In the autumn of 2024, I set down to create a unique dataset on war and armed conflict. I pored over hundreds of satellite images of everything from refugee camps, artillery gun lines, trench systems, through to blown up bridges and the aftermath of missile strikes. Each image was dutifully geolocated on Google Maps, tagged with keywords, and a reference added for attribution. It was a mammoth undertaking. In what turned into a multi-month project, I had inadvertently conducted a meta-study of how satellite imagery is used in Western press and civil society. I learned not just about its role in framing and driving narratives, but also how even disparate data points, when corralled and brought to order, present a wealth of information for those seeking it. But first, a short prelude to explain why I did this.  

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I am a forensic imagery analyst. I interpret footage captured by satellites, drones and mobile devices to make sense of complex environments. I seek to answer questions such as: what happened here? When did it happen? And what are the military, humanitarian, or international law implications? I create analytical products that enable others to make decisions. Of the resources commonly used in my field, satellite imagery is a mainstay in the Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) operator’s toolkit. Whether you are mapping incidents, monitoring changes, or exploring the topography of an area of interest, satellite and aerial imagery are integral to the research process of amateur sleuths and professionals alike. However, there are two interlinked problems when it comes to accessing data: availability and cost. High-resolution, commercial imagery offers excellent coverage but comes with a hefty price tag for those without a funding stream to draw upon. And, while there are satellite resources freely available online, they have notable limitations in spatial and temporal resolution. Google Earth Pro, a widely used tool, offers excellent 30 cm and 50 cm imagery, but may not update an area for months or even years. Meanwhile, Sentinel and Landsat satellites provide outstanding re-visit coverage every five to eight days, but at 10 m and 30 m spatial resolution. These circumstances have prompted OSINT researchers like myself to turn to innovative solutions to find new or novel data sources. This is how The Vault – as I call it – came into being.

The fact is, high-resolution imagery is being posted online regularly, but there is a nuance; these images are snapshots of current events, often never intended as research material in their own right. News outlets, for example, publish satellite imagery in their reporting, either as the main ‘scoop’ of the story or as an illustrative visual. An oil refinery may have been attacked, a build-up of military forces observed, or a secretive nuclear facility spotted for the first time; all these developments are likely to be depicted in an image of the general area and an accompanying close-up of the point of interest. These pictorial representations provide an accessible medium with obvious appeal to readerships: we can see and judge for ourselves the story being described.  

Beyond the mainstream media, satellite images have also become a regular feature in government press releases, NGO investigative reports, think tank case studies, and OSINT activism. The prevalence of these snippets of imagery is such that their inclusion in storytelling, truth-seeking, and the daily churn of news reporting is now the norm. We are not........

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