
A photo file contains a lot more than what the eyes see. This is because its metadata has a wealth of information coded within it.
First and foremost, the metadata contained within a photo offers information about camera settings such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focal length, as well as device information like the make and model of the camera or smartphone used. It also provides the exact date and time the photo was taken, and if location services were enabled, it includes the GPS coordinates of the photo's location.
The IPTC data (International Press Telecommunications Council) provides additional details such as the title, description, and keywords, which are useful for searching and categorizing the image, as well as copyright information and the creator's name.
There is also XMP data (Extensible Metadata Platform), which can include more comments or rights management details like licensing information.
The metadata also provides specific information includes the file format (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.), the resolution (width and height in pixels), and the file size (in bytes or kilobytes).
Lastly, many photo files contain a thumbnail, a smaller preview image stored for quick display.
And one tool is using AI to learn this all, to be able to pinpoint a photo to its exact location in just seconds.
However, the AI here isn't extracting the GPS coordinates.
In fact, no AI is needed for that
What the AI is used for image recognition, in which it's able to guess the location of photos based on visible features inside the image itself—such as vegetation, architecture, and the distance between buildings.
The tool called 'GeoSpy' from Graylark Technologies out of Boston, can do this because the technology it uses is considered a geospatial intelligence, which relies on AI to enhance the analysis, interpretation, and prediction of geographic data.
To be able to do this, the AI was trained on millions of images from around the world.
From there, the tool is able to recognize "distinct geographical markers such as architectural styles, soil characteristics, and their spatial relationships."
AI is applied in several ways within GeoSpy, including data Interpretation and classification, object detection and tracking, predictive analysis, anomaly detection, natural language processing (NLP) and more.
Use cases include predicting areas of potential flooding, the spread of wildfires, or urban growth patterns, getting insight on geographic data, and more.
It can also locate crime scenes posted on social media with ease.
AI can now track where all the crime posted on social media is happening pic.twitter.com/gN23qcFUJs
— Daniel Heinen (@heinenbros) December 29, 2024
Superbolt in Action!
Graylark’s Superbolt can pinpoint ultra low-context images like a nighttime shooting scene on Channel Street in San Francisco. This real-time geolocation model is a game-changer for emergency response, law enforcement, and OSINT. … pic.twitter.com/y6T83VHx65— Graylark (@GrayLark_io) November 14, 2024
According to Maltego, a partner of Graylark that uses GeoSpy;
"The system has been trained on millions of images worldwide, enabling it to recognize distinct geographical markers such as architectural styles, soil characteristics, and their spatial relationships. GeoSpy processes each image through its sophisticated AI model, providing a ranked list of the top 10 most likely locations with precise coordinates. With particularly strong coverage in the United States, the system maintains global capabilities for location identification."
Announcing GeoSpy Vision Beta!
Combining the power of autonomous AI agents for intelligence collection with advanced computer vision models. Search, analyze, and understand visual data at scale.
Multi-Agent web intelligence collection
Zero-shot object detection &… pic.twitter.com/UyXzr0LG3O— Graylark (@GrayLark_io) December 12, 2024
But for those with privacy concerns, this tool can also pinpoint photos to the exact location they were taken.
The AI it uses doesn't rely entirely on metadata, and can utilize its visual knowledge to guess, meaning that no photo or video is safe, unless that location has not been documented.
While the tools can help law enforcements and the police with their job, and aid first responders to be able to quickly reach the location they're trying to reach, this tool has also been used by public users, many of who tried using it to stalk specific women.
The company’s founder has aggressively pushed back against such requests, and GeoSpy closed off public access after it was given a heads up.