iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

In some of the worst-hit villages, destruction started at the village centre and radiates outward over weeks We cross-referenced these observations by conducting manual annotation of changes on s2 + high res imagery on building polygons in certain villages (see attached)

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Extending out across months, this was valuable as an indicator for research and inquiry. For publication, we mapped dominant change patterns across a 250m hexagonal grid, with respect to whether dominant change was observed before/after the April ceasefire

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We split the timeline into two-week (cloud filtered) steps and compared each to the last (flagged w/ absolute decrease of 0.20 in saturation index), so we could see WHERE changed happened but also WHEN Then we filtered the analysis to built-up areas and sieved out isolated flags

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

In false-color imagery, intact villages read as a mix of more saturated colors (vegetation, rooftops, mixed surfaces) When demolished to rubble, that color collapses toward flat grey. We built a pipeline to measure that collapse, computed straight from the satellite bands

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Sentinel-2 captures served as the base for temporal analysis, processed with a script in Google Earth Engine allowing us to track change across months and dozens of villages in single sweeps. We focused on quantifying the visible shifts that explosive destruction produces

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Aydın Çıldır Airport is a major hub for these flights, which houses units from the Turkish Gendarmerie + Coast Guard. Both operate TB2s for maritime/border security (as does the Navy, from Çanakkale) x.com/AydinValilig... www.iha.com.tr/istanbul-hab...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

A time-series viz of all publicly recorded* Bayraktar TB2 flights over western Turkey since late 2023 The tracks show how extensive/persistent these circular patterned surveillance flights are along the Aegean coast + Evros land border

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

From our recent @lighthousereports.com / Al Jazeera Fault Lines documentary on the El Fasher siege The animation here is based on 100s of sat images from Apr - Oct 2025. Via cross-comparison, I mapped the berm’s construction in QGIS, then imported into Blender + animated w/ a custom script

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Anyways, this observation originally came onto my radar while playing around with @bendobrown.bsky.social's great Darklight Viewer tool in GEE, which makes it easy to explore changes nighttime satellite data. Worth checking out! gee-night-lights-474517.projects.earthengine.app/view/darklig...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Beyond the physical construction of the wall, artificial lighting is also part of the project’s environmental footprint. @biologicaldiversity.org in particular has published past work on these risks: www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bo...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The nighttime radiance appears along the border corridor near the San Rafael Valley and Coronado National Forest, where recent wall construction has been reported. In several places, the lights appear to align with material staging and transfer areas supporting the work.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Recent border wall construction in southern Arizona is visible not only in daytime satellite imagery, but also at night I made this timelapse w/ NASA Black Marble nighttime lights data, showing light signatures along the border next to Coronado National Forest b/w Jan + Mar 2026

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

In a TikTok video published by the IDF in July following the last round of strikes on Iran, members of the so-called "After Effects" cell within the IDF Spokesperson's Unit Post Production wing soldiers describe working weeks prior to strikes under “prime-minister-level secrecy” to prepare visuals

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

The animation centers on a few buildings (implied targets) displayed as point geometry evocative of LiDAR data The extent to which this is a generated effect meant to convey precision vs data derived geometry is unclear Past work on these IDF animations suggests the former bsky.app/profile/jack...

A screenshot of showing a point cloud effect on certain buildings in the IDF animation

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Amidst strikes on Iran by the US and Israel today, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit released a pre-made 3D animation of strike targets in Kermanshah, Iran

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

By linking federal detention data to traffic stops, we followed people from roadside encounters through ICE custody and onto deportation flights. We found 75% of those detained had no criminal record.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

We also reviewed 50+ hours of dashcam and bodycam footage, showing how troopers used minor traffic pretexts so ICE could intervene, often bypassing basic protections. Recordings captures agents joking and celebrating arrests

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Last May, Tennessee Highway Patrol joined ICE on the streets of Nashville. We @lighthousereports.com + partners mapped the traffic stops and used 1M+ ICE records, dashcam video, and court files to show how supposed routine encounters became deportations.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I’m in Kuala Lumpur this week for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference #GIJC2025 If you’re attending and want to connect / talk about visual investigations, remote sensing, open-source methods, etc. definitely reach out!

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

I started working on this research in my spare time with a small group of fellow journos/artists — Nicole Vögele, @jakecharlesrees.bsky.social , & Robin Kötzle — after noticing recurring patterns in IDF 3D videos last year The Ferret (via @billybriggs24.bsky.social): theferret.scot/idf-scottish...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

The TikTok outlines that a specific goal of these animations is to multiply their reach by cultivating secondary coverage And indeed, dozens of major outlets like BBC, CNN and Sky News have aired them, in part or in full, often without context

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

These videos are produced in-house by a small animation cell in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, working mainly in After Effects + Blender In a TikTok posted after Israel's June attacks on Iran, soldiers describe working weeks under “prime-minister-level secrecy” to prepare visuals

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

One of the earlier and most-viewed examples was an animation of Al Shifa Hospital, published in October 2023. The “underground command room” was recycled from a 2022 IDF animation of an UNRWA school in Tel Al-Hawa; the street above was built from prefab @kb-3d.bsky.social storefronts

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

These assets have been used in IDF videos as recently as September 5, in an animation of the Mushtaha Tower in Gaza City, which was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes the same day In this video the ground itself is a patch-work quilt of third-party scans of pavement & parking lots

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Others assets came from scans made by the Scottish Maritime Museum of their boat-building workshop which was downloaded (via @sketchfab.bsky.social) and reimagined by the IDF adornments for underground missile factories.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Hubert's assets, created as decorations for cyberpunk cityscapes, are used especially widely in animations that the IDF released during their strikes on Iran in June. Ripped assets from Hubert are shown here in stills from IDF animations, with blue highlights:

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

We traced over 30 unique assets to Washington-based 3D creator Ian Hubert, who makes bespoke models created for his sci-fi project Dynamo Dream, available to his Patreon subscribers. Scans of parking lots, antennas, and pipes were repurposed as Hamas and Iranian military sites

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Many of these “illustrations” aren’t based on verified intelligence at all. Our analysis of 43 official IDF videos found recycled 3D environments, spatial inaccuracies, and assets lifted from unrelated artists and institutions.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

An impressive case study in the use of photogrammetry and satellite imagery to shed light on the logistics and procedures behind large scale atrocities (in this case in Assad's Syria)

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Tidal changes over a 6 hour period in Rockport, Maine Video scraped today from a public municipal webcam, and played back at 500,00% speed

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

I'll be leading a workshop at @ire.org tomorrow on investigating border surveillance and deportation flights using online tools We'll dig into flight tracking methods, aircraft identifiers, etc. from an immigration enforcement lens schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind... Hope to see some of you there!

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Messaging from the senior acting official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations today, claiming to "run the streets" of the country The OFO is the largest component within CBP, directing the activities of over 27,000 employees

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

The old updates are still accessible though via a a live KML network link which is possible to scrape They are shown here via a time series animation, built w/ scripting in QGIS + AE

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Each shape shows the extent of an area where new imagery was added These updates used to be shared publicly until support was removed

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Google Earth (originally released as Keyhole EarthViewer) turns 24 today! To mark it, I visualized 17,000+ imagery update footprints that were added to Google Earth b/w 2009 - 2014.

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

These systems have an enormous price tag, around high six figures. The Oakland Police Department quoted the MX-15 at $724,000 last year source: cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Fi...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Seems like this CBP airborne asset over Los Angeles protests this weekend was using a L3Harris Wescam MX EO/IR system (judging by their software interface at least) Reference image via WESCAM MX-15D promo video: engage.l3harris.com/wescam-mx-se...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Recently released doc lays out detailed plans for a new permanent facility for CBP's Air & Marine Operations on Libby Field at Fort Huachuca, AZ CBP currently operates MQ-9B drones for border surveillance from a temporary facility on the field Doc: www.cbp.gov/sites/defaul...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Unfortunately only the concrete base stands there today and the perpetrators of the stripping of the monument remain unknown. More on the background / current condition of the site here: www.spomenikdatabase.org/korenica

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

This site honored the anti-fascist resistance and the belief that care itself could be a form of struggle. Here, an image of young partisan staff at the site in April 1943; via Sanja Horvatinčić weristwalter.eu/project/our-...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

I aligned archival photos within the 3D model to re-situate it in its original landscape. The scened was created via reference modeling, SRTM elevation data, and work in Blender's geometry nodes Part of a long term project / interest on the topic

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

A reconstruction of the destroyed Bijeli Potoci spomenik on Croatia's Plješevica mountain chain, along its border with BiH The monument, built in the 80s and ransacked in the 90s, marked the grounds of a secret hospital complex that served antifascist Yugoslav partisans during WWII

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

~180 Anduril Industries autonomous surveillance towers (ASTs) along the US/Mexico border Exported from QGIS w/ a custom python script and tower point data from @eff.org; compiled to video w/ ffmpeg Data: www.eff.org/document/us-...

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

A map of aerial SAR activity over the incident area today

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Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202... "A Bloomberg analysis of more than a decade of government data shows that 70% of immigrants detained in Louisiana and New Mexico end up deported, which is almost twice the rate of those detained in the Northeast, and is well above the national average of 53%."

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