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# Picarta
| **Picarta** | **Quick Overview** |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| URL | |
| What it does | Identifies the likely location of an image using AI and visual matching. |
| How to use it | Upload an image and let the AI analyse visual features to return probable locations. |
| Cost | Partially Free. Limited free searches. Paid for extended use. |
| Account required | Yes for full functionality. |
| Cookies | Mainly used for analytics, session management, and user authentication. |
| Ownership | Owned and operated by Picarta S.r.l., a private startup based in Siena, Italy. |
| Use in Reporting | Useful for geolocation leads. |
### What does Picarta do?
Picarta is an AI-driven image geolocation tool that analyses visual elements, including landscapes, architecture, terrain, and environmental features, to estimate where a photo was taken. It compares uploaded images against large datasets and returns likely matches with confidence scores.
It’s especially valuable in OSINT for image verification, geolocation, and contextual analysis, helping investigators quickly narrow down where content originated.
**The lowdown:** It’s a fast, AI-powered geolocation tool that helps analysts estimate where an image was taken. It’s great for narrowing down possibilities but requires careful verification to confirm accuracy.
### How to Use:
**1. Upload an image to the platform.**
**2. Let the AI process visual features (terrain, buildings, colours, patterns) and review suggested locations and confidence levels.**
We set the filters to search the entirety of the United States.
\
You can also view suggested results on a map:
\
**Note:** Make sure to manually verify using maps or other tools. When uploading a known image and searching globally, we found wildly incorrect results were returned. When narrowing down to a country however, the results were fairly close to the correct location.
### Cost
* [ ] Free
* [x] Partially Free
* [ ] Paid
Limited free searches. Paid for extended use.
## Data Processing
### Account Required:
* [x] Yes
* [ ] No
### Cookies:
Cookies are mainly used for analytics, session management, and user authentication. Google Analytics cookies (\_ga, *ga*\*) track site usage, while session and remember\_token maintain login state and user sessions. The g\_state cookie supports internal Google-related functionality.
### Use in Reporting
Picarta is useful for:
* Verifying where an image may have been taken.
* Supporting geolocation in investigations.
* Generating leads for further verification.
Groups like Bellingcat have geolocated images from the war in Ukraine to verify strikes, troop movements, and damage, typically using manual techniques, but AI tools like Picarta can speed up the early stage by narrowing down possible locations.
| **Capabilities** | **Limitations** |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| AI-based image geolocation. | Accuracy depends on image quality and uniqueness. |
| Visual feature recognition (landscape, architecture, terrain). | Can return broad or incorrect locations. |
| Location suggestions with confidence scoring. | Struggles with generic or indoor images. |
| Fast narrowing of search areas. | Limited transparency on training data. |
|
| Requires manual verification for reliability. |
### Summary
Picarta sits primarily in the analysis stage of the OSINT workflow, with a clear role in verification. However, results must be confirmed using additional sources such as satellite imagery or on-the-ground verification.
### Ownership
Individual owners are not publicly disclosed but according to [Crunchbase](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/picarta), Picarta is owned and operated by Picarta S.r.l., a private startup based in Siena, Italy.
### Ethical Considerations
* Avoid misuse for tracking individuals without consent.
* Be mindful of privacy and sensitive locations.
* Use responsibly in line with OSINT and legal standards.
* Treat AI outputs as guidance, not fact.
* Ensure proper verification before publishing findings.
### Related Tools:
* Google Earth
* Google Lens
* Mapillary
* OpenStreetMap
#### Sources
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