Reading the live map

Pins, colours, clusters and the uncertainty ring — what each one means, and what it does not.

One map, every service

The home page is a live map of verified incidents. Every pin is one report that an agency or the platform has checked; the colour is the service it belongs to — flood, fire, crime, waste, weather, and SafeNet for family safety. The chips above the map filter by service; tap one to see only that colour.

Pins, clusters and numbers

Zoomed out, nearby pins collapse into a cluster with a number — tap it to zoom in. A pin with a bold outline is serious or critical; a faded pin is a resolved incident kept for context. The panel that opens on tap shows the category, the agency that verified it, how long ago, and a Confirm button if you can see it yourself.

The uncertainty ring

Some incidents are drawn with a soft circle around them. That is the uncertainty ring: the report came from a news source or a rough description, and the true spot is somewhere inside the ring, not exactly at the pin. A precise report has no ring. Never treat a ring as an exact address.

Stations and the flood layer

In Ghana the map also shows AlertCommunities stations — the sensors that watch drains and rivers. A station pin turns amber then red as water rises; tap it for the live reading and the trend. The risk layer shades areas where the model expects flooding in the next hours.

Stories and your own position

The Stories feed is the same data as a scrolling list, newest first, with photos. The blue dot is you, if you allowed location; nothing about your position is stored unless you turn sensing on for SafeNet.

What the map is not