Chronolocation

Pinpointing Time From Pixels

Chronolocation is the counterpart to geolocation: while geolocation determines where an image was taken, chronolocation determines when. Together, they answer the two fundamental verification questions: was this photo really taken at the time and place claimed?

The technique matters because one of the most common forms of misinformation is presenting old images as current. A protest photo from 2019 shared as if it happened yesterday. A military deployment image from a training exercise presented as an active invasion. Establishing the actual time an image was captured can instantly debunk these deceptions.

Shadow Analysis and Sun Position

The sun's position in the sky depends on three variables: latitude, date, and time of day. If you know the location (from geolocation) and can measure shadow direction and length in an image, you can calculate when the photo was taken. Tools like SunCalc and ShadowCalculator make this math accessible to non-experts.

Bellingcat used shadow analysis to verify the time of a bombing in Syria, proving that the attack occurred during daylight hours — contradicting the government's claim that no strikes happened that day. The technique requires a visible shadow cast by an object of known height (a flagpole, building, or person) on a relatively flat surface.

Weather verification offers another temporal anchor. If you know the location and can see weather conditions in the image — rain, snow, clear skies, cloud patterns — you can check historical weather records for that location. Weather Underground and OGIMET provide hourly historical weather data for thousands of stations worldwide.