Expert guides on open-source intelligence, geospatial analysis, satellite tracking, environmental monitoring, and investigative techniques.
Move beyond correlation to establish causation. Granger causality, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, and synthetic control methods applied to intelligence data.
TechnicalHow we render thousands of orbital objects at 60fps using SGP4 propagation, WebGL instancing, level-of-detail switching, and smart culling on CesiumJS.
TechnicalA practitioner's comparison of the three major web globe engines — rendering quality, data layer support, licensing, performance, and real-world trade-offs.
SecurityADS-B navigation integrity values from commercial aircraft can reveal GPS interference zones in real-time. Here's how to read the signals.
SecurityThe hole in the map IS the signal. How traffic disappearances, AIS gaps, and reporting silences can reveal more than the data itself.
SecurityWhat it means when a vessel turns off its AIS transponder, how to detect it, and what the gap between last-known and reappearance positions reveals.
Civic ResearchLow-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to pollution. Here's how to use open data to see it for yourself.
AccountabilitySTOCK Act disclosures are public record. Here's how to find, interpret, and flag suspicious trades by senators and representatives.
AccountabilityDoes lobbying actually work? We cross-reference Senate LDA filings with regulatory changes to find out.
EnvironmentUSGS and EPA publish water quality measurements for thousands of stations. Here's how to find your nearest station and understand the readings.
EnvironmentGlobal Forest Watch GLAD alerts detect tree cover loss within days. Here's how to monitor any forest on Earth for illegal logging and land clearing.
JournalismA practical guide to Freedom of Information Act requests — what to ask for, which agencies respond, how to appeal denials, and tools that track your requests.
JournalismSHA-256 hashing, RFC 3161 timestamping, and the Berkeley Protocol — how digital evidence integrity works and why it matters for legal proceedings.
JournalismShadows don't lie. Using sun position calculations and shadow angles to determine when and where a photograph was taken — a core chronolocation technique.
SecurityGPS interference is electronic warfare happening in real-time. Here's how to monitor it using open data from aviation, maritime, and crowdsourced reports.
JournalismA step-by-step framework for conducting open-source investigations — from hypothesis to evidence collection to publication, with tool recommendations at each stage.
AccountabilityFEC data is public but dense. Here's how to trace donations from individuals and PACs to candidates, and spot patterns between money and policy outcomes.
EnvironmentEvery factory, plant, and facility that reports toxic releases to the EPA is public record. Here's how to find what's polluting near you and what they've been fined.
SecurityADS-B data from adsb.lol provides real-time positions of military aircraft worldwide. Here's how to identify tankers, fighters, surveillance planes, and what their patterns mean.