shadow-analysis.md

+## shadows and suncalc
+
+One of the most widely used tools for verifying time / location of images is Suncalc, which shows you the angle of the shadow at any given time & date. 
+
+The [original suncal site](http://suncalc.net/), by Vladimir Agafonkin, isn't useable at the moment due to changes in the google maps terms-of-service!
+
+However the code is open source (an approach we'll look at from a different point of view in week 4) and is [available on github](ttps://github.com/mourner/suncalc). I suspect that's what was used to build the clone site [suncalc.org](https://www.suncalc.org/)
+
+We'll look at an example from the investigation of the shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine. There are videos from dashcams and mobile phones that may show the route of the BUK missile launcher exiting Ukraine after the airliner was shot down. We need to verify whether these locations & times fit with a plausible route of the BUK .
+
+Here is one video which claims to show the launcher passing a town in Donbas called Zuhres. 
+
+[Zuhres video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO4a3T4t7iw)
+
+Assuming the date of the video is 17-7-14 and the location of the block of flats is lat/lon 48.0171,38.3014, estimate the time the convoy was passing the flats. 
+
+* check the location matches the video by searching for the lat/lon on google maps, using satellite view.
+* Look at the direction of the shadow cast by the telephone pole by the flats. Try to line up the sun angle in suncalc so it would produce that shadow. 
+* [screenshot from video showing shadow](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iISQbQnw4Pg/VeSdqXJQx5I/AAAAAAAAdTs/dQpCGnu6l8g/s640/Zuhres%2B4.JPG)
+
+There's an exhaustive write-up of this video verification and others in the post [Suncalcing the BUK and Vostok transport to Snizhne July 17th 2014](https://ukraineatwar.blogspot.com/2015/09/suncalcing-buk-and-vostok-transport-to.html)
+
+Bonus question: what can we also tell about the person who took the video? 
+