Moving in the right direction with Animated Maps
As with many things, seeing is believing. To help add important context to your reports and testimony in court, we have introduced Animated Maps in Magnet Axiom and Axiom Cyber.
With Animated Maps, you can now show the movements of devices based on the geolocation information from device data, combining location and timestamp data to show the path a device takes for a given time frame. The ability to easily animate map routes mitigates time-consuming and labor-intensive manual processes required to display location evidence in an engaging and visually appealing format.
Getting geolocation data
With the prominence of mobile data in criminal investigations, you can tap into a rich well of location data. Animated Maps allows you to demonstrate the “where” and “when” of your findings in a clear and compelling format, showing the movements of devices based on device data.
When individuals use apps, engage in calls, or connect to Wi-Fi networks, their devices record and store data that can be used to trace their movements. This information—like GPS data, cell tower connections, and timestamps—can help you organize timelines and reconstruct events.
For more information on accessing Geolocation artifacts, check out our blog: How to uncover geolocation artifacts for mobile device investigations
How to create animated map routes in Magnet Axiom and Axiom Cyber
To help you get started creating animated routes in Axiom and Axiom Cyber, we have included a guide for Routes that will pop up to lead you through setting up the three main criteria for identifying available routes in your data:
- Evidence Sources – this can be set to single or multiple to account for different devices, such as mobile phones, drone data, or other sources.
- Date and time range – a calendar and time range to set the start and end for the range of data that will be included in the available routes.
- Distance over time – filters for the artifacts that occurred within the set distance and time intervals to be included in the routes.
Once the parameters are set, the routes will be presented on a map view with the individual routes shown down the left navigation with the route distance and duration. With a route selected, you can then zoom in to view each coordinate included in that route and the key and supporting details for each of the artifacts.
Playing and sharing animated routes
Routes can then be played back and recorded at actual speed or 10x to 100x to demonstrate where and when the devices were located. You can also zoom in or out and pan while recording of an animated route to capture the important visuals and context that this feature adds to the evidence.
Once you are happy with the animation of the route, you can then export it via MP4 so that it can be provided to stakeholders or incorporated into a report.
Get Magnet Axiom or Axiom Cyber Today
To start generating and sharing animated maps for your cases, update to the latest version of Axiom or start a free trial.
The Animated Maps feature is included in Axiom Cyber and our Axiom Essentials, Advanced and Premier term licenses; if you don’t currently have access to this feature contact a sales representative to learn more about the options for upgrading your license.