Verifying Photo Locations
Here’s an unexpected side effect of the pandemic - the water’s flowing through the canals of Venice is clear for the first time in forever. The fish are visible, the swans returned.
Because I’m a massive verification nerd who hates fun, here’s a little thread on geolocating these photos that people are claiming aren’t from Venice.
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Now, let’s see if we can find another image, this one will be a little tougher as we’ve no bridge to help narrow down possible locations, so let’s see who can beat me to it.
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So we’re looking for 3 building, painted orange, red, and pink in that order. Satellite imager isn’t much use, but Google Earth has 3D buildings, that allows you to look at a larger area than Street View allows all at once.
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A quick Google of “ponte dei ferali venezia” brings up plenty of images that seem similar, but how do I know this isn’t just another very similar bridge? Well, I need to find close up photographs of the brickwork and other features and match it perfectly with the original image.
See also: Bellingcat’s Online Investigation Toolkit.
Previously:
That's hilarious. I was in Venice last year, went to Burano, and painted that bridge. I don't think there's any malice in conflating Venice and Burano, though. Burano *is* part of the comune of Venice, even though it may not be exactly what people think when they hear "Venice."