If you’re like us, you likely have multiple tabs open at one time. One to stream your favorite pod, another three dozen to do your own research on a case. Who can relate?
All of those open tabs are likely full of just as many bookmarked pages and sites. Maybe it has to do with satellite imagery for searching crime scenes. Or a certain database that kicks off your searching for missing people? Or even a cheat sheet for chatroom convos. We all have our faves—our go-to shortcuts for finding information or corroborating an idea.
We’re building a community around collective impact on cold cases. That includes supporting further education to develop Citizen Detective skills and seeing as how we all have our favorite bookmarks we wanted to share a few of our faves, and some that have been submitted by our community.
Here are five tabs that you’ll always want to keep open on your desktop:
This reverse image search engine is great for finding other places an image has been used. Simply drag and drop an image in the search box and the database searches the billions of indexed images at your fingertips. BONUS: they have a Chrome extension!
Tons of stuff here—seriously, a clearinghouse of the business conducted by the United States Federal government. We love it for numerous reasons, including Veterans’ Service Records.
Ok, stay with us. Wondering what vegetation might be found in a certain area? What is the name of the plant this leaf belongs to? This site lets you search a comprehensive database or even enter in info to narrow your hunt.
Find property records, aerial maps, plotted neighborhoods, find tax information, and more. Great for older case research.
This awesome tool lets you analyze the position of the sun and corresponding shadows on certain dates. Why is this important? Well, honing in on timelines for one, and their special algorithms help determine the height of objects. Think of it as a giant sundial; but interactive.
>> Pro-tip: More than likely a ton of open tabs leads to at least one getting accidentally closed—oops! No worries, you can always open up your browser’s history and reopen the tab from there. But a Citizen Detective is always looking for a shortcut. We can’t Ctrl + Z everything, but these quick keystrokes can save a few seconds. For those on a PC → Ctrl+Shift+T and for those working on a Mac → Cmd+Shift+T automatically reopen the tab closed.
Have other bookmarks you find helpful?
Interested in contributing content to help other Citizen Detectives? Let us know your superpower, or reach out with a topic you’d like to share with the community.