OSINT Newsletter #29 — Geolocation Challenge
I’m keeping the momentum going by doing yet another geolocation challenge from Jake Crep’s OSINT Newsletter. I found this one to be pretty easy. Either that, or I’m getting much better at this! The Challenge Questions are: In which city was this image taken? What are the specific coordinates?
As usual, I like to analyse the image for something to hone in on what will at least give me a clue about the geographical region I’m looking at. The thing that catches my eye here are two elements on the sign on the left. I first read UBC and instantly thought “The University of British Columbia?” Examining the other three letters (VGH) along with the surrounding buildings had me thinking “Maybe it means Vancouver General Hospital?” Right underneath the English text on the sign, I could see a sentence in Mandarin. Knowing that the city of Vancouver has a significant Chinese-speaking population, it would make sense that there would be signage in Mandarin to accommodate that demographic.
Before diving headfirst into Google Earth, I verify my hypothesis by searching “VGH UBC”. The first search result confirmed my initial assessment.
Now that the location/facility is confirmed, I searched Vancouver General Hospital on Google Earth. I examined the source image again to select elements that could be viewed from a bird’s eye view, thereby helping me to pinpoint the location. I decided it would be most helpful to look for a sidewalk, trees, a building with pale blue glass, and a tall, white building with a horizontal red part within close vicinity to one another. Additionally, I surmised that this shot must be right next to the street, given how close the sidewalk and grass are to each other.
So far, the elements seemed to be in alignment. With that said, I dropped the little peg man right where I thought the correct spot was and…
Here we stand at 49.26143, -123.12664 in Vancouver, BC.
Thank you for checking this out! Have a blessed day!
