley2670]

No doubt the authorities are using similar methods to prosecute war crimes & gather information on all sorts of stuff . What do you think ?

[@johnnyr1720]

Truly fascinating. Thank you.

[@mr.english310]

Can you show us where to get radiation data and map Fukushima's plume over time?

[@CreatingAlong]

11:17 why did you blur the main guys face the whole video but not these 5 people?

[@SilverSergeant]

"Trucks don't go into small towns" Really?????

[@SD-eu7ht]

That was brilliant

[@HeavenOnEarthMap]

Did you get your beer? GREAT WORK DETECTIVE!

[@Dexter101x]

How are you able to tilt the angle of the map?

[@blogtonight1698]

Ctrl + mousewheel in Google Earth

[@Tscharlieh]

…skips over the most important part: „It took me some time…“..;-).

[@_PJW_]

Very educational. Instruction quality.

[@naradaian]

Sarod is kool

[@MohamedAhmed-ox9xl]

great

[@davidanon3296]

I will pay you to find a location for me. It will be worth your time. Can I email you?

[@kskerlake1284]

thanks dude. you‘re the best

[@Bendobrown]

You're welcome!

[@kelseymariebell1357]

What if the photo is fake, though? Or photoshopped?

[@jheimissantos8682]

amazing!

[@JACB006]

Is there anywhere I can post a Geo Location challenge?

[@kelseymariebell1357]

Thank you for these!

[@Bendobrown]

Glad you like them!

[@robvercouteren]

very cool, but, did you get your beer? :P

[@wingrovedl]

So........ What kind of beer did he buy you?

[@xyz8655]

D1NSX sent me

[@tooyoungtobeold8756]

Bowsers? We call them pumps.

[@nicolek4076]

A bowser in a tanker. The name you want is "petrol pump". Easy when you think a little.

[@Bendobrown]

Oh ok. Thanks