Wardriving is the act of surveying wireless networks by physically moving through an area — historically by car — while a device logs every Wi-Fi network it detects: its name (SSID), signal, security type, and GPS location. Aggregated and shared, this data builds vast public maps of where specific networks exist.
For OSINT, those maps enable a distinctive pivot: a network name seen in a photo or mentioned online can sometimes be located geographically, or a known SSID can place a device at an address. It is also a footprinting technique for auditing the wireless exposure around a site. Like much of OSINT, it turns a mundane, ambient signal — the names our routers broadcast — into locational intelligence.