GeoTime: Call Record and Mobile Forensics Analysis Tool

One of NHAC’s ongoing responsibilities is to meet with vendors and inform the HIDTA community about products and services that will further HIDTA’s program goals. The NHAC is often able to make the case for optimal pricing and volume discount based on economies of scale. Recently, the NHAC spoke with representatives from GeoTime.

• What is GeoTime and how is it used?

GeoTime is an award-winning law enforcement tool for analysts, investigators and courtroom presenters working with call detail records (CDR) and mobile forensic data.

GeoTime automatically formats, maps, and analyzes cell phone data, with built-in presentation features to record a video or export a PowerPoint report. GeoTime's unique 3D map viewer makes it easy to understand suspect movements, and allows analysts and investigators to merge in other location data sources such as GPS, Cellebrite and social media data.

• How is GeoTime different from similar products?

Call records are one of the most common data types used today and are difficult to work with due to different carrier reporting formats. GeoTime is the only solution available that provides rapid updates to reflect call record format changes, and is always at the forefront of interpreting call records.

GeoTime's patented 3D animation technology allows data to be viewed and interpreted quickly to answer questions such as, "How often did my suspect visit this location?" or "Was Suspect A traveling with Suspect B?". This means that analysts and investigators spend less time wrestling with the data and get answers as quickly as possible.
 

• Which HIDTAs are using GeoTime and how long have they been using it?

Since 2010, GeoTime has been assisting HIDTAs across the US in achieving their mission. HIDTA analysts are able to support more cases and deliver high quality work products, resulting in more requests from local agencies for support. The following HIDTAs use GeoTime: Houston, Philadelphia/Camden, and New York/New Jersey. Additionally, LA Clear and NCRIC use GeoTime.

• What trends do you see in this industry and how is GeoTime addressing them?

Criminal investigations no longer lack data. Instead, most cases today involve data overload, from call records to social media data and a variety of other sources. The challenge now is how quickly this data is analyzed and turned into useful information by investigators.

The majority of the time spent today is on formatting and cleaning data. GeoTime automates manual data processing to speed up the analysis, and at the same time, helps reduce human error.

Once data is prepared for analysis, GeoTime's multitude of features can easily answer important questions - such as "How close was Suspect A to the crime?" - and helps translate the case data into videos of suspect's timeline of activities with points and events of interest.

GeoTime's presentation features help seal the deal in court, as an animated video of a suspect's movement is easier for a jury to understand, compared to a 50-slide PowerPoint presentation of static screenshots typically used today.
 

• Describe what is available in terms of training.

We have been training HIDTA personnel for over 5 years. We offer hands-on classroom training, as well as online instruction, depending on the group. These training classes teach concepts and techniques that help make day-to-day analysis activities easier and more impactful.

We partner with many HIDTAs to deliver high quality, intuitive training that helps users adopt and use GeoTime effectively, covering key workflows such as call record analysis and mapping mobile forensic data. An increasing number of HIDTA users have advanced to our GeoTime Certification track, which prepares users to speak on and present their analysis work to prosecution and in the courtroom.

For more details about GeoTime, log on to HRMS and access this issue’s addendum. If you need access to HRMS, please send an email to NHAC Daniel Liang at dyliang@nhac.org.

For more information about GeoTime, please contact Adeel Khamisa, Law Enforcement Industry Manager, GeoTime at akhamisa@unchartedsoftware.com or 613-617-4526, on how to host your training session or for a 90-day evaluation of GeoTime.