> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/koala73/worldmonitor/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# 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

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

### Enabling/Disabling Layers

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Layer Controls">
    Locate the layer toggle section in the map sidebar (right side).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Layer Names">
    Click any layer name to toggle it on (blue checkbox) or off (empty checkbox).
  </Step>

  <Step title="View Updates Instantly">
    The map updates in real-time as you toggle layers.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preference Saved">
    Your layer preferences are saved to localStorage and restored on reload.
  </Step>
</Steps>

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

## 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

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="1 Hour" icon="clock">
    Breaking developments
  </Card>

  <Card title="6 Hours" icon="clock">
    Recent activity
  </Card>

  <Card title="24 Hours" icon="clock">
    Daily developments
  </Card>

  <Card title="48 Hours" icon="clock">
    2-day window
  </Card>

  <Card title="7 Days" icon="clock">
    Weekly trends
  </Card>

  <Card title="All" icon="clock">
    No time filter
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Using Time Filters

<Steps>
  <Step title="Locate Time Controls">
    Find the time range buttons in the map sidebar.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select a Range">
    Click any time range button (1h, 6h, 24h, 48h, 7d, or all).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Map Updates">
    Events outside the selected time window are hidden from the map.
  </Step>

  <Step title="URL Updates">
    The time range is encoded in the URL: `?time=24h`
  </Step>
</Steps>

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

## 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

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="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
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="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.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Label Deconfliction">
    When multiple markers overlap:

    * Highest-severity markers get priority
    * Lower-priority labels are automatically hidden
    * BREAKING badges always take precedence
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## 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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Locate Toggle Button">
    Find the 3D/Flat toggle in the map controls sidebar.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click to Switch">
    Click the button to toggle between perspectives.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preference Saved">
    Your choice is saved and persists across sessions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

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

## 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:

<Steps>
  <Step title="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)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Use Time Filtering">
    Select a shorter time range (1h or 6h) to reduce marker count.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Zoom In">
    Higher zoom levels trigger clustering, reducing render load.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Switch to Flat Mode">
    Flat map mode is less GPU-intensive than 3D globe.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### 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

<Warning>
  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
</Warning>

## Layer URL Encoding

Share specific layer configurations via URL:

### Format

```
?layers=layer1,layer2,layer3
```

### Example URLs

```bash theme={null}
# 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

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Panel Management" icon="table-columns" href="/guide/panels">
    Customize panel layout and order
  </Card>

  <Card title="News Feeds" icon="newspaper" href="/guide/news-feeds">
    Filter and monitor RSS feeds
  </Card>

  <Card title="Command Palette" icon="terminal" href="/guide/command-palette">
    Quick layer commands and search
  </Card>

  <Card title="Video Streams" icon="video" href="/guide/video-streams">
    Configure live video channels
  </Card>
</CardGroup>