Tokyo professor creates digital maps depicting damaged areas in Ukraine
TOKYO A research team headed by a University of Tokyo professor has created digital maps using satellite images and other photos to show the reality of damaged areas in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Hidenori Watanave, information design professor at the University of Tokyo's graduate school, said by updating latest information online, internet users can observe the movements of troops coming in from Russia, as well as the state of the expanding destruction in eastern Ukraine after large-scale battles.
A satellite image taken on April 9 showed an airport located in the western Ukrainian city of Voronezh, located 270 kilometers from the major city of Kharkiv, which is located in the country's northeast. The photo showed dozens of military aircraft lined up. In another satellite image taken around the same time, a row of vehicles that appear to be Russian troops could be seen stretching for over 10 kilometers on a main road in eastern Ukraine. Both images were uploaded online by a private satellite company.
Watanave identified the locations of the photos and revealed satellite imagery of these places via Google Earth, along with Aoyama Gakuin University professor Taichi Furuhashi. He said that Russia is making arrangements in and outside the country to prepare for large-scale offensives in eastern Ukraine and you can tell from the maps that Russia is making arrangements within and outside the country. This is not from statements of government authorities, but from the facts captured in the satellite images. The team used satellite images revealed by NASA to show the state of Mariupol in Ukraine's southeast, which was hit in violent attacks. The team was apparently able to identify the range of areas where fires occurred in the month through April 3, by combining satellite imagery with red markings that indicated heat detected from the ground.
A theater in the city centre is marked red, and at least 300 people have been killed in a Russian bombing, according to local authorities. Watanave said that Russia had claimed that it did not target places where civilians live, but you can tell that the reality is different.
The professor began creating digital maps shortly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. He thought it was his duty to record and convey the war damage unfolding in real time during this age in which he lives. The information on the website is simple, like the places and times of photos, but there is no room for fabrication because of this, he said. People can see through false information in a nation's propaganda, and use it as a fact-checking tool. Watanave is working on creating 3 D models with drone photos in the public domain, besides satellite imagery. When footage from a three-star hotel in Chernihiv shared on April 9, he instantly transformed it into a 3 D image depicting the raw reality of destruction from a bombing.
Watanave said that in Japan there might be people who view the crisis as something happening in a far-off country. You can know in an instant that places that are no different from where we live have been destroyed mercilessly. I'd like people to see the war-damaged areas from the point of view of someone living there, even from Japan.