Travel Route with Fixed Shape

1. 1. Select your Map graphic and drag it into the Create Comp icon in the project panel
   2. Use the Pen tool to create a new shape layer path on the map that you want the pointer to follow - A rotobezier path will give you smoother lines with less work 
   3. Reveal the properties of the Path, select the path in the timeline, then choose Window/Create Nulls From Paths/Trace script go create a null that follows the path, turn off Cycle and adjust the Progress keyframes to set the duration of the moving null
   4. If you also want to have the path you have drawn in the final comp, duplicate the path layer, then parent it to the Map layer so it does not move
   5. Turn off the original path you have created and then reveal the Rotation and Anchor Point properties of the path
   6. Add your pointer layer and center the anchor point on the tip of the pointer
   7. Select the map layer and reveal the Position and Rotation property of the Map
   8. Create a new expression using the pickwhip by dragging it from the Map layer to the Anchor Point of the Null that the script created
   9. If you also want to add rotation to the path type value - and then drag the pickwhip to the Trace Path null
   10. Turn off the visibility of the Path you used to create the Trace null

The expressions would look something like this:

// Map Layer Anchor Point
thisComp.layer("Trace Route: Path 1 [1.1]").transform.position

// Map Layer Rotation
value - thisComp.layer("Trace Route: Path 1 [1.1]").transform.rotation

The map rotation may be a bit much, or it may not be needed, so you can turn off the expression or just animate the rotation of the Map layer by hand.

Now that you have a stationary pointer, a moving map, and maybe Map Path, create a new composition with the frame size you need and add the Map comp. The last step is to visually line up the pointer in the new main comp so that it is where you want it to be.