A photo of a landscape or a city – but where was it taken? A US company, Graylark Technologies, has developed software that can answer this question. However, it is not intended for general use, and there are good reasons for this.
The system, called Geospy, uses artificial intelligence to determine where a photo was taken. It can identify a location relatively accurately, such as which city or area a photo was taken in. However, it does not go down to the street or house number level.
To determine a location, Geospy analyzes information contained in the photo, such as vegetation, building architecture, or the distance between buildings. Even the type of road surface is considered. The system was previously trained with millions of images from around the world.
According to the company, it is particularly good at recognizing locations in the USA. But it can also identify places elsewhere in the world. Geospy allows those without expertise to accomplish in a short time what Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) experts train for years to do and always put considerable effort into.
Geospy is intended for authorities. Graylark Technologies explicitly developed Geospy for authorities, including law enforcement, and introduced it in 2024. Until recently, however, the system was publicly accessible, as reported by the US magazine 404 Media. 404 Media was able to create a free user account and use the AI system.
In tests conducted by 404 Media, Geospy identified the location in clear and well-lit smartphone photos as well as in low-resolution ones from a public surveillance camera. However, company founder Daniel Heinen had previously mentioned in the Graylark Discord that the public version was a demo. The version for law enforcement is more powerful.
404 Media asked Heinen for a comment but did not receive a response. However, Graylark closed the public access to Geospy.
While it can be practical – who hasn’t held an old vacation photo and wondered where it was taken – it also offers immense possibilities for misuse by private individuals and authorities. For instance, stalkers asked Heinen on Discord if he could help them find certain women, which Heinen vehemently refused.
“It’s one thing for the police to apply this to a photo that is evidence in solving a serious crime. It’s a completely different matter to use it on a large scale to create a geolocation database or to gather information about people not involved in suspected illegal activities,” said Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation to 404 Media. He also fears that law enforcement could arrest uninvolved individuals due to inaccurate or false localizations from Geospy.