Map Controls

Layer toggles, time filtering, zoom controls, and 3D perspective

World Monitor provides granular control over what data appears on the map and how it’s displayed. Master these controls to create custom intelligence views.

Layer Toggle System

World Monitor includes 40+ toggleable data layers organized by category.

Layer Categories

Geopolitical Layers

• Conflicts - Active conflict zones (UCDP + ACLED)
• Hotspots - Intelligence hotspots with news correlation
• Protests - Social unrest events (ACLED + GDELT)
• Natural Disasters - Earthquakes, floods, storms (USGS, GDACS, NASA EONET)
• Sanctions - Sanctioned countries and regimes
• Weather Alerts - Severe weather warnings
• GPS Jamming - GNSS interference zones from ADS-B analysis

Military & Strategic

• Military Bases - 220+ bases from 9 operators
• Military Flights - Live ADS-B aircraft tracking
• Naval Vessels - AIS maritime tracking
• Nuclear Facilities - Nuclear power plants and reactors
• Irradiators - Gamma irradiation facilities
• APT Groups - Cyber threat actor locations
• Spaceports - Launch facilities worldwide

Infrastructure

• Undersea Cables - Cable routes, landing points, health status
• Pipelines - Oil and gas pipeline networks
• Datacenters - 111 major AI datacenter clusters
• Ports - 83 strategic ports (container, oil, LNG, naval)
• Outages - Internet outages (Cloudflare Radar)
• Fires - NASA FIRMS satellite thermal detection
• Trade Routes - 19 global shipping lanes
• Airport Delays - 128 monitored airports

Market Layers (Finance Variant)

• Stock Exchanges - 92 global exchanges with trading hours
• Financial Centers - 19 GFCI-ranked financial hubs
• Central Banks - 13 major central banks + BIS/IMF
• Commodity Hubs - 10 commodity exchanges and physical hubs
• Gulf Investments - 64 Saudi/UAE FDI projects globally

Tech Layers (Tech Variant)

• Tech HQs - Big Tech, unicorns, public companies
• Startup Hubs - Ecosystem activity and funding
• Cloud Regions - AWS, Azure, GCP data centers
• Accelerators - YC, Techstars, 500 Startups
• Tech Events - Upcoming conferences

Enabling/Disabling Layers

1. Open Layer Controls

   Locate the layer toggle section in the map sidebar (right side).

2. Click Layer Names

   Click any layer name to toggle it on (blue checkbox) or off (empty checkbox).

3. View Updates Instantly

   The map updates in real-time as you toggle layers.

4. Preference Saved

   Your layer preferences are saved to localStorage and restored on reload.

Use the Command Palette (Cmd+K) for quick layer toggling. Type layers: to see preset combinations like layers:military or layers:finance.

Layer Presets

Quickly enable related layer groups:

Preset Command	Enabled Layers
layers:military	Bases, flights, vessels, nuclear
layers:finance	Exchanges, financial centers, central banks
layers:infrastructure	Cables, pipelines, datacenters, ports
layers:conflict	Conflicts, protests, hotspots
layers:natural	Earthquakes, weather, fires

Access via Command Palette (Cmd+K) or URL parameters:

?layers=conflicts,bases,nuclear,military

Time Filtering

Filter events by recency to focus on current developments:

Available Time Ranges

1 Hour

Breaking developments

6 Hours

Recent activity

24 Hours

Daily developments

48 Hours

2-day window

7 Days

Weekly trends

All

No time filter

Using Time Filters

1. Locate Time Controls

   Find the time range buttons in the map sidebar.

2. Select a Range

   Click any time range button (1h, 6h, 24h, 48h, 7d, or all).

3. Map Updates

   Events outside the selected time window are hidden from the map.

4. URL Updates

   The time range is encoded in the URL: ?time=24h

Time filtering applies to dynamic events (protests, conflicts, natural disasters, flights, vessels) but not to static infrastructure (bases, cables, datacenters).

Zoom Controls

Zoom Methods

Method	Action
Mouse wheel	Scroll up to zoom in, down to zoom out
Touch pinch	Pinch to zoom in, spread to zoom out
+/- buttons	Click sidebar buttons for precise control
Double-click	Zoom in centered on click location
Cmd/Ctrl + Scroll	Faster zoom (2x speed)

Zoom Levels

World Monitor supports zoom levels 0-20:

• 0-2: World view - shows country outlines and major events
• 3-5: Regional view - clusters begin separating
• 6-10: Country view - individual markers visible
• 11-15: City view - detailed infrastructure
• 16-20: Street level - maximum detail

Zoom-Adaptive Behavior

Progressive Layer Disclosure

Detail layers appear only at appropriate zoom levels:

• Military bases: Visible at zoom ≥ 3, labels at zoom ≥ 5
• Nuclear facilities: Visible at zoom ≥ 2
• Conflicts: Visible at zoom ≥ 1, labels at zoom ≥ 3
• Economic centers: Visible at zoom ≥ 2

Opacity Fading

Marker opacity adjusts based on zoom:

• Zoom 0-2: 20% opacity (subtle presence)
• Zoom 3-5: 50% opacity (moderate visibility)
• Zoom 6+: 100% opacity (full visibility)

This prevents information overload at world view.

Label Deconfliction

When multiple markers overlap:

• Highest-severity markers get priority
• Lower-priority labels are automatically hidden
• BREAKING badges always take precedence

3D/Flat Toggle

Switch between 3D globe and flat map perspectives:

3D Globe Mode (Default)

• WebGL-accelerated rendering
• Pitch and rotation enabled
• Realistic Earth curvature
• Immersive visualization

Flat Map Mode

• Traditional 2D Mercator projection
• Easier distance estimation
• Simpler navigation
• Better for route planning

1. Locate Toggle Button

   Find the 3D/Flat toggle in the map controls sidebar.

2. Click to Switch

   Click the button to toggle between perspectives.

3. Preference Saved

   Your choice is saved and persists across sessions.

The 3D/flat preference is controlled by the VITE_MAP_INTERACTION_MODE environment variable in custom builds.

Advanced Controls

Reset View

Quickly return to the default global view:

1. Click the Global preset button
2. Or press the Reset button (if available)
3. Or reload the page without URL parameters

Lock Rotation (3D Mode)

Prevent accidental rotation while panning:

• Hold Shift while dragging to disable rotation
• Release Shift to re-enable rotation

Tilt Control (3D Mode)

Adjust the viewing angle:

• Ctrl/Cmd + Vertical drag: Tilt the globe forward/backward
• Ctrl/Cmd + Horizontal drag: Rotate the globe left/right

Performance Optimization

Reducing Visual Complexity

If the map feels sluggish:

1. Disable Heavy Layers

   Turn off layers with many markers:

   • Fires (NASA FIRMS can have 10,000+ hotspots)
   • Protests (ACLED data is extensive)
   • Flights (ADS-B tracking is real-time)
2. Use Time Filtering

   Select a shorter time range (1h or 6h) to reduce marker count.

3. Zoom In

   Higher zoom levels trigger clustering, reducing render load.

4. Switch to Flat Mode

   Flat map mode is less GPU-intensive than 3D globe.

WebGL Acceleration

World Monitor uses deck.gl for 60fps rendering:

• Hardware-accelerated via WebGL
• Supports thousands of concurrent markers
• Automatic LOD (level of detail) adjustment
• Efficient cluster rendering

If you see poor performance:

• Check browser GPU acceleration is enabled
• Update your graphics drivers
• Close other GPU-intensive tabs
• Consider the desktop app for better performance

Layer URL Encoding

Share specific layer configurations via URL:

Format

?layers=layer1,layer2,layer3

Example URLs

# Military focus
?view=mena&layers=bases,military,flights,nuclear

# Infrastructure monitoring
?layers=cables,pipelines,datacenters,outages

# Natural disaster tracking
?layers=natural,fires,weather,earthquakes

# Finance markets
?view=global&layers=exchanges,centralbanks,financialcenters

Layer Names Reference

Layer ID	Description
conflicts	Active conflicts
bases	Military bases
hotspots	Intelligence hotspots
nuclear	Nuclear facilities
irradiators	Gamma irradiators
sanctions	Sanctioned countries
military	Military flights
ais	Naval vessels
protests	Social unrest
pipelines	Oil/gas pipelines
cables	Undersea cables
datacenters	AI datacenters
natural	Natural disasters
fires	Satellite fires
outages	Internet outages
cyberThreats	Cyber IOCs
weather	Weather alerts
exchanges	Stock exchanges (finance)
financialCenters	Financial hubs (finance)
centralBanks	Central banks (finance)
techHubs	Startup hubs (tech)

Next Steps

Panel Management

Customize panel layout and order

News Feeds

Filter and monitor RSS feeds

Command Palette

Quick layer commands and search

Video Streams

Configure live video channels