Recent Work
A program to automate the collection and geocoding of data from Telegram channels using LLMs and mapping tools. Intended for use by OSINT researchers looking to parse large amounts of data from news channels and plot them geospatially.
Sudan Fire Map
Worked with the Centre for Information Resilience to automate the detection of arson attacks against civilians in Sudan. This automatic detection system built for the CIR’s ‘Sudan Witness’ project uses data from NASA FIRMS and ESA Sentinel-2.
SARfish (Dark Vessel Detection)
SARfish is a vessel detection model designed to help Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) researchers investigate maritime traffic using data from Sentinel-1. The model enables the detection of so-called ‘dark vessels’ with their AIS turned off.
SARveillance (OSINT Tool)
A program allowing anyone to easily create Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar time series visualisations. Created as part of a push to track the Russian military build-up prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Role Of Geospatial In Open Source Intelligence (Podcast Interview)
“This kind of investigation is about pulling together a whole lot of things that everyone knows, or everyone could know, and then seeing how those things all work together.”
Weaponising a Heat Wave in Iraq
On July 1, temperatures in Basra reached 51 degrees. Residents were left to cool themselves any way they could in the searing heat, the rich with air conditioning, the poor making do with fans or buckets of water. Then the power went out.
China's hydropower grab in the Himalayas
A new dam on the Brahmaputra River will become a future flashpoint for conflict, particularly between India and China, threatening downstream countries while posing only minimal risk to its parent nation.
Unrest: Hungry for More?
On the 4th of March, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) released the latest update to its Food Price Index. The update showed that global food prices had risen for the 9th consecutive month, and are now at six-year-highs.
Mozambique: A Cyclonic Insurgency?
The East African state of Mozambique has long suffered from political violence, as well as environmental problems. However, in 2019 it suffered a historically unprecedented triple blow.
A Complex Conflagration
The largest wildfire in the history of California is still burning. An even larger fire burns in Oregon, causing the state’s capital, Portland, to have the worst air quality of anywhere on Earth. Dozens are dead, half a million have been forced to flee their homes.
Reestablishing Reality
In a post-truth era there are new tools and techniques for investigating. Michael Cruickshank explains the fast-growing field of open-source intelligence.
Mapping Doomsday (Presentation)
The world is entering a new era of instability. The climate crisis will put great pressure on the (relatively) peaceful balance of world politics. But the field of open source intelligence (OSINT) provides us with a new and unique way to map, study and predict these flashpoints.