This is a simple example just using EXIF data, so the only information we’re going to extract from an image are the GPS coordinates. Once we have an idea where an image might have been taken, we can use mapping tools or existing images to compare and check to see if we’re right. Verify – we need to check our research findings to see if they are correct. This could be something like a car registration plate or an unusual architectural feature. Research – we examine the data points we extracted and then research them to see if they are able to give us further information about the location. Sometimes this can be hard, but we’ll look at ways to do this in later videos in this series. Here’s what each stage involves:Įxtract – gather as many information points from the image as possible. No matter the complexity of a geolocation task, these three steps are essentially the same for each image that we’re going to attempt to geolocate. In this series you’ll hear me use the term extract, research, verify a lot. Nevertheless there are still plenty of images with EXIF out there, and knowing how to use this data is an important tool to have in your OSINT kitbag. If you can it’s always best to work with an original image if possible. This is great from a privacy viewpoint, but it means that finding an image on the web that still contains useful EXIF data is very rare. Although it is fast and very accurate, almost every social media site, web service, or messaging app removes GPS information from any images that they process.

It sounds simple enough – but there’s a big problem with this method.

Jeffrey's exif viewer