Google-Earth intelligence Group?

Seems there's a fair amount of interest and appreciation for my google-earth efforts on Iran and North Korea


Is it worth making some sort of organised team effort to exploit google-earth?

The basic mission could be something along the lines of:
1. To use google earth imagery combined with basic photo-analysis to provide insight into less accessible militaries.
2. ..And to conduct info gathering on topical countries as and when world attention shifts.

I think it would work best if there was a small sub forum so that the info is easily accessible and the project can be managedmore easily. Open door policy(?).

What do people think.

PS. Just a taster:


[edit on 16-6-2006 by planeman]

Great idea im trying to finf stuff in Iran but dont know were to look.
Im looking a Tehran right now found 3 airport's/airfield's and only
found maybe 15-20 possible fighters any help would be great.

Im in. I constantly scan Google and Nasa's imagery program as well. The bulk of my posts have sat imagery in them. Some strange some not so. In the link if you go to all my albums you will find a lot of detail. And nice Russian aircraft imagery BTW original poster. Africa huh. Cool.
pg.photos.yahoo.com...

hmmm --- nice idea , but bear in mind that [ unless i have missed something ] there is no time / date stamp on google data ~ so we will be analysing a snapshott taken XXXX days ago -- with no way of cross referencing it to other data

google earth -- has its uses -- but its an over head snap shot , a sinle snap shot at that

i can point to UK freatures that i know proove the current google images were taken in 2000 - 2001 and 2002 dependant on area

how current is the IRAN data ??? and much of africa is @ very poor resolution

sure its a great project -- and will hone members research skills and phonto anallysis talents

but to read anything more into it is , IMHO pretty pointless .

but count me in none the less

I think we all have to accept google-earth's limitations as well as its strengths, that goes without saying. but it brings another perspective to things and in cases like North Korea, Syria, Iran et al where up to the minute info is sketchy. We have no real use for any of this info except curiosity so it's no big deal that some of it is a bit old.

Right, how do we go about this? How do we get a sub forum for this?

[edit on 16-6-2006 by planeman]

I am totally in. I'm a major Google Earth junkie.

However, we do need to accept the fact the imagery is not very reliable.

Suggested first mission: Syria
A good place for a first outing as there are loads of bases, most of which are clearly visible and they have all sorts of defenses evident.

I've had a quick browse, confirming lats/longs etc. I won’t give too much away about what I saw so as not to ruin the exploring.

Visible (good res) bases:

1. AFIS ~ 35 58 24 N 36 46 35 E – visible. Helicopters
2. AL QUSAYR ~ 34.569 36.573 extreme east of base visible – Fighters.
3. ALEPPO INTL / NAYRAB-ALEPPO ~ 36.181 37.224 visible: Helicopters
4. AN NASIRIYAH ~ 33.918 36.866 visible. No aircraft to be seen but interesting defenses
5. ES SUWEIDAYA ~ 32.706 36.412 Extreme west of base visible. Helicopters.
6. BASEL AL ASSAD INTL 35.401 35.949 helicopters
7. DAMASCUS INTL ~ 33.413 36.517 Transports. Lots of defenses.
8. DUMAYR ~ 33.610 36.749 Fighters.
9. JIRAH~36.097 37.937 Jet trainers & old airframes
10. MARJ RUHAYYIL~ 33.285 36.458 Helicopters
11. MARJ AS SULTAN~ 33 29 13 N 36 28 30 E – Helicopters
12. MEZZE / DIMASHQ-MEZZE~ 33.478 36.226 Helicopters and transports.
13. MINAKH~ 36.521 37.038 – helicopters
14. QABR AS SITT(?) 33 04 01 N 36 15 21 E. Partially visible – not a lot here.
15. SHAYRAT 34.492 36.910 East side visible. Fighters.
16. TIYAS 34.523 37.631 Fighters

Possible Secondary strip 34 29 57 N 37 52 34 E.

OK. Who’s taking what?

I’ll grab Shayrat and An Nasiriyah since I’m quite interested in the defenses.

Originally posted by planeman
I think we all have to accept google-earth's limitations as well as its strengths

I agree you have to work with what you got.

I mean it would be sweet if we had the money to rent ICONOS satellite time for ATS but thats not realistic unless we have some wealthy ATS members.

ATS Google-Earth Intelligence Group
Location: AN NASIRIYAH Air base, Syria
Latitude & longitude: 33.918 36.866
Research & Analysis by : Planeman

Background research
According to Scramble.nl this base is home to two squadrons of MiG-23MB “Flogger” interceptors and their relevant two seat trainer versions. Global security gives no info except a satellite image.

Guided tour of the base
There is only one aircraft in plain sight – a MiG-23 at the east end of the main runway with its wings forward as if ready for take-off (these aircraft have swing wings and are normally parked with the wings back to make them more compact):

The lack of aircraft in the open is probably accounted for by the numerous Hardened Aircraft Shelters that are well dispersed throughout the base.

The base is heavily defended with many vehicle revetments, infantry trenches and at least 6 air defense positions (of which four are occupied in the satellite image). There are several completely self-contained defensive positions, notably to the south and south east.

The AD positions are probably Zu-23 AAA.

There are also long emergency runways (for use if the main runway is bombed) extending out each end of the main runway and main taxi-way.

Might be a stupid question, but have you tried the Google Earth community forums? They have a military section on there.

bbs.keyhole.com...

CX.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I agree you have to work with what you got.

I mean it would be sweet if we had the money to rent ICONOS satellite time for ATS but thats not realistic unless we have some wealthy ATS members.

I issue a challenge for all. MAKE SATELLITE-RELATED STUFF CHEAPER!!!

Originally posted by CX
Might be a stupid question, but have you tried the Google Earth community forums? They have a military section on there.

bbs.keyhole.com...

CX.

They could be useful but I prefer to do original research - the fun is in the finding. But one thread there which sticks out great is bbs.keyhole.com...
Some guy has logged a load of static SAM sites. He has made at least one misidentification (not to knock him, he's done great) so we should be a little bit careful. But he's hardly covered the whole country. Fortress Syria.


EDIT. Re Syria. 34 35 41 N 36 44 48 E. Interesting SAM Site -not sure what type of SAMs but they look like box launchers to me. It's in part of a massive military base with what looks like towed artillery pieces in neat lines everywhere.


[edit on 16-6-2006 by planeman]

Originally posted by planeman
Seems there's a fair amount of interest and appreciation for my google-earth efforts on Iran and North Korea


Is it worth making some sort of organised team effort to exploit google-earth?

The basic mission could be something along the lines of:
1. To use google earth imagery combined with basic photo-analysis to provide insight into less accessible militaries.
2. ..And to conduct info gathering on topical countries as and when world attention shifts.

I think it would work best if there was a small sub forum so that the info is easily accessible and the project can be managedmore easily. Open door policy(?).

What do people think.

PS. Just a taster:

[edit on 16-6-2006 by planeman]

You know planeman...just on a small note. I actually like this idea to take into consideration and bring it to the Councils attention. I will push to get the idea out for something like this. Great post by the way, and way to use your imagination. ATS would be awesome with something like this.

Originally posted by brodband
You know planeman...just on a small note. I actually like this idea to take into consideration and bring it to the Councils attention. I will push to get the idea out for something like this. Great post by the way, and way to use your imagination. ATS would be awesome with something like this.

As great as that would be, the limitations of Google Earth means that sooner or later, the project would come to an end. Google Earth is just a mosaic of rarely-updated satellite photos, so there would come a time when there really is nothing left to show (at least for a good amount of time).

I say its best being the way it is, a planeman project, considering he does it so well.

I do suggest, though, from time to time, that we do present imagery on military forces of countries that are of issue at that present time, as planeman suggested.

[edit on 16-6-2006 by sweatmonicaIdo]

Here are three i just found in about 5 mins. I will update with coordinates and closeups tomarrow evening.
pg.photos.yahoo.com...

Cool stuff. I think we have those in the list above but all good nosing about in Syria's back yard.


I've found more SAM positions one even with the reload lorries lined up. What's interesting is that most of the SAM sites are occupied with clearly visible SA-2 (/5?) and SA-3 missiles. The relative absence of disused sites suggests that the Syrian's rarely move them which is good insight into their military doctrine. Newer SAM systems like SA-10 are almost impossible to find because they aren't distinctive and are mobile. When we've logged all the SA-2 and SA-3 sites we will be able to construct an approximate map of SAM coverage.

Boring secondary air strip 36 15 38 N 36 57 09 E

From www.meib.org...

Air Defense

The air defense of Syria and its occupation force in Lebanon is provided by an independent command with some twenty-five air defense brigades, each with six surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries. With some 55,000 personnel, it presently fields around 650 SA-2, SA-3 and SA-5 static launchers, 200 SA-6 mobile triple launchers and some 4,000 anti-aircraft guns ranging from 23mm to 100mm in caliber. In addition, there are two independent SAM Regiments, each with four batteries of 48 SA-8 and SA-10 mobile SAMs. Its early warning system comprises some several dozen mobile and static early warning radar sites scattered around both Syria and Lebanon.

[edit on 17-6-2006 by planeman]

Sorry for going rogue, but I was really surprised nobody has yet tackled the grand-daddy of them all: CHINA!!!

China had a lot of beef with Google Earth over imagery of its military bases, so a lot of the bases are surprisingly blanked, most definitely due to the censorship requested by the Chinese government. There were some that I did find worth showing, however.

Anging Airbase



Anging is basically a long-range base, so from the looks of it, they seem to only employ their venerable Xian H-6 "Badgers."

Wuhu Airbase



The Chinese evidently find the Q-5 reliable, as they're in great numbers here at Wuhu.



Then their own J-11s. They don't seem to have very many of these, at least not at this facility. There are only about maybe six at the most and the rest of the base, as you can see on the right of these Flankers, are mainly J-8s, although some resemble FC-1s as well.

[edit on 17-6-2006 by sweatmonicaIdo]

The 3rd photo of Wuhu has :

1) 2 Su-30 MKKs
2) Remaining a/c are the chinese of MiG 21 : J-7s. J-7Es to be precise:

scramble.nl confirms:

Wuhu

Pos: 31º 23' 27" N 118º 24' 5" E
Regiment Aircraft Serial range
3rd Fighter Division
7th Air Regiment J7E 11x4x
9th Air Regiment Su-30 13x4x


Su-27SKs were replaced by Su-30MKKs. How can you tell them apart?
The MKKs don't have canards so I doubt there is any external distinguishing factor.
If they're MKKs the great find sewatmonicaido!

Infact at this resolution its hard to differentiate between J-7's and J-8's also!!

I want pics of J-10s and the FC-1!!
But they're all probably at Chnegdu and Chengdu's all blurred!!

Planeman, You found the Su-27s and the MiG 29's in Eritrea?

btw, anyone can gimme a good image server to upload to?
I'll put up some stuff on the IAF Su 30 MKIs, Jaguars and the LCA too!
Why aren't these pics coming as ext. image links as per the new ATS policy?

China is cool. I have a thread about it here: www.sinodefenceforum.com...
As sad as it sounds I've visited pretty much every single chinese air base and counted what was there. I'm planning to post it here some time but by all means carry on - two eyes are better than one and I'm sure you'll spot loads of stuff I missed. My findings in summary:

(note that J-6/JJ-6 Framer aircraft not included. Some J-7s listed may be JJ-7s etc. Flanker varients are almost impossible to tell apart).

Generally the PLAAF/PLAN tends to leave its aircraft in the open. Few bases have hardened aircraft shelters and many of the shelters seen probably aren't hardened anyway. J-7s are probably over-reported because many seem to be in storage rather than actual use.

What strikes me is the relatively few "current generation" combat aircraft seen:


PS. I found some more bases after that and some Wings In Ground-effect (WIG) craft also: www.sinodefenceforum.com...

PPS. Tinypic (www.tinypic.com) and Imageshack (www.imageshack.com) are good free picture hosts. I find it works best if I take screen grabs (press Ctrl and "Prt Sc" at the same time) and paste them into MS Paint or some such program where I can trim them up to only show the interesting bit - that way I can make the pic small enough to put into a post withoiut shringing it.

PPPS. Eritrea, yep. Sadly Ethiopia has about zero sat coverage of its air bases.

Was it the Eritrean Su-27s that shot down the Ethiopian MiG-29s during the Eritrea-Ethiopia War or the other way around?