The same satellite surveillance technology that powers Google Earth and helps you from getting lost is being used to expose human rights abuses.

Since the late '90s, we have been living through a quiet but momentous transformation in Earth observation, with GPS and military-grade spy satellite technology being commercialised and used to predict crop yields or bushfire risk.

These eyes in the sky also allow organisations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International to piece together evidence of historical or recent atrocities, especially in parts of the world where they have limited access.

And now a new generation of hundreds of shoebox-size satellites are changing the game again, according to HRW's satellite imagery analyst, Josh Lyons.

"It creates a value and confidence and insight that were impossible otherwise," he told Hack.

"To have this daily global coverage - it's a revolution in Earth observation.

It's as important as any other development in the history of space and observation.

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Whatsapp Complete destruction of Rohingya villages in close proximity to intact Rakhine village, Maungdaw township, recorded on 21 September 2017. Analysis by Human Rights Watch.

How it works

Based in Geneva, Josh doesn't get to visit the countries he studies every day through satellite imagery displayed on his computer screen.

"I get a phone call normally by someone in country," he told Hack.

"They say, the phone lines are down and I don't know what's happening. We've heard of troop movements and villages being burned, but it's eight hours drive away."

"Could you take a look at the imagery?"

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Whatsapp Map of major damage sites in the Central African Republic, April 27 2014.

This image is a map compiled by Human Rights Watch of the major damage sites in the neighbourhood of Bangui, in the Central African Republic in April 2014.

The town had recently been taken by rebels during a civil war, leading to the forced displacement of the Muslim population.

Josh studied satellite imagery available on private commercial databases and identified the skeletal remains of over 4,000 homes, shops and mosques destroyed during several waves of organised violence, systematic looting, and arson.

"Normally what happens is the researchers is overwhelmed with rumours, stories and calls and it's very hard for them to triage and evaluate these different ideas," Josh said.

"There's a lot of false leads constantly distracting them."

If lots of imagery has been collected over that area then I might be able to do quick and dirty assessment. The researcher can then mobilise resources to get a driver.

Satellite imagery has been used to identify prison camps in North Korea, mass graves in Burundi, Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, forced relocations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and mass graves in northern Iraq.

HRW recently used satellite imagery to expose a widespread and sustained campaign of arson against Rohingya homes and villages in Myanmar.

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Whatsapp A HRW assessment of the arson damages of Rohingya homes and villages over two weeks.

'I think of Colin Powell every day when I go to work'

The revolution in Earth observation stems from the United States's decision in the late '90s to commercialise its spy satellite technology.

"In the early years of the 2000s there were just a handful of satellite really only looking at places of interest to big companies and big governments," Josh said.

From one satellite it's now upwards of more than 50 very high resolution satellite sensors - they're going up so fast no one can keep track of them.

The satellites have resolution of about 30cm per pixel, meaning each pixel of an image shows 30cm on the ground. That's detained enough to be able to pick out people, or to tell which way a car is driving from the direction of its windshield.

Despite this coverage, satellites rarely capture the moment of an atrocity - normally it's images immediately before and immediately after.

That means satellite images are only as good as the analyst.

The most well-known example of failure here is US Secretary of State Colin Powell's 2003 use of satellite images to argue Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

This interpretation, which helped build the case to go to war, was later found to be wrong.

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Whatsapp The US State Department claimed these satellite images showed an Iraqi chemical ammunition depot.

Powell later called it "a great intelligence failure".

Josh told Hack that Powell's mistake has become HRW's biggest challenge in convincing doubtful governments of the evidence of human rights abuses.

"I think about that every day when I go into work," he said.

"Colin Powell showed the world that the most advanced spy technology is irrelevant unless you can interpret it correctly.

"They did not have people on the ground - investigators who were familiar with that location to be able to help the imagery analysts decide between conflicting interpretations."

Automated human rights watchers in the sky

Meanwhile, the satellite technology keeps improving.

In early 2017, the US startup Planet Labs launched a constellation of micro-satellites to photograph the whole planet daily. These satellites are the size of a shoebox, built entirely from off-the-shelf commercial products, and launched by the dozen.

HRW is already using this new source of images.

In fact, so much data is pouring down from above that researchers will soon need to use data mining algorithms to sift through it all, Josh said.

"There is no other way to use this information without artificial intelligence."

"It's impossible."