“Researchers have used pictures and videos posted online along with satellite imagery to track the movement of Russian troops and equipment into Ukraine, according to a report by the Atlantic Council, a D.C. based think tank. ‘The point is that we tap into people’s desire to share data online,’ said Maks Czuperski, one of the authors of the May 28 report, ‘Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraine.’ Most devices used for posting to the Internet embed geotags in the data, which are geographic location identifiers, Czuperski said. These geotags become an important part of locating military movements.”
Source: Social Media Data Used to Identify Russian Incursions into Ukraine – Blog