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Advanced Satellite Imagery Techniques (8 hours) Price: EUR 700

Thursday, Sep 24, 2026 at 9:00 AM to Friday, Sep 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT

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Event Information

Thursday, Sep 24, 2026 at 9:00 AM to Friday, Sep 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT

Advanced Satellite Imagery Techniques for Open Source Investigation

2 day, 8h online training

24-25 September 2026, 9 am - 1 pm EDT New York time/ 3 -7 pm CEST Amsterdam time

Price: EUR 700

The ready availability of high-quality satellite images means that if you’re not using them in your open source investigations, you may be missing out on important findings. From determining damage to military bases by kamikaze drones to measuring the impact of oil spills, knowing where to find satellite images and how to interpret them is an indispensable skill for any open source investigator. 

This webinar builds on Bellingcat's Geolocation, Maps and Satellites and Chronolocation webinar, and assumes familiarity with basic satellite imagery tools, including Google Earth and Copernicus Browser.

What you will learn:

You will come away with:

  • An understanding of the differences between various types of satellite imagery including optical imagery, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, and how different types of imagery can be used for open source investigations
  • An understanding of the different types of geospatial data, including raster and vector file formats
  • Familiarity with using Copernicus Hub for visualizing multispectral satellite imagery, and examples of its use in investigations
  • Practice interpreting SAR imagery in a variety of contexts, including analyzing environmental disasters, tracking military movements, and investigating maritime activity
  • Experience using QGIS to visualize and interpret raw satellite imagery
  • Experience using QGIS to combine satellite imagery with other open source geospatial data, including government records and OpenStreetMap
  • Experience using QGIS to annotate and share analysis of satellite imagery
  • An understanding of how AI can be used with satellite imagery, and how this differs from more conventional "chatbot" AIs
  • Practice using AI tools for similar object detection and locating dark ships and oil spills at sea
  • Practice using Google Earth Engine to quantitatively analyze Sentinel-2 imagery
  • Practice using Google Earth Engine to perform change detection and analysis using geospatial foundation models

Experience level: 

This webinar is for people who are familiar with the use of satellite imagery for research, such as Google Maps and Street View, Copernicus Browser and have awareness of alternate satellite imagery sources and mapping services. 

This webinar is not for people with a novice-to-intermediate familiarity of satellite services and tools. 

Logistics: 

The webinar will be led by experienced Bellingcat researchers who will guide you through the material. They have extensive open source research experience and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with you. 

Zoom webinar joining details will be shared with participants in the week before the training. 

Not ready for this level yet:

In case you think you’re not ready to join this webinar, please check our website for upcoming training better matching your needs.

Cancellation policy

You will be registered as a participant only after we have received full payment of the workshop fee;

If you cancel your registration up to one week before the start of the workshop, you will be refunded the total workshop fee, minus EUR 50 +VAT and fees administrative costs;

If you cancel within six to two days before the start of the workshop, you will be reimbursed 50% of the workshop fee. If we are able to replace you with a waiting list candidate, then the total fee minus EUR 50 +VAT and fees administrative costs will be refunded.

If you cancel less than 2 days before the workshop we will not refund the fee. 

About Organizer

Stichting Bellingcat Organizer name

www.bellingcat.com

Bellingcat is an international collective of researchers and citizen journalists using digital verifiable information to investigate a broad range of topics and uncover wrongdoing. Our research is based on facts and evidence and we publish articles with the aim to find objective truth and advance justice, transparency and accountability. We cooperate, share and train others to spread our knowledge, build networks and expand the online open source community.

Contact the Organizer

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Bellingcat?

Bellingcat began by analyzing footage of chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian civil war back in 2014. In recent years we have worked on covering various topics from civilian harm in Ukraine,  through wildlife trafficking in South East Asia, the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa to the luxurious life of Kinahan cartel leaders living openly in Dubai despite an international manhunt. 

We turn that same curiosity into a teachable research skill. Combined with practical knowledge of techniques and tools, that's what this workshop teaches you to do.
How do you screen participants?

We manually approve all applications after registration. We do basic due diligence checks on our participants to be sure that our trainers and all other participants are comfortable with their participation. Members of any police, military or intelligence service are not permitted registration at our workshops, and we allow government employees to join on a case-by-case basis.

Bellingcat reserves the right not to disclose the reasons for declining participation.

That said, the vast majority of participants are approved without any issue.
Who usually attends your workshops?

We have a pretty interesting mix of participants at our trainings. Between a third to a half come from private companies or the corporate world. Among those, we have plenty of information security researchers, corporate security investigators, lawyers, due diligence experts, and other professions. Journalists are the next-most popular profession for our workshops, and then we have a mix of human rights/NGO researchers, academics and students, and even retirees just curious about what this whole OSINT thing is all about.
Can I get an invoice?

In case you need an invoice, please send us an email to workshops@bellingcat.com. 
Can I receive a certificate for the workshops?

Sure! Just email us (workshops@bellingcat.com) after the workshop, and we’ll send you a PDF certificate.
Can I receive a recording of a workshop?

We do not record our workshops, or allow others to record them. However, we do provide copies of our training slides to participants after the completion of the training for their personal reference.
Can I gift a workshop seat to someone else?

Sure! We have had quite a few people buy workshop attendance for a loved one as a birthday or Christmas gift. Just let us know the name of the person who you are buying the seat for when registration so that we can do a basic due diligence check on them (see the Screening section up above). Feel free to email us at workshops@bellingcat.com to make sure we have their proper contact details so they get all of the invitation information on time.