Researcher geolocalizes video using plane doppler curves from audio
A technique correlates aircraft sounds in background audio with public flight data to pinpoint camera locations across the US.
What to know
- A geolocation technique using doppler analysis of aircraft sounds in audio, combined with public ADS-B flight data, can pinpoint video recording locations across the US with minimal context.
- The method requires only minutes of background audio and no visual clues, presenting a novel privacy vulnerability for recordings.
- The security and OSINT communities have celebrated the research as exceptional and innovative work.
This is exceptional OSINT research that demonstrates an innovative and previously underappreciated vulnerability.
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“I think this is the #OSINT video of the year.”
scy@chaos.social · Mastodon ↗
Video creator OSINT researcher
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage posts
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Security researchers and OSINT community praise the technique
The video went viral across Mastodon and hacker forums with multiple researchers and open-source intelligence practitioners calling it exceptional work, with some likening it to professional-level investigations.
“I think this is the #OSINT video of the year.”
— scy@chaos.social -
this guy figured out how to leak your exact location from any video with sound using the Doppler curves of nearby airplanes
2 more of the top 3 · 24 posts in this stretch
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Holy shit. This guy takes a couple of minutes of audio from a security camera anywhere in the US, with no clues from the video whatsoever, and finds the exact spot where it was recorded. How? By correlating the Doppler curve sounds from two almost inaudible planes passing by with public ADS-B flight data. https://www…
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No they don't. WiFi measures the time it takes for return signals so it can align signals with the sender, it helps synchronisation. Yes, one WiFi source will give bad mapping, but it does give some mapping. You can probably make WiFi that doesn't use this telemetry data, but it means signal quality will degrade rapidly when the devices are not in…
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background
Researcher demonstrates geolocation via aircraft doppler audio analysis — A video was published showing a technique that identifies video recording locations by analyzing doppler curves from passing aircraft in background audio and correlating them with public ADS-B flight data. The method can pinpoint exact locations from security camera recordings with minimal or no visual context.
What people are saying 19 voices from 2 sites · best of 24 · verbatim
- Nov 6
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geolocation from audio using the doppler curves of plane sounds + public flight data https:// youtu.be/UytYrhYLOKI .
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So this is scary privacy-wise, but my first thought is I need to make a tool that that extracts this and puts it into the metadata (I think wavs support exif and id3 might have some extension that allows coords). Or an app that uses this technique as a fallback to get your location when GPS signal is jammed...
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There was another video I watched where they used the noise from the power grid to pin point location.
- Nov 5
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Geolocating video from inaudible airplane doppler curves in its audio
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A sound that leaks your location...anywhere...? What do you think it is?
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Excellent point. The hidden nature of the doppler is a point he revisited several times
- Nov 4
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Would be way more practical to get an OBS plugin or standalone audio processing program that strips/adds fake curves on the fly. Playing aircraft noises from a speaker would probably be easily distinguishable.
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I did not watch the end until 2 minutes ago lmaooo. But if you are in not outside and cut the fundamental it will severly disturb the data you are able to use to piece this together still
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If you want to keep your location private, you probably shouldn’t live stream your activities. I think a reduction in public streamers would be a net gain for society.
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I predict that people who stream will start putting a bunch of fake aircraft noise in their videos to make it harder for them to be pinpointed...
- Nov 3
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geolocation by coordinating doppler curves of inaudible plane sound with public flight information few hundred foot resolution with 1min of sound @ ai6yr you'll probably get a kick out of this https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=UytYrhYLOK I
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you could find the location of so many fascists this way, not that I'm saying you should
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https:// youtu.be/UytYrhYLOKI wake up babe new manmade horrors just dropped
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Fascinating - an OSINT technique that allows you to geolocate any video using the obvious and even imperceptible sound of planes high in the sky.
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This guy claims he can geolocate videos using the audio by using the doppler effect of planes passing. Scary stuff
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I discovered a sound that leaks your exact location (and it's everywhere) - https:// simonwillison.net/2026/Nov/3/a -sound-that-leaks-your-exact-location/ "Genius piece of # OSINT by Colsto, who demonstrates how you can take almost imperceptible background noise of planes from a video soundtrack, figure out their Doppler curves, then cross…
- Nov 2
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Finding a location from just the background audio recorded with video clip (and very minimal clues in the video) 😲🤷♂️ This is wild and very ingenious! 🙂👍 https:// youtu.be/UytYrhYLOKI # OSINT # Privacy
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🤯 Extremely high resolution geolocation by audio using ADS-B data and recovered weak doppler curves.
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calculating the location of a video from its date and the background noise from nearby aircraft