What’s in a Name? Discovering Clues Hidden in Google Maps Image Filenames

This article introduces Bellingcat’s Filename Finder, a Chrome extension that surfaces image filenames on Google Maps to aid OSINT by revealing timestamps, device hints, and other contextual clues; it cautions that some filenames may be upload dates rather than capture times and demonstrates the method through a case connecting a Malta-registered company’s images to a location in Vietnam.