The Research Mobility Tracking App is a practical data collection tool that captures movements of traders as well as survey data in real time. After installed on Android phones, the path of the trader from the place of purchasing goods to the endpoint of sale is recorded.

At each location where goods are traded, a range of questions is asked to explore the trading details at that location, for example the types and numbers of goods sold or purchased. All information is stored on the phone and can be uploaded to an Open Data Kit (ODK) database when internet access is available. Data can be downloaded by permitted users from anywhere in the world.