Category: Conflicts

More on GPS Jamming in the Strait of Hormuz

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

BBC News on GPS jamming in the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran:

The interference currently affecting ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz is far from the first time that [maritime intelligence analyst Michelle Wise] Bockmann has observed GPS jamming impacting vessels’ Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).

The same thing happened in this region last year during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, and electronic interference has also troubled vessel navigators in the Baltic Sea. But, she says, “This is next-level.”

Previously: GPS Jamming and the Iran War.

GPS Jamming and the Iran War

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

GPS jamming has become pretty much endemic in every conflict, open, hybrid or frozen, so it’s no surprise that it’s going on in the Persian Gulf: “Though commercial vessels are not the target, the electronic interference disrupted the navigation systems of more than 1,100 commercial ships in UAE, Qatari, Omani and Iranian waters on February 28, according to a report from Windward, a shipping intelligence firm.” The CNN article goes on to explain why GPS (and other GNSS systems) are so vulnerable, and how spoofing and jamming have become so commonplace.

The Map Behind the Preah Vihear Border Conflict

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
Detail from a series of French maps published 1905-1909 depicting the boundary between Siam and French Indochina.
Wikimedia Commons

On the Geographical magazine website, Tim Marshall explains how a 1907 topographical map fuels a current-day border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. And without any imagery of the map at all (right). It’s about the lands around the Preah Vihear temple; the temple itself was assigned to Cambodia in a 1953 ruling. (And not to be confused with Preah Vihear the province or Preah Vihear the provincial capital, which is some distance from. A reference map would have helped, honestly.)

World War II Aerial Reconnaissance Photos of England

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Historic England has posted some 3,600 aerial images of England, of a collection totalling more than 20,000, taken during World War II by USAAF reconnaissance aircraft. This was done as part of the crews’ training—their job was to collect aerial photos of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, but they needed to practise first—and as so often happens in history, information collected for one purpose can pay unexpected and unrelated historical dividends: a wealth of aerial imagery from 1943 and 1944. The images are available via this interactive map. [PetaPixel]

Previously: Historic England’s Aerial Photo Explorer.

The Aftermath of the Kakhovka Dam’s Destruction

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

A pair of Landsat images showing the drainage of the Kakhovka Reservoir in Ukraine after the Kakhovka Dam was breached on 6 June 2023.
Kakhovka Reservoir on 7 June 2022 (top) and 18 June 2023 (bottom). Landsat 8/OLI and Landsat 9/OLI-2, respectively. NASA Earth Observatory/USGS/Lauren Dauphin.

NASA Earth Observatory has before-and-after satellite imagery showing the impact of the destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka Dam last month. The Kakhovka Reservoir is emptying out (above), the irrigation canals that relied on that reservoir are drying out, and there was flooding downriver of the dam in the immediate aftermath of the breach.

Mapping Russia’s Military Presence in Crimea

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Journalists working for Radio Liberty’s Crimean Realities project have released an interactive map of Crimea showing the location of more than 200 Russian military facilities. It’s meant as a warning to residents: these are the areas you need to stay away from. In Russian and Ukrainian only. News coverage: Radio Svoboda (Ukrainian; Google Translate), Ukrainska Pravda (English), Newsweek. [Maps Mania]

Updated Satellite Imagery of Ukraine Reveals Russian Fortifications, Damage

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Recent satellite imagery reveals the extent of Russian defensive fortifications built in the past few months in occupied territory in anticipation of Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive: see coverage from CNN and Reuters. Meanwhile, Maps Mania reports that Google Maps’ updated satellite imagery of Ukraine shows the damage inflicted by the Russian invasion.

Tracking the Russian Invasion of Ukraine with Satellite Imagery

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Bloomberg’s MapLab newsletter looks at how freely available satellite imagery has enabled widespread monitoring of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

When the invasion of Ukraine started, these images started popping up on social media and in the news so often that it seems like most of us have access to advanced satellite imagery intelligence in real time. […] But the role of commercial providers in acquiring and sharing so many images with such regularity is unprecedented. Their rise has made military-grade intelligence available to pretty much everyone who wishes to look into it.

What’s notable is that because the satellites are commercial, the images aren’t classified.

Google Didn’t Stop Obscuring Imagery of Russian Military Sites Because the Imagery Hadn’t Been Obscured in the First Place

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Yesterday, reports that Google Maps had stopped obscuring satellite imagery of sensitive Russian military facilities spread like wildfire across Twitter. Only there was no official announcement from Google saying they’d done so, and while Ukrainian Twitter was seriously running with it, I wanted to see some confirmation from the mapping side. In the event, an update to Ars Technica’s story says that Google hadn’t stopped blurring the imagery—the imagery hadn’t been blurred in the first place. “A Google spokesperson told Ars that the company hasn’t changed anything with regard to blurring out sensitive sites in Russia, so perhaps none of us were looking closely until now.”

The Design Choices Behind Maps of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

In Geographical magazine, Doug Specht and Alexander Kent examine some of the design choices made by media organizations mapping the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Cartographic design choices over colour, layout, lettering and symbology, for example, all influence our attitudes and feelings towards the war in Ukraine. […] [B]y understanding how these choices (e.g., regarding the selection and classification of features as well as their colour and symbology) mask the nuances of reality, we can be better at reading the stories they are trying to tell.”

Relatedly, in a Twitter thread, Le Monde’s cartographic team explores the decisions behind one of their print maps (in French).

Previously: How Maps of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Can Mislead; Mapping the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Roundup #3.

Mapping the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Roundup #3

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The Financial Times has a storymap exploring how Russian mistakes and unexpectedly stiff Ukrainian resistance changed the expected outcome of the war. [Maps Mania]

Bellingcat has launched a map showing civilian harm in Ukraine. “Included in the map are instances where civilian areas and infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed, where the presence of civilian injuries are visible and/or there is the presence of immobile civilian bodies. […] We intend this to be a living project that will continue to be updated as long as the conflict persists.”

In a Twitter thread, Levi Westerfeld explores how the New York Times graphics department changed its map symbology as the Russian invasion progressed.

In another Twitter thread, Nathan Ruser (see roundups passim) shares a variety of maps showing different ways of looking at the invasion, from momentum to front lines to territory held.