The identification problems of distributed-parameter systems (DPS) is dealt with, A special method of data collection by using moving sensors is proposed. The sensors are ‘intelligent’ in the sense that they are able to track the positions of the exiremum values of a system state at each time instant. It is shown how to reduce the identification problem for DPS to that of identifying a certain system described by ordinary differential equations (ODE). The proposed approach is applicable to the DPS described by quasi-linear partial differential equations of the hyperbolic type. Attention is focused on the problem of reduction, while the identification of the resulting ODE is not considered in detail, since it is an easier task.