The Digital Profiling Techniques Applied to the Analysis of a GPS Navigation Device

Abstract

The development of modern technology has led to an evolution in the role of satellite navigation devices that are being transformed into real ``digital diaries'' of those who use them. The software that nowadays is implemented in such devices offers a high level of customization, allowing to store a large amount of data that contains lots of information on user habits. The techniques of Digital Profiling, applied to data stored in a satellite navigation system and in particular on GPS navigators, allow to obtain a range of information that may be useful in conducting an investigation. Those information are, for example, the routes, the favorites, the starting point, and, in more advanced models, the dates of trips, travel times, etc. Such evidence may lead to the delineation of the behavioral profiles of users who have used it. This paper presents the application of Digital Profiling techniques to data taken from a GPS car navigation system.