Mobile Phones Store More Location Data Than You Think
Map and Track transforms extracted mobile location data into clear, visual, and court-ready intelligence, helping investigators retrace movements, pinpoint key locations, and present their findings with confidence.
A Growing Source of Digital Evidence
Mobile phones are becoming more intelligent, predictive, and location-aware. To support navigation, automation, personalisation, AI features, health tracking, photo organisation, and other smart services, many modern devices now record and process a growing amount of location-related data.
As mobile technology continues to advance, location data is likely to become even more valuable to investigations. Map and Track helps investigators make sense of this growing source of digital evidence by turning extracted location data into clear, visual, and reportable intelligence.
Retrace a Suspect’s Movements
Mobile device location data can contain thousands of coordinates and timestamps. On its own, this data can be difficult to interpret, especially when investigators need to understand where a device travelled, when it arrived, how long it stayed, and what locations may be relevant to an investigation.
Map and Track helps simplify this process by turning extracted location data into a structured visual timeline. Investigators can review device movements, filter specific time periods, identify key locations, routes, stops, and repeated visits within the broader movement history.
Intel Zones
Map and Track allows investigators to draw custom Intel Zones anywhere on the map.
Once a zone is created, the platform automatically analyses the data within it to identify when the device entered the area, when it left, how long it remained there, and how often it returned.
See the Location, Not Just the Coordinates
Map and Track allows investigators to click anywhere on the map and instantly view the corresponding Google Street View imagery where available. This provides real-world context around a location, helping investigators better understand what exists at or near a point of interest, such as nearby buildings, roads, access points, landmarks, businesses, or surrounding streets.
Summarise the Journey
Map and Track’s Movement Analysis provides a clear graphical view of how a device moved within a selected time window, showing the route taken, key stops, and the time the device arrived at each location.
This gives investigators a quick way to understand the structure of a journey without stepping through every individual location point. It is particularly useful for reviewing a specific day, comparing movements within a time window, or identifying where the device paused during travel.
Flexible Map Views
Map and Track gives investigators multiple ways to view and interpret location data, depending on what they need to understand or present.
Switch between satellite imagery, street maps, individual location points, route views, and other visual layers to examine movement from different perspectives.
From Complex Data to Clear Reports
Instead of relying on raw coordinates, timestamps, and scattered map points, reports can show the journey, key locations, areas of interest, time windows, and movement patterns in a format that makes sense.
From case preparation to courtroom presentation, Map and Track helps turn complex location data into clear visual reports that explain what the device data shows, how the movement unfolded, and why key locations, timeframes, and patterns may be relevant.
How Location Data is Obtained
Map and Track works with the location data your investigators have already recovered. The process follows three clear steps, from forensic extraction through to a finished, court-ready report.
1
Forensic Extraction
Location data is first recovered from the mobile device using the forensic tools already trusted within your agency, including platforms such as Cellebrite UFED, Magnet Graykey and Verakey, XRY, and Oxygen Forensic Detective.
For the richest location evidence, a Full File System extraction is recommended. It provides access to deeper operating system and application-level artefacts that more limited extraction methods often cannot reach.
*Map and Track does not extract data directly from the mobile device. It helps investigators interpret, analyse, and present location data that has already been obtained through a forensic extraction.
2
Parse Location Data
Once a device has been extracted, most forensic platforms will identify, parse, and display the location data they find. In most cases this data can be exported in KML format, ready to import directly into Map and Track.
For a more complete and transparent workflow, we recommend the free Map and Track Location Parser. It locates and extracts the relevant location records from the forensic extraction and shows clearly where each point came from. For every record, the parser identifies the source file, database, or artefact behind it, and how the device is likely to have created it.
This context moves investigators beyond simply seeing where a device may have been. It explains how each record came to exist, making the data easier to understand, assess, and defend.
3
Analyse and Report
The parsed KML is imported into Map and Track, where scattered coordinates and timestamps become a clear, visual journey.
From there, investigators can filter time periods, review movement patterns, examine key locations, record observations, and build professional reports that explain what the location data shows and why it matters.
What About Cell Tower Data?
Map and Track supports the analysis of cell tower data, allowing investigators to import and visualise connection records alongside other location evidence. Because cell tower records can be supplied in different formats depending on the provider or source system, Map and Track allows you to map the required fields during import, making it easier to prepare and display the data clearly.
Cell Tower Analysis is currently in BETA testing, but subscribers will have full access to the BETA version as it continues to be refined. This feature is designed to help investigators better understand tower connections, call and message activity, coverage areas, and movement patterns, while still ensuring all findings are reviewed and independently verified.
Ready to Get Started?
Create your account and start turning raw location data into clear, presentable intelligence.