Map Controls - World Monitor

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

Open Layer Controls

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

Click Layer Names

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

View Updates Instantly

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

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

Locate Time Controls

Find the time range buttons in the map sidebar.

Select a Range

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

Map Updates

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

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

Locate Toggle Button

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

Click to Switch

Click the button to toggle between perspectives.

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:

Click the Global preset button
Or press the Reset button (if available)
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:

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)

Use Time Filtering

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

Zoom In

Higher zoom levels trigger clustering, reducing render load.

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

Getting Started

Using the Dashboard

Intelligence Features

Customization

​Layer Toggle System

​Layer Categories

​Enabling/Disabling Layers

​Layer Presets

​Time Filtering

​Available Time Ranges

1 Hour

6 Hours

24 Hours

48 Hours

7 Days

All

​Using Time Filters

​Zoom Controls

​Zoom Methods

​Zoom Levels

​Zoom-Adaptive Behavior

​3D/Flat Toggle

​3D Globe Mode (Default)

​Flat Map Mode

​Advanced Controls

​Reset View

​Lock Rotation (3D Mode)

​Tilt Control (3D Mode)

​Performance Optimization

​Reducing Visual Complexity

​WebGL Acceleration

​Layer URL Encoding

​Format

​Example URLs

​Layer Names Reference

​Next Steps

Panel Management

News Feeds

Command Palette

Video Streams

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Layer Toggle System

Layer Categories

Enabling/Disabling Layers

Layer Presets

Time Filtering

Available Time Ranges

Using Time Filters

Zoom Controls

Zoom Methods

Zoom Levels

Zoom-Adaptive Behavior

3D/Flat Toggle

3D Globe Mode (Default)

Flat Map Mode

Advanced Controls

Reset View

Lock Rotation (3D Mode)

Tilt Control (3D Mode)

Performance Optimization

Reducing Visual Complexity

WebGL Acceleration

Layer URL Encoding

Format

Example URLs

Layer Names Reference

Next Steps