Geolocation is the art of establishing exactly where a photo or video was taken — often from a single frame with no metadata. Analysts read the image itself: signage and licence plates narrow it to a country, architecture and terrain to a region, and distinctive features like a tower or bridge become anchors matched against satellite and street-level imagery.
It is arguably the technique that has transformed investigative journalism the most, verifying atrocities, debunking propaganda, and reconstructing events. It is built through deliberate practice on the challenges the community designs for it.