Satellite Imagery as Evidence in legal proceedings

Objectives and tasks of forensic expertise:

The purpose of geospatial expertise is to establish the truth, specifically the reliability, completeness, and accuracy. Forensic expertise using satellite imagery is required to objectively confirm facts in cases such as:

• Illegal (or unauthorized) use of land;
• Unauthorized occupation of land designated for agricultural purposes;
• Illegal extraction of minerals, quarrying, deforestation, etc.;
• Illegal construction in protected areas;
• Evaluation of the accuracy of insurance claims and premiums;
• Discharge of wastewater into water bodies, soil pollution;
• Improper waste disposal;
• And more.

Specific tasks of geospatial expertise include:

• Locating boundaries and relative localization of objects;
• Determining the presence, absence, or condition of an object using archival satellite imagery (e.g., determining the date of construction of buildings and structures);
• Describing the dynamics of changes (or lack thereof) in the condition of an object;
• Determining object parameters;
• Identifying violations of land boundaries and land use conditions;
• Determining the type of object (e.g., natural or man-made) and making assumptions about specific types/species of objects with varying degrees of probability;
• Documenting the presence and extent of damage (damage assessment);
• Environmental analysis and detection of illegal dumps;
• Establishing the fact of crop failure;
• Evaluating compliance with construction and land work deadlines;
• Establishing the start date of specific construction work;
• Establishing the date of building construction;
• Establishing the date of residential building construction;
• Establishing the date of waste dumping in a specific area;
• Establishing the date of mineral extraction;
• And other tasks.

Implementation Mechanism

The presentation of aerospace imagery (with confirmation of its authenticity) + georeferencing of imagery on the ground + interpretation results related to the subject matter of the investigation, serving as factual evidence during the investigation or in court based on the request for expertise by the parties involved in arbitration, civil, or criminal proceedings, including the detection, identification, collection, and cataloging of physical evidence using remote sensing methods.

Advantages of Remote Sensing Data

• Availability of detailed and informative satellite imagery in archives dating back to 1999;
• Source of objective information about the terrain and its changes;
• Possibility of studying remote and inaccessible areas;
• According to Article 64 and 89 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Article 55 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, expertise using satellite imagery is admissible as evidence in court;
• Satellite imagery serves as irrefutable objective evidence of the state of an object on the ground on a specific date;

Professionals, through their experience and technical equipment, employ a comprehensive approach to image interpretation using remote sensing in the area of expertise. By creating the values of panchromatic and multispectral interpretation—a multi-purpose index used to measure the spectral quality and spatial detail of generated images—they can significantly improve the quality (realism of objects and territories) compared to the results of classical approaches to interpreting details of generated images.

Systematic monitoring of the Earth's surface using remote sensing methods constitutes the most important archive available in the world for any investigations. These images are stored in archives and can be retrieved at any time. The history of any territory can be reconstructed.

When properly applied, remote sensing methods save time and resources for forensic investigators in search of physical evidence.