Waze OSINT Tracker

A worldwide data collection tool for Waze traffic events. Demonstrates location privacy risks in crowdsourced traffic applications.

What It Does

Captures Waze traffic reports (police, jams, hazards, accidents, road closures) from 5 continents including username, GPS coordinates, and timestamps. By collecting this data over time, it's possible to build movement profiles of individual users - demonstrating privacy implications of Waze's crowdsourced model.

Based on research by Covert Labs

Install

One-command install — clone, configure, and run in a single step:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jasperan/waze-osint-tracker/main/install.sh | bash

Advanced options

Override install location:

PROJECT_DIR=/opt/myapp curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jasperan/waze-osint-tracker/main/install.sh | bash

Or install manually:

git clone https://github.com/jasperan/waze-osint-tracker.git
cd waze-madrid-logger
# See below for setup instructions

# From PyPI
uv add waze-logs
# or
pip install waze-logs

Quick Start

# Clone and sync dependencies
uv sync

# Run the CLI
uv run waze start -b

# Open http://localhost:5000

That's it. The web UI shows a live map with events streaming in from around the world.

Development

# Sync all dependencies (including dev group)
uv sync

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Lint code
uv run ruff check .

# Format code
uv run ruff format .

# Type check
uv run ty check .

# Add a new dependency
uv add <package>

# Add a dev dependency
uv add --dev <package>

Terminal UI (TUI)

A full-screen terminal dashboard built with Go and Bubble Tea. Same Waze gold palette as the web UI, with semantic event-type colors.

Requires: Go 1.24+

# Build
cd tui && make build

# Run (connects to Flask API on localhost:5000)
./waze-tui

# Run against a custom API URL
./waze-tui --api http://your-host:5000

Screens

Region Picker — select continents to scan, then launch collection with Enter.

Live Dashboard — real-time event feed, per-region status panels, throughput sparkline. Toggle between focus and grid layouts with Tab.

Investigation Workbench — 3-panel layout for user research. Left panel: sortable user list. Right: profile summary. Bottom: switchable views (trips, privacy score, intel dossier, location grid, co-occurrence network).

History — browse recent events across all regions.

Key Bindings

Key	Action
1-5	Jump to screen
? / F1	Help overlay
Tab	Toggle layout (dashboard) or cycle panels (investigation)
c v d l n	Switch investigation bottom view (trips, privacy, intel, location, network)
/	Filter users or events
q	Quit (from splash) or navigate back
Ctrl+C	Force quit

The TUI can auto-launch the Flask server and collector from the Region Picker screen (press Enter after selecting regions).

Additional Commands

waze --help      # See all available commands
waze stop        # Stop the collector
waze logs        # Watch live output

Privacy & Ethics

This tool is for security research and education - demonstrating privacy risks in Waze's design.

Do not use for:

• Stalking or tracking individuals
• Publishing identifiable data
• Any illegal surveillance

License

MIT

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Annex: Sample Data

Collected Events

Here's what the raw collected data looks like - real events captured from the Waze network:

Username	Type	Coordinates	Timestamp	Region
user_a]1b2c3d4	POLICE	40.4168, -3.7038	2026-01-24 14:32:15	Europe
driver_x7y8z9	HAZARD	48.8566, 2.3522	2026-01-24 14:31:02	Europe
waze_usr_123	JAM	34.0522, -118.2437	2026-01-24 06:28:44	Americas
report_456	ACCIDENT	-33.8688, 151.2093	2026-01-25 01:15:33	Oceania
user_tokyo_99	ROAD_CLOSED	35.6762, 139.6503	2026-01-24 23:45:18	Asia

Event Types Breakdown

From a sample collection of ~365,000 events:

HAZARD       158,860  (43.5%)  - Road hazards, objects, weather
JAM           82,102  (22.5%)  - Traffic congestion reports
POLICE        60,615  (16.6%)  - Police sightings
ROAD_CLOSED   53,134  (14.6%)  - Road closures, construction
ACCIDENT       9,358   (2.6%)  - Crash reports
CHIT_CHAT        885   (0.2%)  - Community messages

API Response Example

The /api/events endpoint returns data like this:

{
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "eu_12345",
      "username": "driver_abc123",
      "latitude": 52.3676,
      "longitude": 4.9041,
      "timestamp": "2026-01-24T10:30:00+00:00",
      "report_type": "POLICE",
      "subtype": "POLICE_VISIBLE",
      "region": "europe",
      "grid_cell": "amsterdam"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1
}

Coverage Statistics

The collector scans 8,656 grid cells across 5 continents:

Region	Cities (P1)	Coverage (P3)	Total Cells
Europe	477	1,748	2,225
Americas	693	1,692	2,385
Asia	684	1,517	2,201
Oceania	216	481	697
Africa	315	833	1,148
Total	2,385	6,271	8,656

CLI Output Sample

$ waze start -b
Collector started in background
Web UI available at http://localhost:5000
Use 'waze logs' to watch output or 'waze stop' to stop

$ waze logs
[14:32:15] + POLICE       @  40.41680,   -3.70380 - user_a1b2c3d4
[14:32:17] + JAM          @  48.85660,    2.35220 (JAM_HEAVY_TRAFFIC) - driver_x7y8z9
[14:32:19] + HAZARD       @  51.50740,   -0.12780 (HAZARD_ON_ROAD) - london_user_42

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Frontend Design

UI Screenshots

The Waze Logger dashboard features a Dark Map Intelligence aesthetic with amber/gold accents on deep blue backgrounds.

Main Dashboard

Real-time map view with event markers and statistics sidebar

Event Details

Detailed view of traffic events with filtering options

User Tracking

Tracked users panel with movement patterns

Statistics Panel

Data analytics and visualization charts

Design System

Component	Description
Color Palette	Amber/gold (#E8A817) on deep navy (#06080C)
Typography	Instrument Sans for UI, IBM Plex Mono for data
Layout	Split-pane: map (main) + sidebar (data)
Map Style	Dark-themed Leaflet with custom markers
Glass Effects	Translucent panels with backdrop blur

Key UI Components

1. Interactive Map - Leaflet-based map with custom event markers
2. Event Cards - Glass-morphism cards showing alert details
3. Filter Bar - Toggle switches for event types (Police, Jam, Hazard, etc.)
4. Stats Widgets - Real-time counters with animated updates
5. User List - Scrollable list of tracked Waze users
6. Time Filter - Date range selector for historical data

Note: Screenshots are stored in assets/screenshots/. Start the Flask server (waze web) to capture live screenshots.