According to a recent report, both Scotland Yard and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (MoD) are investigating a new software program that may track a suspect’s movements online.
The report makes mention that the software is in a position to create a three-dimensional image of a person’s movement and communications, gathering information from sources such as financial transactions, mobile phone calls, satellite navigation equipment and social networking websites.
The GeoTime program, which is already in use by some United States police forces, is said to analyze tons of complex data in order to create an animation which highlights otherwise unseen connections between suspects.
Users are in a position to watch events and activities unfold over space and time with a fully functional timeline and animated display system, according to the developers.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed that the software is being tested on dummy data in order to determine how it could be used to examine police vehicle movements, crime patterns and telephone related investigations. It was added that the software was not in operational use.
A Military of Defense spokesperson also confirmed that the software is being investigated for possible military use.
From the information gathered, the software does not appear to be functioning on an automated level, tracking information in real-time. It would appear that users of the software need to add data manually, after which results will be displayed in graphical formats. It almost reminds us of Analysts’ Notebook, another popular analytical program in use by Law Enforcement agencies around the world.