Studio practice
Research systems for partial evidence
suezcanal.xyz builds analytical systems for situations where measurement, connectivity and authority are incomplete: maritime incidents, migration, contested infrastructure and open-source investigations. We can run a bounded analysis, build the capability behind it, or develop the research infrastructure an organisation needs to operate the method itself.
Every engagement carries an explicit uncertainty statement and, where a result could affect a case or a person, mandatory human review. We do not provide autonomous operational decisions, and we do not sell access to raw personal data.
Maritime and migration analysis
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Drift and search-area estimation
Lagrangian particle modelling from a reported position and time, forced with wind and surface currents, summarised as 6 / 12 / 24 h search areas and a trajectory. Built on the same engine as SeaCommons; each run is deterministic and replayable.
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Incident reconstruction
Timelines for shipwrecks, interceptions and distress cases that combine vessel and flight tracking, distress-signal geolocation, weather reanalysis, satellite tasking tables and open testimony into one sourced sequence.
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Vessel and pattern correlation
Cross-referencing AIS gaps, port calls, ownership and charter chains, and public imagery to test a hypothesis about a movement or an actor.
Bounded: outputs are explanatory estimates, not IAMSAR products or legal findings. Gaps in coverage are shown, not smoothed.
Open-source investigation and verification
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Geolocation and chronolocation
Placing and dating images and video from terrain, shadows, signage, satellite and street-level references, with a documented confidence level for each claim.
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Image and video examination
Provenance tracing, reverse search, metadata review, manipulation checks and re-encoding history — enough to state what a file is and is not evidence of.
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Entity and document work
Beneficial-ownership tracing, corporate-registry and gazette research, sanctions and export-control exposure, adverse media, and reconciliation of conflicting records.
Bounded: we screen and analyse public and licensed sources; we do not obtain data by intrusion, pretext or purchase of illicit datasets.
Systems and infrastructure mapping
Diagrams and datasets that show how a technical or logistical system actually works: network topology, energy and connectivity dependencies, supply and transport chains, sensor and transmission architecture. The works are this method made public — Embassy on remote governance, Drifter on distributed sensing, Treasury on conditional finance, Liability on automated speech.
Bounded: maps are models. Assumptions, source dates and known blind spots are listed with the deliverable.
Pipelines and analytical tooling
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Ingestion and reconciliation
Collectors, deduplication, entity resolution and schema design for recurring monitoring, built to run on modest infrastructure.
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Signed, replayable analysis
Analysis runs that record their inputs, parameters and a cryptographic hash, so a third party can re-run and verify them — the SeaCommons forensic-packet pattern applied to a client's domain.
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Dashboards and handover
Interfaces delivered with source notes, operating instructions and enough technical documentation for the client’s own staff to maintain and extend the work.
Bounded: we build for method transfer, not dependency. Code and documentation are delivered to the client.
Method, review and training
Workshops on open-source method, uncertainty and provenance discipline; independent review of an existing investigation before publication or filing; and co-authored analysis for newsrooms, research centres and litigators.
The studio moves between an exhibition, a newsroom and a courtroom without changing its evidentiary standards.
How engagements run
Commissioned analysis. A scoped question, a fixed window, a sourced deliverable with its uncertainty and review notes.
Capability build. Pipelines, tooling, dashboards and training so an organisation can carry the work itself.
Research partnership. A longer collaboration in which a recurring investigative method is maintained across cases, with its sources, assumptions and review process carried forward.
Grant-funded journalism and humanitarian organisations are quoted at rates that reflect that context.