WORLD WATCH — Methodology

How this map works, where the data comes from, and what it can and cannot tell you.

What this is

World Watch is an open-source-intelligence (OSINT) dashboard that layers live conflict events, verified geolocations, front lines, military postures, strategic oil infrastructure, and market prices on one map. It is built for situational awareness — not for targeting, navigation, or trading decisions.

Evidence tiers

✓ Footage-verified — GeoConfirmed events are geolocated by volunteers from photo/video evidence; each pin links to the original footage. Highest confidence.

Curated OSINT — front lines (DeepState), town control (Wikipedia conflict modules), fleet positions (USNI weekly): maintained by analysts/communities, approximate by design.

Machine-coded news — GDELT events are extracted from global media by algorithms every 15 minutes: fast, broad, and noisy. We filter and correct them (below), but treat individual pins as leads, not facts. Every pin links to its source article.

Data sources & cadence

Layer	Source	Updates
Conflict events	GDELT 2.0	~10 min
Verified events	GeoConfirmed (volunteer project — support them)	2 h
Ukraine front & units	DeepState	30 min
Town control (17 conflicts)	Wikipedia "detailed map" modules (CC BY-SA)	6 h
US Navy (approximate)	USNI Fleet & Marine Tracker	weekly
Aircraft	OpenSky / adsb.lol	60 s
Ships (AIS)	AISStream / shared feeds (coverage varies)	60 s
Travel advisories	US State Department	24 h
Markets	Brent, WTI, Gold, DBA, DXY futures/indices	60 s
Bases & oil infrastructure	curated from public records	static

The noise pipeline

Relevance scoring — media coverage volume + armed-actor coding + violence-specific event types + conflict-keyword headlines, minus crime/sports/markets/accident vocabulary.
Hard drops — unambiguous non-conflict phrasing (road accidents, market moves, disasters) never reaches the map.
Geocode correction — when a headline names a target country that contradicts the pin (a strike "on Iran" pinned at the attacker's capital or a press dateline), the pin is relocated and labeled.
Story dedupe — one pin per story per location; coverage counts merge.
Stricter bars off-theater — outside active conflict regions, only heavily-covered, conflict-worded material events earn a pin.

Honest limitations

Machine geocoding still drifts within countries; popups show the headline so you can catch it.
Faction colors on town-control layers are best-effort readings of community map legends.
Warship positions are weekly and approximate; deployed warships do not broadcast AIS.
A small noise floor survives every filter — pin size reflects coverage, not confirmation.
Coverage follows media and volunteer attention; quiet conflicts are under-represented.

Disclaimer. World Watch aggregates third-party open sources, machine-processed, with errors expected. Nothing here is targeting data, navigational information, safety-of-life guidance, or financial advice. Verify against primary sources before acting on anything.